Draft SEYM Statement on Climate Change & Environmental Protection
The Earthcare Committee brought forward a proposed ‘Statement on Climate Change & Environmental Protection’ at SEYM’s Yearly Business Meeting, held April 12-16 at our annual Gathering. The following minute was recorded:
17YM07 Southeastern Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends approves the request from the Earthcare Committee to distribute the Statement on Climate Change and Environmental Protection to Monthly Meetings and Worship Groups for their discernment and comment.
The statement, adapted from one by Orlando Meeting, is intended to be sent to Members of Congress and elected state officials, and used wherever helpful in carrying forward our Quaker earthcare advocacy. The committee asks Meetings and Worship Groups to review the statement, and send comments to Earthcare co-clerks Brad Stocker or Bill Carlie .
Draft SEYM Statement on Climate Change and Environmental Protection
Faith statement on Care for the Earth
It is our experience and testimony that the Light, Life, Love, and Wisdom of God calls us to preserve and protect the Holy creation of which we are part. It is contrary to the Spirit of God to waste or exploit nature on human greed or vanity. We are called to be good stewards of the earth, to live simply and sustainably, with care and reverence for all creation, preserving earth’s biodiversity and abundance for future generations.
Therefore, we call on all our members of Congress, members of our state Legislature, state Governors , and local governments to uphold and enact laws, regulations, and policies that protect our natural environment from pollution, habitat loss, and climate change.
We ask you to uphold the integrity of our environmental agencies and protect public lands. The environment belongs to all of us; it is the role of government to preserve it for future generations and defend it against exploitation by private economic interests.
Urgent Action is needed if we are to avoid the catastrophic impacts of climate change. All reputable scientists agree that Climate Change is real, and is caused by increased carbon emissions mostly from burning of fossil fuels. This threatens all life on Earth. Our glaciers are melting, our seas are rising, and our ecosystems are suffering disruption from a warming climate, seasonal weather changes, and more pests and diseases. Climate change is already threatening our economy, impacting our food supply, and causing flooding of coastal communities.
We ask our government to support society’s transition to clean energy sources, and redirect subsidies from fossil fuel industries to support displaced workers and communities impacted by the transition to clean energy.
Clean energy is the energy of the future. Countries and communities around the world are proving that alternative energy and sustainable practices are not only viable, but can be a boon to economies. Clean and sustainable sources of energy are now readily available and comparable or cheaper in cost than fossil fuels. Solar and wind power create more jobs than fossil fuel industries.
◊ ◊ ◊
“It would go a long way to caution and direct people in their use of the world, that they were better studied and knowing in the Creation of it. For how could [they] find the confidence to abuse it, while they should see the great Creator stare them in the face, in all and every part of it?”
—William Penn, 1693
In faith and unity,