A protester holding a sign reading “Nonviolence is Courageous” passes a trumpet player outside the Cathedral Church of St. Paul. Climate activists gathered at the church following a rally calling for a “nonviolent solar revolution” at Boston Common on Sunday. (ANNA GOHMAN)

Climate activists gathered at the Boston Common Sunday for the “One Sun, One Earth, One People” Earth Day celebration aimed at promoting renewable energy and immediate climate action. 

The rally, organized by faith-based activism group Boston Interfaith Climate Allies, or BICA, aimed to unite diverse communities for a “sacred celebration,” according to the organizations’ website. 

Following the rally at Boston Common, a brass band and choir led attendees to the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, where they were invited to participate in a “nonviolent solar revolution” featuring prayerful activism. 

Attendees were encouraged to consider Sunday’s rally a “spiritual action” to balance religion with “joyful” activism, said Rob Mark, the Church of the Covenant’s lead pastor and a leader associated with BICA.

“We need more of a focus from faith communities to shine an intersectional light on climate justice,” Mark said. “We’re not just talking about climate change and countering it, but we’re talking about how we do so as a species, kin to our fellow beings in this natural world.”

The Church of the Covenant is a proponent of faith-based climate activism, Mark said, having founded BICA last year and the Climate Jubilee — an organization advancing eco-justice, racial justice and climate action within the congregation and local community —  in 2020.

“We are conservative. We are people of the books, our sacred texts,” Mark said. “But if you really look into them in a deeply historical, critical way, you will see it’s very hard not to care for the rest of nature.”

Environmentalist Bill McKibben, a key speaker for the rally, called the congregation to action, stating faith is the moral basis for the urgency needed to fight the climate crisis. 

“We’re pouring carbon into the atmosphere far, far faster than even the most extreme outbreaks of volcanism in the geological record,” McKibben said. “We have a lot of work to do … in a country and in a world that’s increasingly under the sway of authoritarian forces.”

McKibben is the founder of Third Act, an advocacy group mobilizing Americans over age 60 to combat climate change. 

In his activism, McKibben encourages disobedience and voluntary arrests to draw public attention and compel government action. 

On Sunday, McKibben took a softer approach to environmentalism, utilizing religious themes and ending his speech with a call for “energy from heaven, not from hell.” 

“Civil disobedience is just one tool in the activist toolbox — don’t use it too often or it gets literally and metaphorically dull!” McKibben wrote in a statement to The Daily Free Press. 

Betty Southwick, a coordinator for Boston Interfaith Climate Allies and an active member of Church of the Covenant’s Climate Jubilee Team, said she noticed an increase in faith-based climate activism. 

“I think a lot of what the country is looking for now is community,” she said. “Community-based activities and churches are the first place to think about community … In some ways, it just feels obvious that’s a place [where] we ought to begin.”

Although BICA believes “the most effective way forward is a collective non-violent resistance,” this does not mean they are “weak,” Mark said. 

“Nonviolence is not pacifist,” Mark said. “Noncooperation is an act of resistance. It’s an act of saying no … to the forces that are trying to counter love.”

Jamie McGonagill, the media and messaging director for Extinction Rebellion Boston, an organization protesting climate change through nonviolent protests, said people with a stronger “focus on productivity” may be drawn to more disruptive methods. 

“[Diverse] tactics are crucial for us to be successful, and none are more important than the others,” McGonagill said. “Everybody has their own unique perspective on what will be effective to push the needle.”

Over 200 people attended the “nonviolent solar revolution” at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, according to event organizers. 

Rally attendee and Third Act member Kathy Lindquist said a lot can be accomplished when the community unites over a common issue. 

“I think this kind of space, this kind of event, is essential to understanding that we are better together,” Lindquist said. “We are stronger together.”

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