As Friends we believe that God cares deeply about all creation, not just human beings. Human beings had relatively little impact on the natural world for many millennia. We began to have a huge and growing impact on the natural world that sustains us as we cut down forests to develop farms and built cities. This impact accelerated during the Industrial Revolution. Now with the impact of greenhouse gases from use of fossil fuels, our impact threatens the survival of countless species, and perhaps very own survival. Already we can see enormous changes to our planet which impact disproportionately those who contributed the least to these changes and are least able to cope with them.

Biblical sources

Genesis 1-3 The story of creation

Psalm 24 The Earth is the Lord’s.

Romans 8:18-26 The whole creation has been groaning

Psalm 104 You set the earth on its foundations.

Historical importance for Friends

George Fox wrote a number of times about this creation.

John Woolman had a prophetic vision of the destruction that would be wrought by overdevelopment and from people wanting more than they really needed.

Friends have become much more deeply concerned and active around earthcare issues in the 1970s.

Corporate Statements by Friends

The Kabarak Call for Peace & Ecojustice was adopted at the Sixth World Conference of Friends held at Kabarak University in Kenya in 2012.

Many yearly meetings have passed minutes of concern and action for the earth. Many have also added sections to their discipline on earthcare concerns over the past half-century.

Writings

The Cool Green Hills of the Earth, a sermon by Elizabeth Watson

The Spiritual Dimension: Why We Care for the Earth by Jack Phillips This short 2000 pamphlet describes why Friends say that their concern for the earth is a spiritual one.

Here are three important pieces written on climate by NEYM Friend Brian Drayton:

Quaker Groups working on Earthcare & Climate Change

Quaker Earthcare Witness (QEW) is a network of Quakers inspiring Spirit-led action for ecological integrity and environmental justice. It was formed originally in the 1970s as Friends Committee on Unity with Nature. There are groups associated with QEW in many North American YMs. They have an extensive list of online pamphlets.

Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT) is a grassroots, nonviolent action group including Quakers and people of diverse beliefs, who join with millions of people around the world fighting for a just and sustainable economy. Mission & values. They have carried on powerful sustained nonviolent campaign, like one pressuring Provident National Bank to abandon its financial support for mountaintop strip mining in Appalachia.

Prophetic Climate Action Working Group (PCAWG) was a faith-rooted action group based in New England YM from 2016-18.