QUNO Radical Witness

Lindsey Fielder Cook’s work for the Quaker United Nations Office in Geneva exemplifies deeply rooted Quaker witness. Lindsey has attended sessions of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for 13 years. Over this time, she has developed warm, trusting relationships with government delegates through her faithful presence at negotiations, conversations at the UNFCCC sessions and continuing contact in between, and holding QUNO “quiet dinners” where negotiators are invited to speak personally off the record and listen deeply to each other. In 2017 Lindsey started attending sessions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and has become recognised there as the Quaker voice of integrity, seeking to ensure that findings of in-depth IPCC assessments are properly represented in the widely circulated summaries for policymakers. Realising that many UNFCCC negotiators had little time to digest the underlying IPCC reports, she started supporting them with digests of the findings. With the trust she has built, Lindsey is able to speak and be heard as a faithful Quaker voice for care of the Earth and all its people.

Lindsey says:

“In my work on climate change, I have watched the most extraordinary changes. From a niche to a common conversation. From denial to transformation. And then, a new denial: what to do about it. The root causes defined by the IPCC are unsustainable energy use, land use, and land use change; unsustainable lifestyles, and unsustainable patterns of consumption and production. The scientists tell us that ‘urgent, feasible, and equitable near-term options are already available at scale to address climate change and improve human well-being and planetary health.’ Except that this scientific finding was cut from a final IPCC draft by certain countries who found it politically uncomfortable.

“Those most responsible [for the climate crisis] often fail to acknowledge the harm they have caused from colonization, exploitation, racism, injustice, and poverty – all of which still continue within and across our countries. This blocks us in the climate change negotiations.

“Climate change is also a spiritual crisis: our failure to see the sacred in God’s creation, to care for nature, for our neighbour, for the sacred in all that is around and in us.

“We often hear the story of doom, but we need to tell the story of love, of Care for Creation, of real and possible transformations that could give our children healthy and fair worlds. Our human systems in energy, economics and agriculture must transform if we are to have, as the scientists tell us, ‘a sustainable and liveable planet for all’.”

IPCC reports have listed transformations required throughout human society, including the provision and use of energy, food, and transport, our systems of health and education; the military and much more. “Human rights-based policies that benefit people and the planet.”

“These transformations bring healing and build community resilience.  However, they also threaten current power and money structures. And so we see a new, and often surreal, denial.

“Climate negotiators tell me that people need to get active – write letters, march on the streets, show your support.”

Most countries missed the February 2025 deadline to update their ‘Nationally Determined Contributions’ (NDCs) as part of the Paris Agreement. The United Kingdom met the deadline. Lindsey encourages us to scrutinise the report. “Does it reflect urgent, feasible, and equitable near-term options to address climate change and improve human well-being and planetary health? Does it respect human rights and the rights of Indigenous Peoples? Does it call for people’s participation in decision-making? Does it integrate policies to uphold gender equality, youth, people living with disabilities, and biodiversity protection? Does it protect environmental and human rights defenders? They are our prophets. Does it acknowledge responsibility for historical and current emissions? Does it lead on rapid reduction of emissions and financial support to poorer countries?”

This article was compiled by Laurie Michaelis based on Lindsey’s ministry at the 2024 World Plenary of Friends World Committee for Consultation.