Charles Worth
Here’s an extremely short poem about climate change:
C ice melting
O dear
2 late
How did you feel when you heard that the world’s top climate scientists had published the latest IPCC report for the UN? They concluded (cautious scientists to a man and woman) that humans have ‘unequivocally’ caused ‘unprecedented’ and ‘irreversible’ changes to the climate. ‘Code Red for Humanity!’ the headlines screamed, lit up with terrifying photos of forests blazing in Greece.
I don’t know about you, but I find it hard to shake off a sense of dread and even despair that is physical – somewhere in the pit of my stomach. This extraordinary and endlessly beautiful natural world that I love and have enjoyed for my seventy plus years is at risk. Does this really mean that my own children and grandchildren won’t be able to have what I have always taken for granted? Not just the coming generations but countless people now are losing their lands, their homes, their livelihoods. All this on my watch?
So the big question – what can I do? We each have to respond to this emergency in our own way, and we will have many different responses. But I am wondering how our Quaker testimonies speak to this challenge.
- Surely we need to speak Truth – to power and to each other? If we are to do that, we have to seek out the truths in this emergency. What are the causes of the climate and ecological crisis? Where does responsibility lie? What needs to be done now? By whom?
- Isn’t this, of all times, a time for Simplicity? Don’t we have to renounce the false doctrineof ‘growth’, of greater accumulation of more and more stuff, of exploiting people and nature unsustainably? Mustn’t we instead create different ways to meet our real needs and nurture our one precious earth?
- And how can we expect to solve this without greater Equality and Justice? Aren’t those suffering most in this crisis those least responsible for causing it?
- In the months and years to come will our commitment to Peace and peace-making become ever more vital as people and planet are put under more and more pressure?
I am struggling with my responses. There are actions I can take as an individual. But I am also blessed to belong to a Society where I can meet with Friends to share my concerns, my questions, my ideas, my feelings and work together on how best to respond.
It is in this spirit that the SEE Justice group (the Social, Economic & Environmental Justice Group of Oxford Quaker Meeting) and Young Adult Friends warmly invite you to join us at 19:00 on Monday 6 September in the Meeting House to watch a recent film called Breaking Boundaries – the Science of our Planet, narrated by David Attenborough and featuring the Swedish environmental scientist Johan Rockstrom. (See more information in notice in next column.)
We know that even this crisis can be an opportunity. So much needs reshaping. Where might the Spirit be leading us? Can we live adventurously?
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Forty-Three Newsletter • Number 509 • September 2021
Oxford Friends Meeting
43 St Giles, Oxford OX1 3LW