The Environment
Climate Change - an Issue for Quakers
Quakers are concerned about the Environment we all live in. Many of us feel that humans are causing damage to this planet, and we hold concerns about pollution of land air and water, global deforestation and extinction of species. A particular interest, highly relevant to Pacific nations, is the climate change issue and it's attendant sealevel rise.
Read a Quaker Statement(2000) on Environmental Sustainability
You can link to several websites giving essential reading on the Climate Change issue.
- IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change
- NZ Ministry for the Environment
- Essential reading: Executive Summary of the Stern Report
- EECA - Recent Government policy on Energy
- Addresses at Climate Change Conference
You can also visit the websites of various religious organisations on the Climate Change issue.
- American: American Evangelical Christians
- Britain and Ireland: Churches Together in Britain and Ireland
- American: National Religious Partnership for the Environment
- New Zealand: NZ Churches Agency on Social Issues
- American: US Conference of Catholic Bishops
The Scoping Group of the Futures Committee have also selected a series of documents that relate to Climate Change in New Zealand.
- Climate Change and Governance Conference March 2006
- Climate Change in New Zealand by Martha Savage
- Global Climate Change - Why should Friends consider it?
- How to be Carbon Neutral
- The Future is Ours and Our Children's
- Thoughts: Quaker Simplicity Quantified No.3, Food
- calculatingghg.doc [55KB] Calculating GHG emission implications of lifestyle changes. Note by Laurie Michaelis to explain Quaker Green Action leaflets, 29 July 2005. (Word file)
- casisubmission.doc [29KB] Churches Agency on Social Issues: Climate Change Discussion Document, 14 June 2002 (Word file)
- cl-ch-policyfornz.pdf [340KB] 'A way forward on climate policy for New Zealand' from Climate Change and Governance Conference, Wellington. By Associate Professor Ralph Chapman; Director, Graduate Programme in Environmental Studies, Victoria University of Wellington. (PDF)
- climatechange.doc [234KB] The Implications for Aotearoa/New Zealand Religious Society of Friends of Climate Change. Presentation by Robert Howell, given at Yearly Meeting 2005. (Word file)
- environmentalaudits.pdf [210KB] The Living Witness Project: Carrying out an environmental audit in your Meeting. (PDF)
- governanceissues.pdf [28KB] 'Governance issues in climate change policy' by Molly Melhuish, revised 13 April 2006 (PDF)
- michaelis-ghg-food.doc [63KB] Treatment of food in leaflet on “Your Contribution to Climate Change” Note for Quaker Green Action Committee. By Laurie Michaelis. (Word file)
- Pierrehumbert_Mar_6._.pdf [93KB] Flyer advertising Professor Raymond Pierrehumbert's talk on ‘Multiple time scales for averting climate catastrophe’ in Wellington on Tuesday, March 6th, 2007 - RSVP Essential.
- Prof_Brown_Mar_30.pdf [93KB] Flyer advertising Professor Peter Brown's talk on ‘An economy for spaceship Earth’ in Wellington on Friday, March 30th, 2007. RSVP is essential.