BeFriending Creation
BeFriending Creation
BeFriending Creation. Newsletter of Quaker Earthcare Witness. ISSN 1050-0332. Published bi-monthly.
We publish BeFriending Creation to promote Quaker Earthcare Witness goals, stimulate discussion and action, share insights, practical ideas, and news of our actions, and encourage among Friends a sense of community and spiritual connection with all Creation. Opinions expressed are the authors' own and do not necessarily reflect those of QEW, or of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). The editor is responsible for unsigned items.
Submission deadlines are February 7, April 7, June 7, August 7, October 7, and December 7.
Contents of BeFriending Creation copyright ©2007 QEW, except as noted. Permission to reprint BeFriending Creation material must be requested in advance from the editor.
"Membership" in QEW is open to all who demonstrate commitment to support QEW's goals and who support QEW's work at the Monthly or Yearly Meeting levels, or through other Friends organizations. FCUN is a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation; contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law.
QEW Vision and Witness
WE ARE CALLED to live in right relationship with all Creation, recognizing that the entire world is interconnected and is a manifestation of God.
WE WORK to integrated into the beliefs and practices of the Religious Society of Friends the Truth that God's creation is to be respected, protected, and held in reverence in its own right and the Truth that human aspirations for peace and justice depend upon restoring the earth's ecological integrity.
WE PROMOTE these Truths by being patterns and examples, by communicating our message, and by providing spiritual and material support to those engaged in the compelling task of transforming our relationship with the earth.
QEW Clerk: Barbara Williamson, 2710 E. Leigh St., Richmond, VA 23223. Phone: 804/643-0461; e-mail: barbaraawmson@juno.com.
Address subscription and membership correspondence to: QEW General Secretary Ruah Swennerfelt, 173-B N. Prospect St., Burlington, VT 05401-1607. Phone: 802/658-0308; e-mail: ruah@QuakerEarthcare.org
Address editorial correspondence to: BFC Editor: Louis Cox, 173-B N. Prospect St., Burlington, VT 05401-1607. Phone: 802/658-0308; e-mail: louis@QuakerEarthcare.org.
In this issue
- Has the balance shifted? A feather of spiritual awakening drops.
- QEW Clerk: Let's get involved and hold our leaders accountable.
- Changing our relationship to the earth includes what we eat.
- U.S., Canada, and others deny indigenous rights worldwide.
- Bellingham (Wash.) Friends approve sustainability Minute.
- Using less energy and living in green, efficient homes.
- We can help the earth by helping Friends to limit family size.
- Letters
- Call of the Trees, by Dorothy Maclean.
- Resources for a safer household for your family.
A gradual yet persistent shift in public awareness and values relating to our future has begun. The recent state and national elections calling for new policies and priorities just confirmed this trend.
—In Pennsylvania, a citizens lobby, PennFuture, believes every environmental victory grows the economy. Two years ago, they helped pass legislation requiring electric utilities to have 18 percent of their generated power come from sources like solar, wind, and biomass by 2020.
—Gamesa, a Spanish wind turbine manufacturer, announced plans for a new facility here in Pennsylvania. In November, Pennsylvania leaders celebrated plans by the world's largest solar manufacturer, German-based Conergy AG, to create a plant here.
—The solar and wind industries have proven profitable, despite the lack of federal subsidies. Unfortunately, costs of solar remain high as demand for equipment outpaces supply. Globally, wind is the fastest growing energy form. Its cost is already below electricity from fossil fuels.
—The Weather Channel's weekly program on climate change encourages carbon neutrality. The financial impact of global warming is mentioned numerous times a day on CNBC. In October, a CBS morning program featured a Green Festival at the Washington Convention Center.
—On December 1, 2006, in response to climate change, Goldman Sachs became the first global investment bank to use ecosystem criteria. They are investing $1 billion in renewable energy and efficiency projects. JP Morgan evaluates the impact of carbon risks of loans it makes to polluting industries. It's interesting how the implications of climate change have caught the attention of the financial sector.
—The British government hired former Vice President Al Gore (author of An Inconvenient Truth) to help them address global warming. Time, Vanity Fair, and numerous other magazines have featured global warming articles. Even Wal-Mart is putting solar panels on some of its roofs. How mainstream is that?
It's out there. People are talking about it. It seems the whole world knows that our planet is warming—except those inside the Washington, D.C., Belt-way. To acknowledge global warming would indicate failure of the Empire, as David Korten, in his The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community, calls the material-based, corporate-dominated system.
To keep control, those in power have had to lie, cheat, steal, conceal, twist the facts, and even initiate wars.
—Why does the entire fossil fuel industry continue to get tax subsidies? It's related to their financial support of legislators.
—Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is off the table again. So why is off-shore drilling now the focus instead of energy-efficiency and conservation? Because the Empire enables oil addiction.
—Why does our food travel an average 2,000 miles to our tables? And why are petroleum-based fertilizers and pesticides added to crops? Because corporations benefit, not consumers!
—Why have the Clean Air and Clean Water acts been under attack? Because they threaten someone's profits.
—Consider how energy-efficient cars and buildings would be now if technology were applied to them in the same way it has been to computers. What kept that from happening? A cartoon from 20 years ago explained why solar and wind power couldn't work: Because no one could send a monthly bill for it!
The U.S. has "the best democracy money can buy." The presidential elections of 2000 and 2004 illustrate that. But let's face it—the Empire does not work anymore! Every biological system on Earth is collapsing, and most social systems are floundering.
The current system feeds corporate profit, provoking military buildup, which in turn feeds corporate profit. Remember Halli-burton's no-bid contracts for services in Iraq?
This system isn't concerned about life after all the cheap fossil fuels are burned. It has taken us away from our roots, away from our connection to Earth.
(Balance, next page)
