Stephen C. Gates Several years ago, I started a regenerative vegetable garden in the sunniest place on my property. Little did I know then that the garden, immediately next to the street, would lead to what I now understand to be...
Plant-Based Propaganda: Building Climate Awareness and Community by the Forkful
Amanda Franklin In 2019, I had a spiritual crisis stemming from an overpowering visceral realization of climate change. I changed our family’s diet, eliminating nearly all animal products (except eggs: thank God for not requiring this baker to go that far.) In summer...
Building Community, Treading Lightly: The Promise of Cohousing
Richard Grossman At the Spring Gathering, speaker Daniel Wahl mentioned “cohousing”. That might be a new word for some Friends, so I thought I would write a bit about my wife’s and my experience after living in a cohousing community for a quarter century....
A Spirit-Led Journey to Sustainability
A Spirit-Led Journey to Sustainability Grinnell Friends Church Solar Field Jim Kessler By way of introduction, Grinnell Friends Church, which is on the edge of Grinnell, Iowa, is a growing pastoral Meeting that averages 100 to 115 worship attenders on a Sunday...
Flipping the Narrative to Earth Regeneration
by Sheree Cammer. On a train trip back east last year, my cousin and his wife introduced me to the Wild Winds Buffalo Preserve in Fremont, Indiana. Bill “Three Paws” Elias drove our tour in a pickup truck. I had the best seat: front seat passenger. The herd was...
Family Planning Helps the Planet
by Susan F. Newcomer. Addressing population growth in human terms, not as the bugbear “overpopulation,” necessitates addressing sexuality and childbearing, two particularly sensitive topics. Over the years, Quakers have addressed “episodes of sexual activity” as...
Spring is Here: Time to Plant Native Plants
By Jim Kessler. Native plants are adapted to the local area and its climate. Unfortunately, many of our beautiful non-native garden flowers provide little or no food for honeybees, native pollinators, songbirds, and other wildlife. Non-native plants have the potential...
Rainforest Restoration in Hawaii
By Yumi Teresa Radtke Kawano. Editor’s Note: Yumi invited the Quaker Earthcare Witness Steering Committee on a virtual tour of her home in April, and I had the opportunity for a longer tour and conversation a few weeks before. I invite you to imagine you are there...
Connection With the Living World
Dear Friends, There is an awakening going on about climate, ecological collapse, and environmental justice both within the Society of Friends and beyond. People are opening up to our message of love and connection with the living world. Our QEW network has expanded...
QEW’s 2021 Annual Report
A Life Giving Future For All We’d like to share with you Quaker Earthcare Witness’ most recent annual report. We’re pleased to say that we are growing steadily and building momentum. And we couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you for your...
Earth Quaker Action Team Takes on Vanguard
by Jonathan Ogle. The world’s biggest asset managers have a big problem. Companies such as BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street manage trillions of dollars of investment on behalf of millions of investors. Even while they sign commitments to make their own office...
Young Adults’ Workshop: Exploring Ecospirituality
Join Hayley Hathaway, of Quaker Earthcare Witness, for Exploring Ecospirituality: Old & New Ways to Imagine & Transform, a workshop for young adults (ages 18-40). The workshop will be held online, Thursday, February 17, 7:30 – 9 pm Eastern Time. “The world is...
Web of Care for the Earth
Dear Friends, As our beloved outgoing clerk, Mary Jo Klingel, writes: “If the past two years of virtual meetings, workshops, and worship sharings have taught QEW Friends anything, it is how very precious our Earthcare community is.” She continues: Those who work...
Q&A with Douglas Gwyn
Doug Gwyn, the author of A Sustainable Life: Quaker Faith and Practice in the Renewal of Creation, generously agreed to be interviewed for this issue of BeFriending Creation. Thanks, Doug! 1. You explain how your thought and interests developed through several books,...
Durham Friends Install Solar Panels
By Dale Evarts. IN AUGUST 2019, following a spiritual leading to live in harmony with Creation by harnessing the energy of the sun to power our meetinghouse, Durham Friends Meeting (DFM), a member of the North Carolina Yearly Meeting Conservative, began generating...
Practicing Earth Activism
By Ruah Swennerfelt (Updated 2021 by Hayley Hathaway). To become more active on behalf of Earth, start by making yourself aware of the issues. Learn from sources in addition to the conventional news reports. Begin examining ways you can reduce your purchases, buy...
Earthcare, Energy, and the Right Use of Things
[flyntTheContent id="581"]
Mutual Aid & Local Food Sufficiency in the Era of COVID-19
By Bob McGahey. South Toe Mutual Aid is an organization of people in the South Toe/Celo, North Carolina area who are collaborating in a variety of activities with intent to strengthen our community’s capacity to meet our resource needs for overall well-being. As a hub...
Quakers Caring for God’s Creation: A Kessler Family Journey
By Jim Kessler. SERENDIPITOUS moments are transformative intellectually and spiritually. In 1970, close to the first Earth Day, I was finishing a Masters in Biology at the University of Northern Iowa. I bought a Sierra Club book entitled A Moment in the Sun. Its clear...
Roadmaps to a Better Future: Analyzing Climate Change Solutions Without Geoengineering
By Judy Lumb. HOW DO WE ensure a future on Earth for humans and other creatures? Three recent reports analyze solutions to climate change that meet the ambition of the Paris Agreement. The Climate Urgency: Setting Sail for a New Paradigm Coopération Internationale...



















