QUAKERS & CLIMATE CHANGE WORLDWIDE
A portal for Quaker climate action across the globe
Richard Whiteford, a climate change consultant and member of Downingtown Friends Meeting, published an article in the latest World Ecology Report entitled “Effects of Climate Change Impacts on Humans” which discusses the 2019 Climate Summit and recent climate science and its communication to non-scientist audiences, and calls for unity and ambition to act on climate change before it is too late.
The Friends International Bilingual Center was set up by Quaker volunteers in Bolivia. It offers educational programmes for children, young people and adults focused on social concerns, spiritual growth and stewardship of creation which are all important Quaker Principles. The following document outlines a few actions undertaken and shares the climate change-specific context in Bolivia
During the final days of 2019 Quaker Summer Gatherings in Aotearoa/New Zealand invited Lindsey Fielder Cook (QUNO, Representative for Human Impacts of Climate Change) to speak on the work QUNO does regarding international climate change negotiations. Edited by Gray Southon, the recordings can be viewed here, and include themes such as the faith component of QUNO’s work, background on the history and mechanisms of climate negotiations, and what quiet diplomacy means.
On December 1st, 2019, the Sunday before COP25 in Madrid started, several organizations, including Quaker United Nations office, organized a Interfaith Dialogue and Service. Lindsey Fielder Cook and Detmer Yens Kremer were present for QUNO, Carmen Alcalde represented the Madrid Meeting. During the day many thoughts regarding the responsibility of faith communities to act on climate action urgently and with a united voice. Lindsey Fielder Cook spoke on a panel regarding faith perspectives on climate change, and Detmer Yens Kremer shared a poem by Anohni and guided those gathered in silence during the service itself.
On Saturday, the 22nd of February, Friends World Committee on Consultation organized a global online conference to bring together Friends around the theme of sustainability. This conference aimed to bring Quakers together without creating a large carbon footprint to determine where we stand as Quakers regarding sustainability, and how to move forward in ways that align with our faith and practices. To read more about what was shared, which ministries arose, and ways to move forward, click here.
This week an increasing number of US states, cities, and other municipalities celebrated Indigenous Peoples’ Day, a deliberate space to reflect on the history, present, and future of Indigenous peoples in Turtle Island/USA/Canada specifically and worldwide generally. Quaker Voluntary Service (QVS), a Turtle Island/United States based Quaker service organization, shared several resources to help further understand this particular day, including Quaker complicity in Indigenous oppression, and avenues to take action. QVS wrote that “We’re excited to honor and celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day! The strength and resilience of Native Peoples who have long stewarded the land we live upon is seen and lauded. There is much work to be done in addressing historical and modern harm to our Indigenous siblings, let us collectively move and work towards that justice!” As indigenous peoples are at the forefront of being affected by climate change while also being leaders in the movement to save our planet, the following resources can be helpful in reflecting on Quakers’ specific relationship with Indigenous peoples and the ways we can support and be in solidarity with Indigenous communities.
Friends Journal QuakerSpeak video on seeking Right Relationship with Native Americans can be watched here and this article discusses Quaker Boarding Schools.
Use this tool to navigate a map to find out whose land you are on.
This article is on the history of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and 8 Indigenous rights groups to support and learn about.
The art featured in this post was created by artist Blue Rain, of the Muscogee / Creek Nation, whose land the Atlanta QVS community is on.
October 6th is World Quaker Day, and many Friends and their respective meetings around the world gathered around the climate-conscious theme of “Sustainability: planting seeds of renewal for the world we love”.
Hill House Meeting in Ghana started by discussing a range of questions to engage with what sustainability is and how it connects to Quaker testimonies, from which in particular arose the importance of the future, of planning ahead and considering generations to come. This is expressed in a Ghanaian proverb that says ‘dea wodua na wobu’ – meaning you reap what you sow. So if you plant good seeds (good ideas) you will have good results (expression of love and care) for the future. Other items discussed ranged from good governance to land tenure and electricity production. Ultimately this translated in Hill House Meeting committing to more environmental practices as a community and as individuals.
Friends World Committee for Consultation, which has supported the meetings celebrating World Quaker Day has further information specifically about Hill House Meeting and how Quakers around the world joined in on celebrations with a focus on sustainability.
Nothing Lowly in the Universe: An Integral Approach to the Ecological Crisis explores the connections between the scientific, technological, economic, cultural, psychological and religious forces driving the crisis and shows how we can transform the ways of thinking and living that got us here. Drawing on the Quaker testimonies of integrity, reciprocity, nonviolence, simplicity, and the fundamental equality of the whole earth community, on other wisdom traditions, and on the work of visionaries from Gandhi and Arne Naess to E.F. Schumacher and Thomas Berry, Jennie M. Ratcliffe explores the spiritual principles of an integrated deep ecology, economy and peace, and shows how they are being put into practice around the world.
Jennie M. Ratcliffe is an environmental research scientist, Quaker, and activist. She lives in Hillsborough, North Carolina, and is a long-time member of Durham Friends Meeting (NC). She has worked for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and the Universities of London and North Carolina, and has been active in peace, social and ecological concerns for many years in the Quaker community and beyond.
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QUNO, under the Friends World Committee for Consultation, is the only faith-based organization accredited as an observer to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which collates climate science findings to advise all countries. While government representatives cannot change text in the reports, they can negotiate language in the Summary for Policy Makers (SPM), so long as the integrity of the findings is not affected. Negotiation can result in weakening SPM language. At the recent IPCC meeting on Land, QUNO’s Representative for Climate Change, Lindsey Fielder Cook, sought to protect language on sustainable and restorative behavior (diet, farming, consumption, restoration/regeneration of eco-systems) and consequences to insufficient action to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. She summarized the Report’s main messages as: 1) land is currently absorbing (sink) some 20% of GHG emissions, 2) land degradation must be reversed and overall GHG emissions reduced, and 3) without this, land will become a GHG emission ‘source’, leading to irreversible eco-system collapse and ‘substantial additional GHG emissions from ecosystems that would accelerate global warming’.
Quaker Values and a Vegan Future.
An attender of Stourbridge and Hampstead Meetings, Britain, Rajan is very interested in exploring ways in which the powerful, core values of Quakerism might find better expression and implementation among Quakers and others. He believes a conscientious, proactive reduction in our routine exploitation of other animal species is one very good place to start.
Rajan warmly encourages everyone to find some small area of activism in their life and make that their own area of cultivation, development and exploration.
Read Rajan’s article here.
QUAKERS & CLIMATE CHANGE WORLDWIDE 