When I came to the Cape over a decade ago, I found a meeting where many members were engaged in gardens, composting, solar panels, natural yards, limiting gas burning vehicles and generally living out witness to personally engage in an earth-friendly life where every day is Earth Day. Caring for the earth has become a team/community part of everyday life for the members of our meeting and has deepened in the past decade.
During the past seven years I’ve represented Quakers at the Faith Communities Environmental Network (FCEN) along with Gail Melix, Lee Burns, and Barb Lambdin. FCEN is a coalition of nearly 50 diverse faiths including Catholics, Unitarians, Episcopalians, Jews, Buddhists, and others united to advance environmental protection and eco-justice on Cape Cod and the Islands.
Over the years FCEN has led conferences, encouraged young people, hosted nature walks led by our own Gail Melix, and hosted Energy Cafes after services in conjunction with the Mass Save program to promote and fund clean energy alternatives to fossil fuels. Many of our worship buildings have invested in sustainable clean energy sources to lower their carbon footprints. We invite those of other faith traditions and spiritual practices to join us in this Good Work.
As Quakers each of us have what we call “leadings.” I have been led to write and read poetry and engage in peaceful protest and even civil disobedience into the Courts. Lee Burns from our meeting has engaged in local politics in Plymouth and now Sandwich to advocate for efficient new building construction and candidates who support good environmental practices and progressive legislation.
A key element of our advocacy engages a moral imperative to protect the systems which sustain life on our only planet. Environmental justice as a moral issue lends us a powerful collective voice to supplement and carry beyond the voluminous individual facts, thoughts, and outrages which have failed to move global communities to sufficient action to date.
What can you do?
You can participate in FCEN meetings, a great way of learning what other faith communities are doing to improve the health of our planet. You can work to reduce your own carbon footprint and that of our meeting.You can participate in political action to help our country become more focused on renewable energy. If you need some specific suggestions, please talk to any of the people I’ve mentioned here, who would be glad to help you pick out what is right for you.
Contact: Bill Holcombe
