Stories from our Congregation - Environment by Carissa Campbell 

Carissa is a Native New Yorker and Graduate of The Culinary Institute of America. She is the owner and operator of Campbell Events, the Brooklyn Based boutique Wedding and Corporate Event planning firm. With her line of work Carissa regularly roams the Eastern Seaboard, but can often be found streaming services with her family in their Home Base of Northern, Virginia. Carissa comes from two generations of Mennonite church planters, and holds the Mennonite ideals of Justice and Peace close to her heart. She is consistently looking for ways to go to bat for others at the intersection of Faith, Justice, and Politics."

Last week, like millions of other Americans, I watched the debate.

I already knew who I was voting for (actually I had already voted)... but I sat down hoping for something:

Maybe they would get to use the mute button. 

Maybe one candidate would throw a fit and walk out. 

But maybe, just maybe someone would say something that would give me hope. I needed that spark of joy rather than just another reason to pour more wine in my glass but…in my opinion, both candidates came up a bit short. 

And both Candidates finished off by talking about Environmental plans.

“Kristen Welker: (20:59) Let me ask this final question in this section and then I want to move on to our final section. President Trump, people of color are much more likely to live near oil refineries and chemical plants. In Texas, there are families who worry the plants near them are making them sick. Your administration has rolled back regulations on these kinds of facilities. Why should these families give you another four years in office?

 Donald Trump: (21:21) The families that we’re talking about are employed heavily and they are making a lot of money, more money than they’ve ever made. If you look at the kind of numbers that we’ve produced for Hispanic, for Black, for Asian, it’s nine times greater the percentage gain than it was under in three years than it was under eight years of the two of them to put it nicely, nine times more. Now somebody lives, I have not heard the numbers or the statistics that you’re saying, but they’re making a tremendous amount of money. Economically, we saved it and I saved it again a number of months ago, when oil was crashing because of the pandemic. We saved it.”

 Joe Biden: (22:21) My response is that those people live on what they call fence lines. He doesn’t understand this. They live near chemical plants that in fact, pollute, chemical plants and oil plants and refineries that pollute.I used to live near that when I was growing up in Claymont, Delaware and there are more oil refineries in Marcus Hook and the Delaware River than there is any place, including in Houston at the time. When my mom get in the car and when there are first frost to drive me to school, turning the windshield wiper, there’d been oil slick in the window. That’s why so many people in my state were dying and getting cancer. The fact is those frontline communities, it’s not a matter of what you’re paying them. It matters how you keep them safe. What do you do? You impose restrictions on the pollutions that if the pollutants coming out of those fence line communities.

Biden promised to put restrictions on the oil industry, sparking outrage from many conservatives. but here’s what he missed. Biden needed to say that he is going to challenge the oil industry because it isn’t sustainable.

Experts estimate that we only have about 15 years left to switch to green energy to make the transition to Green Energy before it is too late. 

The next generation needs to start learning how to power through green energy. The 25 year olds that are growing up in the oil industry are going to be out of a job by the time they’re 40 if we don’t start making some serious changes. We need to start leading the world in green energy so that we have an edge on the world and have something to hand down to our children and grand children. Our 401ks are only good if we have a sustainable future for our families.

If you pass your 401k down to your children but they don’t have a sustainable country to live in, will the money have been worth it? 

There are a lot of people that are truly concerned about their jobs. People that have worked in the oil fields and come from generations and generations of oil workers. This is what your family does, this is the legacy. What happens if we lose that legacy? Joe Biden needed to reassure those families that he understands them and wants to help them through a more sustainable option. There is hope in the Green New Deal. This is a way that will put America forward as one of the leading representatives in Sustainable Energy Manufacturing. This is a vision that we can invest in.

We need to be placing our hope in future generations. We need to be believing in a story bigger than ourselves. This is what we are called to do as Christians. When we are charged with the mission to go spread the good news, this good news isn’t just about personal saviorism but about the idea that there is a larger story inter working throughout humankind. We are nothing unless we can continue to learn, motivate, and grow. 

We are working together for a world that is safe for generations to come. We are nothing if we don’t look past our 401k or our perfect health plan  and make the conscious decision to share with our neighbors. What is the point of being if we are just here to work and hope it works out for us?

As a church we have a policy that we do not sponsor a specific candidate (it’s also illegal and all that). But we do follow an ideology that impacts our political decisions. We understand that through Christ we are involved in a story bigger than ourselves, bigger than our personal healthcare plan, and bigger than one way of living. We understand that what worked for so long (such as oil) may not work forever, and we have the courage to grow, learn, and evolve through Christ so that we can continue to look out for the least of these. So that we can continue to fight for the marginalized. So that we can continue to spread Gods love and share our traditions and our experiences. 

This commission of acting bigger than ourselves is acting within the body of Christ. We are using all of our resources to look out for the collective body rather than just acting as an arm or a leg. 

This is the hope that we need to push forward. This is the hope that we won’t be able to find in just one candidate, but instead we will find that as Americans helping one another, building each other up, and showing unconditional love to one another. 

These election day decisions can play into our overall voting plan. We are challenging all of our Justice League members to make a voting plan and we encourage you to join along with us, by following the guidelines below:

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