Care for the Earth – use of a legacy
Letter to Bury Free Press:
Many in Bury St Edmunds will be familiar with our Quaker Meeting’s monthly silent witness for climate justice. On the first Saturday of every month we stand on Angel Hill, inviting people to share with us in reflecting on just solutions to the climate crisis. For over a year, many beyond our Quaker community have joined us, appreciating and sharing our belief in the need for action and supporting each other from a position of love, rather than of fear.
Care for the Earth is a long-standing testimony of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Today, we are concerned that already disadvantaged people in the poorest parts of the world, who have done the least to contribute to global heating, are increasingly the most affected by climate change. It is therefore a source of great joy to our local Quaker Meeting that due to a generous legacy from the late John Hill, we are able to donate £25,000 to the Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) for their work on climate justice.
Friends World Committee for Consultation, represented by the Quaker United Nations Office in Geneva, is the only accredited faith-based observer organisation actively engaged in the negotiations to agree the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which was presented ast year.
FWCC is currently raising money to fund a Peace and Justice Secretary for five years. This role will enable Quakers affected by climate change and conflict to share their experiences to ensure their perspectives shape what is said at the highest levels of policy making. It will also support and facilitate the Global Quaker Sustainability Network which connects Quakers acting for climate justice.
John Hill – a Cambridge academic – worshipped with us during the last years of his life. He took a great interest in children and young people; in gardens and nature; in those suffering from dementia and poor mental health, and in all family carers. The donation will fund the FWCC Peace and Justice Secretary for one year. It is central to our belief and action to do all we can in connecting grassroots experience with global policy. We feel privileged to be able to support global action for climate justice and to honour the memory of John Hill.