Browse by Topic - QEW

Envisioning 2014

By Shelley Tanenbaum, QEW General Secretary What is in store for QEW in the coming year? As I begin my new job as your General Secretary, I’ve been thinking about new directions, areas that need shoring up and existing strong programs that we want to maintain and grow.

The Negotiation Landscape: Countries

By Mary Gilbert, QEW Representative to the UN Years ago at a morning briefing for NGOs, a naïve newcomer asked, “Why don’t you just take the UN position?” Experienced people stared. The week before, the Secretary General had made a sensible statement and she wondered why we didn’t…

2014 QEW Mini-Grant Applications Now Being Accepted

Do you have a great idea for an Earthcare project you want to do with your Monthly Meeting or other Friends group? Submit an application for a QEW Mini-Grant! We match funding up to $350 for projects that meet our application criteria. We welcome your project…

Letters to Share

submitted by QEW Readers “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…

Eco-Resources from Friends

QEW Friends We like to begin each new year with an offering of Earth-friendly resources—in print, video, and web content—shared by QEW members and supporters. This year we have a good mix of inspiring and informative sources to recommend. Thanks to all who participated! THE PERMACULTURE HANDBOOK:…

Reporting from the WCC in Busan

By Anne Mitchell In late October, Anne Mitchell travelled to participate in the World Council of Churches (WCC) 10th International Assembly in Busan, Republic of Korea. Here is a brief summary of her trip. You can read Anne’s full report, including recommendations relevant for QEW specifically, on our…

A View from COP 19

By Lindsey Fielder Cook, QUNO Climate Change Representative In November, more than 8,000 people gathered in Warsaw to attend the UN Conference on Climate Change. The conference was known as COP 19, including the 19th Conference of Parties and the 9th Meeting of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol…

Two Row Journey: July 27–August 11, 2013

by Liseli Haines with Buffy Curtis I hadn’t used the inkle loom ever before. Now I threaded it with white and purple. White and purple are the colors of the quahog shells, the colors of the beads made by Native Americans, and the colors of the original wampum…

Traveling with the Two Row Wampum Renewal

by Buffy Curtis with Liseli Haines In 1613, two sets of peoples made an agreement to travel down the “river of life, side by side, each in their own boats–as long as the sun rises in the East, the grass is green and the river flows downhill.” It…

Letters from Our Readers

September 29, 2013 Dear BeFriending Creation, Like most Quakers, I take stewardship of the environment seriously. I try to keep my carbon footprint small at home and in my workplace. I recycle, and I call my congressperson when there’s an important vote. Then I…

Business Takeover at the UN

Mary “the non-prophet” Gilbert, QEW Representative to the UN When you come into a complex phenomenon like the UN it takes time to get a fix on what’s happening. Your perceptions keep changing. It can be hard to tease apart your own new learning from any changes going…

Thanks, Anne!

Roy Taylor and the Publications Committee When we were all together in Chicago in October, we had a chance to thank Anne Mitchell, our General Secretary, for her time with us. Anne joined us three years ago at a time of transition for this organization. She was able…

Friends Fiduciary Creates a Fossil Free Investment Option

Great news for Quaker investors! Friends Fiduciary Corporation (FFC) has announced a new Fossil Free Fund. Friends are called to be patterns and examples. Many Friends experience a moral incongruity owning companies that knowingly continue to cause global warming for profit. In a recent…

British Quakers Call for Divestment

Quakers in Britain took steps on October 8, 2013 to disinvest from companies engaged in extracting fossil fuels. The decision was taken by their Investment Committee, under responsibilities devolved by the Trustees. Quakers say that investing in companies which are engaged in fossil fuel extraction is…

Active Neutrals

Young Adult Quaker Justin Wright has co-founded an Alternative Dispute Resolution non-profit organization called Active Neutrals, which has now run multiple negotiation trainings for an energized, mobilized, and fast-growing group of fossil fuel divestment activists: college students across the US. Active Neutrals is a group of…

SosteNica: the Sustainable Development Fund of Nicaragua

The Divest from Fossil Fuel movement is only one part of a larger divestment movement that each of us can join. There are many ways Friends can begin to divest from the old economy: We can develop a “divestment strategy,”work on expanding our “divestment portfolios,” begin to calculate…

Fossil Fuel Divestment and Quaker Witness

Brian Drayton Fossil fuel divestment is an important new strand in the movement to combat climate change and move our society to a more sustainable and reverent way of life. Whoever is drawn to it should get into it, as soon as they can. Having said that, one…

Minute to Friends Fiduciary Corporation

Friends Meeting at Cambridge Following is the divestiture minute the Friends Meeting at Cambridge passed in early October of 2013. The minute is to Friends Fiduciary Corporation in Philadelphia where we have meeting funds; at the time of the writing of this minute, FFC had more than 6…

REInvestment at Earlham College

The Responsible Energy Investment (REInvestment) campaign at Earlham College, in Richmond, Indiana, has been working with Earlham’s Socially Responsible Investments Advisory Committee (SRIAC) to develop a screening process for Earlham’s current investments in Coal. We are part of a coalition of over 250 colleges/universities working on fossil fuel…

Speaking Out about Divestment

The following is a copy of the divestment letter Dover Friends Meeting sent to Vanguard after realizing that a portion of funds invested with the company were being used in support of fossil fuel companies. It is our hope that our letter may serve as an inspiration for…

Dover Friends Meeting Epistle on Divestment

Dover Friends Meeting Many are the Vanities and Luxuries of the present Age, and in labouring to support a Way of living conformable to the present World, the Departure from that Wisdom that is pure and peaceable, hath been great. —John Woolman, from “On the Slave…

Green Micro Lending: An Alternative Way to Invest in Renewable Energy

On the occasion that a Friend questions the sensibility of divesting from fossil fuel investments, I’ve seen a few patterns forming. Some among those who question seem to think that those of us who advocate divestment must, in the alternative, expect that the newly divested funds would then…

A Friend’s-Eye View of Divestment

Tom Jackson In February 2013, Dover (NH) Friends Meeting divested of its one investment that had direct holdings in fossil fuels. After completing the divestment, we wrote a letter to the fund company telling them why we divested. We also wrote an epistle to Friends, telling them why…

A Call for Transformation

By Anne Mitchell, General Secretary Have you ever wondered about the World Council of Churches? The WCC is the broadest and most inclusive among the ecumenical movement, with members in more than 110 countries, representing more than 500 million members from 345 member churches.

Learning about Climate Change…in Vietnam

A Q&A interview with David Schaad, a 2013 Mini-Grant recipient In this and continuing issues of BeFriending Creation, we are sharing profiles of our most recent Mini-Grant recipients. We hope the stories inspire you to consider your own Mini-Grant application for a project your meeting would love to do!…

Report on Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

By Mary Gilbert, QEW Representative to the UN I was there in 2001 when Indigenous representatives at the UN first heard that the UN would host and support an annual Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (PFII). I saw grown people jumping in the halls, rejoicing. This May I…

QEW Shines at Southeastern Yearly Meeting

By Mary Jo Klingel Each year, Southeastern Yearly Meeting Friends come together for our annual meeting on the beautiful grounds of a Methodist camp in central Florida. This year our Gathering was titled “Becoming Whole in Mind, Body, Spirit and Planet.” The highlight of our week…

The Impact of Population on Climate Change: A Program Preview

By Roy Treadway At the QEW Steering Committee Meeting and Annual Gathering in Chicago (October 24-27, 2013), collaborators Ken Lawrence, Dick Grossman, Roy Treadway, and Stan Becker will be leading an informative and stirring program on the subject of population as it relates to climate change. Thanks to Roy…

Climate Change is the Issue of Our Times: I=PATE

By Shelley Tanenbaum, Clerk Most of us reading this know that climate change is the issue of our times. Knowing that so many of us are working on this together helps lighten this heavy burden. Climate change and what we can do about it is the theme for…

Letters to Share

By eric maya joy dear friends, the following quote jumped out from martin luther king’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” it drew out of me what i have come to feel are foundational aspects of right relationship with earth. “… In any nonviolent campaign there are…

Climate Change—Embracing Corporate Quaker Action

By Mt. Toby Friends Climate Witness Committee Over the past three years a group at Mt. Toby Friends Meeting in Leverett, Massachusetts has studied the issue of climate change. In that time, the meeting made a number of structural improvements to reduce carbon use in the meeting house.

Variations on “Summer Light”

Tom Small, Publications Clerk Quakers hold one another in the light. Summer Light holds us, enveloping and embracing us through long, quiet days. The very air is bright as the yellow flowers of July and August gather sunlight and offer, in return, an earthly reflection of celestial energy. My favorite…

A Letter to President Obama

Dear QEW Friends, Quaker Earthcare Witness encourages all Friends, monthly and yearly meetings to thank President Obama for his planned action on climate change. We see the need for a groundswell of support to counter expected strong opposition. These proposals are long overdue and represent a first step in what…

A Statement from QEW’s UN Working Group

Statement to the Post 2015 Consultations Submitted by Quaker Earthcare Witness, July 10 2013 For more information about QEW please contact Anne Mitchell, General Secretary. As Quakers, part of our tradition is to remain open to all sources of wisdom and recognize that we are all seekers and stewards of…

Big Changes @ the UN

Mary Gilbert, QEW Representative to the UN I have never seen the like, not at the UN! The countries are taking seriously the threats human activity has brought to Earth’s ability to host us and other species. They get it! Best of all, they get that it is really one…

QEW at the Gathering

Shelley Tanenbaum, Clerk In keeping with Friends General Conference’s theme of “Our Growing Edge,” we explored the query, What is your Monthly or Yearly Meeting’s growing edge on environmental concerns? The query and responses were one of the 14 sessions we hosted in this year’s Earthcare center. The Earthcare Center provided…

Thanks for a Productive Gathering!

Anne Mitchell, General Secretary QEW held its Steering Committee meeting, June 27 – 30 at Boulder, Colorado. We were warmly welcomed and hosted by Boulder Monthly Meeting. Boulder Friends provided housing, transport, and their beautiful Meeting House in a wonderful location with views of the mountains. Some of the highlights…

Bridging Gaps and Proposing Next Steps

Mary Gilbert A book review by Mary Gilbert Crisis of Global Sustainability, by Tapio Kanninen. #74 in the Routledge Global Institutions Series, Routledge, New York, NY, 10017, 2013. Maybe you’re like me; you’ve heard of the book Limits to Growth and its warning that we can’t have endless economic growth on a finite…

QEW: A Nature Walk for All Friends

Os Cresson One day in 1652 George Fox was concerned to demonstrate his unity with all creation. As he later described it in his journal, “[T]here came John Story to me, and lighted his pipe of tobacco, and, said he, ‘Will you take a pipe of tobacco,’ saying, ‘Come, all…

Visioning the Future in a Full Earth

David Millar For some years it has been clear that environmental doom-saying, because it is a poor motivator, is a dead end. However true the predictions of global overheating, climate chaos, resource wars, pollution, and disease (with consequent mass death or displacement) may be, they lead most people to despair…

Statement on Unity with Diversity

The Spiritual Nurturance Committee, QEW Dear Friends, As both Friends and environmentalists we on the Spiritual Nurturance Committee of Quaker Earthcare Witness hold a variety of personal views, beliefs and approaches based in the variety of our backgrounds, traditions and experiences. We see it as good…

Welcome to QEW’s Earthcare Center!

Shelley Tanenbaum QEW Friends are invited to visit our Earthcare Center at Friends General Conference this summer, July 1-5, 2013. We are planning an interesting range of presentations every afternoon (except Wednesday, the FGC day of rest, when we’ll show films). You’ll find a schedule posted on our…

Quaker Earthcare Witness & Long-Range Planning

Anne Mitchell QEW is moving into an exciting period of its existence. At the October 2012 gathering, we reminisced about the first 25 years of the organization from its founding in 1987. Those at that first meeting in 1987 concluded, “There is a need for Friends to give forceful witness…

An Accidental Activist

Katherine Murray My daughter and I drove through a dramatic April rainstorm to hear the gentle stories and powerful inspiration shared by Dr. Jane Goodall on April 17. Of the many beautiful and poignant ideas in Dr. Goodall’s talk, one in particular has stayed with me over the passing weeks.

Continuing the Conversation

Judy Lumb Circles of Discernment and Leadings and Concern Groups give Friends the opportunity to deepen and share Quaker Institute for the Future (QIF), as a way to facilitate Spirit-led research and action in the manner of Friends using worship sharing and group discernment on topics of critical importance for the future of…

Letters from Our Readers

Rory Short, Johannesburg Monthly Meeting Dear QEW Friends, I discovered your website today. It speaks to me. First some personal background: I am a member of Central and Southern Africa Yearly Meeting and within it I am a member of Johannesburg Monthly Meeting. I am in my mid-seventies and have…

Placing Concern for Earth Center-Stage

Recently a Friend brought to our attention Sarah Moon’s original play, Tauris, which invites audiences to consider contemporary environmental concerns in the context of Greek drama. Tauris will soon have its world premiere as part of the 5th Annual Planet Connections Theatre Festivity in June 2013. Following is a Q&A…

Blossoming and Building at Finca La Bella

By Os Cresson Recently several members of QEW visited Finca La Bella in the San Luis Valley in Monteverde, Costa Rica. Bill and Alice Howenstine were accompanied by their daughter, son-in-law, and two high school-aged granddaughters, and Os Cresson was with his great-nephew, also of high school age.

Considering Earth

By Louis Cox What do we call our planet? The earth? Or just Earth? It has long been common usage to say the earth (and to spell it lowercase) when talking about this planet in a scientific context. This goes along with the practice of referring to the sun and the moon as objects…

What are the UN’s Millennium and Sustainable Development Goals?

By Mary Gilbert, QEW Representative to the UN The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) came out of the UN Millennium Summit in 2000. There are eight goals (see sidebar, right), intended to improve social and economic conditions in the poorest countries in the world by 2015. A conference held in 2010 assessed…

What are the UN’s Millennium and Sustainable Development Goals?

What are the UN’s Millennium and Sustainable Development Goals? By Mary Gilbert, QEW Representative to the UN The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) came out of the UN Millennium Summit in 2000. There are eight goals (see sidebar, right), intended to improve social and economic conditions in the poorest countries in the…

Life and Death in the Galápagos

By Richard Grossman We had just seen a Galápagos hawk soaring overhead when we heard an incongruous sound: here were cats mewing beside the path. I caught a glimpse of a tabby kitten with the bluest eyes. “I like cats,” our guide said, “but I’ll have…

Galápagos: Lessons from Finches, Marine Iguanas, and Islands

By Tom Small Now, as we careen into the Anthropocene era, the human species has seemingly become the prime mover of ever-accelerating change; but we are nonetheless subject to it. Subject to inexorable processes of evolution. “In this changing world everything is subject to change,” says the Isha Upanishad.

Notes of Gratitude

Notes of Gratitude On Synthetic Biology See You in Colorado This Summer Peaceful, Joyful, Random Thoughts During a Blizzard Catching Up with Barbara Williamson Inviting Your Support Quaker Institute for the Future Summer Seminar…

On Synthetic Biology

By Anne Mitchell, General Secretary Notes of Gratitude On Synthetic Biology See You in Colorado This Summer Peaceful, Joyful, Random Thoughts During a Blizzard Catching Up with Barbara Williamson Inviting Your Support Quaker Institute for…

See You in Colorado This Summer

Shelley Tanenbaum Notes of Gratitude On Synthetic Biology See You in Colorado This Summer Peaceful, Joyful, Random Thoughts During a Blizzard Catching Up with Barbara Williamson Inviting Your Support Quaker Institute for the Future Summer…

Catching Up with Barbara Williamson

Notes of Gratitude On Synthetic Biology See You in Colorado This Summer Peaceful, Joyful, Random Thoughts During a Blizzard Catching Up with Barbara Williamson Inviting Your Support Quaker Institute for the Future Summer Seminar…

Inviting Your Support

Anne Mitchell, QEW General Secretary Notes of Gratitude On Synthetic Biology See You in Colorado This Summer Peaceful, Joyful, Random Thoughts During a Blizzard Catching Up with Barbara Williamson Inviting Your Support Quaker Institute for…

Quaker Institute for the Future Summer Seminar

Notes of Gratitude On Synthetic Biology See You in Colorado This Summer Peaceful, Joyful, Random Thoughts During a Blizzard Catching Up with Barbara Williamson Inviting Your Support Quaker Institute for the Future Summer Seminar…

Making Space for Young Adult Leadership

By Emily Higgs Notes of Gratitude On Synthetic Biology See You in Colorado This Summer Peaceful, Joyful, Random Thoughts During a Blizzard Catching Up with Barbara Williamson Inviting Your Support Quaker Institute for the Future Summer…

Letters from Our Readers

Notes of Gratitude On Synthetic Biology See You in Colorado This Summer Peaceful, Joyful, Random Thoughts During a Blizzard Catching Up with Barbara Williamson Inviting Your Support Quaker Institute for the Future Summer Seminar…

Bringing Hope & Action to Our Earth Witness

by Dick Grossman, Durango (CO) Friends Meeting Our co-housing community is on ranch land, much of which has been abandoned to wildlife. Our housing cluster is in the middle of this beautiful land. Unfortunately, there are several fence lines with rusted barbed wire presenting hazards to man and animals alike.

One Week at Doha

by Oliver Robertson Associate Representative at QUNO and QEW Representative to COP 18 It always seems impossible until it is done. –Nelson Mandela This is one of the inspiring phrases sitting on my desk at the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) in Geneva, a desk more than 4,500 kilometres from the…

Calling All Voices

by Mary Gilbert, QEW Representative to the UN I’ve been going to the United Nations for 12 years now, witnessing how the nations of the world deal with human impact on our planet’s health. Everyone acknowledges that certain problems, such as ocean acidification, sea level rise, unprecedented flooding and…

Queries on Faith and Genetics

Submitted by Anne Mitchell Queries on Faith and Genetics Sustainability and QEW A Friendly Interview with the New QEW Publications Coordinator Don’t Give Up Your Leading When Will We Wake? Think Globally, Act Locally A…

Sustainability and QEW

by Anne Mitchell, QEW General Secretary Queries on Faith and Genetics Sustainability and QEW A Friendly Interview with the New QEW Publications Coordinator Don’t Give Up Your Leading When Will We Wake? Think Globally, Act Locally…

A Friendly Interview with the New QEW Publications Coordinator

by Louis Cox, Outgoing QEW Publications Coordinator Queries on Faith and Genetics Sustainability and QEW A Friendly Interview with the New QEW Publications Coordinator Don’t Give Up Your Leading When Will We Wake? Think Globally, Act Locally…

Don’t Give Up Your Leading

by David Millar, Montreal Friends Meeting Queries on Faith and Genetics Sustainability and QEW A Friendly Interview with the New QEW Publications Coordinator Don’t Give Up Your Leading When Will We Wake? Think Globally, Act Locally…

When Will We Wake?

by Angela Manno, Fifteenth Street Meeting (NY) Queries on Faith and Genetics Sustainability and QEW A Friendly Interview with the New QEW Publications Coordinator Don’t Give Up Your Leading When Will We Wake? Think Globally, Act Locally…

Think Globally, Act Locally

by Carolyn Hiatt, Indianapolis (IN) First Friends Meeting Queries on Faith and Genetics Sustainability and QEW A Friendly Interview with the New QEW Publications Coordinator Don’t Give Up Your Leading When Will We Wake? Think Globally, Act…

A City of Two Tales

by Louis Cox, Burlington (VT) Friends Meeting Queries on Faith and Genetics Sustainability and QEW A Friendly Interview with the New QEW Publications Coordinator Don’t Give Up Your Leading When Will We Wake? Think Globally, Act Locally…

Welcome, Katherine!

by Shelley Tanenbaum, QEW Clerk Queries on Faith and Genetics Sustainability and QEW A Friendly Interview with the New QEW Publications Coordinator Don’t Give Up Your Leading When Will We Wake? Think Globally, Act Locally A…

Welcome, Katherine!

by Shelley Tanenbaum, QEW Clerk Queries on Faith and Genetics Sustainability and QEW A Friendly Interview with the New QEW Publications Coordinator Don’t Give Up Your Leading When Will We Wake? Think Globally, Act Locally A…

Thank you, Louis!

by Dick Grossman, Continuing Counsel Clerk Queries on Faith and Genetics Sustainability and QEW A Friendly Interview with the New QEW Publications Coordinator Don’t Give Up Your Leading When Will We Wake? Think Globally, Act Locally…

Earthcare, Our Spiritual Journey Home

By Mary C. Coelho and Mary Jo Klingel Illustrations by Mary C. Coelho The New Story prepares us for further evolution in human consciousness, to become active participants in the creative Earth process. “WHAT does that have to do with me? So what?” That’s how some people respond when told…

Sustainability and Truth

By Louis Cox. THE TERM “SUSTAINABILITY” came into fashion with the modern environmental movement, particularly after the 1992 UN Earth Summit. The concept has offered hope in the face of relentless bad news by highlighting things that ordinary people can do that would make a big difference if enough…

Peace on Earth, Peace with Earth: Living in a Radically New Way

By Kim Carlyle. Living in a Radically New Way SINCE 1955 when he registered as a conscientious objector, Karl Meyer has been an activist for peace, advocating nonviolence, organizing demonstrations, and refusing to pay taxes to finance war. Over the years, he has come to realize that an…

Living in Right Relationship

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY QUAKER John Woolman called for living in the “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.

Glass filled with pennies and nickels with small plant growing out of it

Friends, Money, and the Earth

This article is part of our Pamphlets for Sharing series produced by QEW’s Publications Committee. Download the PDF here or order print copies by emailing info@quakerearthcare.org. Mindful earning, spending, giving, and investing can lower our ecological foot- prints and promote peace and social justice. But going beyond our…

Mindful Living, Mindful Giving

This article is part of our Pamphlets for Sharing series produced by QEW’s Publications Committee. Download the PDF here or order print copies by emailing info@quakerearthcare.org. “COMPASSIONATE CONSUMPTION is not about sacrificing or giving up what we need. It is about reawakening to the sacred within and around…

The Spiritual Dimension: Why We Care for the Earth

This article is part of our Pamphlets for Sharing series. Download the PDF or email info@quakerearthcare.org for print copies to share and distribute. By Jack Phillips WHAT DO WE MEAN by saying, “Our concern for the Earth is a spiritual one”? By recognizing this concern as spiritual, we are…

Quakers Practicing Sustainability

This article is part of QEW’s Pamphlets for Sharing Series. Download it here or email info@quakerearthcare.org Practicing Sustainability—What Does It Mean for Friends? Caterpillars undergo transformation into butterflies; tadpoles into frogs. This is metamorphosis. Can we transform our culture and our individual lives to…

Slowing Down the Speed of Life

This article is part of our Pamphlets for Sharing series produced by QEW’s Publications Committee. Download the PDF here or order print copies by emailing info@quakerearthcare.org. Slowing down is a spiritual process, based on reverence for life, ourselves, and each other. LIFE has its own cycles, rhythms, and…

Peace on Earth, Peace with Earth

This article is part of our Pamphlets for Sharing series produced by QEW’s Publications Committee. Download the PDF here or order print copies by emailing info@quakerearthcare.org. The Peace Testimony The Peace Testimony is a principal tenet of the Religious Society of Friends. Friends have always worked to reconcile…

Freeing Ourselves from Possessions

This article is part of our Pamphlets for Sharing series produced by QEW’s Publications Committee. Download the PDF here or order print copies by emailing info@quakerearthcare.org. By Tom Small FOR SOME TIME NOW, my house has been becoming more transparent. I can see across it,…