Main Areas

Main Areas of QEW's Work

Spirituality and Earthcare | Right Relationship | Ecology & Public Policy

Spirituality and Earthcare

QEW's PROGRAMS and publications stem from a conviction and consciousness that the global crisis of ecological sustainability is at root a spiritual crisis. Even as individuals in our network or our steering committee support political and social action in numerous areas, such as globalization, population, genetic engineering, and toxic pollution, each of us tries to bring awareness of the essential spiritual dimension that can be discerned within any given ecological issue. This can be understood as integral with the belief in being "one in the Spirit" that has made Quakers' peace and social justice work so powerful in the past.

Right Relationship

The QEW Vision and Witness statement begins:

"We are called to live in right relationship with all Creation, recognizing that the entire world is interconnected and is a manifestation of God..."

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY QUAKER John Woolman called for living in "right relationship" as he witnessed to his generation against the evils of slavery, oppression, and materialism—which he warned were causing injury to future generations. We discern a similar dynamic of greed and thoughtlessness in today's global environmental crisis.

Ecology & Public Policy

THE VISION of Quaker Earthcare Witness (QEW) includes integrating into the beliefs and practices of the Society of Friends the Truths that God's Creation is to be held in reverence in its own right, and that human aspirations for peace and justice depend upon restoring the earth's ecological integrity.