Note: Because the initial purposes of QNL have been fulfilled or are being addressed by initiatives that are now operating independently and no longer in need of oversight, QNL was laid down at the 2006 QEW Annual Gathering at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico.

Background

Quaker Eco-Witness was formed in early 2000 by five Friends from across the United States. Soon a network of Friends across the country had been established as an Interest Group within Friends Committee on Unity with Nature (FCUN). We worked to inform one another on issues that affect society's relationship to the Earth and to promote ecologically sound government and corporate policy decisions.

When FCUN was renamed Quaker Earthcare Witness, Quaker Eco-Witness was renamed Quaker Earthcare Witness for National Legislation (QNL).

Mission statement

Quaker Earthcare Witness for National Legislation will promote U.S. government and corporate policies to help restore and protect Earth's biological integrity. It will work within and through the Religious Society of Friends for policies that enable human communities to relate in mutually enhancing ways to the ecosystems of which they are a part. This witness will seek to be guided by the Spirit and grounded in reverence for Earth's communities of life as God's creation.

Statement of purpose

1. To work within the Society of Friends in the U.S. and with Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) to enable FCNL to include legislative priorities relating to "an earth restored...."

2. To inform Friends about current policy issues from an ecological and faith-based perspective in collaboration with the Quaker Eco-Bulletin Project.

3. To participate as a Friends' entity in advocacy activities relating to ecology and U.S. government and corporate policy originating from or widely supported by the nation's faith community

4. To be a voice for Friends concerned about the underlying conflict between our species' ecological realities and our society's commitment to unlimited economic expansion.

   The first purpose has now been accomplished as QEW has become a member organization of FCNL with two representatives on the FCNL General Committee. FCNL has now included legislative priorities relating to “an earth restored…”

Purposes Accomplished

The first purpose has now been accomplished as QEW has become a member organization of FCNL with two representatives on the FCNL General Committee. FCNL has now included legislative priorities relating to “an earth restored…”

Quaker Eco-Bulletin (QEB)

The Quaker Eco-Bulletin has been published bi-monthly by Quaker Earthcare Witness as an insert in BeFriending Creation since 2001. (Click here to see the current issue of the Quaker Eco-Bulletin.

.) QEB's purpose is to advance Friends' witness on public and institutional policies that affect the earth's capacity to support life. QEB articles aim to inform Friends about public and corporate policies that have an impact on society's relationship to the earth, and to provide analysis and critique of societal trends and institutions that threaten the health of the planet. QEB is now under the oversight of the QEW Publications Committee.

Friends Testimony on Economics (FTE)

In 2003 QNL organized a gathering at Pendle Hill “Consultation on Economics and Ecology.” The epistle written at that gathering was published in QEB 3:6. As a result of that gathering, Friends Testimony on Economics (FTE) was established. FTE has published Seeds of Violence, Seeds of Hope, a resource to help Friends learn more about current economic concepts, policies, and institutions as they relate to our historic testimonies in an ecological context. (See FTE page in this site.)

Quaker Institute for the Future (QIF)

Also initiated from the 2003 Pendle Hill gathering, the Quaker Institute for the Future (QIF) has been established as a kind of Quaker think tank “to help generate systematic insight, knowledge, and wisdom that can inform public policy in ways that will enable us all to live more fully in ‘the virtue of that life and power’ which leads us to treat all humans, all communities of life, and the whole Earth as manifestations of the Divine.” See <www.quakerinstitute.org>.

Links related to national legislation

• Friends Committee on National Legislation: www.fcnl.org
• League of Conservation Voters: www.lcv.org
• Public Interest Research Group: www.pirg.org
• Environmental Protection Agency: www.epa.gov
• U.S. House of Representatives: www.house.gov
• U.S. Senate: www.senate.gov
• White House: www.whitehouse.gov
• Environmental Defense Pollution Information: www.scorecard.org
• Union of Concerned Scientists: www.ucsusa.org
• Worldwatch: www.worldwatch.org

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