Peace and Social Concerns brings forth the following request from BYM's Unity With Nature Committee:

On August 9, 2015, Baltimore Yearly Meeting (BYM) approved “Facing the Challenge of Climate Change:  A shared statement by Quaker groups." The statement was revised in October 2015. (attached). BYM also empowered its Unity with Nature Committee to ask local meetings to consider joining with the statement.  

The statement was written by Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO), and Quaker Earthcare Witness (QEW) as a witness statement for Quakers at the 2014 People’s Climate March and revised in 01/15 to be less time sensitive.  On  08/30/15, the authors added a clarifying word, shown here in italics, to the following sentence: “We recognize that most anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are created by fossil fuel combustion.”

The Shared Statement has been distributed among Quakers and at global climate negotiations. It supports QUNO and QEW as they conduct 'soft negotiations’ to encourage and teach negotiators how to move beyond conflict at the critical Paris Climate Talks later this year. Frederick Meeting’s signature added to the Shared Statement supports the presence of Quaker values in the highly charged financial and political atmosphere of global climate talks.
 
As the statement is a call for solidarity, local meetings moved to join with it are invited to do so as directed in QUNO’s cover letter. Your meeting's signature will appear on the statement, updated monthly.

Frederick Meeting may also choose to use the Shared Statement to clarify its own concerns and to guide its actions. You can add a supplemental statement or write your own minute, expressing concerns not included in the Shared Statement. The Shared Statement itself cannot be changed, however, nor can its signatures be used on an altered document.

This statement contains challenging discernments and leadings.  Unity with Nature believes an active and mindful consideration of the statement and the issues raised will be of great value. Your responses to it will enrich us all. BYM’s Unity with Nature Committee offers you support throughout your process of discernment.

Please consider owning the statement’s key discernments as your guide to committed actions toward a healthier world.  Feel free to contact me at Paynestake@gmail.com or contact Unity with Nature at bymunitywithnature@gmail.com  We hope to hear from you.    

In peace,
Ann Payne
BYM’s Unity with Nature Committee & FFM's Peace and Social Concerns

Join UWN's List Serve at bym-unity-with-nature@googlegroups.com, a forum dedicated to BYM meetings’ search for sustainability.  Relevant posts can be followed on Facebook at BYM Friends’ Listening Post on Sustainability.