Category: Activism

  • No Faith in Fossil Fuels

    by Miche McCall On the second day of Rosh Hashana, the faith hub at the March to End Fossil Fuels was full of celebrations of Life on Earth. Last September, 75,000 people poured into the streets of New York City to call for our leaders to protect our communities and…

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  • Moving Money Publicly to Move Vanguard

    by Eileen Flanagan. In response to right-wing pressure, Vanguard, one of the world’s biggest investors in fossil fuels-, announced in December 2022 that it was backing away from one its few public climate commitments, the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative. This was disappointing for Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT), which…

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  • Flipping the Narrative to Earth Regeneration

    by Sheree Cammer. On a train trip back east last year, my cousin and his wife introduced me to the Wild Winds Buffalo Preserve in Fremont, Indiana. Bill “Three Paws” Elias drove our tour in a pickup truck. I had the best seat: front seat passenger. The herd was placidly…

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  • What We’re Reading (And Listening To)

    We asked our QEW network about their favorite books, podcasts, and media from 2022. Here’s what they said. Multiple Friends recommended The Nutmeg’s Curse by Amitav Ghosh about abusing nature’s bounty and colonization, and also Wilding: Returning Nature to Our Farm by Isabella Tree. Pamela shared, “I loved Healing Grounds:…

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  • New Jersey Meetings Organize To Stop Export of LNG From Gibbstown

    by Ruth Darlington. When Priscilla Adams and Maria Esche learned about the plans of New Fortress Energy to export Pennsylvania fracked gas from a terminal in Gibbstown, NJ, they took notice, and then they took action. It all started when organizers at Food & Water Watch (FWW) asked Medford Friends…

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  • Taking Collective Action with Third Act

    by Kathy Barnhart. At the beginning of each Meeting for Business at Strawberry Creek Meeting in Berkeley, California, a committee responds to one of the Advices and Queries in our Pacific Yearly Meeting’s Faith and Practice. Last month our Communications Committee responded to the advices and queries on “Harmony with…

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  • The UN’s COP27
: Where Are We Now?

    by Shelley Tanenbaum. After 27 United Nations Climate Conferences, and even earlier conferences and agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol (1997) and the Rio Earth Summit (1992), why are we so far behind in dealing with climate (and biodiversity and desertification)? That is the question that hovered over Quaker Earthcare…

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  • Prioritizing Environmental Justice as We Transition Into A Green Economy

    by Jus Tavcar. With the historic passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in August, a significant amount of funding has been issued for developing green technologies that are set to advance the U.S. economy. We join with the rest of the environmental community in celebrating this monumental legislation, which…

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  • Worship with Attention to Climate Finance

    Quakers Join Across Continents to Call on Vanguard to Stop Funding Dirty Fossil Fuel Projects On Friday, October 7, 150 Quakers gathered in-person and virtually to “worship in action” at strategic locations to call on Vanguard, one of the world’s largest investment companies, to make better on its commitment to…

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  • Almost 50 Quakers & allies are preparing to hold meeting for worship outside the home of Vanguard CEO, Tim Buckley, as dozens more are simultaneously worshipping outside Vanguard’s London office and joining in virtually from across North America.

    Quakers Concerned with Climate Change Worship Outside the Main Line Home of Vanguard CEO Tim Buckley

    Quakers Concerned with Climate Change Worship Outside the Main Line Home of Vanguard CEO Tim Buckley British Quakers held their own worship service outside Vanguard’s London offices, while Quakers across the United States joined both groups over Zoom. WAYNE, PA – On Friday, October 7, almost fifty…

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  • Quakers Campaign for Ethical Investing

    “As people of diverse faiths and spiritualities, we call on the world’s asset managers to stop financing the profoundly immoral destruction of our climate.” -the rev. abby mohaupt, GreenFaith People of faith, environmental groups, and frontline communities and organizations are uniting to call on financial institutions to “stop the money…

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  • Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation

    Oil, gas and coal are the root cause of the climate crisis and despite the destructive reality of fossil fuels, as well as the constant warnings of the scientific community, there is no binding mechanism to limit their production. The Paris Agreement, important as it is, does not reference fossil…

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  • Following Spirit, Despite Fear: Remembering John Woolman in the Vanguard Campaign

    by Eileen Flanagan. On October 7, Delaware Valley Quakers and other members of Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT) will gather on a suburban street in front of a large white home with black shutters and a manicured lawn. One of us will be designated to assure the waiting police that…

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  • August Earthcare Engagement For Your Community

    Dear Friends, Please join us in August for our monthly workshop and see additional resources below. Thank you! Hayley Hathaway, Director Quaker Earthcare Witness ____ ONLINE WORKSHOP Ecological Grief: Engaging with the Emotional Impacts of Climate Change with Gayle Matson & Hayley Hathaway Thursday,…

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  • Beverly Ward Interview on Northern Spirit Radio

    Co-Clerk Beverly Ward Interviewed on Northern Spirit Radio! Beverly Ward is Field Secretary for Earthcare of SEYM, doing all kinds of work to motivate, inform, & unite around work for care for the planet. She offers a range of tailored Earthcare workshops, including topics like Angelic Troublemaking, Climate Equity/Climate Justice, Racial…

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  • June Earthcare Engagement for Your Community

    Dear Friends, As Shelley wrote to you earlier this week, “Our strength and stamina come from our spiritual connection with the living world, and with each other.” Thanks for being part of this community. Here are a few June updates: UPCOMING EVENTS More on…

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  • Flying fighter jet with blue sky background

    Military Jets & Environmental Restoration

    By Katherine van Wormer. An issue of immediate concern to the Madison (WI) Friends is government’s selection of our airport as home for the notorious F-35 fighter planes. The Madison Friends’ Minute begins: As Quakers, we seek to remove the circumstances that foster war, based on…

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  • Moral Standards for Asset Managers?

    By GreenFaith. Religious leaders spanning diverse faiths and continents, representing over half a billion people globally, are making an unprecedented demand this spring on the leaders of large asset managers such as BlackRock and Vanguard. The demand is for these companies to recognize the universal moral values that…

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  • FCNL logo Friends Committee on National Legislation

    Climate Doomism Calls On Us To Act, Not Despair

    By Rosalie Ruetz. As with any divisive issue, there are numerous perspectives on climate change. One that has gained traction in recent years is “climate doomism,” the belief that, short of a miracle, nothing we do can prevent us from reaching a cataclysmic tipping point for the environment…

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  • Purple flowers in a bouquet with grey background

    May Earthcare Engagement for Your Community

    Earthcare Engagement for Your Community The end of April marked the 10th anniversary of the Kabarak Call for Peace and EcoJustice and we’re reflecting on its faithful words: “We dedicate ourselves to let the living waters flow through us – where we…

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  • Connection With the Living World

    Dear Friends, There is an awakening going on about climate, ecological collapse, and environmental justice both within the Society of Friends and beyond. People are opening up to our message of love and connection with the living world. Our QEW network has expanded over the past…

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  • April Earthcare Engagement for Your Community

    April marks the beginning of yearly meeting gathering season for many of us in North America. We’re sharing a few resources to help strengthen the connection between Friends in your region and Quaker Earthcare Witness. Please consider taking the following actions as you prepare for your summer events: 1. Invite a …

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  • International Climate Policy: From Quiet Diplomacy to Youth Activism

    The video is available of the March 15th discussion with Kallan Benson (Fridays for Future USA Director and Friend from Annapolis, MD) and Lindsey Cook (QUNO Representative for Climate Change and Friend from Bonn, Germany). Both Kallan and Lindsey participated in COP 26 in Glasgow, approaching the situation from…

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  • Yellow flower from the underneath with green fuzzy background

    March Earthcare Engagement for Your Community

    Here are this month’s events along with other resources and a link to our future events. In addition, here is a one page introduction to Quaker Earthcare Witness. Please share this page with your monthly…

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  • Mind the Gap: Quaker Engagement at COP26

    by Frank Granshaw and Annette Carter. Our recent trip to Glasgow, Scotland for the UN climate conference for 2021 (COP26) involved a lot of travel by train. We had constant reminders to “Mind the gap when alighting the carriage.” This phrase felt very much in line with the genteel friendliness…

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  • Vanguard Customers Have an Important Role to Play, so Don’t Move Your Money (Yet)!

    by Eileen Flanagan. As soon as Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT) announced that we had joined the international campaign to pressure Vanguard to become a climate leader, we started hearing from Quakers and others who were Vanguard customers that they were eager to move their money to funds that are…

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  • Recognizing a Human Right to a Healthy Environment

    by Lindsey Fielder Cook. Recognition of a human right to a healthy environment can have, in the words of the UN Special Rapporteur, “life-changing potential.” The 2010 UN recognition of water and sanitation as a human right led to significantly improved access to clean water and sanitation…

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  • Kayakers at sunset, Albany Bulb, California

    Young Adults’ Workshop: Exploring Ecospirituality

    Join Hayley Hathaway, of Quaker Earthcare Witness, for Exploring Ecospirituality: Old & New Ways to Imagine & Transform, a workshop for young adults (ages 18-40). The workshop will be held online, Thursday, February 17, 7:30 – 9 pm Eastern Time. “The world is not a problem to be solved; it…

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  • Cedar Green holds up greens as part of mutual aid project

    Our Wishlist: 7 Ways to Get Involved

    Hello Friends, Our Quaker Earthcare Witness network is filled with gifts. Friends offer their time, financial resources, prayers, experience, expertise, and connections to help our growing community care for the Earth and each other. Here are a few ways we’re hoping you can continue to generously share your gifts this season.

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  • Green grassy hill with path to the top and blue sky with pink clouds

    Another World is Possible: An End of Year Message

    There is Light all around us. It shows us another world is possible. Let’s open our eyes to see it. When we follow the teachings of nature, we can restore habitat—this happened in Yellowstone National Park when wolves were reintroduced to the ecosystem to restore the natural balance. When we remember…

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  • Candles placed on floor to create the numbers 1.5 degrees celsius

    Keep 1.5° Alive The U.N. Climate Change Conference

    by Hayley Hathaway. “For those that have eyes to see. For those that have ears to listen. For those that have a heart to feel. 1.5 is what we need to survive. 2 degrees is a death sentence for the people of Antigua &…

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  • River with sign labeling Miskwaagamiiwizaaga'igan-ziibi Red Lake River

    Red Lake Treaty Camp: At The Crossroads

    How do you ask a community to be the last to sacrifice their land to support the dying fossil fuel industry? by Shelley Tanenbaum. In September I had the privilege of spending about a week on the frontline at Red Lake Treaty Camp, a spiritual and ceremonial…

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  • Cove with water and kelp, trees in background

    North America the Beautiful: 30×30 Conservation Efforts

    by Joseph Cotham. The United States and Canada have committed to the conservation of 30% of the land and waters of the United States by 2030. The U.S.’ 30×30 initiative has evolved into the America the Beautiful campaign, a national call to action that is noteworthy for its goal and…

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  • Two people standing in front of building with signs. One says "Stop Fossil Fuels." The other says, "Solidarity with the US Hunger Strike"

    Canadian ClimateFast

    by Lyn Adamson. I’m the co-chair of Canada’s ClimateFast, a volunteer-based non-profit dedicated to building strong, informed public pressure to take urgent, substantial and just action on climate change. Our group fasted on the first full day of COP26, November 1, outside of the U.S. Consulate in Toronto as…

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  • Wooden sign with green paint: We must protect what little old growth remains" with a picture of a tree and a heart painted on

    Fairy Creek Blockade

    by Hayley Connors-Keith. Content warning: police violence and sexual abuse On August 21, my partner and I went to the Fairy Creek Watershed on Vancouver Island in British Columbia to support the land defenders on the frontlines and protect the last 2% of old-growth forests.

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  • Black and Indigenous people holding sunflower and corn wearing masks. One person is holding sign "Keep it in the ground! No 'Net Zero'". Across the top is "It Takes Roots Frontline Delegation COP26 Glasgow, Scotland"

    Frontline Communities & Workers Demand Real Climate Solutions, ‘No Net Zero’ and an End to Fossil-Fuels at COP26

    It Takes Roots is a multiracial, multicultural, intergenerational alliance of alliances representing over 200 organizations and affiliates in over 50 states, provinces, territories and Native lands on Turtle Island (known as North America). It is led by women, gender non-conforming people, people of color, Black and Indigenous Peoples. This November,…

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  • People vs Fossil Fuels

    People vs. Fossil Fuels: Build Back Fossil Free Actions

    A Fossil Free Future From October 11 to 15, thousands of people will take action at the White House, participate in civil disobedience, and demand that President Biden choose a side: People vs. Fossil Fuels. Indigenous people, pipeline fighters, water protectors, young people, scientists, faith leaders, and more are saying…

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  • Man with glasses holding up cardboard sign that says "Save the Earth"

    Philadelphia Yearly Meeting’s Climate Sprint

    At Philadelphia Yearly Meeting’s annual sessions this July, Friends came under the weight of the climate emergency as a yearly meeting priority and accepted and approved the Climate Sprint Report, “Moving Together in the Face of Climate Change,” excerpted below. 
To read the full commitment, visit PYM.org. This statement…

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  • George Lakey and friends during June’s Walk for Our Grandchildren.

    Fresh Energy for Our Witness

    by George Lakey. Judging from news accounts of the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, we can expect a fresh dose of anxiety about the future to show up among Friends, even while some of us are reeling from the effects of Covid-19. The report is partly about…

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  • Treaty People Gathering Chalk Sign on Bridge

    Friends Travel in Faith to #StopLine3

    Quakers are coming together to support the growing Indigenous-led movement in northern Minnesota to resist the construction of the Line 3 pipeline. Several Friends participated in non-violent civil disobedience over this past Minnesota winter, several more took part in the June 7 Treaty People Gathering, and others have visited the…

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  • Painted blue banner with text "No Pipelines on Stolen Land" hanging on large machinery

    Stop the Line 3 Pipeline

    “People are giving everything they have to defend this beautiful place and to stand up for future generations. Young people are stepping up to the plate, their future is on the line. This is an extension of the fight that is happening all over Mother Earth, protecting the last beautiful…

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  • Photo: “This is a photo from a socially distanced action where we were very nimble. The other side of the banner says ‘PECO: Forgive Bills Now.’”

    EQAT AT 10: Finding Resilience in an Unimaginable Year

    By Lee McClenon. In the last few decades, some social scientists studying organizations have recognized that organizations are healthiest when they embrace a bit of unpredictability. In this model, networks are more powerful than individuals. Resilience is more important than brute strength. And a groundbreaking idea can come from anywhere.

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  • Build Back Fossil Free

    By Hayley Hathaway and Ruth Darlington. “If we’re going to Build Back Better, we need to do better. And that starts by putting Indigenous people and their voices first, before any [fossil fuels] project is put in place…It is our Indigenous right to protect what little we have left,” shared…

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  • Colors of Fall ~ Along McGee Creek in the Eastern Sierras.

    The Spiritual Basis of 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,…

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  • Green treetops with misty background

    Comment Suggestions on Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for Keystone XL Pipeline

    On March 1 of this year, the U.S. State Department released its draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) on the Keystone XL Pipeline, which is part of TransCanada’s application for a Presidential permit to build and operate the pipeline across the Canadian border into the U.S. A week later on…

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  • Sunset over lake

    Practicing Earth Activism

    By Ruah Swennerfelt (Updated 2021 by Hayley Hathaway). To become more active on behalf of Earth, start by making yourself aware of the issues. Learn from sources in addition to the conventional news reports. Begin examining ways you can reduce your purchases, buy local, rather than transported, goods, walk or…

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  • Group sitting in circle at Ben Lomond Quaker Center

    Young and Old for Climate Justice

    By Hayley Hathaway. GEORGE LAKEY, lifelong civil rights activist, and Friend, hosted “Young and Old for Climate Justice: A Dialog” at Quaker Center in Ben Lomond, CA this January. Forty Friends, ages ranging from 15 to 80, joined the weekend-long retreat in the redwoods. Shelley Tanenbaum, QEW’s General Secretary, and…

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  • Haudenosaunee Confederacy

    For the Love of the Land

    By Pamela Haines. I’VE LOVED THIS bit of land for over fifty years. Coming up over the hill, my heart always opens anew to the jewel of a valley spread out below, part of the rolling farmland and woodlots of central New York state. My father bought an old farm…

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  • Kallan Benson sits on her butterfly parachute

    A Quaker Youth’s Journey in Climate Activism

    By Kallan Benson. AS A 15-YEAR OLD QUAKER, I am accustomed to silence. I understand it is not empty; it can hold profound power. I have felt my spirit resonate in the silence of my Quaker community, but silence has recently taken me outside the meetinghouse to the steps of…

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  • Group of people hawl log

    A Fight for The Yintah

    By Daniel Kirkpatrick. THE THIRTY OF US STOOD in a quiet circle in the gravel on a sunny, cool morning. Wood smoke rose toward the sky from the adjacent lodge, and boreal forests surrounded the clearing. A First Nations elder, Lht’at’en, spoke in her Wet’suwet’en dialect, offering a prayer before…

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  • A red circle that says "Sacred" painted on the ground with a group of people in the background in San Francisco

    Seeking Grace: Reflections from the Rise Up for Climate, Jobs & Justice Mobilization

    By Shelley Tanenbaum. WE CAN’T FULLY ADDRESS A TRANSITION from fossil fuels to renewables without limiting fossil fuel extraction. That is the message delivered in countless street actions (including 30,000 people during an art-inspired march on a perfect California day) and unofficial workshops held throughout the Bay Area, first as…

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  • Photo of people during a protest, a man holding a sign that says "Power Local Green Jobs"

    Love & Political Power

    By Bruce Birchard I WANT TO LIFT UP  two sentences from Martin Luther King’s 1967 address to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference about the relationship between love and power: “What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and…

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  • Banner that says divest

    Divestment for Social Change

    By Kent Walton. HONORING THE ANCIENT adage to “put your money where your mouth is,” Roanoke Friends in Virginia organized a meeting after worship to inform members about divesting from fossil fuel companies. Presented by the Meeting’s Peace and Social Justice Committee, Roanoke Friend and financial advisor Tom Nasta…

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  • Changing Corporations for the Better: Shareholder Engagement

    By Kate Monahan. CORPORATIONS ARE PART of our daily lives. When it comes to halting climate change, we need the meaningful participation of corporations. As Shareholder Engagement Associate at Friends Fiduciary, I’ve seen significant, concrete change come from a company modifying a practice or policy as a result of engagement…

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  • Photograph of Nathan Baring

    Let the Youth Be Heard: Making the Courts Confront the Climate Crisis

    By Shelley Tanenbaum. YOUNG PEOPLE, who are facing a disturbing future due to increasing climate catastrophes, can often feel like their voices are not heard. Lacking power, influence, and even the right to vote, some youth have turned to the courts. In 2015, 21 youth plaintiffs plus Dr. James Hansen…

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  • 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…

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  • Clean Jobs Act Protest

    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…

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  • Climate Pilgrimage

    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…

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  • 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…

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  • 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…

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  • Map of Indivisible Local Action Groups

    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…

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  • 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…

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  • 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…

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  • 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…

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