IN THIS ISSUE:
• N.Y. Quakers hold non-violent direct action training on "fracking."
• Seeking integrity in Quaker activism.
• People get involved in Transition for a range of reasons.
• The Economics of Happiness--New title in the QEW Video Lending Library
• Two new videos look at growth and human population.
• QEW Mini-Grants offered again in 2012.
• Growth Dilemma Project seeks to Impact FCNL Legislative Priorities.
• UN climate agreement in Durban called a victory for polluters, financial sector.
• Three ways the 2011 UN climate summit in Durban let us down...
• Farms and businesses in Vermont search for principles of sustainable food.
• Letters
• New QEW pamphlet is roadmap for life after Monsanto.
• Your gift can help QEW plan its 2012 Earthcare programs.
• Raise awareness, get Earthcare for Friends for your Meeting.

N.Y. Quakers hold non-violent direct action training on 'fracking'

by Angela Manno
15th Street (N.Y.) Friends Meeting

The room filled up slowly on Saturday morning, November 12, 2011, at Brooklyn (N.Y.) Friends Meetinghouse. These were seasoned activists and newcomers to hydraulic fracturing, the newest form of extreme fossil fuel extraction, taking its place alongside deep-water oil drilling, mountaintop removal coal mining, and tar sands extraction.

I had been anticipating this day for many months, having realized that efforts over many months to maintain a ban on hydraulic fracturing—a serious threat to the groundwater in New York State—have fallen on legislators' deaf ears. Petitions, phone calls, and the clear majority of state residents against fracking had not made an impression. Recently New Yorkers learned that permitting is underway to bring fracked (and most likely radioactive) gas into New York City through a high-pressure gas pipeline for the purposes of converting New York to natural gas.

The time had come to explore new ideas and approaches. The Friends in Unity with Nature committee of the New York Quarter and the Peace Committees of 15th Street Friends Meeting agreed to co-sponsor a non-violent direct action training (NVDA) program.

There was a great diversity in the group of 22 participants--Quakers, Buddhists, psychologists, artists, and seasoned activists--people I had worshipped with, campaigned with, meditated with, and socialized with. Some of the most experienced activists in New York City were present.

Training for Change trainer Daniel Hunter, who has been facilitating trainings in NVDA campaigning and actions for Quakers in Pennsylvania on stopping mountaintop removal and hydraulic fracturing, opened the morning with introductions.

With the first introductions, I knew this was going to be interesting:

"I have no one at home, my kids are grown. I don't have anybody around to embarrass anymore," exclaimed the first participant. The person next to her said, "I've got a wife and children, and it's about time I embarrassed them!"

As I heard Friends speak, I recalled Friend and activist George Lakey's words to me:

"No amount of consciousness-raising or discussion can ever take the place for Quakers of getting their bodies out of the chair and in motion, outside their comfort zone, taking a stand. One reason why a vigil is a waste of time for Quakers these days is that it is a ritualthe kind of ritual that early Friends scorned when they saw Anglicans doing it. Friends need to act, in situations of uncertainty, where they are slightly out of control, where nicely phrased locution is not the currency."

These Friends and non-Friends were more than ready to act!

One of the first exercises was to create a Fracking Timeline to see how far the movement has come in three years. People came up to the board in front of the room and wrote down the dozens of milestones that have given the movement its shape. We were amazed at the progress, which consisted mostly of generating awareness. These included: the release of the Academy Award-nominated documentary Gasland and later with the New York Times' ongoing investigative series, "Drilling Down," that exposed this issue to the world; the conference on fracking and its health impacts at Mount Sinai Hospital; various lawsuits; and the upcoming November 21st meeting of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC).

Though there was a great depth of knowledge of people in the room, non-violent direct action was new to most all of us.

Concepts were introduced, including the need to designate a "target," someone who is able to give you what you want. Once you have determined your target, you can apply one of several of NVDA tactics (which one you use depends in part on where you are in your story line, since they escalate in pressure):

1. Symbolic acts (marches, rallies, street theater, mock elections)
2. Non-cooperation (student strike, consumers' boycott, tax withholding)
3. Alternative cooperation (citizens' document search, non-violent land seizure, citizens' arrest)

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