In the Meeting for Business on 11/12/06 Strawberry Creek approved the following minute:
We recognize that our current human impact on the planet is environmentally damaging, and that conflicts over resources are aggravating the conditions for war. We also recognize that when resources are scarce, it is the most vulnerable people and ecosystems that are at risk. Spiritually, we are compelled to care for both.
We call for Friends to examine and shift our individual impacts to the extent that each is able, so that Earth's resources are sustained or replenished. Such commitment will likely entail major adjustments in our purchases, our diets, transportation and livelihood.
While many individual Friends have progressed toward a sustainable lifestyle, we must now move to a corporate witness in our meetings, joining with and helping each other and also like-minded groups in supporting our common concerns.
We ask all to stay continually informed about this evolving planetary crisis and discern future actions. We appeal to all Friends to make this a standing priority in our families, meetings, and communities. We recognize that the actions described below are only the first steps in what is needed; we will work towards a transformation at all levels of society to create a sustainable way of life.
Recommended Immediate Actions
- Reduce our meeting-wide greenhouse-gas emissions at least 10% in the coming year by personally decreasing driving, flying, and home energy use and by utilizing efficient alternatives (for those who are able to do so). Maintain a list of suggested specific actions.
- Labor with and learn from others to help us all examine and reduce our fossil fuel consumption.
Engage in collective discernment into how we might witness most powerfully for systemic impact. Regularly, worship together, study and discuss climate change and personal adjustments, allowing spirit to work amongst us.- Network among meetings and other groups to share resources and expertise.
- Labor with those who shape public opinion and policy to promote Earth care. From local to global, advocate for measures and policymakers to protect Earth's resources, promote environmental justice, and reduce the occasion for war.
- Work through personal participation and public policy to mitigate the impacts of resource wars and climate change on the most vulnerable people and ecosystems.
The following Minute was approved at Pacific Yearly Meeting's Gathering at the University of Redlands, 7/30-8/4, 2007:
Friends have come to recognize that caring for the Earth is a true spiritual concern. In the most recent Faith and Practice, we are asked to "live according to principles of right relationship and right action within the larger whole. Be aware of the influence humans have on the health and viability of life on earth." Throughout Pacific Yearly Meeting, a growing number of individuals and meetings have taken specific steps to raise awareness and alter behavior in these regards.
We now are facing global climate change, a phenomenon no longer seriously in doubt within the scientific community. As a result of choices we have made, the Earth is growing ever hotter, exacerbating weather extremes, habitat destruction, species extinction, and the dislocation of human lives. We recognize that resource scarcity brings greatest risk to the most vulnerable people. It can also aggravate the conditions for war.
These changes, we can no longer escape entirely. Yet some of the harm may be avoided if we act responsibly soon. In the face of these awesome challenges, we turn away from either apathy or despair toward way opening in the Light. We acknowledge the need to awaken to our sacred connection to life on this Earth.
We call for Friends to examine and decrease our individual impacts, where possible, so that Earth's resources are sustained or replenished. Such commitment will likely entail major adjustments in our purchases, diets, transportation, and livelihoods.
While many individual Friends have progressed toward a more sustainable lifestyle, we must now move toward a corporate witness in our meetings, joining with and helping each other and also like-minded groups, in our common concerns.
We ask all to stay continually informed about this evolving planetary crisis to discern future actions that will become needed. We appeal to all Friends to make this a standing priority in our families, meetings, and communities.
We ask monthly meetings in the coming year to discuss and discern this minute in terms of their appropriate witness and action and for input at the gathering of the Pacific Yearly Meeting in 2008.
We submit the actions below, ones implemented in various meetings within PYM, to exemplify some possible first steps in creating a sustainable way of life on a healthier planet:
- Reducing personal greenhouse gases at least 10% in the coming year through decreased driving, flying, and home energy use, and using efficient alternatives, for those able to do so.
- Being a resource, encouraging, and learning from others to reduce fossil-fuel consumption.
- Engaging in collective discernment in our meetings to understand and adjust to climate change, allowing spirit to work among us.
- Networking among meetings and other like-minded groups, both religious and secular, to share resources and expertise.
- Laboring with those shaping public opinion and policy to support Earthcare. From local to state, national, and international levels, advocating measures to protect Earth's resources and lessen the occasion for war.
- Through personal participation and public policy, working to promote environmental justice and assist the most vulnerable.