The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES) [PDF] passed the House of Representatives while we were in Utah, at UUA General Assembly 2009.

The day before it passed, from the podium, a UU Ministry for Earth representative told attendees to call their representatives to urge them to vote. On Friday, we got word that it had passed.

ACES — known as the Waxman-Markey Bill — is a bill to "create clean energy jobs, achieve energy independence, reduce global warming pollution and transition to a clean energy economy," all 1,427 pages of it.

The week before, UUSC staff heard from Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ross Gelbspan about the need to create an enhanced sense of community as an antidote to climate change and a global public works project to "rewire" the world. "We are all in the same boat. There is no way that half the boat will sink," he said, quoting Raul Estrada Oyuela. Gelbspan pressed UUSC to continue to build a faith-based coalition that will lift up human rights in the climate change agenda, the voice that is not adequately heard.

As it happens at momentous and uncertain times, when decisions are made that you know are not great, your mind jumps to all that lies ahead. As we were in Utah, I remembered Hotter and Drier: The West's Changed Climate, a Natural Resources Defense Council report. Among its findings, Utah's temperature has increased by 1.76 degrees over century averages from 2000-2007.

As I passed by the UU Ministry for Earth's GA booth, UUSC Local Representative Irene Keim spoke to me about the vote in her lovely, compelling southern accent, and she put it like this, "At least we finally have something we can fix."

I thought of the climate change impact on water resources and human rights, in particular the human right to water. While we were in Utah, the U.S. State Department submitted its June 2009 Report to Congress on the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act [PDF].

UUSC leads the human-right-to-water working group of the Religious Working Group on Water, one of the faith-based groups working with Water Advocates on financing for water for the poor. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton points out what lies ahead for climate change and water.

I also thought of the IPCC report on Climate Change and Water, and how much further we have to go. I thought of the work of the UN Human Rights Council on Human Rights and Climate Change and its worrying January 2009 report.

I have to admit, tears rolled down my cheeks. It was not relief, not joy, but not despair. There is so much to do. It was at that moment that I saw across the huge exhibition hall some of the youth who had adopted "La Gotita," the mascot of our partner FENTAP.

Many of the UUs asked during the week what it was, as the water drop danced around the conference center, hugging La Gotita and taking pictures of it. A tear drop, a water drop? What?

Indeed. Both. La Gotita made everyone smile, lifted up their hearts, piqued their curiosity. I allowed my heart to lift and thought that La Gotita should be joined by a big sun and a rainbow. And many people in parade holding hands.

The work of human rights is the work of many joining hands. Sometimes we can laugh, sometimes we have to cry. But we keep joining hands, and we keep going.

Listen to an exclusive interview with UUSC's "La Gotita" at GA, by Krissa Palmer for the UUA.

UUSC President Charlie Clements spoke to a packed audience during the plenary session on Saturday, the third day of UUA General Assembly 2009. Highlighting the work of UUSC, he focused on the role we continue to play in social justice and human rights.

Citing our role in calling for the closure of Guantanamo Bay, he further pushed for a bipartisan inquiry into the actions that have taken place there under the watch of the U.S. government. Reminding the audience of the range of social justice activities we are involved in, he cited the right to water in California and the progress of the state bill guaranteeing all Californians the right to safe, drinkable water, the expansion of our work on gender-based violence in Darfur in training the police on gender-protection strategies and expanding income generating activities for women, and more recent activities with UUs and Arab and Muslim Americans, building interfaith and multicultural understanding.

The day concluded with the Ware lecture, delivered by Melissa Harris-Lacewell, a professor of African American Studies at Princeton University. A signature event at G.A., the lecture was established "in honor of the distinguished services of three generations of the Ware family to the cause of Pure Christianity." Former Ware lecturers are Jane Addams, Reinhold Neibuhr, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Saul Alinsky.

Harris-Lacewell had the hall spellbound as she spoke of how both faith and reason can guide us in the political process for greater justice. Her dynamism, humor, and wisdom carried the crowd forward on a wave of optimism. The lecture is available online for viewing by anyone who did not attend.

UUSC's President's Brunch closed our activities at GA. Together, we celebrated our loyal supporters and profiled the right-to-water work that is so central to our human-rights mission. We recognized the volunteer contributions of Giles Holt, who received the 2009 Mary-Ella Holst Youth Activist Award, and participated in a Taizé water ritual, led by Environmental Justice Program Manager Patricia Jones.

At UUSC's GA booth, people can purchase hand-made baskets from Darfur.

Since joining UUSC as the vice president and chief operating officer (in January 2009) I have been following the build up to the Unitarian Universalist Association's General Assembly with interest. Having participated in many such large conferences, I couldn't imagine how this one could be so special and so unlike others I have attended. I quickly started to find out.

On entering the massive meeting space today, Day One, everyone smiled at me! They didn't even know me, but assumed a fellowship and solidarity, which felt both welcoming and embracing, casting into stark relief the vast and impersonal dimensions of the conference space.

Bolstered by this good cheer, I attended a session called "Confronting the Top Heavy Distribution of U.S. Wealth," at the suggestion of UUA Executive Vice President Kay Montgomery. She steered me in the right direction. Chuck Collins, the presenter, made it crystal clear what the problems of wealth distribution have been over the past 30 years and what we need to do about them. Far from feeling gloomy, I felt uplifted and eager for action.

Now, with a smiling welcome and the "seven steps to restoring progressivity," I was ready for the next session on immigration reform. Here again, I was met with uplifting stories and information about how to address these heartbreaking challenges, including developing partnerships with local police and involving them in advocacy campaigns.

As if that weren't enough goodness for one day, I visited the UUSC booth (#718). What a job the team has done! It has pride of place right inside the main door and handsomely displays products representing the four key UUSC focus areas. There were shawls and woven pillows, fair trade items, pecans, and the newest item, the UUSC water bottle. They were flying off the shelves! Playing in the background was our Gulf Coast video, enticing shoppers to linger and learn more about our work.

What a day! Tomorrow promises to be as equally fulfilling. I'm wondering what the workshop "Greed, Fear, Values and Investments" is all about. Stay tuned!

The following blog was written by Phyllis Morales, one year after participating in a JustJourney to Mexico exploring economic justice and workers' rights. Morales is a co-local representative of the UUSC Task Force at Jefferson Unitarian Church, in Golden, Colo.

The JustJourney to Mexico was another transformative trip (as have been all three of the JustJourneys in which I have participated).

Like the other trips, when I returned home I felt overwhelmed by the enormity of the problem and the enormity of communicating to others about what I had learned. When people asked, "How was it?" I ended up tongue-tied, jumping from scene to scene, obvious that I wasn't communicating anything. So during the summer I distilled the flavor and ideas of the trip into a slide show.

One of the slides shows our delegation standing in solidarity with the maquiladora workers of MexMode. A volcano rises through the mist in the background, as we shake our fists to show our power.

Earlier that day, a worker had asked us what we would do to help them when we got home. I said that we'd educate our congregations and work for changes in U.S. government policy.

The two delegates who attended from Jefferson Unitarian Church, in Golden, Colo., myself and Carol Wilsey, presented our slide show during an hour-length forum to congregants, who were totally unaware (as we had been) of the effects of NAFTA on immigration, labor rights, and agriculture.

For me, working for change in U.S. government policy on NAFTA translated into becoming active during the presidential election campaigns and bringing up the issue of NAFTA every time I had a chance to rank my priorities.

Although there is still a huge way to go to improve U.S. relations with Mexico and Latin America, I feel that we are now headed in the right direction, and I look forward to contributing my two cents whenever I can.

This blog was written by Claire Barker, a UUSC volunteer expert providing technical assistance to UUSC program partner El Movimiento Mi Cometa, in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

I have spent more than a week working here on the equator, supporting El Movimiento Mi Cometa, a local community group, in its desire to push for a cleaner river and harbor.

From the start, Mi Cometa has been hugely interested in the Boston harbor cleanup. I've been saying that perhaps Boston's problems 40 years ago had some similarities to those here, in terms of political will to move forward.

At the same time, Guayaquil faces some daunting differences:

• No system of industrial discharge permits.
• Vast amounts of pesticides and fertilizer runoff from export-driven banana plantations.
• Drinking water intake out of river after the runoff comes in.
• Primary treatment of half the city's sewage, but none in upstream communities, and no secondary treatment at all.
• One unlined landfill for the city and none upstream, except for the river.

Why does this situation appeal as a project for professional pro bono service? Maybe it appeals to creative problem solvers, those of us with a detective bent or those who like the tropics or learning new stuff. At bottom, perhaps because there are groups and individuals here working to move forward.

It's not a place where U.S. solutions are necessarily going to work (Bechtel, USAID, and others have tried that route without success); but there are areas where we can provide support and information.

Just yesterday a biology professor at the University of Guayaquil asked if I'd like to participate in a study by providing information on new technologies to treat the various wastes in the estuary and rivers.

Read more about this work at Claire Barker's Journey.

This young girl from Zambia, a country which contributes less than .01 percent of global CO2 emissions, faces the effects of U.S. pollution and climate change on a large scale. (Photo credit: Kathleen Paulsson and Nixter)

A poll published by Rasmussen Reports last week reveals the American public's knowledge (or lack there of) of cap-and-trade rules.

Their poll shows that only 24 percent of voters could identify that cap-and-trade had something to do with environmental issues, when given a choice of three options. Almost a third (29 percent) believed it had something to do with regulating Wall Street, while 17 percent thought it applied to health care reform. Another 30 percent had no idea what the term referred to.

If these findings are not disturbing enough, after The Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act of 2008 [PDF], a cap-and-trade bill, was debated and nearly passed by the 110th Congress, the fact that such legislation is not understood is downright scary.

The basic overview of the cap-and-trade model is as follows: The amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions is capped, and companies or other groups are issued emission permits. Companies that need to increase their emission allowance must buy credits from those who pollute less, thereby creating a trade in allowances.

While there are many in the world who do not believe that global warming is a result of human activity, those who believe in climate change will most likely applaud the capping of emissions and the pollutants that lead to global warming, thereby mitigating the effects of climate change.

No — the issue is not the cap; the issue is about who will benefit from the trade.

There is a cost to the buying and selling of these "allowances." Estimates by the Congressional Budget Office suggest that a cap-and-trade program would generate $50 billion a year and could reach upwards of $300 billion. This money would be used to offset the rising energy costs of "greening" our energy system. Who would not like a break on their energy bills, especially in this economic climate? The resounding answer to that question would be everyone, the same standard that should be used to judge the "fairness" of any cap-and-trade legislation. But will it benefit everyone?

One of the counterpoints to the Lieberman-Warner Bill was that it lacked a provision for low-income families who couldn't afford rate hikes resulting from the implementation of the bill. What was left out of the discussion completely is how a cap-and-trade bill would affect the most vulnerable outside of the United States.

The United States currently sits at the top of the list of global CO2 emitters. We are responsible for 22.2 percent, followed closely by China, which is closing in at 18.4 percent. If one follows the logic that CO2 is responsible for global warming, then the United States is responsible for 22.2 percent of climate change affecting the world.

As we mitigate the affects of our CO2 emissions, should we not look at the effects that our emissions have already had on the world, and take responsibility for 22.2 percent of the resulting adapatation needs?

The Economic Times published a May 18, 2009, article titled, "Poorest countries unprepared for impacts of climate change." It highlights the lack of assessments on how climate change will affect food security, access to water, flood risks, and diseases like malaria in the future.

One of the countries named is Zambia, which recently completed a report on Climate Change and health concerns. On the same list that marks the United States as the top emitter out of 207 countries, Zambia is listed as 135, contributing less than 0.1 percent to total global emissions.

In a country with control of less than 0.1 percent, Zambia is facing a 400 percent rise in disease levels, as a result of the ever-increasing cycle of floods and droughts, exacerbated by climate change. Commenting in the article about the general lack of preparedness, Saleemul Huq, senior fellow at the International Institute for Environment and Development, says:

"[The vulnerability of these countries] in part reflects a failure of wealthy nations to meet promises to help the poorer nations adapt to climate change."

In 2001, many of the richest nations in the world promised funding to the poorest for adaption efforts. This money has not yet been delivered.

As voters, industries, and political representatives in the United States debate climate change legislation, including cap-and-trade, those who believe in justice need to lend their voice and stand in solidarity with people in the world who are being affected by our emissions. We need to ensure that there is fairness in the funding mechanism of any legislation we pass, not only to protect our own pockets, but to help those who are most vulnerable around the world adapt to the circumstance we have helped to create.

Update: Just days after this blog was posted, on May 21, 2009, the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 33-25 to approve the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES). Introduced by Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Energy and Environment Subcommittee Chairman Edward Markey (D-MA), this national climate and energy legislation calls for an economy-wide cap-and-trade system to help address climate change and build a clean energy economy. 

ACES does include language about adaptation and the responsibility of the United States to assist developing countries as they adapt to the effects of climate change. This is an important step toward the United States meeting its responsibilities to help the most vulnerable nations adapt to a world where the climate is changing, in part, as a result of our actions. Under Article 4 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992), "developed country parties," including the United States, committed to "assist the developing country parties that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change in meeting costs of adaptation to those adverse effects." In order to fulfill these obligations, we will need to attach monetary values and ensure that they are delivered. 

Scroll to page 912 of ACES to read more about the International Climate Change Adaptation Program.

Read more about the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009.

New IRS Rule Permits Larger Deductions for Some Planned Gifts

Are you between the ages of 65 and 80? Have you been considering making a planned gift to UUSC?

Last month, the IRS released new regulations that result in a larger charitable income tax deduction on charitable gift annuities and charitable remainder trusts for annuitants between the ages of 65 and 80, provided the annuity and/or trust is entered into before July 1, 2009.

To learn more about how you can use these new and improved terms to support social justice, while maximizing your charitable tax deduction, contact Ken Dolbashian of UUSC's Institutional Advancement Department, at 617-301-4345 or by e-mail.

Even if you are younger than 65 or older than 80, planned gifts, such as gift annuities and contributions to pooled income funds, are still great ways to support UUSC!

Don't miss out. Act now in support of human rights!