2022 - QEW

Green grass on the left with a strip of dirt in the center and then black charred ground on the right

Regeneration: A Matter of Life and Breath

by Tom Small. Breath is what unites us. It unites us with the “other.” With all of creation. Breath is the rhythm, the flow of life itself. Call it Ch’i. Or ruah. Or spiritus. Or rta. The universal breath, life force, or rhythmic pattern of all being. When we interrupt…

Minute on Native American Boarding School Healing

Southeastern Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, meeting as Winter Interim Business Meeting, approves adding a line item to the budget for a recurring annual donation to the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition of a minimum of $300.00 with the hope of increasing that amount in…

Minute of Support for Indigenous People

The North Pacific Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends repudiates the Doctrines of Discovery: the religious basis for European colonization around the world. We acknowledge and regret Friends’ role in the ensuing genocide, land theft, and forced assimilation of the peoples indigenous to this continent, including Friends’ role…

The Legacy of Quaker Boarding Schools for Native Americans: On the Debts We Owe the Past and the Ghosts of Our Becoming

by Allen McGrew. Convinced Friends may wonder why they should accept responsibility for the abuses of Quaker boarding schools that received native Americans over a century ago. If so, they might also ask whether they can claim the heritage of John Woolman, George Fox, Margaret Fell or other historical Friends.

Family Planning Helps the Planet

by Susan F. Newcomer. Addressing population growth in human terms, not as the bugbear “overpopulation,” necessitates addressing sexuality and childbearing, two particularly sensitive topics. Over the years, Quakers have addressed “episodes of sexual activity” as “sacred, as an expression of a couple’s love for each other” and addressed contraception by…

World Population Reaches 8 Billion

by Stan Becker, Tom Cameron, Dick Grossman, Roy Treadway. As ecological disasters of all kinds threaten our planet-—disasters worsened by increasing population—the number of humans on the Earth reached 8 billion in November, according to the United Nations Population Division. This marks the continuation of the very rapid growth of…

Inspiring the World to Come Together Along the Blue Ridge

Introducing the Friends Wilderness Center & the China Folk House Retreat by Kimberly Benson. About 300 million years ago, the Earth demonstrated that unity is physically possible. Laurasia and Gondwana merged, forming a world with one continent and one ocean. The convergence uplifted the Central Pangean Mountains, raising the depths…

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…

Faces of 11 people with green background

Quaker Earthcare Witness in 2022

This year, the effects of climate change and ecological collapse have been more than evident. Starting in June, torrential rains flooded Pakistan, with many areas still under water leaving tens of millions at risk. In September, Hurricane Fiona devastated Cuba and Puerto Rico (with Puerto Rico still recovering from Hurricane…

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…

Cityscape as seen through a broken, rusty fence

Moving Corporate America Toward a Sustainable Economy

By David Ciscel. How do we get to a livable and sustainable world, starting from the economy that we are living in? That is an incredibly difficult job for many reasons. But one issue rises above the many others. The key institution in the modern global economy is the large,…

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…

New Jersey Friends Take Action At Home

Caption: Screenshot from PBS documentary, “How Americans Can Change Their Mindset about Wasting Food.” by Alice Andrews and Laird Holby. The idea for Medford Meeting’s Earth Day workshop “Green Your Life: Where to Start” came from a member of our Climate Change Group who, only too aware of the bad…

The Climate Justice Movement Must Be Anti-War: Notes from Antiwar Organizers

by Jasmine Butler, Power Shift Network. Power Shift Network is an intergenerational network of organizations and campaigns that center the diverse young people most impacted by the climate crisis. They generously let QEW reprint this article. No matter your specific organizational or ideological affiliation, anyone who cares about…

Hands digging in dirt with plants and roots visible

Simplicity and Right Relationship

by Bill Cahalan. I agree with Wendell Berry, who wrote in his 1977 book, The Unsettling of America, that the United States is an unsettled country. We, not only in North America but in all the industrial world, are disconnected from our natural sources. So most of us only vaguely…

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…

A Native American Land Reparation Pledge

by Gail Melix and Lewis Randa. Reparations to Indigenous Peoples can take many forms. Through our work with Massachusetts’ Peace Abbey, we have developed one action that might work well for others, the Native Land Reparation Pledge (NLRP). The pledge states one’s intention to donate 1% of the sale price…

Cause & Effect

By Christopher Haines. Rhyme and Reason There was an old woman who lived in a shoe. She had so many children. She didn’t know what to do. But try as she would…

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…

Photo by Kathy Barnhart. She writes, “Chinese Houses, California Poppies, Lupines, Tidy Tips amidst the oak trees make such a wonderful palette. This area in Shell Ridge Open Space Preserve [CA] is tended by a large group of volunteers, encouraging native flowers and plants and weeding out invasives. What a gift they have given to all!”

Spring is Here: Time to Plant Native Plants

By Jim Kessler. Native plants are adapted to the local area and its climate. Unfortunately, many of our beautiful non-native garden flowers provide little or no food for honeybees, native pollinators, songbirds, and other wildlife. Non-native plants have the potential to become invasive species, weeds that spread rapidly…

FWCC Asks: What’s Happening in Spirit-Led Climate Action Among Quakers?

Epistle from Friends World Committee for Consultation, Section of the Americas (FWCC). To all Friends Everywhere: On Saturday, 19th day of the 3rd month, a Consultation was held by FWCC entitled: Spirit-Led Climate Action Among Quakers: What’s Happening? This Zoom event was attended by approximately 40…

Rainforest Restoration in Hawaii

By Yumi Teresa Radtke Kawano. Editor’s Note: Yumi invited the Quaker Earthcare Witness Steering Committee on a virtual tour of her home in April, and I had the opportunity for a longer tour and conversation a few weeks before. I invite you to imagine you are there with…

Earth at night with light visible more from the Northern half of the hemisphere

The North-South Divide

By Brad Stocker. Context is everything. Context shapes the meaning of our words and thoughts. Recently I attended a workshop called “What’s Missing (and Needed) Post COP26?” hosted by the Quaker United Nations Office and the Quaker Council for European Affairs. During this event, the “North” and the…

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…

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…

Drawing of car with large smoke cloud coming out of exhaust with red line drawn through it

No More Idling

By Wayne Michaud. As a member of Sacramento Friends Meeting’s Eco-Spirituality Committee and as executive director of a non-profit that advocates for and educates about transportation efficiency, I would like to reach out to Friends on an issue I have been passionate about for 15 years: vehicle idling. …

Quaker Earthcare Witness News & Updates

by Shelley Tanenbaum. Quaker Earthcare Witness’ primary goal is to nurture a spiritual transformation in our relationship with the living world. Our efforts include projects, events, and other resources, all aimed at reaching a wider circle of Friends and like-minded individuals and organizations. Over the past two pandemic years, we…

Protecting the Last Hope Wildlife Corridor

by Carol Bradley. One need only look down from a plane, or check out the satellite view of any Crown land forest in Nova Scotia to see just how much clearcutting is going on. Total massacre. Logging roads growing like a cancer across the province. – The Stop Spraying and…

Book Review of Paul Hawken’s Regeneration: Ending The Climate Crisis in One Generation

by Ruah Swennerfelt. Degeneration of land, water, forests, biodiversity, and human health are causes of climate change. And climate change is yet another cause of poverty. Turning this vicious circle to a virtuous one is crucial to addressing the climate crisis. In 1998, my husband Louis and I represented Quaker…

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…

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…

Earth Quaker Action Team Takes on Vanguard

by Jonathan Ogle. The world’s biggest asset managers have a big problem. Companies such as BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street manage trillions of dollars of investment on behalf of millions of investors. Even while they sign commitments to make their own office operations carbon neutral, they have been investing hundreds…

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…

Midwifery

by Pamela Haines. A regular high point in my week is being in touch with a handful of young climate activists. Through a young man who stayed in our spare room while doing student fossil fuel divestment work and then went on to be one of the founders of the…

Witnessing the Sacred Depth of Nature

by Mary Conrow Coelho. There are remarkable discoveries now offered to Quaker Earthcare Witness that can greatly strengthen its work and witness. One evening in the early 1990s, a small group gathered to listen to a talk in a video series describing the changes in worldview brought by discoveries in…

Category: 2022

Regeneration: A Matter of Life and Breath

Minute on Native American Boarding School Healing

Minute of Support for Indigenous People

The Legacy of Quaker Boarding Schools for Native Americans: On the Debts We Owe the Past and the Ghosts of Our Becoming

Family Planning Helps the Planet

World Population Reaches 8 Billion

Inspiring the World to Come Together Along the Blue Ridge

Prioritizing Environmental Justice as We Transition Into A Green Economy

Quaker Earthcare Witness in 2022

Worship with Attention to Climate Finance

Moving Corporate America Toward a Sustainable Economy

Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation

New Jersey Friends Take Action At Home

The Climate Justice Movement Must Be Anti-War: Notes from Antiwar Organizers

Simplicity and Right Relationship

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

A Native American Land Reparation Pledge

Cause & Effect

Military Jets & Environmental Restoration

Spring is Here: Time to Plant Native Plants

FWCC Asks: What’s Happening in Spirit-Led Climate Action Among Quakers?

Rainforest Restoration in Hawaii

The North-South Divide

Moral Standards for Asset Managers?

Climate Doomism Calls On Us To Act, Not Despair

No More Idling

Quaker Earthcare Witness News & Updates

Protecting the Last Hope Wildlife Corridor

Book Review of Paul Hawken’s Regeneration: Ending The Climate Crisis in One Generation

Mind the Gap: Quaker Engagement at COP26

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

Earth Quaker Action Team Takes on Vanguard

Recognizing a Human Right to a Healthy Environment

Midwifery

Witnessing the Sacred Depth of Nature

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