Earthcare
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Some Minutes relating to our Earthcare concern and witness
- December 2006: AFM agrees to endorse (and to be listed as an endorser) of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy statement opposing the development of new nuclear power facilities in Georgia.
- April 2004: Atlanta Friends Meeting approves endorsing "The Earth Charter".
- March 2003: A Congregational Covenant from Georgia
Interfaith Power and Light was presented with the request that the
Meeting pledge its support. The Meeting approved its support.
Georgia Interfaith Power and Light seeks to engage communities of faith as stewards of God's Creation by promoting energy conservation, energy efficiency, renewable energy and related sustainable practices.
Congregational Covenant
AFM pledges to support the mission of Georgia Interfaith Power and Light and to do one or more of the following.- Educate our congregants on energy production and usage in
relation to global warming.
- Conduct an energy audit of our buildings to identify
sources of energy waste and the potential financial savings of
energy
related improvements.
- Make energy efficiency improvements to our congregation's
buildings.
- Utilize renewable energy by purchasing green power and/or
installing solar panels.
- Analyze, reduce, and offset our greenhouse gas emissions
with the goal of becoming a non-polluting congregation.
- Support public policies that contribute to our goals.
- Educate our congregants on energy production and usage in
relation to global warming.
- April 2001: Southern Appalachian Yearly Meeting and
Association Minute on Global Climate Change, Approved by Atlanta
Friends Meeting, April 15, 2001.
SAYMA Friends recognize that human activity, largely the use of fossil fuels, is contributing to an unprecedented rate of change in our global climate causing diminishing polar ice, changing local weather patterns, increasing frequency of severe storms, and rising global temperature. The United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that average global temperature will increase by three to eleven degrees Fahrenheit in the next hundred years, leading to severe ecological and social disaster. Three degrees would be the greatest rate of temperature change in human history; eleven degrees is unimaginable--for comparison, the last ice age was only seven to nine degrees cooler than now.
Global climate change of this magnitude presents a great threat to our ecosystems, accelerating species extinction with the possible loss of one-third of all species in the next hundred years and reducing the productivity of the ecosystems that provide an important source of new foods, medicines, and other products for humans.
Global climate change also presents a great threat to social systems. Human refugees from droughts, floods, and rising sea levels, and the human suffering caused by crop failures and the spread of tropical diseases are already stressing societies and governments, setting the stage for even more violence, oppression, and conflict. Our peace testimony leads us to find ways to remove these potential causes of war.
Friends concerns for simplicity, right sharing of resources, and equality, and our recognition that species loss desecrates God's creation, lead us to examine our practices and consider alternatives. To address this grave problem, Friends as individuals, as members of the Religious Society, and as citizens, can:
- Reduce use of fossil fuels for transportation, indoor
climate control, recreation, and use of tools and appliances
through
conservation, efficiency, and use of alternative (such as
human, solar,
and wind) energy.
- Reduce industrial energy use through informed personal
choices relative to products and services.
- Work for public policy that:
- Supports international agreements to reduce
heat-trapping gases.
- Discourages use of carbon-based fuels and encourages
use of renewable sources of energy - develops, supports,
and promotes
both local and long distance public transportation
systems.
- Supports international agreements to reduce
heat-trapping gases.
- Reduce use of fossil fuels for transportation, indoor
climate control, recreation, and use of tools and appliances
through
conservation, efficiency, and use of alternative (such as
human, solar,
and wind) energy.
In our Meetings for Worship with Attention to Business, we often make public statements, called Minutes. Because we do all business by consensus, these Minutes represent the unanimous will of our entire community.