NORWICH — If the Rev. Jim Antal harbored any doubts about whether he chose the right home base for his faith-based activism on behalf of the planet when he settled in Norwich a year ago, dozens of his new Upper Valley neighbors erased them during a climate-change seminar on Saturday.
By the time the former president of Massachusetts’ 350 United Churches of Christ stepped to the podium to kick off the gathering, members of more than a half-dozen area denominations filled the 110 chairs that the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Upper Valley had set out in its sanctuary, and many more stood along the walls or sat on swatches of carpet.
So he wasted little time exhorting them to act collectively in demanding environmental justice.
“Do not forget what you’re feeling right now,” Antal said. “You’ll need the energy … over the next weeks and months. We need to stop being individuals and work together.”
Since the election of President Donald Trump and his subsequent reduction or reversal of environmental regulations, a number of Upper Valley congregations have been working together to devote time to advocacy and writing.
Partly in response to the Youth Climate Strike by high school students in Vermont and across the country in March 2019, Strafford’s United Church of Christ and Universalist Society co-hosted community discussions over the summer about how to act locally on threats to the planet at all levels. In introducing Antal on Saturday, Strafford UCC pastor Tom Kinder credited the activist with inspiring his and his congregation’s efforts, both with his 2018 book Climate Church, Climate World and with in-person guidance in organizing gatherings including the Upper Valley iterations of last September’s Global Climate Strike.
“I’ve read the book three times,” Kinder said. “I go back to it often, because I need to. It’s exactly the book the whole world needs to read. The world owes him a mighty thanks, and so do we.”
In addition to his clerical duties, Antal has devoted most of his spare moments to pacifist and environmental causes over the last 50 years, including many arrests for acts of civil disobedience such as blocking heavy equipment preparing to clear the way for the Keystone XL pipeline in 2011.
“Bodies can be useful in standing in the way of evil,” Antal said. “Interrupt business as usual.”
Toward that end, Antal encouraged Saturday’s audience to join forces with organizations such as Extinction Rebellion Vermont, which last week interrupted Vermont Gov. Phil Scott during his State of the State address to protest what the group describes as his timidity in taking action against climate change.
“We need to write a new story,” Antal said before the audience split up into groups for workshops. “Courage is no longer optional. It’s required.”
David Corriveau can be reached at dcorriveau@vnews.com or 603-727-3304.