ECO-JUSTICE NEWS
March 2021
The Eco-Justice Collaborative of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting issues this monthly bulletin to provide Friends with time-sensitive information and resources to help in their ongoing work for social and environmental justice. Please share as you think appropriate. If you have events or resources to share, please send them to Ruth Darlington.
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“Part of our journey is to decolonize our own thinking and sit in the discomfort and pain of confronting where we need to deepen our understanding, bear witness, and transform our behavior.”
–Canadian Yearly Meeting
UPCOMING EVENTS
Churches Going Solar: How It’s Done and How Policy Change Can Help
March 18, 2021 at 7:00 PM
Join the Evangelical Environmental Network and Solar United Neighbors in this free webinar to learn how churches and other houses of worship can go solar. We’ll also discuss the ways that state and federal policy change could make this process easier and how you can help make that happen. A member of St Paul’s Episcopal Church near Pittsburgh will be joining to speak about his own church’s successful effort to install solar. REGISTER to receive a Zoom link.
Organizing for Eco-Justice
March 21, 2021 7:00-9:00 PM
Join the Shalom Center for a night of multi-faith engagement on eco-justice. New and seasoned activists will bring a spiritual lens to the work of eco-justice advocacy. Free will donation. REGISTER.
Eco-Justice Collaborative Question & Answer Session about the Climate Crisis
Tuesday, March 23, 2021 7:00-8:30 PM
Worship begins at 7:00 PM; 7:30-8:30 PM is a Q&A with members of the Eco-Justice Collaborative to discuss climate change as a yearly meeting witness. REGISTER.
Continuing Sessions
Saturday, March 27, 2021 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM
During business, we will discuss how we will commit to the work needed to address climate disruption and environmental injustice.
REGISTER.
QEW and FGC Host Worship Sharing
Quaker Earthcare Witness is hosting monthly online worship sharing groups in partnership with Friends General Conference. Together they are creating more opportunities for Friends to be in spiritual community with one another.
They will gather every last Wednesday of the month at 8:00 PM Eastern time. Upcoming dates are Feb 24, March 31, April 28, and May 26, 2021.
REGISTER for all five sessions.
TAKE ACTION
Sign on to Sacred People, Sacred Earth
On March 11, the GreenFaith International Network is hosting actions around to the world to call for justice for all people and our common home the earth. In their Sacred People, Sacred Earth Statement, they say, “We are united by a fundamental belief that all people, all living things, and the Earth are sacred.
As we consider the state of the world today, our hearts overflow with concern. We are frightened and frustrated by the damage that COVID-19 is inflicting on our communities. The pandemic has revealed cruel injustices. The vulnerable suffer the most severe impacts. These same communities are disproportionately and catastrophically affected by the accelerating climate emergency.”
Read the full multi-faith climate statement and sign on.
Seed Sharing for Resilient Communities
This is not our typical request for action, but as the pandemic has us all looking for ways to be in community and has many turning to gardening for greater food security, here are two ways you can be a part of this movement:
First, Seed Savers Exchange donates seeds to the following groups each year:
(1) Community and educational groups who will freely share their harvest,
(2) Community and educational groups who will save seeds and share them with others in need, and
(3) Non-profits, schools, community gardens, seed libraries and educational programs.
If you are working with a group that falls into one of these categories, apply for a free seed donation.
Second, if you are a gardener and have extra seeds after you plant your garden, find a community garden near you where you can donate your seeds. Farming Philly: Urban Agriculture in the City of Brotherly Love has a community garden map as well as a list of websites for community gardens throughout Philadelphia neighborhoods.
GOOD NEWS!
Fracking Banned in the Delaware River Basin!
On Feb 25, 2021, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) voted to permanently ban fracking in the Delaware River watershed, thereby protecting drinking water for 13 million people. In response to years of advocacy, the DRBC voted to prohibit fracking in the 13,539 square mile river basin that covers parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. Read more.
RESOURCES
EJC Webinar “Why the Crises We Face Make Economic Reform Essential”
On Feb 23, 2021, Walt McRee and Ellen Brown of the Public Banking Institute and Keith Harvey of American Friends Service Committee, joined EJC to talk about Public Banking, as well as other financial and economic reforms that could provide the funding needed to address the climate crisis and other crises our nation faces.
Download the EJC webinar video recording.
BeFriending Creation (January-February-March 2021 Issue)
BeFriending Creation, the printed journal of Quaker Earthcare Witness, is published quarterly.
Articles in this first edition of 2021 include, “Equality-Equity-Justice: The Transportation Case Example” by Beverly G. Ward, “Examining Institutional Racism” by Lauri Langham, and “Water Protectors Block Line 3” by the Giniw Collective.
Quaker Earthcare Witness (QEW) Mini-Grants
Quaker Earthcare Witness (QEW) is a network of Quakers seeking to live in right relationship with Earth and in unity with nature. The QEW Mini-Grants Committee provides small matching grants to help fund Friends’ projects that put this principle into practice. We are looking for projects to support those who help with providing food, involve youth, or help with challenging racial/ethnic barriers.
We are set up so that we can only fund through Quaker Meetings, Churches, Camps, Schools etc. If your Quaker organization is doing a project that meets our criteria, we invite you to apply. If you are an individual Quaker, involved with a project that meets our criteria, perhaps your Meeting could adopt the project. This would enable us to fund you. Our maximum matching grant is $500.
Subscribe to PYM Peace & Social Justice News
The Eco-Justice newsletter is now distributed by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting through the Peace & Social Justice Network.
Please sign up to continue to receive the information that interests you by filling out your name and check the “Peace & Social Justice” list via the PYM subscription link.
Subscribe to the Eco-Justice Newsletter, contact Patricia Finley or Ruth Darlington, co-clerks of the Eco-Justice Collaborative.
Please visit the Eco-Justice Collaborative website.
