What are Quakers called to do?

EarthQuaker Issue 99

Different people have different leadings.  My friends in a Quaker Earthquakes XR action group felt called to form a climate choir, which leads to meaningful actions.  I’ve been curating a series of Friday Quaker discussion group meetings which we publish on YouTube, and I have contributed a few on environmental topics.

From this we formed a “Resilience Network”(ResNet) with an aim to help communities and their natural anchor hubs become more resilient, and better able to tackle climate change and be more resilient around extreme events.  

In 2024 ResNet received £45,000 in grant funding from two Climate Action Funds, to explore providing solar  power and energy storage to clusters of households in lower income areas in Bristol – to help those most in need.  We used these funds to bring together experts from different groups with the varying skills to make this happen, and we made progress.

Bristol set a goal to be carbon neutral by 2030, and many cities followed suit, but at a recent environmental conference we heard Bristol is likely to fall 400,000 tons of emissions short per year, and fail to reach this goal.

A simple analysis showed that if we put solar panels on all the 90,000 roofs across the city that have room for them, and used half the electricity produced to power electric transport, we would save in excess of this 400,000 tonnes of emissions.  And the finances look good too – people’s energy bills would be cut on average by 30%.

So this seems like a fairly simple, practical, and worthwhile activity to pursue. Once upon a time, a few generations of Quakers had the energy, creativity and inspiration to create enterprises that served their families, their congregations and their societies. Maybe in this time, something like that becomes possible again.  

We are well aware of the environmental damage that can be caused by further building the capitalist pyramid, and we know that the environmental damage we’re creating comes in the main from burning fossil fuels. Could it be that the remedy could come with solar from our own roofs, and using it to power our homes and transport?

If communities own the solar on our own roofs, it would mean we own and control our own energy and could become almost fully independent of big energy companies – communities would become more self- sufficient, and more resistant to being exploited.  A wave of community co-operatives could replace chains of capitalist brands. 

Maybe good stewardship of our planet could come from our own communities, and Quakers could play a role in showing how to bring communities together to act in their own best interests, and that of nature too.

 

David Saunders
Bristol Central Quakers