Publications Committee - QEW

Book Review: The New Green Activist Bible?

Review Catherine de Neergaard In DRAWDOWN: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming, Paul Hawken and his team of scientists have identified the 100 most effective actions to reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. They define “drawdown” as “… that point in time when the concentration…

Yellow signs on foloor that say Support, Transform to Put Climate in the Budget. It's urgent

Toronto Meeting Hosts ClimateFast Initiative

By Lyn Adamson TORONTO MONTHLY MEETING’S Peace and Social Action Committee has supported the work of ClimateFast, a Canadian climate action group, since its inception in 2012. For the first three years, ClimateFast focused on federal climate action with periods of fasting, a vigil on Parliament Hill, and a pledge…

Beverly Ward Collecting Tidewater Sample

Rising Together: Community Health Mapping in South Florida

By Beverly G. Ward MANY COMMUNITIES in South Florida experience “sunny day” flooding during periods of very high or “king” tides. During a new or full moon, when the sun and the moon are aligned with Earth in their orbits, the gravitational pull on the oceans is at its strongest,…

Group of people writing no leaves under a light

Adding Leaves to the Grove of Life

By Regula and Michael Russelle. AN ALL-NIGHT, OUTDOOR EVENT. One thousand passersby publicly claim their practices and promises to reduce climate change. Each attaches a paper leaf with a personal, hand-written testimony like “bicycle everywhere,” “no food waste,” “share housing,” “travel by train” to a branch on a small grove…

Sweet Balance with Earth

By Ann Marie Klaus. I have to admit, I do not harbor a wish to save Earth or reverse the process she is undergoing. Nor do I worry for her. Earth, in my mind, is a powerful, exquisite being, undergoing the same process of expansion that every bit of the…

Peace, Justice and Ecology in Arkansas

By Eric Fuselier. Friends, we are happy to announce that we recently formed a Quaker Earthcare Committee within the monthly meeting in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Members of the committee have a lot of passion and knowledge about the environment and we’re really excited about the projects we have going on here.

Spiritual Ecology Center Opens in Mexican Cloud Forest

By Paula Kline. For more than a decade, my husband and I have hosted high school students for an annual Environmental Leadership Workcamp in the cloud forest of Veracruz, Mexico. A project of Westtown School’s Quaker Leadership Program, students return home transformed by their hands-on experiences with sustainable agriculture, living…

40 Quakers With 30 Agendas

By Tom Small. “FORTY QUAKERS WITH 30 different agendas.” That’s how I characterized—only half-jokingly—the Quaker Earthcare Witness Steering Committee when I was its Clerk from 1996 to 1998. The Friends Committee on Unity with Nature—that’s what we called ourselves back then. So where was the Unity in all those differences?…

The Gift That Keeps on Giving: Updates at Catoctin Quaker Camp

By Liz Hofmeister. ON SEPTEMBER 30TH, former campers, counselors, and others long associated with Baltimore Yearly Meeting’s Catoctin Quaker Camp marked the 60th anniversary of the residential summer camp located some 50 miles west of Baltimore, MD. A highlight of the weekend celebration was the dedication of the camp’s new…

Population: A Controversial Witness

By Stan Becker. FRIENDS COMMITTEE on Unity with Nature (FCUN) was born in 1987 at the Friends General Conference gathering plenary. There, Marshall Massey outlined all the environmental threats we faced on planet earth. Except he missed one. He did not mention the rapid growth in numbers of our own…

United With Nature: A Historic Reflection on QEW

By Judy Lumb. In 1987, I was sick in Belize, an isolated Friend. My Meeting for Worship was reading Friends Journal in my hammock. I learned to keep pen and paper handy because my version of speaking in Meeting was to write letters. When the notice of the creation of Friends Committee…

Legislating Light with FCNL

By Scott Greenler and Emily Wirzba. AT THE FRIENDS COMMITTEE on National Legislation (FCNL), the Quaker testimony of stewardship underpins our climate work. We see human actions inflicting harm to the earth, and as caretakers, or stewards, we are compelled to act. We watch with deep pain as the president…

Green in Sacramento

By Shelley Tanenbaum. I TOOK A DAY OFF from QEW work to join ‘Green Lobby Day’ in my state capital, Sacramento. I highly recommend that you do the same in your state. As much as we want to see strong national legislation, significant government action, at least in the near…

US coins falling out of clear jar on white background

Money & Soul: Bringing Our Faith Values to the Economy

By Pamela Haines. TO THEOLOGIAN WALTER WINK, Spirit is at the core of every institution. These institutions, or Powers, are created with the sole purpose of serving the general welfare of people, and when they cease to do so, their spirituality becomes diseased. The task of the church is to…

Potential Surprises

By Shelley Tanenbaum. A LARGE GULF EXISTS between those who understand the magnitude of the environmental crisis we are facing and those who, willfully or not, remain unaware and disengaged. Just look around your community or your meetinghouse. Most people are not necessarily climate deniers or uncaring about the environment.

Talking About Climate Change: Two New Guides

QEW has two new pamphlets on climate change: “Talking About Climate Change: A Practical Guide” and a companion pamphlet, “Climate Change: A Call for Dialog.” Please read and share!…

Organizing for Community and Climate

By Jaime DeMarco. I RECENTLY HELPED CO-FOUND the Maryland Clean Energy Jobs Initiative, a new non-profit working to pass legislation in Maryland that will do three things. It will expand renewable electricity in Maryland to 50% by 2030, invest in renewable energy companies owned by women and people…

Who to Be While You Are Waiting for Your Earthcare Leading

Mary Jo Klingel RECENTLY I WROTE A LITTLE ARTICLE with the title “What To Do While You are Waiting for Your Earthcare Leading”. Thanks to all of you who read it. However, I realized that I missed a big part of the story. Of course I did. As a part…

Rooted in Reverence: Reflections on the Climate Pilgrimage

By Honor Woodrow. I AM WRITING TO SHARE a reflection on my experience of the recent Climate Pilgrimage, where Friends from New England and fellow travelers spent six days walking the 60 miles from the Schiller Station (which burns both coal and wood) in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to the Merrimack…

REPORT BACK: QEW Marches & Lobbies for Climate, Jobs, and Justice in D.C.

MEMBERS OF QUAKER EARTHCARE WITNESS and Friends from across the country marched together at the People’s Climate March on April 29 in Washington, D.C. alongside 200,000 people. Across the country, another 100,000 marched in sister mobilizations. Temperatures of over 90 degrees in D.C. helped us make our case for climate…

QEW Celebrates Community at Spring Steering Committee Meeting

“Given that we are Quaker Earthcare Witness in these times, what is asked of us?” This query laid the foundation for QEW’s Spring Steering Commitee Meeting at Atlanta Friends Meeting April 20-22. “We came together to support each other and continue to inspire each other,” reflects QEW’s General Secretary Shelley…

May We Rise up From the Earth

By Julia Bixler Isaacs. May we be grounded with the strength of the earth, May our love for the planet burn bright like fire, May visions of wholeness rise up on wings of air, May our actions flow with the ease of water, And may the dance…

Ecological Living at Quaker Retirement Community

By Elizabeth Boardman. PERHAPS, IF WE HAD ASKED THEM, our grandchildren could have told us before we came here to Friends House what benefits we would accrue by moving out of the big family home to a small apartment. And now we could tell them the advantages of a communal…

Environmental Author Cynthia Barnett Talks to QEW

Cynthia Barnett, the author of three books focused on water: Rain: A Natural and Cultural History, Blue Revolution: Unmaking America’s Water Crisis, and Mirage: Florida and the Vanishing Water of the Eastern U.S., shares her insight on climate and water with QEW Publications Coordinator Hayley Hathaway. You now have written…

Denali National Park and Preserve, United States

Juneau’s Journey Toward Renewable Energy

By Margo Waring. JUNEAU, ALASKA COULD BE A MODEL for cities across the nation. A new non-profit called Renewable Juneau is trying to make this happen. Our mission is to “Promote local, renewable energy to create a healthy, prosperous, and low-carbon future for Juneau.” We decided to keep our focus…

Quakers At Interfaith Sit-In on Statehouse Steps in Annapolis

Friends Help Ban Fracking in Maryland

By Karie Firoozmand. ON APRIL 4, Maryland’s Governor Larry Hogan signed legislation prohibiting fracking in the state. This is a huge success for the individuals and organizations that have been working together for this goal for several years, as well as a precedent for other states. I have been working…

Support for Earthcare and QEW

Shelley Tanenbaum and Hayley Hathaway Make a Donation to QEW Today Support for earthcare is growing. Many of us were part of the March for Science, and QEW led the Quaker contingent at the Climate, Jobs, and Justice March in D.C. in April. Polls show that the number of…

Photo of Standing Rock encampment by Shelley Tanenbaum

A Call for More Radical Witness

By Tom Small. “THERE’S A CALL, from both within and beyond FCUN, for a more radical witness.” That’s the first sentence of an article I wrote twenty years ago for BeFriending Creation. What was true for the Friends Committee on Unity with Nature in 1996 holds true again for the…

Earth Prayer

By Janet Soderberg. Divine Creator, Spirit in All Things, Your kingdom is Here, and Now. Your creativity is manifest everywhere I look on this heavenly Earth. Nourish us Body and Soul in this earthly Paradise. Forgive us for not noticing, for overlooking, the tiny, the subtle, The…

What to Do While You Wait for Your Earthcare Leading

Mary Jo Klingel ON THE DAY that my new meeting found out that I am a member of Quaker Earthcare Witness, one of the men from the meeting approached me to talk. He asked about QEW. Soon he began to speak about his own feelings and his fears for his…

Down to Earth: Interview with Quaker Filmmaker Andy Burt

“I didn’t set out to make a film,” says Andy Burt, the creator and director of the new documentary film, Down to Earth: Climate Justice Stories. “I set out to go collect stories. It was young friends who said ‘you should do a video.’ So that’s why you have…

One Dollar at a Time: Defunding DAPL

By Jeff Kisling. IN INDIANAPOLIS we have been working on defunding the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) for several months. On November 15, 2016, a crowd of about 200 of us alongside Native Americans in traditional dress marched through downtown Indianapolis with our signs about defunding the pipeline. We stopped in…

Journey to the End

By J.T. Dorr-Bremme. IN JULY 2009, I had things pretty well figured out. I had, after six years of on-and-off study, achieved a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing. I had been hired into a new-graduate program, an increasingly rare opportunity in the post-financial-crisis economy, at a nearby hospital. I…

Advice for These Times

By Shelley Tanenbaum. TWO OF MY RECENT READS have made a strong impression on me as I ponder how I as an individual and how Quaker Earthcare Witness as an organization can best use our resources in these times. Van Jones succinctly sums up the two opposing world views we…

Letters to Share, March – April 2017

“What canst thou say” about spirit-led efforts on behalf of Earth in relation to the vision of Quaker Earthcare Witness? Hello, A few years ago on a lovely summer morning, I was resting after a workout on a park bench. As I looked up into the leafy brocade above my…

Shock and Awe: Climate Action

By Bob McGahey. FROM MY PERSPECTIVE as a climate journalist and activist, the ascension of an outright climate denialist as the President, with cabinet choices of a half-dozen more, completes the campaign of disinformation mounted by the fossil fuel industry, aided and abetted by virtually the entire Republican Party. The…

Letters to Share January-February 2017

Letters to Share January-February 2017 Dear Quaker Earthcare Witness, I see that the Indian Affairs minute from New York Yearly meeting is attached [in the November-December edition of BeFriending Creation]. There are many things I like about this minute, but when I brought it to my meeting in Seattle it…

What is up for QEW in 2017

By Shelley Tanenbaum, QEW General Secretary QEW PLANS AND PROJECTS are well underway or about to be launched as we face rapidly changing earthcare politics and policies in 2017. We are excited about this upcoming work and at the same time remain committed to responding accordingly to events as they…

Thank you, Katherine

Stan Becker, Clerk, and Roy Taylor, Alternate Clerk Katherine Murray has been our publications coordinator for the past four years. She is leaving our employment to move onto another path in her life. She has done an excellent job with Befriending Creation, providing Friends and Friends’ Meetings a vibrant place…

Photo by American Public Power Association on Unsplash

Solar Soars as Costs Plummet

By Shelley Tanenbaum. AMIDST THE 2016 END-OF-YEAR bad news all around, you might have missed this: utility-scale solar is now the least expensive way to install new sources of electricity. Onshore wind is a close second. Currently, solar and wind are at just about the same capital cost for installation,…

A Field Secretary for Earthcare

By Brad Stocker, Miami Friends Meeting. FOUR YEARS AGO, the Southeastern Yearly Meeting (SEYM) Earthcare Committee (EcC) brought forth a Minute on Climate Change that was approved the 14th day of the fourth month, 2014, which reads in part: “We, the Friends of Southeastern Yearly Meeting, bring this minute forward…

QEW’s New Publications Coordinator

Hayley Hathaway My name is Hayley Hathaway and I am QEW’s new publications coordinator. Katherine Murray and I have been working together during the transition and I am grateful for her help. Thanks to everyone who has welcomed me into the QEW community. As I write I am enjoying a…

Book Review: “The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate”

By Tom Small. PETER WOHLLEBEN TELLS THE STORY of a professional forester’s awakening from calculations of board feet to realization of a forest as an intelligent, feeling community. Sharing information and resources through what Wohlleben calls the “wood wide web,” the forest community cooperates so as to ensure that “each…

Bringing Light to the Dark: Environmental Violence

By Brad Stocker, Miami Friends Meeting. ONE OF THE MORE POIGNANT things to have affected my earthcare work was 2016’s QEW table and display, which had a darker element than in the past as it focused attention on those who have been killed for their involvement in environmental justice. We…

Hundreds of people with red sign that says "Defend the Sacred"

Reflections on Standing Rock

Sacred Stone, Clean Water, Gathering People By Shelley Tanenbaum, QEW General Secretary. The gathering at Standing Rock, with more than 280 indigenous tribes represented, is historic and has been an inspiration to all of us. The ongoing gathering is being held to block construction of the Dakota pipeline that threatens…

Bright green spring flower about to blossom with dew

Live in Possibility: A Voluntary Carbon Tax

By Alan Eccleston, Mount Toby Friends Meeting. In meeting for worship four years ago I was meditating on climate change and what I was called to do about it. Words rose up, “I live in possibility,” which I attribute to Emily Dickinson. I had a deep realization this is a…

Reflections on Translating the Resistance in Brazil

By Meg Kidd. Recognition by QEW of the re-emergent sense of the Divine in light of the resistance at Standing Rock continues to breathe air into the indigenous struggle to share millennial wisdom of peoples throughout the world. Noted on October 3 is this struggle from Standing Rock to Bagua…

Quakers’ Solar Canopy

By Don Vessey, San Diego Friends Meeting. America is fast realizing the importance of solar energy. Switching to solar power is not only an environmental necessity, but it makes financial sense as well. It reduces global warming not only by reducing the use of fossil fuels, but potentially in other…

Alaskans Demand Climate Justice and Clean Energy

Fairbanks Climate Action Coalition’s Next Step

By Cathy Walling, Chena Ridge Friends Meeting, Fairbanks, AK. “I love to feel where words come from.” I have long loved that quote from our Quaker heritage story of the indigenous man Papunehang hearing John Woolman preaching. He didn’t know what Woolman was saying, but he knew it was coming…

Letters to Share, November-December 2016

To Quaker Earthcare Witness, I just received your September-October issue of BeFriending Creation, and I was kind of concerned and curious about the article on page 6, “Friendly Farmers & Earthcare.” The article contradicts a number of statements I had read as fact for a long time and from many sources.

In Quaker Silence: Reflections on QEW’s Recent Week in Washington DC

Russ Adams, North Columbus (Ohio) Monthly Meeting In Quaker silence, do I hear our humanitarian ancestors, our abolitionist ancestors, our pacifist ancestors, crying out to us to pursue full sustainability for ourselves and our children and all folks yet to come…while there is time? Perhaps an…

Ecological Guidance and the Sense of the Divine

By Keith Helmuth. The fate of the human now hangs on our engagement with ecological guidance; the task Thomas Berry calls “the Great Work.” The sense of guidance provided by the ecological worldview is not unlike a new revelation, perhaps even a new sense of the Divine. We may not…

Letters to Share, September-October 2016

Letters to Share, September-October 2016 July 29, 2016 To Quaker Earthcare Witness As a means of raising our and others’ awareness of the issue of global climate change, our meeting has created a voluntary carbon tax for those members wishing to participate. Adopting the idea from the Mt. Tobey,…

Reverence and Right Action

By David Jaber I was not raised Quaker, but instead came to Quakerism after having developed an environmental conscience that has very much shaped my life and how I spend my time. You might take that as one indicator of the compatibility of deep earth ethics with Quaker practice. Let’s…

What’s Emerging?

By Sara Wolcott. What is it that Quakerism contributes to my ecological journey? I am vexed by this question. Five years ago, when my primary sense of religious belonging was nestled deep within the Religious Society of Friends, it would have been easy for me to answer. My confidence that…

A Blueprint for Climate Action

By Paul Klinkman Friends are encouraged to expand their carbon handprint. Increasing Friends’ involvement can have considerably more impact on the world’s climate than if they simply shrink their carbon footprint. I see Friends acting in four somewhat distinct directions: Personal and corporate witness: Abolitionists wouldn’t own slaves and wouldn’t…

Stewardship of QEW

Your year-end gifts matter a great deal! Please donate here, and thank you! DONATE We QEW Friends are becoming better environmental and eco-justice stewards. In 2015, our projects and activities supported fossil fuel divestment, promoted native landscaping, worked toward the Paris climate agreement, financed local sustainability projects, and emboldened…

Are you the next QEW publications coordinator?

By Katherine Murray A note from Katherine: After four great years as the QEW Publications Coordinator, I am sad to say that I’ve felt led to resign my position. As many of you know, in addition to my half-time role at QEW, I am also a hospice chaplain, and I have…

Our Birthright: The Night Sky

By Shelley Tanenbaum. I’m not one to believe that the universe owes me (or anyone) anything. But, after spending five nights camping in semi-remote places between Denver and San Francisco, seeing what appeared to be an infinite number of stars and the Milky Way every night, I am moved to…

What I Did with My Summer Vacation

By Katherine Murray. The last week of June, I took four days off with the intention of enjoying a quiet “staycation” full of gardening, hummingbirds, and long walks with my dogs. I envisioned this break as a time of silent retreat, with plenty of room for relaxing into the quiet…

Eternal Journey: A Poem

By Chris Roe As the crimson flame of life Breaks slowly Above the horizon, The white, frosted meadows, With trees and hedgerows Of sculptured ice, Speak loudly Of your presence. Once more Upon this journey, As another day begins, Without…

Young Faith Leaders Rising During GreenFaith Convergence in New Orleans

By Sara Wolcott. Myself and the other 60 young (aged 20-35) faith leaders from across Canada and the United States who were partaking in GreenFaith’s 2016 North American Convergence eagerly peered out of our bus windows as it turned onto the road leading to Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana. We…

Letters to Share, July-August 2016

By Jane Telfair Stowe Dear Friends, I recently attended the QUIP conference and wanted to send along some information from organizations dealing with the issues of neonicotinoids or neonics killing bees and glyphosate (which is in Roundup) killing milkweed that Monarch butterflies depend on. Friends of the Earth (…

Reckoning the “Other”

By Shelley Tanenbaum. Two dynamic and challenging speakers stood out for me at the 2016 Friends General Conference (FGC) gathering in St. Joseph, Minnesota this July. Nekima Levy-Pounds, law professor and leader of the Black Lives Matter movement, came to us after sitting-in at the Governor’s mansion in the immediate…

Later Will Be Too Late / Plus Tard Ce Sera Trop Tard*

By Shelley Tanenbaum. In December 2015 world leaders committed their countries to significantly change the ways that they are contributing to global climate change, they agreed to share resources to support countries most vulnerable and most in need, and they pledged to increase their commitment every five years. However, the…

Youth and a Landmark Climate Case in Court

By Shelley Tanenbaum, QEW General Secretary. How often do you hear people complain (or rant, scream, and shout) that the U.S. government is not doing enough about climate change, but they don’t actually do anything about it? Last year, twenty-one young Americans and their famous scientist partner joined together to…

Calling All Friends!

Whether you consider yourself a liberal Friend, a conservative Friend, an evangelical Friend, a Buddhist Friend, a non-theist Friend, or another kind of Friend altogether, we invite you to submit a 500-word, personal essay for our upcoming Special Edition of BeFriending Creation, “Friends on Earthcare.” We’d love to hear how…

Mini-Grants in Bolivia and Nicaragua

Mini Grants in Bolivia By Mary Gilbert TREES IN THE ALTIPLANO The city of El Alto in Bolivia sits at an elevation of 13,600 feet. Specific native trees can actually grow at that altitude in Bolivia. Ruben Hilare—inspired by what he learned at a UN meeting in Cancun that…

QEW Mini-Grants and ProNica

By Brad Stocker In Mary Gilbert’s article in this issue, you learned what QEW Mini-Grants are, but you may be less familiar with ProNica. ProNica is a Quaker-founded NGO that currently works in solidarity with nine Nicaraguan projects. The organization began under the guidance of Southeastern Yearly Meeting (SEYM) in…

Book Review: Our Life Is Love

By Judy Lumb. I have admired and been inspired by the writing of Marcelle Martin in Friends Journal, so I was very happy to learn that her book was released. It is a very effective juxtaposition of vignettes from the lives of early Friends and contemporary Friends. She divides the…

Runway A-K47

By Marjorie McKelvey Isaacs Through the squarish portal Upright in night-dark grass Stand matrices of most beautiful blue lights Shining at attention, Electric English garden in adoration of my benevolent metal bird.

Thinking Globally, Acting Locally: Against the Mountain Valley Pipeline

By Vicki Tolbert As a member of the Blacksburg, VA Friends Earthcare Committee reminded us, we have been “thinking globally, acting locally” as we take on a global issue confronting our local area: the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline. Appalachia has historically been a target for those…

Cement and Climate Change

By Judy Lumb Riding in a mini-bus in Guatemala, Mary Gilbert and I were noticing that most of the construction used concrete blocks as building materials. I commented that was because many of the trees had already been cut down, and using concrete saved trees. Mary said the…

QEW with Friends World Committee for Consulation in Pisac, Peru

By Mary Gilbert and Judy Lumb The Friends World Committee on Consultation (FWCC) brought Friends from all over the globe together in a loving and somewhat challenging mix. From January 19-27, 2016, more than 300 of us gathered in Pisac, Peru. Do you wish you had been there?…

Walking Cheerfully Over the Earth: Step by Step to a Greener Lifestyle

By Marjorie McKelvey Isaacs, Psy.D. FWCC has approved a minute asking everyone to personally make green lifestyle changes. All change, even desired improvements, creates some stress. My psychology clients and I, working together for more healthy lifestyles, discovered research, strategies, and viewpoints that can make change easier. Thanks also to…

Friends News to Share: FWCC Sustainability Minute

FWCC World Plenary Hundreds of Friends from around the world (including several QEW Friends, as you’ll read in this issue) gathered recently in Pisac, Peru, for the Friends World Consultation Committee (FWCC) World Plenary. One of the planned goals for this meeting was to consider “furthering the Kabarak Call for…

Friends News to Share: FWCC Sustainability Minute

FWCC World Plenary Hundreds of Friends from around the world (including several QEW Friends, as you’ll read in this issue) gathered recently in Pisac, Peru, for the Friends World Consultation Committee (FWCC) World Plenary. One of the planned goals for this meeting was to consider “furthering the Kabarak Call for…

Climate Justice—from Katrina to Paris and Back to New Orleans

By Shelley Tanenbaum. When we talk about how global warming will affect the poorest and most vulnerable people on the planet, or when we talk about how countries that have historically emitted the most carbon have a greater carbon debt than those with smaller carbon footprints, or how polluting industries…

Paddle to the Future

By Shelley Tanenbaum, QEW General Secretary. You’ve probably heard that saying, “Up a creek without a paddle.” Just a few years ago, when it came to climate change, we were all up a dead-end creek in a leaky little boat without a paddle. Post-Paris and the “historic” Agreement, where are…

A Global Climate Insurgency

By Bob McGahey After years of fraught negotiations, we have a climate accord. Just getting 195 countries with different, sometimes conflicting, interests to agree was a miracle of sorts. The document breaks new ground by aiming to hold the average temperature rise below 2C, to 1.5C, and reaching…

In Solidarity with Those at COP21

By QEW Friends Some QEW Friends weren’t in Paris but were participating in events in their local areas in support of change for the planet. In this section several Friends share their COP21 experiences with you. = = = = = = = = = = “I…

Reflections on COP21 and the Paris Negotiations

By Philip Emmi, QEW-Accredited COP21 Observer How can one describe an event designed to accommodate 40,000 attendees and reach an agreement among 195 countries on how to protect against catastrophic climate disruption? Dante’s circles of Heaven and Hell may be a useful image. The venue was…

Post-Paris Impressions

By Jose Aguto, FCNL Last December, through the generosity of Lindsey Fielder Cook and Jonathan Wooley of the Quaker UN Office, I was blessed and accredited to participate in the “Blue Zone” of the UNFCCC negotiations in Paris (COP21), during the second week. To thoroughly encapsulate the experiences,…

The New Climate Agreement: The Real Work Begins Now

By Lindsey Fielder Cook, QUNO. COP 21 ended on a Saturday night, and on Sunday, I went to the local Quaker Meeting in Paris for worship. I gave thanks for the previous night’s achievement, when nearly 200 countries (except Nicaragua) supported what their representatives described as a “balanced” agreement. After…

Letters to Share, Jan-Feb 2016

By Mary Jo Klingel “What canst thou say” about spirit-led efforts on behalf of Earth, about your own stirrings toward care for the planet, in relation to the vision and thoughtful action of Quaker Earthcare Witness as a whole? We’d like to hear from you. Send your letters…

Post-Paris Impressions

By Jose Aguto, FCNL Last December, through the generosity of Lindsey Fielder Cook and Jonathan Wooley of the Quaker UN Office, I was blessed and accredited to participate in the “Blue Zone” of the UNFCCC negotiations in Paris (COP21), during the second week. To thoroughly encapsulate the experiences,…

Letters to Share, Jan-Feb 2016

By Mary Jo Klingel “What canst thou say” about spirit-led efforts on behalf of Earth, about your own stirrings toward care for the planet, in relation to the vision and thoughtful action of Quaker Earthcare Witness as a whole? We’d like to hear from you. Send your letters…

Reflections on COP21

By Sara Wolcott It was not so long ago that the cobblestones of Paris were red with blood. November 2015: terrorism. 1940: WWII. 1914: WWI. 1871: Prussians (post Napoleon). 1789: Revolution. One could keep going: 1479: Joan of Arc. With such a history in mind, and…

Fixing (Healing) a Broken Vase (World)

Shelley Tanenbaum Editor’s note: Shelley wrote this article prior to participating in COP21 in Paris. You can find out more about her experiences there by checking out her blog posts at http://www.quakerearthcare.org/news/qew-cop21-paris. Events are surely unfolding anew as you read this article. I wrote this on November 20,…

“I Hear Your Cry”: Joining the Lamentation of the Earth

Samuel Mahaffy, Olympia Friends Meeting The quiet of the summer night is shattered by an eerie wail. It is a plaintive and distressed cry. It is distinctively different from the usual night sounds on our three acres in the country. Absent tonight is the hooting of the two…

Encounter with the Wild

By Harold Branam, Savannah Monthly Meeting As we walk out in blooming Sunday heavy with azaleas, dogwoods, and wisteria, the vaulted sky looms purplish-blue like a backdrop behind our neighbor’s house. Down along the marsh a hawk…

River Spill Is a Signal to End Business as Usual

Richard Grossman In Colorado, our Animas River received a serious insult in August of 2015. Fortunately the river seems to be recovering, but we cannot predict what the long-term effects will be. Contractors working for the United States Environmental Protection Agency recently released a huge amount…

Using Right Language in Our Earthcare Conversations

People of faith all over the world care deeply about climate change, and a group called Our Voices, which is a campaign for global multifaith climate action, asked UK-based nonprofit group Climate Outreach to design a study that would help us learn more about the type of language…

What the Pope Said

Mary Gilbert, QEW Representative to the UN On the morning of Thursday, September 24, 2015, Pope Francis addressed the Congress of the United States, speaking slowly in English. On the morning of Friday, September 25, he addressed a “high-level” meeting of the UN General Assembly, speaking rapidly in his native…

QEW Gives Thanks for the Encyclical Laudato Si’

QEW Steering Committee, October 2015 Quaker Earthcare Witness (QEW) gives thanks for the papal Encyclical, Laudato Si’, On Care for Our Common Home. We share the conviction that all life is sacred and interdependent, and that the natural world is an infinite source of awe, wonder and wisdom. We…

Letters to Share, Nov-Dec 2015

Jim Kessler Dear Friends, FCNL is doing great work to shift the political environment and get Republicans to cosign a bipartisan resolution that climate change is real and that we must act to reduce carbon emissions so that other important climate change legislation can happen. They…

What We Want from COP21

Shelley Tanenbaum, QEW General Secretary Editor’s note: Shelley wrote this article prior to participating in COP21 in Paris. You can find out more about her experiences there by checking out her blog posts at http://www.quakerearthcare.org/news/qew-cop21-paris. Greetings, Friends! As you read this, I am in Paris along…

Share Your Quaker Witness for Climate Justice!

Send us your short, selfie video and lift your Quaker voice for the environment! We have started a new video project, called “What Canst Thou Say?” and we’re asking Friends to send us short (3-minute or less) selfie videos that answer two questions: (1) What is…

Podcasts from Friends

“DOING THE WORK OF NOAH: GROWING THE ARK” Tom Small, co-clerk of the Publications committee, was interviewed on Northern Spirit Radio in August, talking about responding to species extinction and creating habitats with native fauna. You can listen to the interview here: http://www.northernspiritradio.org/episode/doing-work-noah-growing-ark “NICARAGUA INTER-OCEANIC CANAL – NO!”…

Creating Campaigns: EQAT’s Process of Discernment

George Lakey, Earth Quaker Action Team On March 2, 2015, PNC Bank said it would give up financing mountaintop removal coal mining. The New York Times and the Guardian joined other media outlets in announcing the outcome of EQAT’s campaign demanding that PNC “Bank Like Appalachia Matters!” (BLAM!)…

Author: Publications Committee

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