Letters - 21 & 28 December 2012
From sustainability to the housing crisis
Sustainability
I am grateful to Laurie Michaelis for his article on ‘Climate crisis and spiritual community’ (14 December). It has given me a better understanding of the different approaches to the spiritual dimension of the threat to life on planet Earth that Friends have expressed.
The spiritual basis never seemed to me to be in doubt as ‘God has no hands but ours’ and, as was said in Yearly Meeting at Canterbury, we do not own the world but we do have, in effect, ‘a full repairing lease.’
It is, of course, a hugely complex situation that includes the basic problems of over population, excessive consumption of both non-renewable and renewable resources, and the damage being done to biodiversity and the environment generally. Our economic system is a significant cause of many of the problems and it is good to see that this is being taken up by a number of groups.
Our Quaker testimonies all work together towards sustainability and are the ways we do our duty in expressing God’s love for all life on Earth. Learning to be sensitive to the leadings of the Spirit is perhaps our special Quaker contribution as we work with others.
Mitigating climate change is probably the most urgent aspect at this moment in time as failure to do so will increase all the other problems we face and it does require practical action.
Tom Greeves
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