Australian Friends give thanks for support
Quakers in Australia have expressed thanks to Friends around the world for their messages of support
Australian Friends have issued a letter thanking Quaker support in the wake of the devastating bush fires that have left thousands of people displaced. The letter, which can be read in full on the Friends World Committee for Consultation’s website, tells Quakers that ‘your care for us is a warm reminder of the value of friendship and the common spiritual underpinnings of Friends, and the long, arduous work that lies ahead…’
According to the letter: ‘The extent of the damage, at least six times the area of the recent Amazonian forest fires, is on a scale never before seen here. The wellbeing of millions of humans and countless other species has been knocked by fire, smoke and prolonged heat.’ It acknowledges ‘more than a billion animals that are known to have died so far’ and affirms ‘the climate emergency is around for all to see’.
‘We grieve at what has been lost in these fires, and at our failure in the past to persuade successive governments to act directly on global heating, to divest and transition from fossil fuels, and to be responsive to creative solutions. Meanwhile, the unleashed carbon emissions from the burning eucalypt forests have joined the global commons, making this a disaster for the planet as well as one for the Australian continent.’
According to Australian news sources, online ‘bots’ and fake news accounts have been spreading disinformation about the fires, obscuring the role of the climate emergency in causing the crisis.
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