Friends in climate change call

Some eighty Quakers joined mass climate day of action

Some eighty Quakers were among several thousand people who took part in the UK’s largest mass climate change day of action on Wednesday 17 June.

The organisers called on politicians to work across party lines to support a global climate change agreement that will end carbon pollution from fossil fuels by the middle of the century. They also asked MPs to ensure that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2015 ‘reflect the need for urgent and ambitious action on climate change’. A Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW) briefing for the day encouraged Friends ‘to work for an energy and economic system that gives people the right to affordable energy that does not harm the planet’.

Gerald Conyngham, clerk of Exeter Meeting and a member of Sustainable Crediton, took part. He told the Friend that although his MP, Mel Stride (Conservative: Central Devon), did not attend, around 280 others did. Gerald described this as ‘a great achievement’.

‘Some of them were having quite detailed discussions, so I am sure they became aware of the strength of feeling on this issue,’ he said.

The two newly elected Quaker MPs (Catherine West, Labour:Hornsey & Wood Green, and Ruth Cadbury, Labour: Brentford & Isleworth) were among those who heard constituents’ concerns around climate change.  Sue Tyldesley, a member of Yealand Meeting and Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW)’s economics, sustainability and peace sub-committee, was also there. She, too, was disappointed that her MP (David Morris, Conservative: Morecambe and Lunesdale) was not available.

Sue was among those who attended an ecumenical service at the beginning of the day of action. She told the Friend that she also ‘met with Quakers at Methodist Central Hall in Westminster, watched lobbying taking place with some MPs transported by cycle rickshaw, and went to a workshop on fracking to hear Caroline Lucas and others speak’.

Sue said: ‘The ecumenical service was supported by a very wide range of denominations and it was an unusual experience for Maya Williams from QPSW to be helping read prayers!’

Sue hoped that the day of action would result in some MPs having a better understanding climate change issues. The day of action was coordinated by The Climate Coalition.

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