The day before he died, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. rallied with striking waste collectors against unsafe working conditions — including exposure to toxic pollution. Today, the Memphis Sanitation Workers’ Strike is now considered one of the first major mobilizations against environmental injustice in the U.S.
“If he can take on Wonder Bread in his last speech, and the local banks, I’m hopeful he would take on Exxon and Shell and Chevron, too,” said the Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., president of the nonprofit Hip Hop Caucus. “It’s my thinking that anything that would have hurt the community that he was fighting for, [King] would have thought it to be a moral obligation to stand up. And there’s nothing more important than standing up to industries that are literally killing and polluting communities.”
As a minister and community activist, Yearwood is one of many in the climate and environmental justice movement who draw inspiration for their work from Christian faith and the Black church.
“The Bible says that the earth is the Lord’s … because it belongs to him, it’s our job to take care of it,” said André Greene, pastor of Varick Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church in Ward 7. “As a Christian, I feel that it’s my responsibility to do that.”
Nationwide, around 3,000 congregations have worked with Green the Church, an organization founded by a California pastor in 2010 to amplify environmental messages in theology and promote sustainable and resilient practices. More than 90 congregations in the District, across faiths, have installed solar panels or otherwise participated in solar power projects, according to data from Interfaith Power and Light DMV.
“Christ teaches that we need to look out for those who are not able to look out for themselves,” Greene said. “So as a pastor, that’s one of the things that I really look at as my job… we need to be a part of the community and what’s going on around us.”
His congregation and the surrounding Ward 7 River Terrace community has fought for environmental justice since the 1970s, when residents began organizing to shut down the polluting Pepco plant that operated across the street until 2012. Greene himself has been deeply involved with the Washington Interfaith Network’s efforts relating to gas use in the District, including testing residents’ homes for indoor air pollution and pushing the D.C. government to support no-cost electrification for low- and moderate-income households.
“With the environment and climate justice, it’s [about] spreading the word and saying, ‘This is what’s happening and this needs to change,’” said Greene. “Just as they did with the civil rights movement — we’re going to speak what’s wrong, and we’re going to take action when action needs to be, and we’re going to believe that things will change if we trust God and put our faith in it.”
Robin Lewis, who serves as climate equity director for Interfaith Power and Light DMV, works to create networks of support and information sharing about environmental and climate justice among Black churches. She wants more people to understand that “the environment” refers to everywhere people live, work, play and pray — not just untouched natural spaces. Environmental justice, to her, has deep connections to affordable housing, crime, health disparities, food insecurity and, above all, racial justice.
“You shouldn’t be old and living with mold in your basement because you couldn’t afford to pump it out, because you’re in a flood zone,” Lewis said. “Are you in an area where your church basement floods, where people have lead in their pipes? Those are issues that are environmental, and they’re about justice.”
“I think that we talk about [climate change], but I don’t think that the world knows how much it affects lives,” Greene said. “If someone is sick, because they have asthma, because something in the house is affecting it, or something on Earth is affecting our health — now you have medical bills, and now you can’t pay for them. Now you go out and commit crime, because you’re trying to get money.”