Category: Timeless
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Spiritual Ecology: My Journey and Our Journey
A Talk by Shelley Tanenbaum. I am deeply grateful to the Southern Appalachian Yearly Meeting’s (SAYMA) planning committee for bringing me here – and for asking me to talk about eco-spirituality and my personal journey. I’ve been asked to talk about what it has meant to me to connect on…
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In the School of the Shipwreck
by Noah Merrill. Editor’s Note: Noah wrote this piece in spring 2020 and his reflections speak to us still. These are the only genuine ideas; the ideas of the shipwrecked. All the rest is rhetoric, posturing, farce. —José Ortega y Gasset JUST OFF THE shore…
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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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Earthcare, Energy, and the Right Use of Things
Visualizing the Better World That Is Possible by Louis Cox TURNING OVER A NEW LEAF. While casting about for ways to introduce this article about changing wasteful lifestyles, one of my favorite movies broke to the surface: A New Leaf (1971, **½) is about a middle-aged playboy…
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Human-Induced Climate Change
By the QEW Sustainability: Faith & Action Working Group What are the effects of human-induced climate change? Human-induced climate change threatens to overarch all the human misuses of creation, including rapidly growing human population, habitat destruction, over-exploitation of resources, and introduction of invasive species. Human-induced climate change is the…
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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…
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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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Talking about Climate Change: A Call for Dialog
“It is good for thee to dwell deep that thou mayest feel and understand the spirits of people.” —John Woolman (1) “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.” —Colossians 4:62 (2) “Whoever says Thou does not…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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.
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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…
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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…
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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…
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