The Longmont UU Presence Shows Up for Climate Justice
Big thanks to a small UU community in Colorado for helping us #ReimagineTogether a world of collective liberation!
Call: Who’s the congregation we want to celebrate today?
Response: Longmont UU!
Call: Who was one of the first UU communities to support the UU Climate Justice Revival?
Response: Longmont UU!
Call: I can’t heeeeeaaaar yoooou!
Okay, I’ll stop. But seriously, there is one UU community we need to lift up as a model for putting their climate justice commitments into action. They may not be the largest congregation in the Unitarian Universalist Association, but they were among the earliest to support the upcoming UU Climate Justice Revival—a first-of-its-kind event this September that will activate UU congregations across North America to reimagine a sustainable future. We owe the Longmont UU Presence a shout-out at least for helping us revive our spirits for climate justice!
A Place Called Longmont
If you’re making the drive from Denver to Fort Collins someday, about half-way there you may pass through a small town called Longmont. Nestled between some of Colorado’s major metro areas, but with a clear view of the Rocky Mountains before them, Longmont boasts of being one of the state’s best-kept secrets: hiking, fine dining, locally-grown produce—they have it all.* But Longmont is more than a tourist destination. It’s also home to a thriving UU congregation that is living out their values and commitments to climate justice.
Admittedly, “congregation” might be a misnomer. UU gatherings across the country adopt many names for themselves. Some find terms like “congregation” or “church” to be overly limited—evoking ideas of a specific religious creed that they do not require or expect their members to profess. For these reasons and others, some communities prefer more open-ended terms like “fellowship” or “society.” The UU gathering in Longmont uses simply “presence”—a name that conveys their grounded approach to spirituality and social justice.
Indeed, if there’s one clear thing about the Longmont UU Presence, it’s that they show up for their climate justice commitments. They are there for both the planet and their local community. Below are just some of the ways.
Doing the Work for Climate Justice
A scroll through the Longmont UU Presence Facebook page shows that they are deeply active on environmental causes—hosting Earth Day gatherings for the community, group meetings based on the UU Ministry for the Earth’s Monthly Musings, and co-sponsoring a local initiative to advance the clean energy transition in Longmont. But the congregation doesn’t just see the climate or the environment as stand-alone issues. They are also active in social justice causes that lie at the intersections of the work to secure a more green and sustainable future.
Longmont UU member Debbie Lane describes the community’s offerings as, “rooted in the works of justice,” with a particular focus on food justice. The congregation provides meals to their unhoused neighbors in ways that also advance structural long-term solutions to the root causes of exploitation and environmental degradation. They ensure that the meals they provide are sourced from local producers engaged in sustainable farming practices, enabling them to support local family-owned businesses with a focus on organic produce.
The Longmont UUs acknowledge that they gather on the land of the Arapahoe, Ute, Sioux, Cheyenne and other Indigenous people. They work to honor this relationship with more than just words, seeking to maintain a sustainable relationship to the land around them that does not deplete the territory of the people who originally lived there. The congregation runs an organic community garden that contributes fresh produce to their free meal program. Any excess food they grow, Debbie Lane reports, is donated to a community food bank.
In these ways and others, the Longmont UU Presence is living proof that you don’t have to be a mega-congregation to make a difference for climate justice. Some of the smallest communities in the UU Association were among the first to pledge their financial and logistical support to make the UU Climate Justice Revival a reality. The way in which Longmont UU lives out their values also underlines one of the big themes of this upcoming nation-wide event: climate justice is about more than just politics or policy; it’s also a daily spiritual practice.
But [Your Congregation’s Name Here] is Also Awesome
If you’re feeling the love for the Longmont UUs but also want your congregation to get a share of the limelight, it’s not too late! Are you also working to live out your intersectional climate justice commitments in your local community and beyond? Help us learn from your example and celebrate the important work you are doing by signing up to support the UU Climate Justice Revival! We need the spirit and energy of everyone doing this work in order to revive our spirits and reimagine a just future. Sign up to support the event today!
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*The “Visit Longmont” website also says they offer sky-diving, but in a climate justice blog, I’m afraid we cannot endorse this particular recreational activity. If you sign up for it, don’t tell them we sent you!