This week is called Earth Week. I plan to post an agenda of activities for each day, to show my dedication and love for the earth.
Agenda today:
1. Watch videos
2. Write about my Earth Quaker ideas
3. Plan some actions to take
4. Ground in the earth
2. Write about my Earth Quaker ideas:
Next week I'm helping to lead our Adult Religious Education class, called "Quakers and the Natural World". I'll write a little of my talk here each day.
Yesterday I wrote about earth stewardship and why I prefer to name my belief the Testimony of Unity with Nature.
Unity is how we talk about our process of corporate discernment: In Meetings for Business we take a step beyond consensus to find a spiritual unity. We have an immense belief in the reality of continued revelation, and we expect a revelation of God’s direction in our meetings. God leads us in unity.
Howard Brinton explained that since there is but one Light and one Truth, if the Light be faithfully followed, unity will result. He stated that the nearer the members of a group come to this one Light, the nearer they will be to one another, “as the spokes of a wheel approach each other as they near the center.”
I believe that if we give the earth a voice in our circle, and listen as best we can to what she is saying, we will be better able to discern God's will.
3. Plan some actions to take:
I feel like I've been writing and thinking for many months now without doing very much concrete action, so I'm going to set some wheels moving this week. I'm working on a pledge or something to take to the Climate Town Hall this next Sunday, something like this:
Active Transportation is the Answer
We recognize the importance of electric vehicles in transitioning away from fossil fuels, especially for long- to mid-distance travel, for mass transit, and for shipping.
But within the urban landscape, it is active travel that will save us, because it is cheap, easy, and accessible. We can not all afford an electric car, nor are there enough available now if we could. But most of us can walk or bike to get around town.
According to Christian Brand, Associate Professor in Transport, Energy & Environment at University of Oxford: "The emission savings from replacing all those internal combustion engines with zero-carbon alternatives will not feed in fast enough to make the necessary difference in the time we can spare: the next five years. Tackling the climate and air pollution crises requires curbing all motorized transport, particularly private cars, as quickly as possible. ... One way to reduce transport emissions relatively quickly, and potentially globally, is to swap cars for cycling, e-biking and walking – active travel, as it’s called."
Take the pledge to walk or bike when you can!
No comments:
Post a Comment