quakersandclimate

IPCC’s Summary for Policy Makers

At the end of 2018 the IPCC published their full report on the difference between 1.5 °C verses 2 °C warming. The report was a comprehensive 700 page exploration. The United Nations met in Inchon in South Korea to negotiate the Summary Report for Policy Makers. This special report is the much shorter with less information on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways. The report was defined by the political voices in the room, but was crafted to help states choose actions in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty.

The full report , the summary report and more are both available on the IPCC’s website.

A Government Official’s Toolkit

General Resources

QUNO completed their newest toolkit in time for 2018’s Conference of the Parties (COP24) in Katowice.

The document was aimed at ensuring that negotiators and government officials. Every single argument made in the toolkit was referenced to the most up-to-date scientific research, meaning that officials had access to all the facts that they needed in order truly understand the importance of their own actions at the COP and beyond.

You can access the toolkit here.

In Memory of an Important Activist, Alan Burns

Spiritual, Lifestyle and Community

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Today, and for the duration of the COP 24 we will be holding Friend Alan Burns in the light. Alan passed away on the 11^th of November whilst carrying out a pilgrimage from the Vatican to Katowice. More information about Alan is available on his blog. To hear about the pilgrims who have continued their walk, more information is available on the Facebook page.

We thank Liz for writing this post and sharing it with us.

“Many of you know that my husband Alan Burns has been in Europe for the past several months on a pilgrimage to raise awareness about climate change. He and a group of fellow activists were walking from Rome to Katowice Poland in time for the Climate Conference. I received news Sunday morning that Alan had died while the pilgrims were in Slovenia. Please hold Alan, his family, and his friends in the light as we process this transition, and do whatever is in your power to continue his work to avert the worst catastrophe this planet has faced. Alan was a kind soul and a tireless worker for peace, justice, and equality; he lived his life as he hoped others would, and I think died doing exactly what he wanted to be doing – helping the save the world.”

We are grateful to Alan for his life and his unwavering light given to the important issue of climate change which is also close to our own hearts.

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Net Sequestration Economy – read Eli Fishpaw’s in-depth explanation of how tax can be a powerful tool in climate justice

National Political Engagement

Our opportunity to address climate change comes when there is culture wide recognition that our human economy must limit our collective emissions to what can be sequestered (removed through photsynthesis, mineralization or technology). When society recognizes that limit, we must address how to share that limit fairly. Eli develops the concept of a fair share of emissions where if the world averaged this amount, we would achieve net zero carbon emissions economy as referenced in the 2015 Paris Climate Accord.

Costa Rica is given as a gold standard for low emissions whilst upholding a happy and functioning society – with only 1.9 tons of CO2 emitted per person per year. But how can the USA, emitting more than 19 tons of CO2 per person per year move towards being more sustainable without a hindrance to the well being of its people? Eli’s estimate of a fair share of emissions is 2.6 tons CO2 per year

Fishpaw explores the limitations of strategies such as Cap and Trade which separates individuals and industry, instead seeking means to incentivize making improvements to our consumption system. Through explaining carbon pricing as a viable policy that communicates emissions in transaction cost, Fishpaw an in-depth exploration of carbon tax strategies that allow us to understand why it is important to bring about change.

Watch Eli’s lecture or read Eli’s website

Read QUNO’s special report from the IPCC’s meeting in Incheon

International Political Engagement

QUNO’s special report draws information from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change negotiations and its full report. With an eye on Katowice’s COP24, we highlight factors that both negotiators and citizens can influence such as governance, behavior and land use.

From 1-6 October, the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) met in Incheon, South Korea, to present its Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5C ,and to work with States to finalize the Report’s Summary for Policy Makers (SPM). The full Report took nearly two years to prepare; it included ninety-one authors and review editors from 40 countries, contributions from thousands of expert and government reviewers worldwide, and cited over 6,000 scientific references.

QUNO was an expert reviewer and was present at the IPCC meeting in Incheon. We worked with scientists to engage negotiators on the Report findings, and made four interventions to strengthen what we considered significant research findings in the Report. This included research findings that human behavior change, including diets, consumption and land-use, would make profound contributions to reducing GHG emissions, and reduce a reliance on geo-engineering that remain unproven on a large scale. QUNO, under FWCC representation, calls for personal witness alongside political engagement with decision makers, to ensure humanity acts in time to protect the most vulnerable, and all future generations, from catastrophic climate change.

You can read our special report now.

QUNO publishes second edition of “A Negotiator’s Toolkit” featuring concise arguments for urgent climate action

International Political Engagement

QUNO Geneva has published “A Negotiator’s Toolkit – Second Edition” to support climate negotiators in their work to engage busy Ministries with reasons for urgent, rights-based climate action.

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Ministers and other decision makers face competing demands and priorities, but they may also be more receptive to one argument over another. One person may better respond to economic concerns, for example, another to scientific findings. The booklet offers ten concise summaries compiled from expert voices in climate change related sectors. We hope these summaries help negotiators engage with colleagues back home on why urgent, rights-based climate action is critical to the long-term well-being and stability of their countries.

The summaries are based on presentations given by experts at a side event in May 2017, during the climate change conference in Bonn. The Healthier World Argument was compiled following this event. We are thankful to colleagues at Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University and at Newcastle University, for co-hosting this side event in May 2017.

Quaker Earthcare Witness

Spiritual, Lifestyle and Community

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Quaker Earthcare Witness is a network of Friends in North America, Australia and elsewhere who are taking spirit-led action to address the ecological and social crises of the world from a spiritual perspective.

Australia Yearly Meeting’s Earthcare Committee

Australia Yearly Meeting’s Earthcare Committee shares insights and tools to better navigate and nourish in these times of change and global environmental challenge.

The AYM Earthcare Committee meets regularly to listen and respond to our local natural world, as well as tending to national considerations. We are aware that so many are doing so much to learn and teach about the earth’s troubles, that everyone is responding with care for our earth’s concerns, and we seek ways to bring about healing, and support earthcare initiatives.

To read the Australia Yearly Meeting Earthcare Statement go here: https://www.quakersaustralia.info/Earthcare

Australia Yearly Meeting’s Earthcare Committee Newsletters

The Earthcare Committee’s Newsletter are offered as opportunities, aimed at giving us time and space to reflect on the footprints we leave on this earth and how we might walk more mindfully on our land. The newsletters may be found here: https://www.quakersaustralia.info/Earthcare/earthcare-invitation-newsletters-0

Earthcare Witness Publications

Quaker Earthcare Witness produces a quarterly print and online publication, BeFriending Creation, that highlights Friends’ Earthcare concerns through articles, interviews, book reviews and news items.

QEW has also produced dozens of pamphlets on environmental concerns, including issues of peace, spirituality, population, climate change, energy, sustainability, eco-justice, money simplicity, food, and water. They are downloadable and can be shared with your Meeting.

A few highlights include:

Quaker Earthcare Witness also offers matching $500 grants for Earthcare projects in your Quaker community.

BeFriending Creation

BeFriending Creation is the printed journal of Quaker Earthcare Witness. There is also a version of BeFriending Creation sent out to email subscribers.

BeFriending Creation is published quarterly: January-February-March, April-May-June, July-August-September, October-November-December.

Submissions are welcomed from readers!

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Improve your climate activism with a course from Eileen Flanagan

International Political Engagement

Eileen Flanagan is helping people to make their activism more effective through her online courses. For five years, she has served as board chair of Earth Quaker Action Team, a group which successfully pressured one of the largest banks in the US to stop financing mountaintop removal coal mining.

Previously from Eileen Flanagan:
Building a Nonviolent Direct Action Campaign

We Were Made for this Moment: Finding Your Role in Strategic Activism

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QSA Notes: Climate change and caring for the environment

Spiritual, Lifestyle and Community

Take a read of the note which Quaker Service Australia has written for the Australian Friend about climate change and caring for the environment.

American Quaker Shares Climate Information and Writing

Photos from Faith Communities Worldwide

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Richard Whiteford, shown here, is with a Governor Wolf (the Governor of Pennsylvania) cutout, sending him the message: “Leave carbon in the ground or humans won’t be around”. Richard Whiteford also maintains a blog sharing his writing on climate change. This includes a recent piece on COVID-19 and its climate lessons.