Mary “the non-prophet” Gilbert, QEW Representative to the UN When you come into a complex phenomenon like the UN it takes time to get a fix on what’s happening. Your perceptions keep changing. It can be hard to tease apart your own new learning from any changes going...
Roy Taylor and the Publications Committee When we were all together in Chicago in October, we had a chance to thank Anne Mitchell, our General Secretary, for her time with us. Anne joined us three years ago at a time of transition for this organization. She was able...
Great news for Quaker investors! Friends Fiduciary Corporation (FFC) has announced a new Fossil Free Fund. Friends are called to be patterns and examples. Many Friends experience a moral incongruity owning companies that knowingly continue to cause global warming for...
Quakers in Britain took steps on October 8, 2013 to disinvest from companies engaged in extracting fossil fuels. The decision was taken by their Investment Committee, under responsibilities devolved by the Trustees. Quakers say that investing in companies which are...
Young Adult Quaker Justin Wright has co-founded an Alternative Dispute Resolution non-profit organization called Active Neutrals, which has now run multiple negotiation trainings for an energized, mobilized, and fast-growing group of fossil fuel divestment activists:...
The Divest from Fossil Fuel movement is only one part of a larger divestment movement that each of us can join. There are many ways Friends can begin to divest from the old economy: We can develop a “divestment strategy,”work on expanding our...
Brian Drayton Fossil fuel divestment is an important new strand in the movement to combat climate change and move our society to a more sustainable and reverent way of life. Whoever is drawn to it should get into it, as soon as they can. Having said that, one might...
Friends Meeting at Cambridge Following is the divestiture minute the Friends Meeting at Cambridge passed in early October of 2013. The minute is to Friends Fiduciary Corporation in Philadelphia where we have meeting funds; at the time of the writing of this minute,...
The Responsible Energy Investment (REInvestment) campaign at Earlham College, in Richmond, Indiana, has been working with Earlham’s Socially Responsible Investments Advisory Committee (SRIAC) to develop a screening process for Earlham’s current investments in Coal. We...
The following is a copy of the divestment letter Dover Friends Meeting sent to Vanguard after realizing that a portion of funds invested with the company were being used in support of fossil fuel companies. It is our hope that our letter may serve as an inspiration...
Dover Friends Meeting Many are the Vanities and Luxuries of the present Age, and in labouring to support a Way of living conformable to the present World, the Departure from that Wisdom that is pure and peaceable, hath been great. —John Woolman, from “On the...
On the occasion that a Friend questions the sensibility of divesting from fossil fuel investments, I’ve seen a few patterns forming. Some among those who question seem to think that those of us who advocate divestment must, in the alternative, expect that the newly...
Tom Jackson In February 2013, Dover (NH) Friends Meeting divested of its one investment that had direct holdings in fossil fuels. After completing the divestment, we wrote a letter to the fund company telling them why we divested. We also wrote an epistle to Friends,...
By Anne Mitchell, General Secretary Have you ever wondered about the World Council of Churches? The WCC is the broadest and most inclusive among the ecumenical movement, with members in more than 110 countries, representing more than 500 million members from 345...
A Q&A interview with David Schaad, a 2013 Mini-Grant recipient In this and continuing issues of BeFriending Creation, we are sharing profiles of our most recent Mini-Grant recipients. We hope the stories inspire you to consider your own Mini-Grant application for...
By Mary Gilbert, QEW Representative to the UN I was there in 2001 when Indigenous representatives at the UN first heard that the UN would host and support an annual Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (PFII). I saw grown people jumping in the halls, rejoicing. This...
By Mary Jo Klingel Each year, Southeastern Yearly Meeting Friends come together for our annual meeting on the beautiful grounds of a Methodist camp in central Florida. This year our Gathering was titled “Becoming Whole in Mind, Body, Spirit and Planet.”...
By Roy Treadway At the QEW Steering Committee Meeting and Annual Gathering in Chicago (October 24-27, 2013), collaborators Ken Lawrence, Dick Grossman, Roy Treadway, and Stan Becker will be leading an informative and stirring program on the subject of population as it...
By Shelley Tanenbaum, Clerk Most of us reading this know that climate change is the issue of our times. Knowing that so many of us are working on this together helps lighten this heavy burden. Climate change and what we can do about it is the theme for QEW’s fall...
By eric maya joy dear friends, the following quote jumped out from martin luther king’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” it drew out of me what i have come to feel are foundational aspects of right relationship with earth. “… In any nonviolent...