yes I know, it's been a while... again! Well what with being sick (again/still) and away, having too much to write about and not enough time and then plenty of time and not enough energy, somehow blogging took second place to snappy little facebook status updates which are much more manageable! Because so many people are on facebook these days I forget that there are those who don't get to see those updates and that I have to fill them in by other means, sorry Mum & Dad....
Anyways where was I away to? Well Wellington for (Quaker) Yearly Meeting and some catching up with F/friends for a few days. How did it go? Well nothing like as momentous as Britain YM which managed to hit the headlines a short while later that is for sure, in fact reflecting on our YM in the light of BYM I felt that we had a long way to go.... the big issue of the day for us wasn't same sex marriages but climate change. In one of the reports from Britain YM someone referred to the recent decision being the culmination of 22 years of work, discussion and seeking spiritual guidance. Quaker decision making has never been noted for it's speed (it took 100 years to make their minds up about abolishing slavery!) but as some people are getting increasingly frantic about explaining, we simply don't have 100 years to sort this one out, and probably not even twenty two. Now I'm no expert by any stretch of the imagination and I know that there is also talk about the amount of sunspot activity that is affecting climate change in a big way, but regardless of that, we can't ignore that as a species we aren't looking after Papatuanuku, Mother Earth and it is all going to get a lot worse, for whatever reason.
What can we do corporately as Friends? Well a rather tame letter was sent to our PM pointing out the carbon footprint of war and preparing for war (military exercises) and the need to engage fully in the Copenhagen talks. Some headway was made about the right use of money and the fact that true socially responsible investment may mean low/zero returns for us rather than supporting unethical practices and that this goes beyond boycotting the usual suspects of tobacco and the arms trades and looking hard at the environmental impact of Fonterra and the like. Some Friends have expressed a wish to set targets for reducing power consumption within the MM by 15% but that is aimed at those MMs with property, others have suggested cutting travel and the need for it - combining Summer Gathering and YM (more likley to work consecutively than combined methinks) or holding YM every 2 years or through regional video links rather than entirely face to to face.
But what can I do? Well the biggest part of my life that is unsustainable is my work environment, sure we have recycling but the waste of water, paints and other resources is fairly horrific most days. But have I the energy to take it on board on top of everything else that needs addressed? Probably not, but I don't think I've got much choice really do I?
