What is up for QEW in 2017

QEW PLANS AND PROJECTS are well underway or about to be launched as we face rapidly changing earthcare politics and policies in 2017. We are excited about this upcoming work and at the same time remain committed to responding accordingly to events as they unfold this year. Some of our 2017 projects are:

• Faith-based groups will be joining in coalition with others to produce multiple actions about climate during the first 100 days of the new presidential administration. These will culminate with an April 29 march in Washington, DC as well as regional marches/rallies on the same day. QEW along with local Friends’ Meetings in the DC area will be part of the organizing team and will help coordinate Friends’ participation in the April 29 mobilization.
• How can we talk about climate change with Friends and non-Friends who are either deniers or in denial? Our publications committee is preparing background material for distribution on our website and as trifolds on this critical subject.
• We have received a small grant to update our Earthcare for Children and Earthcare for Friends curriculum. These curricula have been in great demand but are now out-of-date (last update was 2010 for Children and 2004 for Friends). The revisions will include current information on climate, environmental justice, population, and other topics, and we will provide downloadable weekly lesson plans from our website.
• As part of the United Nations “Decade for People of African Descent,” QEW will co-host a side event during the High Level Policy Forum in New York this summer on food sovereignty and access to water as climate change accelerates. We are the lead organizer, working with several collaborators.
• A member of our steering committee will be reaching out on our behalf to students on college campuses who are working on addressing climate change.
• We will continue to report on the situation at Standing Rock regarding building the Dakota Access Pipeline, as well as the many other areas where indigenous people and their allies are working to protect the environment from oil and gas expansion projects. Our general secretary is scheduled to give two talks about the situation in January and she will deliver a plenary address at South Central Yearly Meeting on this topic.These projects are in addition to the ongoing work of QEW: producing a bi-monthly newsletter (online and in-print) filled with inspiring and informative articles and links, continually adding new information and useful resources to our website, sponsoring a mini-grants program for hands-on earthcare projects, serving as a Quaker voice on earthcare nationally and internationally, and working in coalition with like-minded faith-based and other organizations.

  Interested in joining any of these efforts? Contact our General Secretary at shelley@quakerearthcare.org.

  Friends are invited to attend QEW’S Steering Committee meetings to learn more and to get to know the committee: April 20-23 in Atlanta, GA and October 19-22 at Pendle Hill, PA. Registration will be posted on our website 2 months prior to the meetings.