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.
Our meetinghouse is located at the OMNI Center for Peace, Justice & Ecology. Friends from Fayetteville Monthly Meeting have already planted a native plant garden at the Center to provide ecological benefits to pollinators and wildlife, and we are currently working to replace a section of the lawn with native wildflowers. This is part of a larger project our committee is undertaking to have the grounds at the Center certified as a wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation.
Our committee has also been organizing educational programs on Earthcare and various environmental issues for our meeting and the community at large. Friends and other knowledgeable community members conduct the meeting. In addition, a few Friends have been facilitating nature hikes for both our monthly and quarterly meetings for the past couple of years, and intend to continue to provide these opportunities to connect Friends with nature.
We are also providing support for other environmental causes through signing letters and petitions. Recently the Fayetteville Monthly Meeting signed and sent two letters to Congress. One letter supports climate action and urges Congress to acknowledge the serious threat posed by climate change and to reduce greenhouse -gas emissions. The other letter endorses the Carbon Fee and Dividend policy advocated by the Citizens Climate Lobby.
We also have some members of our meeting who are actively involved with other environmental causes and organize a monthly Climate Change Book Forum at our local library to discuss new books and articles on the subject. A few of us also recently took part in a solar-panel-installation work day at the OMNI Center.
We hope that as we get more projects off the ground it will help attract the attention of members of the community at large and inspire others. We have a great deal of momentum and hope to make as much of a difference in our local environment as possible.
