Yorkshire Quakers respond to climate crisis
From exhibition on ‘Militarism and Climate Justice’ to Climate Justice conference held via Zoom
Craven & Keighley Area Meeting has been busy raising awareness of how to respond to the climate crisis. Friends started the month with an exhibition on ‘Militarism and Climate Justice’, supported by other organisations in the town.
The event was followed on 9 October with a Climate Justice conference held via Zoom. Chris Skidmore, clerk of Craven & Keighley Area Meeting, who organised the event, told the Friend: ‘We had two speakers – Bruce Macleod (chair of Friends of the Dales) on “Farming and Climate Justice” and Lesley Grahame (a Norwich Quaker, Green Party councillor, and member of the Quaker Peace & Social Witness Economics and Sustainability subcommittee) on “Climate Justice: the Global Picture”. Their presentations were valuable and we had some interesting discussions.’
A number of Skipton Friends also joined with local crafters to take a stall at a well-attended ‘Yarndale’ event in Skipton in the first weekend of October. According to the local newsletter, they crafted twenty-five metres of messages to be sent to join other sections from around the country as part of ‘Stitches for Survival’. The initiative is aiming to make 1.5 kilometres of climate change messages, which will be displayed near the COP26 summit in Glasgow later this month. The newsletter said: ‘It also made us think about simple actions we can all take at a personal level to help, including recycling and wearing jumpers and turning the central heating down or off.’
Chris Skidmore said that this group of actions illustrates what one small Area Meeting can do to respond to the challenges of climate justice and the upcoming COP26 conference.
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