BeFriending Creation
Quakers do want to get involved and make a difference!
As clerk of the QEW Steering Committee, I have had the opportunity to meet Quakers from all across the country. Often they have asked me, "What can we and our Meetings do about the environmental crisis?"
I'm glad that the question is being asked, because it tells me that Quakers do want to get involved, and they do want to make a difference. But I'm concerned when the question is asked at a basic level — in terms of how to even get started. It suggests to me that many Quakers are unsure how environmental problems—and harmful climate change in particular—connect with Quaker testimonies.
In many other areas, Quakers do know what to do. We understand how urgent situations and needs are intimately connected with "service."
- When disaster hits, we know what to do. When Hurricane Katrina plowed into the Gulf Coast two years ago, we sent money, and Quaker work groups went to the Gulf Coast to help meetings, churches and individuals rebuild.
- When a beloved Friend dies, we know what to do. Casseroles are delivered, and memorial services are held. Community support is there for the long-term help of family members.
- In the face of global poverty, we know what to do. We support the American Friends Service Committee and Right Sharing of World Resources.
- What can we do? is a question that comes up in relation to disasters, death and poverty, but it is a question mostly of details and timing. We presume that Meetings can and should do something, and we're looking for help on the specifics.
- But when it comes to the global environmental crisis, the question seems far more basic. Many Meetings seem to be starting from scratch. It is not about which tools to use, or which programs to support, but simply about where to begin.
As I listen to the discussions about global warming in many other sectors of society, I don't hear the question "What can we do? being raised in the same way that it is in Quaker Meetings.
- At colleges and universities, researchers are contributing their expertise to the pool of knowledge in many fields. Professors are engaging students in learning and reflecting about a multitude of philosophical, scientific, political, and economic issues. Administrators and student groups work together to reduce climate impact on campus. They know what to do, based on their core missions of research, education, and campus life.
- In legislative bodies, politicians are holding hearings, drafting and debating legislation, proposing incentives, meeting with lobbyists and constituents, and staking out campaign positions. They know what to do with political processes and institutions, even as they fight long and hard about specific policy positions.
- In the business world, visionary companies are discovering exciting options for new products and services, and threatened industries are fighting to preserve their niches. Advertisers don't need encouragement as they look for ways to put a "green" label on almost everything. They know what to do to maintain their customer base and win new customers.
In education, politics, and business, the threat of climate change connects with the core purposes of those institutions. Of course there are ways that academics, legislators, and business leaders can be involved! In those social sectors, I don't hear leaders asking start-from-scratch questions about what can be done.
How, then, does global warming connect with the essential testimonies of Quakerism? That is a legitimate question and an important concern.
If—as is often the case—the crisis of climate change is discussed primarily as a debate about scientific evidence, or about technological solutions, or about complex economic strategies, then those topics are a stretch for most Meetings. That's not how we understand our mission, and that's not where we have our expertise.
But if we see global warming as a moral and ethical issue that deals with the relationships among human communities, future generations, and the whole of Creation, then we're getting into religious territory. If we see climate change as a symptom of a flawed understanding about the meaning of life, then we're addressing an area where we can speak with moral authority. If Earth's deep distress is at heart a human problem and not a technological one, then Quakers should have a decent sense of how to talk about it.
