Faith for the Climate celebrates Black history and racial justice
October marks Black History Month in the UK, which has been commemorated for more than three decades. It started as a celebration of the contributions that people of African and Caribbean backgrounds have made to Britain from past to present.
For 2025, Black History Month theme was ‘Standing Firm in Power and Pride’. At Faith for the Climate, we honoured this theme by publishing an in-depth series of interviews with friends and allies within our network all month long. These rich conversations taught us about their journeys into climate justice and their joys and challenges as racialised people within the wider climate and nature movement.
We launched this series with our movement builder Rosh Lal’s interview with rehena harilall, the founder of Buddhists Across Traditions, uniting diverse Buddhist paths to promote racial, social, and climate justice. Part One came out on Tuesday, 14 October and Part Two on Thursday, 16 October (links below).
We next featured Dionne Gravesande, who has decades of experience working with churches and national and international non-governmental organisations. She shared with our director Shanon Shah how her multifaceted work and personal reflections have informed her analysis of the interconnections between climate and racial justice. Part One was published on Tuesday, 21 October and Part Two on Thursday, 23 October.
Since publishing these, we transcribed more interviews that we were able to secure. These were a joyful reminder that Black history should really be celebrated throughout the year, not only in October.
And so, for Inter Faith Week (9-16 November) and COP30 (6-21 November) this year, we are pleased to publish two more profiles. The first, published on Tuesday, 11 November, is Part One of our interview with visual artist, writer, and activist Bokani Tshidzu. She and Shanon sat down for an in-person conversation to explore how Bokani got involved in climate justice and how she sees its interconnections with racial justice. Part Two came out on Wednesday, 12 November and Part Three came out on Thursday, 13 November.
Our final interview is with Mumbi Nkonde, a Zambian immigrant now based in Sheffield who’s worked as an anti-racist organiser and local community activist. Guided by Black Feminist principles of connecting struggles and practising solidarity from ‘the margins to the centre’, they’ve been rooted in Black radical organising and working within migrant, housing and climate justice movements for fifteen years. Mumbi and Rosh had an inspiring conversation exploring how Mumbi got involved in climate justice and what they learned from the history of the Black Feminist movement. Part One came out on Tuesday, 18 November, and Part Two and Three were published on Wednesday, 19 November and Thursday, 20 November respectively.
While the views shared in these interviews are all the interviewees’ own, these conversations provide invaluable glimpses into the multiple pathways and experiences of climate justice from global majority perspectives. They are a taster of the breadth of faith-inspired wisdom within and beyond our network, which we invite you to dive into and savour.
Week of Oct 13, 2025
Profile: rehena Harilall
Part 1 and Part 2
rehena Harilall is an engaged Buddhist ordained in Thich Nhat Hanh’s Plum Village Tradition. Of Asian and African heritage, she is a South African based in London. As a founder of Buddhists Across Traditions, she advocates for racial, social, and climate justice. We sit down with her as she shares her journey and challenges in being an activist and change-maker in the world.
Read part 1 here
Read part 2 here
Week of Oct 20, 2025
Profile: Dionne Gravesande
Part 1 and Part 2
Dionne Gravesande plays a leading role in Christian Aid’s work on global partnerships and ecumenical collaborations in the areas of inequalities, peacebuilding, gender and climate. She is a member of the New Testament Church of God, co-chair for the National Church Leaders Forum and chair of Tipping Point North South, a co-operative that supports and initiates creative, campaign-driven projects that advance the global justice agenda. Dionne is also a regular columnist at Keep the Faith, Britain’s leading Black & multi-ethnic Christian community focused publication.
Read part 1 here
Read part 2 here
Week of Nov 10, 2025
Profile: Bokani Tshidzu
Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3
Bokani is a London-based artist originally from Zimbabwe. Her art explores how we connect with each other, the earth, and beyond. She creates abstract glass paintings, installations, computational and conceptual artwork. Bokani has also been Operation Noah’s Bright Now Campaign Officer since March 2020. She coordinates communication about the campaign with partners and liaises with religious organisations divesting from fossil fuels. Bokani was co-founder of sustainability start-up Vertigo Ventures and has previously interned in politics and finance.
Read part 1 here
Read part 2 here
Read part 3 here
Week of Nov 17, 2025
Profile: Mumbi Nkonde
Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3
Mumbi Nkonde is a Zambian immigrant now based in Sheffield, an anti-racist organiser and local community activist. Guided by Black Feminist principles of connecting struggles and practising solidarity from ‘the margins to the centre’, they’ve been rooted in Black radical organising and working within migrant, housing and climate justice movements for fifteen years. In their paid work, Mumbi has spent five years setting up the Grassroots Movements Fund to resource social movement work at the scale needed. They are a member of Black Lives Matter UK, a director at Multitudes Cooperative, a director with Roots Mbili Arts, and an adviser with the Good Ancestor Movement.
Read part 1 here
Read part 2 here
Read part 3 here