”Joy” sums up Emma Woolliam’s message at her inspiring outreach talk given on 2 December at the Kingston Quaker Centre, London. It was peppered with Quaker references and entitled “The Stubborn Optimist: A Quaker Climate Scientist”. Her prompt was this beautiful painted diagram. Over 50 Quakers and visitors filled the meeting room, curious to hear her refreshing take on the climate emergency which threatens our world. Yes, she said, we could despair, or we could listen and engage with others rather than being polarized and hostile, conserving our energies, keeping a sense of humour and perspective. We could look after our often-fragile mental health by adopting her and Christiana Figueres’s Buddhist-inspired attitude of applied love and shared purpose. Like Emma, Christiana is an astonishingly stubborn optimist and Costa Rican diplomat leading national and international policy negotiations on the climate emergency. Two wise women.
The recent COP29* in Baku may have disappointed many but at least there was some recognition of the urgent need to provide more financial support to nations in the front line of climate injustice, such as the small island nations of the Pacific. And previously sceptical countries such as Brazil and even China are changing policies. The Quaker United Nations Office was in Baku working tirelessly behind the scenes.
This outreach talk reminded us that we’re not powerless, change is coming. Tipping points lead to paradigm shifts. Make lifestyle adjustments by walking, cycling, driving less, using public transport, flying less, adopting clean, green energy instead of fossil fuels. Transition to electric vehicles - in Norway 95% of new car registrations are electric. Adopt new green technologies, improve solar storage, explore hydrogen and geoengineering, and support more green transition.
Do more with less: less of a throwaway society, more of a use-again society paying closer attention to recycling correctly. Live simply to simply live! As Quakers, we are not afraid of change, we can embrace it in all we do and this can be joyful and bring better physical and mental health.
Emma says that working at the National Physical Laboratory shows her how our planet’s climate is changing dramatically. That is tough, even without the practical pressures of a hectic life of deadlines and conflicting priorities - all while trying to be a parent to two teenagers. “My Quaker faith grounds me. In a meeting for worship, I connect spiritually and deeply with other Friends and can hear the still, small voice that says: ‘Be still and know that I am.’”
*Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
Ali Wallace
Wimbledon Meeting