A passionate group of people in North Pacific Yearly Meeting have proposed an “Earthcare Minute” for seasoning by monthly meetings and worship groups. It was brought up at Annual Session last summer and, though not adopted there, was widely distributed to Friends across the Yearly Meeting. Friends are requested to send reports of their meetings’ deliberations and other comments to the team coordinator, Jonathan Betz-Zall, at jbetzzall (at) gmail.com.
This work follows on NPYM’s previous minute on Climate Change of 2008.
In following up on that minute, Friends at University Meeting developed a number of specific suggestions for action by Friends. Perhaps this will prove useful in seasoning the Earthcare minute.
University Friends Meeting Peace & Social Concerns Committee
Facing the Challenge of Climate Change: proposed followup activities for Friends to undertake
For consideration at UFM’s Monthly Meeting for Business, 9th month 2016
2016-07-03 Friends approved a minute to support Shared Quaker Statement: Facing the Challenge of Climate Change. The committee was asked to report back to the Meeting with specific ways that members of the UFM community can help translate the sentiments expressed in the letter to action.
UFM’s Peace and Social Concerns Committee presents a list of actions for Friends to take at four levels: individual/home, within our Meeting, within our Quarterly and Yearly Meetings, and in the broader society. These are based on a minute adopted at FWCC’s recent meeting in Peru.
Individual/Home:
Examine every element of your physical life to determine to what degree it is truly sustainable. Remember the tripartite nature of sustainability: ecological, economic and social [which includes spiritual]
Educate yourself and others. Attend and help develop educational events. Share sustainability ideas and concerns through writing and lending books, creating publications, initiating conversations, participating in electronic social media.
Reduce meat consumption, choose foods based on the sustainability of their production and distribution, specifically including energy costs, pollution and social impacts. Grow your own food and plant trees.
Travel lightly– cycle, walk, use public transport or alternatives to private cars, keep air travel to a minimum.
Share housing and community resources: Form or join a community, share housing, participate in a transition town movement.
Become politically active in promoting sustainability concerns.
Invest ethically and divest from fossil fuels.
Reduce energy use especially for home heating and electricity consumption.
Use less water and harvest water.
Make time for spiritual connection with nature and God.
Within the Meeting:
Examine every element of the Meeting’s physical life to determine to what degree it is truly sustainable. Remember the tripartite nature of sustainability: ecological, economic and social
Encourage Friends to carry out the individual tasks listed earlier.
Educate Friends and others. Share sustainability ideas and concerns through organized events, writing and lending books, creating publications, initiating conversations, participating in electronic social media.
Generate and maintain a Calendar of Sustainability-oriented Events for Friends and others
Encourage Friends to share transport, equipment and sustainability skills with others in the Meeting community.
Encourage Friends to love nature: lead children out in nature; take care of nature around the meeting house (e.g., landscaping with native plants).
Renovate the Meeting House for sustainability.
Build alliances with like-minded organizations, and publicize our efforts with decision-makers.
Within our Quarterly and Yearly Meetings
Support the sustainability actions of Monthly Meetings.
Build solidarity with local people, especially indigenous people.
Support Quaker sustainability activity in politics and international work.
Connect and share with other Yearly Meetings, directly or via FWCC Sections and World Office. Consider breaking denominational lines, e.g. with Northwest Yearly Meeting churches.
In the wider world:
Develop deeper ideas of sustainability, e.g. the “gift economy”
Advocate for broader and deeper ideas of sustainability, in true partnership with more earth-centered cultures.
Connect and share with other religious bodies, directly or via organizations like Earth Ministry and the Church Council of Greater Seattle.
Develop urban agriculture, community gardens, community supported agriculture, and plant trees.
Uphold, publicize and support sustainability activities of Quaker and other organizations. This would include FCNL’s legislative work, AFSC’s community organizing, QEW’s education, and developing something like EQAT’s social activism.