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Greetings , from Quaker Earthcare Witness!
We hope wherever you are in the world right now, you are enjoying the welcome change of seasons. Our hearts go out to all those impacted by the tragedy in Boston yesterday and we invite you to join with us in holding all throughout the world in the light of peace.
This is the second issue of our new enewsletter, Resources for Earthcare Action. We hope that you will forward the newsletter along to friends and others who may be interested, and that you will take the time to share the ideas you find here with others in your Monthly Meeting.
We would love to hear about projects, resources, and activities you are undertaking in your local meeting to help foster the important value of living in right relationship with Earth. In this issue, you’ll hear about a project one meeting shared with us and find links to QEW Mini-Grant Projects online, where you can view slide shows of projects completed by Friends groups around the world.
By the time our next issue rolls around (in June 2013), we’ll be preparing to gather at Boulder Monthly Meeting in Boulder, Colorado, for the QEW Spring Steering Committee meeting, June 27-30, 2013. If you are nearby or planning to go to the FGC Gathering this year, we hope you’ll join us!
An Opening Reflection
 We invite you to reflect along with us on the following paragraph from page 238 of Active Hope, by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone:
“We live in a time when the living body of our Earth is under attack and when the attacker is not an alien force but our own industrial growth society. At the same time, an extraordinary recovery process is under way, a vital creative response we call the Great Turning. What helps us face the mess we are in is the knowledge that each of us has something significant to offer, a contribution to make. In rising to thechallenge of playing our best role, we discover something precious that both enriches our lives and adds to the healing of our world. An oyster, in response to trauma, grows a pearl. We grow and offer, our gift of Active Hope.”
News & Updates
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Friends Speak Out: Boulder Monthly Meeting publishes “A Minute to Repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery and to Affirm the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.” You can find and review the document by clicking here. Boulder MM plans to share the minute with other meetings in IMYM in hopes that other Monthly Meetings will draft similar minutes. If your meeting drafts such a minute, we’d love to hear from you! Post your news to QEW Discussions or send an email to katherine@quakerearthcare.org.
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To find out more about the Doctrine of Discovery and explore the reasons Friends call for its repudiation, visit this page by New York Yearly Meeting. You can also read QEW’s minute, submitted to the U.S. Department of State, by clicking here.
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QEW is now ECOSOC accredited, which gives QEW the ability to attend international conferences convened by the UN on topics related to Economic and Social Affairs, and other subsidiary human rights events and processes. Some QEW members plan to attend at least part of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues meeting at the UN in the second half of May and will have updates when we get together in Boulder in June for the Spring Steering Committee meeting. You can find out more about ECOSOC by clicking here.
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Quaker Earthcare participates in revisions for FCNL policy statement. A number of QEW Steering Committee members and staff were involved in drafting a document of suggested revisions on FCNL policy issues related to the economy and environment. Find out more about the process and the submitted document.
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We're tweeting! You can now follow up on Twitter by clicking here or by searching for @QuakerEarthcare and clicking Follow.
Opportunities: Engage & Connect
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 You have two more weeks to apply for a QEW Mini-Grant! Is your meeting considering an Earth-friendly project you could use some help with? Now is the time to apply for a Mini-Grant to help you bring your project to blossom. QEW Mini-Grants give matching grants of $350 to Quaker meetings and partners who want to create a project that improves their environment. Come visit the QEW Mini-Grants section of our website, read the project guidelines, and view slide shows of the great projects completed over the last three years. Maybe next year your meeting will be featured in a QEW Mini-Grant slide show! Deadline for applications is May 2, 2013.
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Join Us in Boulder! Registrations are now open. The spring QEW Steering Committee meeting will be hosted by Boulder Friends Meeting from June 27 through June 30, 2013, and we hope you will join us as we gather, reconnect, share stories, conduct business, and get to know local Friends. The registration link is now up! We hope you can join us.
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Participate in a Gathering for Deeper Relationship with Earth in July. During the morning sessions of the FGC Gathering in Greeley, Colorado, July 1-5, 2013, we welcome Friends who have a deep, active concern for Earth to come together to examine and apply Friends’ faith and practice and explore deeper relationship with self, other, nature, Earth, an
 d all life spirit. Visit our Upcoming Events page to learn more, see a tentative schedule, review suggested queries for the gathering, and find additional information describing the event.
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Learn What Other Meetings Are Doing. Last month we received an email message asking what other meetings are doing to reduce their use of fossil fuels. So we put the question to you, through the QEW Discussions board and on our Facebook page, and Friends have been submitting their stories. We’ve created a section of our new website to share the ways Friends meetings are living out their Earthcare intentions. Does your meeting have a story to contribute? Maybe you added solar panels, planted a community garden, or replaced your old Frigidaire with a new Energy Star model. We’d love to hear what you’re doing for Earth at your local meetings. Send your stories to katherine@quakerearthcare.org or post them on our Facebook page!
Resources to Share: Living Our Testimonies
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This interesting page on the Transition Network website provides insight into the deep commitment British Quakers are making toward sustainability. On this page you’ll find links to additional helpful resources as well as to the Transition Quaker blog, written by Craig Barnett.
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What do Quakers and Transition Initiatives have in common? Read this interesting story by a Quaker in Transition Exeter (England) to find out about the commonalities and learn how they need to infuse new values and motives in one another.
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One more from the UK: Quakers in Britain.The Sustainability Stories page offers a variety of stories sharing what various British meetings are doing to become sustainable, low carbon communities and meet the challenges of climate change. And click on “collective commitment” for yet more challenging ideas. One of the key concepts seems to be that both Transition Initiatives and Quaker meetings constitute, ideally, local communities of mutual aid.
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 Learning about Energy 101.The U.S. Department of Energy hosted a webinar April 10 unveiling the Energy 101 framework, designed to provide universities and community colleges with a framework for undergraduate curriculum that teaches students about energy needs and encourages them toward solution design and application. 75% of adults surveyed felt they had “a lot” or “fair” amount of knowledge about energy issues, but after testing, only 12% of those same adults were able to pass a very basic quiz about energy facts. This disconnect between perceived understanding and real knowledge can be an obstacle to those working to educate others on issues related to climate change and energy use. You can download the free Energy Literacy guide here.
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Past issues of Quaker Eco-Bulletin are posted on our new website! Come visit our Quaker Eco-Bulletin section and find back issues of QEB to share with your Monthly Meeting. QEB’s purpose is to advance Friends’ witness on public and institutional policies that affect Earth’s capacity to support life. You’ll find issues related to a wide range of Earthcare concerns, including economics, population growth, changing world views and Friends testimonies, social fairness and ecological integrity, and much more.
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Sign up for BeFriending Creation. Do you currently receive copies of BeFriending Creation to share with your meeting? If not, would you like to? BeFriending Creation is QEW’s bi-monthly 12-page publication offering Earthcare articles, news, insights, opportunities, and resources. You can subscribe to BeFriending Creation by clicking here. If you’d like to receive multiple copies for your meeting, please send an email to Katherine (katherine@quakerearthcare.org) indicating the number of copies you’d like to receive.
Until Next Time…
May the changing season inspire and lift you, drawing you closer to nature and encouraging you in your efforts on behalf of Earth. We hope you’ve found something here to share, and we look forward to hearing the stories, ideas, projects, or leadings you’d like to share with us. Send your submissions to katherine@quakerearthcare.org as you feel so led, and have a great month!
In Friendship,
Katherine
Katherine Murray
on behalf of the QEW Publications Committee
Quaker Earthcare Witness
Who we are: Quaker Earthcare Witness is a network of Friends (Quakers) in North America and other like-minded people who are taking spirit-led action to address the ecological and social crises of the world from a spiritual perspective, emphasizing Quaker process and testimonies. For more information, please contact Anne Mitchell at anne@quakerearthcare.org.
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