Collecting non-biodegradable rubbish. Photo: Courtesy of Ludwig Quirog.
Climate change testimonies
Susanna Mattingly shares three Friends’ experiences of the climate crisis
The Quaker community circles the globe, spanning many diverse cultures and beliefs. Today, there are nearly 400,000 Quakers around the world in eighty-seven different countries. Climate change is already affecting the lives of many of our global Quaker family. The communities feeling the worst impacts are those most reliant upon the land for their livelihoods, those who are already vulnerable to extreme weather events, natural disasters and rising sea levels.
Europe is responsible for some of the highest emissions in the world and is a major contributor to climate change. We also have a precious opportunity to contribute to climate solutions. The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) special report on global warming of 1.5°C, released last October, presented a sharp warning that current climate commitments need to be strengthened in order to avoid catastrophic climate breakdown.
Our sustainability journey
In response to this, colleagues in Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) are engaged in interfaith dialogue with the UK government, pushing for a bolder national climate policy. The Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) and the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) are also working at international level and were among those highlighting the human impacts of climate change and the need for more ambitious targets at the UN climate talks in Katowice, Poland last month.
Despite our many theological and cultural differences, Friends around the world are coming together over our shared sustainability concern, and through a desire to protect the things we care about. One of the things I am learning through my work running the sustainability programme at the FWCC World Office is that we all have different routes into this, depending on our own experience and context, and there certainly isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. But we do have ample opportunities to make significant progress and achieve a shift in our practices and approach to sustainability as a global community.
We are not blind to the fact that climate change is creating greater inequality and, as a result, leading to conflict and violence. It is hugely unjust that those who have contributed the least to global emissions are now bearing the brunt of the impacts. Linking our Quaker concerns for peace, human rights and justice to our environmental concerns, we see these issues cannot be separated.
In reflecting on our sustainability journey within BYM, it is interesting to hear how Friends around the globe, from different traditions and cultures, are experiencing climate disruption and how they are responding to the challenges. Three Quakers from different parts of the world have dicussed their personal experiences of climate change and how their faith inspires them to take action in video interviews made for FWCC.
Changing seasons
Geylord Asimba is a Young Friend living in Nairobi who comes from a small village in western Kenya called Mukuyu, where most people are farmers and reliant on agriculture. He is in no doubt about the impact climate change is having on their daily lives. There used to be set seasons; his parents are farmers and knew that if you planted in April, the rains would follow and the plants would be able to germinate. But today, weather patterns have become unpredictable and there is no guarantee it will rain when the plants need it.
Whilst Geylord was still studying, the family farm produced enough to pay his school fees and those of his siblings. But now, as a result of the changing weather patterns, produce has significantly dropped and it is very hard to earn enough from the farm to cover the school fees of his youngest sister. He tells me: ‘While my siblings and I are now old enough to help pay the school fees for our last-born, the fate of other families in my village which still heavily rely on agriculture is something that keeps me awake at night. How will they survive? This is an issue that affects us personally, and as Christians.’
Coastal areas
Beverly G Ward is Southeastern Yearly Meeting’s field secretary for Earthcare. She lives in south Florida in the United States, where there are growing concerns over flood hazards, which are exacerbated by rising sea levels. South Florida is particularly vulnerable to rising tides, and many communities experience ‘sunny day flooding’ and coastal flooding as a result of seasonal ‘king tides’.
King tides have worsened in recent years and flooding of streets in the lower parts of south Florida is becoming a common occurrence. In September last year, Beverly joined a team of local representatives from non-profits, church groups and city agencies collecting king tide data and working with residents of Shorecrest, a diverse neighbourhood in northeast Miami where around twenty-five per cent of the residents live below the federal poverty level. Their work was based on the ‘Rising Together’ model, which aims to increase climate resilience in low-income communities of colour in coastal Florida and beyond, in responding to the impacts of climate change.
Models like these are important because they provide the affected communities with tools, techniques and other resources to collect data, tell their stories about the impacts of climate change and develop effective transition solutions.
Ludwig Quirog lives in the Philippines, which has more than 7,000 islands. He volunteers with a local group, formed in November 2015 when they walked 100 kilometres in solidarity with the People’s March for Climate, Justice and Jobs in Paris. Their aim was to protest against the prospect of a coal-fired power plant being built on their island. Since then, their focus has expanded to include other environmental concerns. They collect non-biodegradable rubbish from different coastal areas around the islands and, afterwards, give brief educational talks on plastic pollution and introduce sustainable alternatives. Some of the group also lobby for legislation banning single-use disposable plastics, while others run campaigns with business owners.
Ludwig considers his participation in this group Quaker ministry: ‘I see it as an expression of all four basic testimonies. In striving to live an ecologically sound Earthly existence, one learns to live with simplicity; one is compelled to always express one’s truth so that others may follow suit; one empathises with other creatures and recognises the inherent equality between all beings; and one also endeavours to make peace with the Earth.’
A role to play
I share these personal stories in the hope they will offer ideas and encouragement to help each of us find our own particular way to contribute to the global Quaker sustainability movement, and to remind us of the deeply rooted spiritual imperative to take action.
We all have a role to play. Each and every one of us is part of this movement. This is not something that can be left to the ‘usual suspects’ in our Meetings, nor is it a problem to be handed to the younger people to sort out. Ask: ‘What can I do?’ Have the courage to be faithful and listen to the answer.
You do not need to have all the solutions. You do not need to attempt to single-handedly solve all the problems we face. But we must not turn our backs and give up because the scale of the challenge is too daunting.
Susanna is sustainability communications manager in the FWCC World Office.
Further information: www.fwcc.world/sustainability-resources
