Try to fit these facts together:

v According to the National Oceanic and Atmo-spheric Administration, the planet has just comethrough the warmest decade, the warmest 12months, the warmest six months and the warmestApril, May, and June on record.

v A “staggering” new study from Canadian research-ers has shown that warmer seawater has reducedphytoplankton, the base of the marine food chain,by 40 percent since 1950.

v Nine nations so far have set their all-time tempera-ture records this year, including Russia (111 de-grees F), Niger (118 F), Sudan (121 F), Saudi Arabiaand Iraq (126 F apiece), and Pakistan, which alsoset the new all-time Asia record in May—a hair un-der 130 degrees F.

v And then, in late July, the U.S. Senate decided todo exactly nothing about climate change. It didn’tdo less than it could have; it did nothing, preserv-ing a perfect two-decade bipartisan record of noaction. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid decidednot to even schedule a vote on legislation thatwould have capped carbon emissions.

I’m a mild-mannered guy, a Methodist Sundayschool teacher. I’m not quick to anger. But the timehas come to get mad, and then to get busy.

For many years, the lobbying fight for climatelegislation on Capitol Hill has been led by moderateenvironmental groups, outfits such as the Environ-mental Defense Fund. We owe them a great debt, andnot just for their hard work. We owe them a debt be-cause they did everything the way you’re supposed to:They wore nice clothes, lobbied tirelessly, and com-promised at every turn.

By the time they were done, they had a bill thatwould have capped carbon emissions only from elec-tric utilities (not factories or cars) and was so ladenwith gifts for industry that if you listened closely, youcould actually hear the oinking. Sen. John Kerry, thelegislator they worked most closely with, issued thisrallying cry as the final negotiations began: “We be-

It’s time to talk, and act, tough on climate change

lieve we have compromised significantly, and we’reprepared to compromise further.”

And even that was not enough. They were left outto dry by everyone—not just Reid, not just the Repub-licans. President Obama wouldn’t lend a hand either.

The result: total defeat, no moral victories.So now we know what we didn’t before: Making

nice doesn’t work. It was worth a try, but it didn’twork. So we’d better try something else.

Step 1 involves actually talking about globalwarming. For years now, the accepted wisdom was:talk about anything else—energy independence, oilsecurity, beating the Chinese to renewable technology.

“Environmentalists have tried thecompromise route. It hasn’t worked.”

Tough, next page >>

VERNON, Vt. (AP)—91-year-old Frances Crowe, alongtime [Quaker] peace activist from Northampton,Mass., was among eight people arrested protestingat the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant in Vernon.

Crowe and the others were ar-rested Tuesday after they walkedpast the main gate at Vermont Yan-kee. They read a statement callingfor the closure of Vermont's onlynuclear plant.

A spokeswoman for the groupsays Crowe has been arrested ninetimes—including seven times at Ver-mont Yankee since 2005.

Local and state police arrested thewomen and took them to the Vernon police station,where they were cited and released. They’re due incourt next month.

The plant had no comment about the demonstra-

tion. —From the 8/11/2010 Northampton Republican.

Is this the kind of toughnessMcKibben is talking about?

Crowe at 2009peace rally

Bill McKibben:

Register at <www.350.org> for a 10/10/10 work party. “Let’s make sure the world sees this hugeday of effort. Let’s send a simple message to our leaders: We’re working—what about you?”—bm

Volume 23, Number 5 l September-October 2010Volume 23, Number 5 l September-October 2010

Newsletter of Quaker Earthcare WitnessNewsletter of Quaker Earthcare Witness

BeFriendingCreation

BeFriendingCreation

BeFriending Creation l September-October 2010

2 Points of hope for the next UN climate talks

>> Tough, from page 1

BUT THE TASK AT HAND is to keep the planetfrom melting. We need everyone, beginning with thePresident, to start explaining that basic fact at everyturn.

It is the heat, and also the humidity. Becausewarm air holds more water than cold, the atmo-sphere is about 5 percent moisterthan it was 40 years ago, which ex-plains the freak downpours that seemto happen someplace on this conti-nent every few days.

It is the carbon. That’s why theseas are turning acid, a point Obamacould have made with ease whilestanding on the shores of the Gulf ofMexico. Energy independence is nice, but you need aplanet to be energy independent on.

Step 2, we have to ask for what we actually need,not what we calculate we might be able to get. If we’regoing to slow global warming in the very short timeavailable to us, we don’t actually need an incrediblycomplicated legislative scheme that gives door prizesto every interested industry. We need a stiff price oncarbon, set by the scientific understanding that wecan’t still be burning black rocks a couple of decadeshence.

Asking for what you need doesn’t mean you’ll getall of it. Compromise still happens. But as DavidBrower, the greatest environmentalist of the late 20thcentury, explained amid the fight to save the GrandCanyon: “We are to hold fast to what we believe isright, fight for it, and find allies and adduce all pos-sible arguments for our cause. If we cannot findenough vigor in us or them to win, then let someone

else propose the compromise.”Which leads to the third step in this process. If

we’re going to get any of this done, we’re going to needa movement. For 20 years, environmentalists have

operated on the notion that we’d get action if wesimply had scientists explain to politicians andchief executives that our current ways are un-

sustainable. That turns out, quiteconclusively, not to work. We need tobe able to explain to them that con-tinuing in their current ways will endsomething they actually care about:their careers. And because we’ll neverhave the cash to compete with Exxon,we better work in the currencies wecan muster: bodies, spirit, passion.

We’re not going to get the Senate to act next week,or maybe even next year. It took a decade after theMontgomery bus boycott to get the Voting Rights Act.But if there hadn’t been a movement, then the VotingRights Act would have passed in—never. We mayneed to get arrested. We definitely will need disci-plined, nonviolent but very real anger.

Mostly, we need to tell the truth, resolutely andconstantly. Fossil fuel is wrecking the one Earth we’vegot. It’s not going to go away because we ask politely.If we want a world that works, we’re going to have toraise our voices. v

Bill McKibben is the founder of 350.org and the au-thor, most recently, of Eaarth: Making a Life on aTough New Planet. He’s a scholar in residence atMiddlebury College. A longer version of this pieceappears at tomdispatch.com. This article first ap-peared in the Los Angeles Times on August 4, 2010.Reprinted with permission by Bill McKibben.

LAST DECEMBER in Copenhagen, the world’sNGOs, along with most nations of the world, experi-enced not being heard, when the “Copenhagen Ac-cord” was put together by a small group of nations,behind closed doors, on the final day of the UN cli-mate negotiations. The Accord is three vague pageslong, lacks any provisions for transparency or over-sight, and is completely voluntary. The plenary ofnations refused to adopt the Accord, which was notdeveloped through UN procedures. (To read the textof the Accord go to: <http://www.climatesciencewatch.org/index.php/csw/details/copenhagen_accord_text/ or Google Copenhagen Accord, text>.)

In reaction to the Copenhagen Accord, Boliviaconvened a global conference, held in Cochabamba,Bolivia in April. (See report from Bernabe Yujra andRuben Hilari in last issue of BeFriending Creation.)This conference was designed for full participation bycivil society, as well as by national Delegations. InMay, when Bolivia’s president Evo Morales broughtthe conference’s outcome document to UN headquar-ters in New York, he received a standing ovation. (Iwas in the building, but NGO’s were not allowed in atthe session.)

This year the UN climate negotiations will be heldin November and December in Cancun, Mexico.Whose voices will be heard in Cancun?

Whose voices will be heard at COP16 in Cancun?

Cancun, next page>>

By Mary GilbertQEW Representative to the UN

BeFriending Creation l September-October 2010

3Points of hope for the next UN climate talks

• 50-percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions

by developed countries for second period of commit-

ments from the Kyoto Protocol years 2013 to 2017.

• Stabilize the rise of temperature to 1 C and 300

parts for million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

• To guarantee an equitable distribution of atmo-

spheric space, taking into account the climate debt of

emissions by developed countries for developing coun-

tries.

• Full respect for the Human Rights and the inherent

rights of indigenous peoples, women, children and mi-

grants.

• Full recognition to the United Nations Declaration

on of Indigenous Peoples Rights. 

• Recognition and defense of the rights of Mother

Earth to ensure harmony with nature.

• Guarantee the fulfillment of the commitments from

the developed countries though the building of an Inter-

national Court of Climate Justice. 

• Rejection to the new mechanisms of carbon mar-

kets that transfer the responsibility of the reduction in

emissions of greenhouse gases from developed coun-

tries to developing countries.

• Promotion of measures that change the consump-

tion patterns of the developed countries.

• Adoption of necessary measures in all relevant fo-

rums to be excluded from the protection of the intellec-

tual property rights to technologies and ecologically sus-

tainable useful to mitigate climate change.

• Developed countries will allocate 6 percent of their

national gross product to actions relatives to Climate

Change. 

• Integrated management of forest, to mitigation and

adaptation, without market mechanics and ensuring the

full participation of indigenous peoples and local commu-

nities.

• Prohibition the conversion of natural forest for plan-

tations, since the monoculture plantations are not forest,

instead should encourage the protection and conserva-

tion of natural forests. 

Points from the Cochabamba Conference that are now in the UN negotiating text

Since last December the United States has beenworking hard to get nations to sign onto the Accord,by threatening to withhold promised aid.Bolivia has been penalized by a loss of $3million, and Ecuador by a similaramount. At this point the US has per-suaded 138 (out of 192) nations to associ-ate to some degree with the CopenhagenAccord. Many of the poorer countrieshave made their association contingenton receiving financial and technological aid from “de-veloped” countries that would enable them to reducecarbon output.

NegotiatingHere’s how it works: In the time between the

Copenhagen and Cancun meetings a negotiating docu-ment is developed, based on what has happened be-fore. If any nation wants to have their opinion consid-ered they have to get language into that document.

For Copenhagen the deadline for submitting lan-guage was June 15, 2009. (I think a good deal of frus-tration among non-diplomats in Copenhagen was be-cause they didn’t know that new language could not bediscussed. They had expected that they could insertsome on the spot.) This year they were still addinglanguage to be discussed in August.

I had been hearing for months that all the languagefrom the Copenhagen Accord had been lifted whole-sale and placed in the official negotiating document,

but that the input from Cochabamba was being ex-cluded. In mid-August the news broke that all themain points raised by the Cochabamba meeting had

been included in the document! (See box.)

That doesn’t mean these points will survivethe Cancun negotiations, but at least theycan all be discussed, which is a big hooray.(To watch a video of Amy Goodman inter-viewing Bolivian Ambassador to the UNPablo Solon go to http://pwccc.wordpress.com/2010/08/10/

bolivian-un-ambassador-interviewed-on-democ-racy-now/ or just google “Democracy Now, PabloSolon”).

From QEW, Judy Lumb and I plan to attend thenegotiating sessions in Cancun, and the BolivianQuakers (Bernabe, Ruben, and Alicia Lucasi, who atthe last minute wasn’t able to go to Cochabamba) willalso be able to be there. We also expect QuakersMoses Musonga from Kenya, Julian Stargardt fromHong Kong MM, and Jorge Arauz from Chestnut HillMM to be there.

In the time leading up to Cancun we will all be intouch and try to develop a plan for what we can hopeto do there. It is expected to be a very contentious,even dangerous, situation. We will be reporting onwhat we see, hear and do. v

See the next issue of BeFriending Creation for in-formation about how you can receive on-the-ground,up-to-the-minute Quaker news from Cancun.

>> Cancun

BeFriending Creation l September-October 2010

4 In search of a vision for Transition Towns

SINCE I announced my im- pending retirement as Gen-

eral Secretary in the May-JuneBeFriending Creation, manyreaders have asked what I will dopost-retirement. Yes, I do planto spend more time reading goodbooks, gardening, and keeping intouch with my grandchildren onFacebook. But I am still going tobe out there promoting Earthcare so those grandchil-dren can have a better future. I will start by visitingTransition Towns and Sustainable Cities in NorthAmerica, Europe and Israel/Palestine and writingabout what others are doing for a sustainable future.

Since returning from our “Peace for Earth” walkdown the West Coast in 2007-2008, Louis and I havethrown ourselves into the Transition Town Initiativein our little town in Vermont, recognizing that the bestway to prepare for different climate and a post-petro-leum world is to build resilient communities. Onlythrough community can we help each other find thejoys of simpler living and provide support when timesare tough. We know this well as Friends, but how dowe share this with a broader constituency?

The Transition Town movement began in En-gland, using permaculture principles to equip commu-nities for the dual challenges of climate change andpeak oil. (See this issue’s Quaker Eco-Bulletin.) Themethodology they’ve developed has a lot to do withtapping into the inherent wisdom of a community andthe belief that ordinary people have tremendous cre-ative problem-solving capacity—as long as they knowwhat the problem is. The movement has membercommunities in many countries worldwide. (See<www. transitionnetwork.org>.) We have had somesuccesses in our town, and I want to learn from other’ssuccesses in order to give others hope and tools.

Although there is a website which reports variousactivities of the different initiatives, there still isn’t acommon vision emerging. I hope to reflect these var-ied successes, struggles, actions, and joys into thatvision. After considerable discernment and approvalfrom my Monthly Meeting clearness process, I amresponding to a leading to embark on a spiritual jour-ney during 2011 that will be a journey of learning aswell. I am planning to visit with organizers of Transi-tion Towns, Sustainable Cities, and “green” initiativesin Europe, Israel/Palestine, and in North America. Iwill be asking each group a set of questions based onthe divisions of the Transition Handbook into “Head,Heart, and Hands.”

During this year of hands-on research I will beblogging about my experiences. I hope to compilewhat I will have learned into a book to help others inthe “Great Turning” (as Joanna Macy and DavidKorten call this time in human history.) How can welearn from the hundreds of initiatives instead of al-ways trying to start our own from scratch? How do welive into a new world if we don’t have the vision ofwhat that world might be? I hope my blog and bookwill share such a vision, with a spiritual foundationand practical tools for action. After completion of thebook, I hope to share what I’ve learned wherever I aminvited or wherever I can find a venue, both withinand beyond Quaker circles.

One poignant part of the trip is that while I’moverseas I will visit cousins in Israel, Sweden, En-gland, and Scotland whom I may never see again,since as part of my own environmental witness I plannot to fly again after this trip. I believe that the poten-tial outcome of my research is worthy enough to jus-tify the plane travel. As soon as my blog is live, we’llbe sure to share it with you so that you can follow myjourney.

I will also be spending more time on our littlehomestead, canning, freezing, and preserving what wegrow and hopefully expanding to raising ducks andgoats. I am so appreciative of having had the opportu-nity to work for QEW for the last 16 years. It has beena joy and a challenge. The biggest joy is that I met somany of you and hope we will journey together. I willcontinue to support and promote QEW and its goalsand purposes and hope you will too. v

After retirement, Ruah plans to work for ‘Great Turning’

You can help support Ruah’sTransition Town ‘vision quest’

Correction: In the toxic chemicals article by NancyHalliday in the last BeFriending Creation, the author ofToxic Bodies: Hormones and the Legacy of DES was NancyLangston. Les Line wrote the article, “Plasticide” inAudubon 112 (2):124.

QEW IS RAISING FUNDS to help with Ruah’ssabbatical project. You can contribute directly toher fund through QEW; just ear-mark it for “Ruah.”

An anonymous donor is matching 1:2—up to$2,000—any donations that are in excess of yourlast year’s contribution to QEW. Of that amount, 50percent will go to the QEW General Fund and 50percent will go to Ruah’s fund.

You can follow Ruah’s blog at <www.transitionvision.blogspot.com> beginning in October 2010.

BeFriending Creation l September-October 2010

5Pacific YM Earthcare activities

by Joe MorrisSanta Monica (Calif.) Meeting

PACIFIC YEARLY MEETING this pastsummer celebrated the 25th anniversary of its

Unity with Nature Committee, the first one in aFriends yearly meeting devoted to environmental is-sues. Two years later, in 1987, several of its foundersand others from around the U.S. organized the nation-ally-based Friends Committee on Unity with Nature,renamed Quaker Earthcare Witness in 2003.

Major anniversaries always evoke memories, butat this time in our planet’s his-tory, we seem hurtled into thefuture, as new and surprisingevents unfold each year. Wit-ness the Gulf oil spill and theferocious heat wave in Russiathis past summer. So it may be advisable to considerless what we have done (or haven’t), but what wemight. As the Bible counsels, “Without a vision, thepeople perish.” In that spirit then, take a time trip tothe anniversary of the next 25 years, in the year2035....

LOOKING BACK on the past quarter-century,we remember a time of shocks and surprises thathave tested us as Friends, forcing us to take a freshlook at our Society and what it stands for.

In 2010, we were awakening to how our over-consuming lifestyles were damaging the planet. Thatyear, we learned that the upcoming FWCC worldconference in Kenya would have the theme of re-sponding to global warming. Quakers returning fromthat meeting in 2012 realized the time for taking deci-sive action had arrived.

A move to give up personal ownership of carsthen commenced in meetings in California’s BayArea—a region with excellent public transportation.But the resolve soon spread to other Monthly Meet-ings, so that by 2015, most of them had developedcooperative policies to help people give up their ve-hicles and assist each other for transportation. Manyof us donated the proceeds of selling our cars toMeeting funds for rideshare vans and vehicles thatcould be lent out on a daily basis. This widespreadcollaboration also greatly strengthened community,for members regularly saw each other more than juston Sundays. It energized the hope that Meetingscould do much more.

In 2015, you will remember, the Yearly Meetingdiscussed and approved a minute asking all membersto consider the ethical issues involved in owning and

driving a private vehicle. It also approved a Minuteon compassionate eating—that our diets need anawareness of the natural areas destroyed for farm-ing and the plight of farm animals.

In the succeeding five years, 2015–2020, ournation had severe climate emergencies, flooding inFlorida, droughts devastating the Southwest. Envi-ronmental refugees numbered in the hundreds ofthousands from a feverous planet. We could nolonger deny that environmental crises and humanones were inseparably linked and could not be con-sidered apart. Both the Unity with Nature and thePeace & Social Action committees of the YearlyMeeting were laid down, and a new combined Peace,Earthcare, & Social Action Committee was formed in2020.

We also realized that no longer could Friendsfrom a state that stretches nearly 800 miles justifytraveling long distances to an annual meeting. Withmany misgivings, we decided to transform each ofthe two quarterlies into its own Yearly Meeting tolower the travel time and expense and the environ-mental impact. Every three years, we now have acombined triennial meeting in central California.

The years 2020–2025 were probably the darkesttime and also a turning point for us. Even more envi-ronmental crises occurred, including a major urbanearthquake on a California fault that had been longoverdue to erupt. At the Yearly Meeting in 2025, ayoung, native American woman gave a talk that gal-vanized people as much as had Marshall Massey 40years before to inspire the birth of the Unity withNature committee.

Her words tipped the balance to adopt a new“Harmony with Nature” testimony, which had beendiscussed for decades. Today we look back and un-derstand better how it both builds on and enriches allthe other testimonies. We can only have a sustain-able lifestyle by practicing simplicity, or practicepeace by ending the long war we’ve waged againstnature. And we know that our spiritual communitymust include all of life, for other species also havewithin them “that of God.” How absurd it was to for-merly believe that only our species of the many mil-lions on Earth happened to have that privilege!

But in the succeeding years, our learning to liveout the new testimony has brought new questions.Many are convinced that changing only our privatelives can never be enough, that we must directlychallenge the paralysis in government and the greed

Looking back from 2035: An Earthcare vision for Friends

Looking Back, next page >>

BeFriending Creation l September-October 2010

6

in corporations. As in the 1960s, protesters havetaken to the streets in direct action. They haveblocked with their bodies entrances to coal-burningpower plants. They have picketed meat-packing com-panies that treat farm animals inhumanely. They’veoccupied the halls of Congress. Many of these activ-ists came to Yearly Meeting in 2030 to argue that allof us must work together to transform society and itspattern of destroying Earth and its creatures.

Today in 2035, this conflict is still with us. Butthere is progress in other ways. The great majority ofQuakers in our Yearly Meeting now live in co-hous-ing, which not only reduces the environmental im-pact, but has greatly built a sense of community.Other people, seeing that Quaker values can create asustainable society, have now joined us. Our mem-bership has increased, as well as the age distribution.In their monthly Earthcare projects, our youth haveplanted thousands of trees and constructed hundredsof solar cookers sent on to developing countries.

But the most important change for us in the last25 years since 2010 has been the strengthening of ourMeeting communities. We are both sad and anxiousabout the more serious and unpredicted crises com-ing to our Earth. The society we and our parentsknew is clearly now coming to an end. With its obses-sion for limitless consumption, that had to be. In mostall of our meetinghouses now live destitute Friendssupported by the Meetings. We need each other moreand more with each passing year. Yet in a time ofgrowing darkness, the Inner Light can become morevisible, more noticeable. . . .

SO THAT IS one future scenario. —Is it realistic? In2007, Strawberry Creek Meeting in Berkeley did com-bine two committees into a single Peace, Earthcare, &Social Witness Committee. Rolene Walker of SanFrancisco Meeting is discussing with people in her re-gion the feasibility of organizing a local group whocommit to giving up their cars. Members of Philadel-phia Yearly Meeting have recently started an“Earthquaker Action Group” of people willing to takemore direct measures to confront Earth-destroyingcorporations. The co-housing movement is flourish-ing around the country.

Maybe most significant—a survey of over 150members of Pacific Yearly Meeting this past Julyfound that over 70 percent of them held a personalbelief that “that of God” applies not just to us humans,but all life. These predictions may indeed prove to betoo modest. What will actually happen? That’s up tous, of course. What is your vision?v

MARCIA CLEVELAND, the new environment legis-lative representative for Friends Committee on Na-tional Legislation, wants Friends to form Green Teamsin support of a climate bill—the CLEAR Act—thatFCNL will be supporting in the next Congress.

A graduate of Yale LawSchool, Cleveland began her ca-reer in New York City legal ser-vices representing communityorganizations and parent-run daycare centers providing servicesto the working poor. She workedfor the Natural Resources De-fense Council before becoming

Chief of the Environmental Protection Bureau of theNew York Attorney General’s Office, where she ledNew York’s Love Canal litigation and representedNortheastern states in a challenge to emissions fromMidwestern coal-fired power plants that were causingacid rain. In 1985, she moved to Maine and workedfor the Maine Attorney General, where she won penal-ties against the U. S. Navy for violating Maine’s haz-ardous waste rules at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.In 2008, she completed a one year master’s programat the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Stud-ies, with a Global Change concentration. Last year shespent three months in Perú providing legal assistanceto the Amazon Conservation Association.

“In the months to come I am going to encourageinterested Friends to form groups in as many states aspossible to work toward passage of the CLEAR Act inthe next Congress. I know that Senators Cantwell andCollins are now working to gain more co-sponsors fortheir bill. The more co-sponsors they have the morelikely they are to get hearings and be taken seriously.

“We can help by getting op-ed and editorial piecesin local papers explaining why CLEAR is a much bet-ter energy/climate bill. I can provide detailed infor-mation. It is very important to get Republican co-sponsors and senators from coal states.

“When you e-mail me <marcia@fcnl.org> pleaseidentify the state your are from and indicate whetheryou can help with the effort to get editorials. Also ifyou can arrange for me to appear on any radio talkshows I am happy to do that as well.”

—Marcia J. ClevelandSustainable Environment Program

Friends Committee on National Legislation245 Second Street, NE

Washington, DC 20002 Tel: (202) 547-6000, ext. 2520

FCNL’s new environment rep urgesFriends to work to pass CLEAR Act

>> Looking Back, from page 5

Join FWCC’s Consultation on Global Change.Write to <samuel@fwccglobalchange.org>

BeFriending Creation l September-October 2010

7

aErthcare CalendarOctober 7, 2010. Deadline for ar-

ticle submissions for September-October 2010 BeFriending Creation.

October 22–Nov. 1, 2010. Fall QEWSteering Committee meeting atHoly Name Passionist Retreat Cen-ter in Houston, Texas. Registra-tion deadline is September 30th.

BeFriending Creation, Vol. 23, No. 5,September-October 2010. Newsletter ofQuaker Earthcare Witness. ISSN 1050-0332. Published bi-monthly.

We publish BeFriending Creation topromote the work of Quaker EarthcareWitness, stimulate discussion and action,share insights, practical ideas, and news ofour actions, and encourage among Friends asense of community and spiritual connec-tion with all Creation. Opinions expressedare the authors’ own and do not necessarilyreflect those of Quaker Earthcare Witness,or of the Religious Society of Friends(Quakers). The editor is responsible forunsigned items. Submission deadlines areFebruary 7, April 7, June 7, August 7, Octo-ber 7, and December 7.

Contents of BeFriending Creationcopyright ©2010 Quaker Earthcare Wit-ness, except as noted. Permission to reprintnewsletter material must be requested inadvance from the editor.

Membership is open to all who dem-onstrate commitment to support the workof QEW and who support its work at theMonthly or Yearly Meeting levels, orthrough other Friends organizations. Quak-er Earthcare Witness is a 501(c)3 nonprofitcorporation; contributions are tax-deduct-ible to the full extent allowed by law.

VISION AND WITNESSWE ARE CALLED to live in right rela-

tionship with all Creation, recognizing thatthe entire world is interconnected and is amanifestation of God. WE WORK to inte-grate into the beliefs and practices of theReligious Society of Friends the Truth thatGod's Creation is to be respected, protected,and held in reverence in its own right, andthe Truth that human aspirations for peaceand justice depend upon restoring the earth'secological integrity. WE PROMOTE thesetruths by being patterns and examples, bycommunicating our message, and by provid-ing spiritual and material support to thoseengaged in the compelling task of trans-forming our relationship to the earth.

Steering Committee Clerk: RichardGrossman, <richard@population-matters.org>.

Gen. Secretary: Ruah Swennerfelt,173-b N. Prospect St., Burlington, VT 05401.802/658-0308; Ruah@QuakerEarthcare.org.

BFC Editor: Louis Cox, 173-b N. Pros-pect St., Burlington, VT 05401. 802/658-0308; e-mail: Louis@QuakerEarthcare.org.

Website: www.QuakerEarthcare.org

BeFriending Creation

Register now for the QEW Annual Meeting inHouston, Texas. Deadline is September 30th.

LIVING IN A COMMUNITY

requires responsibility on every-one’s part, which is where workjobs/games or free time comes in.“Plork” (play + work) is an integralpart of the day where the bath-rooms are cleaned, cow stallsmucked out, fences fixed, fruitpicked, or anything else that needsto happen on the farm. It’s purelyamazing to watch how excited andproud the campers are of theirwork on the farm! “Adfunture”(adventure + fun + nature) is a timefor the campers to go out and ex-plore the woods surrounding campand either hike or play a game.

When we reconvene afterPlork/Adfunture for morning as-sembly, it’s a time for the kids toshare with the community whatwas done. Once everyone gets as-sembled, a few songs are sung andmorning activities are chosen,which can range from ceramics to athemed hike to soccer to improv toanything the counselors can think

up. Afternoon activities, whichfollow lunch, rest hour, and swim-ming, are done the same way.Chores happen again in theevening, followed by game time,story time and bedtime.

Magic happens at Journey’sEnd, magic unlike anywhere else.Campers and staff are able to cometogether and live in a communitywhile learning responsibility, andrespect for nature and that whichcreated it.

Being a counselor at Journey’sEnd during my late teens and early20s taught me who I was and what Iwanted to become. It also taughtme to connect with the spirit whilein nature, though it wasn’t until afew years later that I realized thislesson. A lot of people talk aboutthe “JE magic,” but it’s not thephysical place that holds the magic.Journey’s End fosters love and re-spect and allows people’s innerLight to shine as brightly as it can. v

See <www.journeysendfarm.org>;570/689-3911; 365 Sterling Rd.,

Newfoundland, PA 18445.

Journey’s End, from page 8

Earthcare Calendar

The ‘Maumee Watershed Experience’ drew manyFriends to the 2010 QEW Earthcare Center at theFGC Gathering in Bowling Green, Ohio.

THE EARTHCARE COMMITTEE of Broadmead (Ohio) Friends Meeting raised

awareness of local ecological issues by creating a walk-through map of their

watershed out of satellite photos, surrounded by educational posters. The

QEW Earthcare Center also sponsored interest groups on sustainable farm-

ing, whole-Earth economics, carbon reduction, and eco-activism.

BeFriending Creation l September-October 2010

BeFriending Creation September-October 2010BeFriending Creation September-October 2010

Quaker Earthcare Witness173-b N. Prospect St.Burlington, VT 05401-1607 USA

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

Non-Profit

Organization

U.S. Postage

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Permit No. 488

Burlington, Vt.

Printed on 100% post-consumerrecycled paper, bleached without chlorine

Another Quaker camp in Pa. teaches love of the natural worldby Katie Kearney

Burlington (Vt.) Friends Meeting

WHEN I WAS in elementary school I was alwaysdisappointed that my birthday was in summer becausethis meant that I could not have a cupcake party likeeveryone else. That changed when I became a camperat Journey’s End Farm Camp andturned the fine age of twelve there.I never had so many people wishme happy birthday and make meso many cards and presents, and Ihad certainly never had anyoneperform a skit in my honor.

The love and community thatJourney’s End Farm Camp embod-ies led me to return as a counselorfor several years. It is somethingthat I still carry with me and striveto create in my daily life.

Journey’s End Farm Camp islocated in northeastern Pennsyl-vania, on over 200 acres of woods,fields, streams, pastures, gardens, and a pond.

The camp was founded in the 1940s by Marie andRalph Curtis, who envisioned an outdoor programbased on Quaker values and appreciation of nature.They converted existing farm structures to bunk-houses and built a main building that includes kitchen,dining hall, and general activity space. The camp iscurrently run by their daughter, Kristin Curtis.

As its name implies it is a working farm yearround, and a maple syrup producer in the early spring.The farm has many gardens and a plethora of ani-mals—cows, calves, goats, chickens, pigs, cats, rabbits,chicks, ducks, and my favorite, alpacas. During thenon-camp months the North Branch Friends Meetingholds weekly Meeting for Worship in the dining room.

The camp holds three regular sessions (two arefor two weeks, and one is for three weeks) and theyrecently added a fourth session called Family Camp.Around thirty-five campers ages 7–12 come for twoor three weeks and live in community with about sev-enteen staff members; counselors, junior counselors,

nurse, cook, and directors.Things are little different at Fam-ily Camp where, families come tostay for a week.

A regular day at Journey’sEnd is long, fun, and rewarding.The wake-up bell rings promptlyat 7 a.m. by the counselors whoare charged with making thecamp breakfast for the day. Thecow bell that wakes up the campis used all throughout the day tosignify meal times, activity times,etc. and requires a little skill toget it to ring just right, which be-comes a goal for camper and

counselor alike. Animal chores are done first thing inthe morning, followed by breakfast. After breakfast istime to clean up the living areas, which can either be acanvas tent, bunkhouse, A-frame, or tree house.

Morning Meeting (think 20-minute meeting forworship) is next and often held outside, weather per-mitting. These meetings begin with silence and oftenmove on to a nature theme. My favorite was onewhere we sat by the pond and thought about water. Aswe started off the meeting in silence, we witnessed aGreat Blue Heron sail over right above our heads.The excitement in the air was electric, as was thespirit that we could feel surrounding us.

Journey’s End, page 7 >>

When Kearney, center, was a counselor

she led Journey’s End campers in morn-ing activities, including farm animal care.