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Unity with Nature Committee

The Unity with Nature Committee works to express concerns regarding the environment and our place within it.

Click to see the complete description of the Committee as it appears in the current Manual of Procedure. Are Quakers Called to Live Sustainably? is a set of queries proposed by the Unity with Nature Committee to aid Friends. Listed below are the current members of the Committee.

Jean Pfefferkorn, Co-Clerk
Patapsco Friends Meeting
Ann Payne, Co-Clerk
Frederick Friends Meeting
Carl Benson
Annapolis Friends Meeting

Deborah Haines,
Alexandria Friends Meeting

Leonard "Len" McGinnis
Friends Meeting School

Andrew "Andy" Spawn
Baltimore Monthly Meeting, Stony Run

Susan Thompson
Shepherdstown Friends Meeting 

Barb Adams
Richmond Friends Meeting
Toni Hudson
UwN Supporter (Consultant)
Sandy Spring Friends Meeting

 

10 Steps to Nature Video Project
Click here to download the Introductory Video

IMAGINE LIVING INSIDE THE CARBON CYCLE

Recent Discernments by Unity with Nature Committee on Human Caused Climate Change

We are evolving from a time when human caused carbon emissions, primarily carbon dioxide, are considered free and unlimited.  In the spirit of ongoing revelation, we have come to learn through the discernment of science that neither of these assumptions are true.  The buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is leading to greater heat retention in the atmosphere with destructive consequences to the life resilience of our beloved creation at tremendous cost.  The question is, who will benefit and who will pay

Unity with Nature Committee at Third Month 2016 Interim Meeting


BYM has embraced Unity with Nature Committee's call for BYM worshipers to calculate your carbon footprint.

Call to Calculate Carbon

With so much at stake, BYM's Unity with Nature Committee requests that BYM worshipers seek to determine their own carbon footprint as a witness to the impact of our own actions. We might also examine the carbon footprints of our local Friends meetings. This process will be challenging, interesting and meaningful. It will deepen our understanding of the consequences of our behaviors and help us prioritize our next steps on the path to a sustainable and just world for our children and for people who are most vulnerable to climate change.

Carbon Footprint Fact Sheet

For Friends, tracking our own carbon footprints can be a form of witness to our own actions. Each of us can show good faith by looking honestly at our lifestyles and how they impact the sustainability of the earth’s natural systems.

Next Steps Search

How do we show good faith in searching for next steps on our journey to our right relationship with creation?

In the spirit of evolving revelation, we have come to find our current practices and behaviors out of step with the right relationship to protect and enhance life resilience on Earth and a sustainable role for our human community.

Power Point Presentation on Carbon Footprint Training

The BYM Unity with Nature List Serve is being created for Friends of Baltimore Yearly Meeting to share our witness of current trends in our environment and the implications to our spirit in our search for the loving way forward. Our hope is that you will share your knowledge and provide a respectful testing for the discernment of others in the spirit of ongoing revelation. You can share and find support for your concern about the darkness. You can help build the vision of the love response that will protect and enhance our beloved creation and the opportunity for the lives of our descendants.

Click here to join.

If you have difficulty with request, send email unitywithnature@gmail.com with Join Request in the subject line.  The list manager will add you to the member list at your request.


25 Meetings of Baltimore Yearly Meeting Find Unity with Shared Quaker Statement "Facing the Challenge of Climate Change"

At Annual Session 2015, BYM embraced the Unity with Nature Committee’s request that Meetings actively consider unifying with the shared Quaker Statement “Facing the Challenge of Climate Change”, jointly authored by Quaker Earthcare Witness (QEW), Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), and Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO). https://unitywithnaturebym.wordpress.com/shared-quaker-statement-2/

The Unity with Nature Committee asks all BYM worshipers to consider making a good faith effort to search for steps that will lead us in the direction of “Right Relationship with Creation” that will allow us to preserve the life resilience and integrity in our very blessed environment. https://unitywithnaturebym.wordpress.com/next-steps-search/

At Annual Session 2014, BYM embraced the Unity with Nature’s request to discern Discernment on Right Relationship in preparation for Annual Session 2015 with that theme. 33 BYM local Meetings submitted spirit lead discernments. BYM Meetings respond to discernment request.

Are Quakers Called to Live Sustainably? is a set of queries proposed by the Unity with Nature Committee to aid Friends.

Facing the Challenge of Climate Change: A shared statement by Quaker groups
Explanation of Shared Statement by Quaker Groups by authors QEW, FCNL, & QUNO
List of Quaker Groups finding unity with Shared Statement beyond BYM
 
Local Meetings that have found unity with the statement:
Abingdon Friends Meeting
Annapolis Friends Meeting
Baltimore Monthly Meeting, Stony Run
Bethesda Friends Meeting
Blacksburg Friends Meeting
Charlottesville Friends Meeting
Dunnings Creek Meeting
Frederick Friends Meeting
Gettysburg Monthly Meeting
Goose Creek Friends Meeting
Gunpowder Friends Meeting
Herndon Friends Meeting
Homewood Friends Meeting
Little Falls Meeting of Friends
Mattaponi Friends Meeting
Maury River Friends Meeting
Midlothian Friends Meeting
Monongalia Friends Meeting
Norfolk Preparative Meeting
Patuxent Friends Meeting
Richmond Friends Meeting
Sandy Spring Friends Meeting
Takoma Park Preparative Meeting
Valley Friends Meeting
York Friends Meeting
 

 


31 QUAKER MEETINGS OF BYM RESPOND TO UNITY WITH NATURE COMMITTEE’S REQUEST FOR EACH LOCAL MEETING TO:

DISCERN ON CLIMATE CHANGE, RESOURCE DEPLETION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION AT 2014 ANNUAL SESSIONS.

See their submissions.

Unity with Nature Committee Annual Reports

Unity with Nature Committee Interchange Reports

Are Quakers Called to Live Sustainably?

Minutes on Right Relationship

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