quakersandclimate

Limits and Innovation

limitsandinnovation

The following text is from Quaker friend John Kintree’s piece, Limits and Innovation, published on globalreferendum2020.org.

For more information on the Global Citizens Database Project, which John is involved with, follow this link.

‘We live on a finite planet. There are limits to the resources we can extract from the planet, and to the pollution we can release into it. Limits can be altered through innovation. For instance, the number of bushels of corn that can be grown per acre has increased dramatically in the last 100 years. Still, there is an ultimate limit to the amount of corn that can be grown per acre because there is only so much sunlight per acre, and it is the energy from the sun that causes corn to grow.

Innovative technologies can sometimes be double-edged swords. Industrial-chemical agriculture is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. The increase in crop production in some locations has required massive amounts of irrigation, which is causing water tables to fall. What will happen to food production in those areas when the wells run dry?

Continue reading “Limits and Innovation” →

What climate science tells us (briefly) – QUNO paper

International Political Engagement

climatesciencebrief

This QUNO paper digests recent findings from climate science into a short, 15 point summary document accessible to a broad audience.

Read the full document below:

QUNO Recent Climate Science Paper

IPCC 5th Assessment Report

General Resources

IPCCAR5

One of the main IPCC activities is the preparation of comprehensive Assessment Reports about the state of scientific, technical and socio-economic knowledge on climate change, its causes, potential impacts and response strategies. The IPCC also produces Special Reports, which are an assessment on a specific issue and Methodology Reports, which provide practical guidelines for the preparation of greenhouse gas inventories.

Since its inception in 1988 the IPCC has prepared five multivolume assessment reports. The Fifth Assessment Report was released between September 2013 and November 2014.

Follow the link to read the reports: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/

UNFCCC 1992 Convention – Full Text

General Resources

UNFCCC1992

Read the full text of the original 1992 Framework Convention on Climate Change

Available following the link.

The Paris Agreement – Full Text

General Resources

ParisAg

Full text available following the link below:

Paris Agreement

Human Rights Council resolution on human rights and climate change – June 2017

General Resources

Human rights and climate change

The Human Rights Council adopted on June 22nd 2017 its 7th resolution on human rights and climate change. Full document available here.

Transforming Impasse: the way through conflict with Quaker listening processes

Spiritual, Lifestyle and Community

transformingimpasse

People have difficulty engaging with climate change for many reasons, including its scale and scientific and human complexity.

If society is to respond effectively to climate change and emerging resource crises, we will need to:

Develop a shared understanding of our complex situation;
Engage people emotionally – with compassion for those who will suffer even if they are far away, belong to different cultures or are not yet born; and
Develop a collective will for change, especially in consumption.

It is in offering a different social model, of solidarity without an enemy, that Quakers may have most to offer.

Read the paper, published by the Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA), below:

TransformingImpasse

QUNO Summary of the Paris Agreement

International Political Engagement

Representative for Climate Change, Lindsey Fielder Cook, reflects on the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement.

Over the course of three years leading up to COP21, QUNO engaged in quiet diplomacy at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), offering delegates a more ‘human’ space in what could seem at times like an inhuman environment.

The report, available below, offers insight into this process, thoughts on the Agreement itself and a vision for what might lie ahead.

Read the document below:

Quakers – QUNO summary of the Paris Agreement

Photo: Francois Mori/AP

Questions to ask your decision makers

National Political Engagement

paper3

This paper, part of the “Preparing for Paris” series, proposes questions relating to climate action which concerned individuals and communities may wish to ask their policy makers.

Read the full document by clicking the link below:

QUNO Paper 3 Questions to Ask – Preparation for Paris 2015

Realising the right to food in an era of climate change

International Political Engagement

Agriculture is a major contributor to anthropogenic climate change, and in turn climate change threatens the viability of food production around the world. The spread of capital- and technology-intensive ‘industrial’ agriculture in the modern era has been accompanied by an erosion of on-farm genetic diversity, a loss of local knowledge, and the abandonment of traditional farming practices. This undermines our capacity to
adapt to already-changing climatic conditions.

This report highlights the role of small-scale farmers as innovators and custodians of food system diversity, a critical resource in ensuring the realization of the right to food in an era of climate change. Taking an innovation systems perspective, it proposes a new framework for the design of collaborative agricultural research projects and agendas, and notes the need for pro-active policy measures in creating an enabling environment for such partnerships.

Read the full report by following this link: