Date/Time
Date(s) - 01/08/2026
8:00 pm – 9:30 pm
Categories
Faith, Climate, and the End of Capitalism
As the planet burns and billionaires profit, one truth becomes undeniable: capitalism cannot solve the climate crisis it created. The pursuit of endless growth, profit, and private ownership has driven ecosystems to total collapse, radically deepened global inequality, and has placed every living being in peril.
Ecosocialism offers an alternative. It is a political and economic philosophy that integrates ecological sustainability and social justice, recognizing that environmental destruction and social inequality share the same roots. Ecosocialism calls for pooling the resources of society to meet the needs of both people and planet, creating a world grounded in collective care, democratic control, and balance with Earth.
For Unitarian Universalists, ecosocialism is not just a political vision, it is a spiritual imperative. Our faith teaches that all beings are interconnected, that justice and equity are sacred, and that love must be embodied in the systems we build. There is no faithful way to uphold our values while defending capitalism. Join the Unitarian Universalist Eco-Socialist Network and the Unitarian Universalist for a Just Economic Community as we explore how ecosocialism fulfills the moral promise of our faith and how we can live into a new world of coöperation, care, and ecological harmony.
Speaker Biography: Rev. Gregory Stevens (they/he) is a former Baptist preacher, long time labor organizer, and interfaith community activist who now sells his labor power to California interfaith Power & Light as the Northern California Director. They are the founding organizer of the Unitarian Universalist EcoSocialist Network and an active member of the Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco. Gregory grew up in Tampa/St.Petersburg Florida, where their love for crawling critters, furry felines, and old oak trees solidified into political and social activism for planetary healing. They have a BA in Religion and Gender Studies from the University of South Florida, a MDiv from Claremont School of Theology, and a MA in Anthropology from the California Institute of Integral Studies. In their free time they enjoy overstuffed used bookstores, the smell and feel of giant Redwood Trees, watching documentaries about ancient cultures, and all things Unitarian Universalist.
3 Comments
Hello
The Headline states “Unitarian Universalism Demands Eco-Socialism: Faith, Climate, and the “End of Capitalism'”
I don’t believe that UUism demands the “end of capitalism”. It is not on our list of core values.
Our speaker, UUJEC board member Rev. Gregory Stevens, titled the talk; informally, we referred to it as “Eco-Socialism and JETPIG”. Although ending capitalism is not listed as a core value, in many ways it—especially in the form being practiced in this country, including the extremity of the president and his administration—it is incompatible with our core values. I hope you come on Thursday night and listen and challenge; whether Gregory convinces you or you convince him—or you come to a halfway point, or even are both unchanged by the discussion—it seems to me to be the sort of discussion that both UUism and our country needs.
Thanks, Sally
Hey there Marianne – We’ll definitely dig into this in more depth! Essentially: there is no such things as justice, equity, or respect of the interconnected web under capitalism. Capitalism is a system based on oppression, racism, ecocide, colonialism, slavery, greed, hoarding, and leads to endless war via it’s central notion of competition. None of these things reflect UU values. An economy based on meeting the needs of people and the planet is what our values support. The pathway to such a society is socialism. This talk will show how our UU values are in direct contradiction to capitalism, and how our faith communities need to be hubs of revolutionary socialism for the sake of our species and planet.