EcoJustice Working Group is an advocacy initiative and a project of the Thomas Merton Center, a nonprofit grassroots organization that promotes left-of-center social justice policies. Founded in 2012, the EcoJustice Working Group has advocated on the concept of “Eco-Justice,” which it compares to social justice and argues it includes “rights, for all of nature – humans, all other creatures, and all other parts of our ecology, such as trees, rivers, mountains.” ¹

Advocacy

According to its website, the EcoJustice Working Group promotes the concept of “Eco-Justice” or “justice, or rights, for all of nature – humans, all other creatures, and all other parts of our ecology, such as trees, rivers, mountains.” ¹ The group also advocates for supporters to demonstrate against “extraction and chemical industries,” to support and demonstrate in favor of policies that promote “renewable energy,” and changing the legal structure to “to establish representatives for non-human parts of creation.” ¹

The website also argues in favor of the creation of “alternative institutions” such as “Land trusts and conservancies,” “[l]ocal currencies,” “[c]ollaborative living arrangements,” “[h]olistic health practices,” and “Community Supported Agriculture programs (CSAs).” ¹

The Green New Deal

The EcoJustice Working Group was a supporter of the Green New Deal, which was introduced in the 116th session of Congress, as well as similar left-of-center environmentalist legislation. According to a page on its website titled “Faith Principles for a Green New Deal,” the Group argued in favor of the “profound moral opportunity” presented by the Green New Deal such as moving “all sectors of our economy toward net-zero emissions by 2050,” ² “investment in a clean energy economy,” ² “[r]eclamation and restoration of land and water adversely affected by fossil fuel production and processing,” ² and “sharing our country’s [clean energy] technology to help other countries adopt appropriate clean energy solutions.” ²

Thomas Merton Center

EcoJustice Working Group is a project of the Thomas Merton Center, a nonprofit grassroots organization that promotes left-of-center social justice policies. According to its website, the Center argues in favor of “anti-racist…[and] equitable” advocacy, support for “environmental justice and sustainability,” divesting “the police, prisons, and military,” and “immigrant justice.” ³ In October 2021, the Center released a statement on its website titled “Acknowledging Our Role as an Organization with a Primarily White Membership” in which it claimed “all white people will do racist things sometimes” while arguing in favor of “anti-racism” policies within the organization such as teaching “white membership…about white supremacy,” “counter challenges created by white opposition to justice movements,” and “[p]rioritizing support for local, BIPOC-led, anti-racist work.” ³

Partner Organizations

EcoJustice Working Group is listed as an organizational member of the Better Path Coalition, an environmentalist coalition that opposes traditional sources of energy in the state of Pennsylvania such as fossil fuels. ⁴

1. “EcoJustice Working Group.” Thomas Merton Center. Accessed September 14, 2025. https://environmentthomasmertoncenter.wordpress.com/our-work/.
2. “Green New Deal.” Thomas Merton Center. Accessed September 15, 2025. https://environmentthomasmertoncenter.wordpress.com/green-new-deal-3/.
3. “Mission & Values.” Thomas Merton Center, accessed September 14, 2025. https://www.thomasmertoncenter.org/mission
4. “About Us.” Better Path Coalition. Accessed September 14, 2025. https://www.betterpathcoalition.org/about-us