New QEW pamphlet is roadmap for life after Monsanto

The newest QEW quad-fold, on the health and ecological threats inherent in the globalized food economy, was enclosed in the 2011 year-end QEW appeal letter.

The pamphlet's focus is the vertically integrated industrial food system that over the past half-century has filled the vacuum left by the declining number of farms and farmers and the expanding taste of consumers for cheap, convenient, and exotic food choices.

In the process, our corporation-dominated food system has woven a web of environmental, social, and economic woes, increasingly dictating what food is produced around the world, how it is produced, and what it costs.

The agribusinesses and food conglomerates greenwash themselves as the champions of consumers, as the only way to feed a rapidly growing population and provide healthy, varied diets. But in truth they are unsustainable for a host of reasons, including their dependence on fossil fuels and fossil water, their depletion of soils and biodiversity, their undermining of rural communities and economies, and their role in the spread of numerous food- and diet-related diseases.

Industrial farming's extensive use of inadequately tested pesticides and its reliance on synthetic inputs also represent a violent approach to agriculture that further isolates humans from the natural world.

Growing Concerns about who controls the world's food supply are being confirmed by rapidly rising food prices, declining per-capita production of many food staples, alarming drops in global food reserves, monopolization of key seed stocks, and profit-driven genetic engineering.

These problems call for immediate action, but many megacorporations now rival governments in wealth and power and enjoy more legal rights than ordinary citizens. This enables them to wield even more influence over legislation, government regulation, and public opinion. That is why food activists are facing an uphill battle in their efforts to repeal the legal doctrine of "corporate personhood" and to provide a level playing field for smaller, individually owned farms by limiting public subsidies to corporations.

The pamphlet outlines a number of things we can do in the meantime to regain some control over our food supply—buying locally grown and processed foods, raising some of our own food organically, buying from community-supported farms (CSAs) and farmers markets, and choosing fairly traded products. It also provides a list of print and video resources on key food isues.

Consider starting a discussion group on this vital issue, using copies of the new food pamphlet that are available free from the QEW office. <>

Your gift can help QEW plan its 2012 Earthcare programs

Last November we set ourselves a fundraising goal to raise $25,000 by the end of December.

I am pleased to report to you that at the time this issue went to press we had raised more than $25,000. Grateful thanks go to all of you who helped us near that goal!

We have big plans for 2012: We will continue Earthcare education around our theme of Food and Biodiversity; we are planning a Young Adult Friends Gathering with Pendle Hill in June; we will host the Earthcare Center at the FGC Gathering in July; we are planning two face-to-face QEW gatherings, one in June and one in October.

We hope that many of you will see this as an opportunity to plan a special Earthcare event with your Monthly Meeting or your Yearly Meeting to join our celebration of 25 years of Friends' witness for Earthcare as a spiritual concern.

We have enclosed a return envelope in this issue of BeFriending Creation. Please consider making a gift now now to help with our plans for 2012, particularly the Young Adult Friends Gathering and our 25th anniversary celebration.

—Anne Mitchell
QEW General Secretary

Raise awareness, get Earthcare for Friends for your Meeting

Many facets and viewpoints have to be considered when approching the global ecological crisis from a spiritual perspective.

There are many scientific facts and principles to sort out and complex moral issues to weigh. There are traditional spiritual values and teachings to integrate with cutting-edge discoveries in the life sciences and social sciences.

There are wonders and enigmas in Creation that are difficult to put into words. There are so many threats in every direction to the stability, order, and beauty of the planet we call Home and Mother that we can be paralyzed by despair.

Good news! QEW has just the resource we have been needing to feel confident about speaking out and taking positive steps for Earthcare in our homes, Meetings, and communities. Earthcare for Friends, A Study Guide for Individuals and Faith Communities, provides help in addressing all of these issues, under one gorgeous cover.

In 18 easy-to-follow units, this 250-page study guide compiles, organizes, and clearly explains virtually all of the insights and lessons about spirituality and ecology that Quaker Earthcare Witness members have acquired since its founding in 1987. Materials are arranged for easy adaptation by discussion groups and adult religious education classes. There are numerous resources for those whose appetites for deeper understanding have been whetted.

Earthcare for Friends has illuminating and thought-provoking articles on the whole gamut of ecological concerns—soil, air, water, eco-economics, eco-psychology, stewardship, climate change, energy, population, conservation, ecological footprints, simple living, etc. It has helpful questions and queries for reflection and discussion and sources of inspiration—songs, scripture, prayers, sample sermons, and responsive readings.

More good news! QEW is now releasing the rest of its inventory at the greatly reduced price of only $10, including shipping and handling, to encourage all Friends carrying a spiritual concern for the health and wholeness of the Earth community who do not already own copies of Earthcare for Friends to order them for their home and Meeting libraries.

We also are cutting our prices on QEW booklets—Elizabeth Watson's Healing Ourselves and the Earth, Jack Phillips's Walking Gently on the Earth, and Bill Cahalan's Awakening to Earth, Natural Awareness as a Spiritual Practice—from $4 to $2 to help get these crucial Earthcare resources out where they belong, into the hands of Quaker eco-activists. We also have Lisa Gould's book, Caring for Creation, the Biblical Basis of Earthcare, for only $4.

Any of these publications can be ordered through the QEW website <www.quakerearthcare.org> or through the QEW office, 173-b N. Prospect St., Burlington, VT 05401-1607; 802-658-0308; <info@quakerearthcare.org>.

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