I haven’t seen anyone make this comparison, but I can only hope that Canada’s election results might possibly be an indication of where the US might be moving.  It is clear the Harper government was very unpopular, and that its policies related to tar sands, and the repression of First Nations and other’s protests against the environmental damage played a large role.

According to the BBC, the Liberal Party’s election platform included:

• Cutting income taxes for middle-class Canadians while increasing them for the wealthy
• Running deficits for three years to pay for infrastructure spending
• Doing more to address environmental concerns over the controversial Keystone oil pipeline
• Taking more Syrian refugees; pulling out of bombing raids against Islamic State while bolstering training for Iraqi forces
• Legalizing marijuana

Indiana Moral Mondays march October 2014

Peaceful protest

I’m realizing I don’t even know the words to express how excited and grateful I am about an upcoming event. That in itself is relevant, because this event will involve things we really don’t have a good vocabulary for, things like faith, injustice, privilege, community, and how we care for one another. But it will be crucial for us to find the words or ways to share about these things, and the more we work at it, the better we will get. It will be more actions than words that help us along this path.
The occasion is the first intentional meeting of North Meadow Circle of Friends and the Kheprw Institute (KI) community. Intentional, because a number of people in each community already have a history, some a long history, of knowing each other. Imhotep and JT attended IUPUI together many (many, many) years ago 🙂
I can only speak from my own experience, i.e. other Quakers may not agree with some of the broad statements that follow. For one thing, North Meadow Friends has more diversity of all kinds, and exists in a more diverse community than the one I grew up in in Iowa, where the population is 97% white. But in practical terms we still live in a society that remains in most ways racially and economically segregated. It is also my perception that we have moved further away from community in many respects, and it’s like people are even segregated as individuals. People are so involved with their cell phones they don’t even acknowledge anyone around them.
Quakers have a long history of work to try to address injustice and work for peace. But we know we cannot invoke that past work as our own. One characteristic of Quakers is an emphasis on examining one’s own life, constantly evaluating how well we are, or are not doing in living up to our beliefs. We believe every moment and aspect of our lives should be as consistent as possible with our beliefs, and, of course, we have varying degrees of success and failure.
One of the main areas I felt I was failing in was how to deal with the many privileges I had been given by default by being one of the “people who think they are white” as Ta-Nehisi Coates puts it in “Between the World and Me” (one of the books we discussed at the youth-led community discussions at KI).
Actually one of my first experiences with privilege was not related to race, but what I’ve come to call environmental privilege. When I arrived in Indianapolis, a farm boy, I was horrified at the dirty air, and the sight of hundreds of cars spewing out exhaust (this was before catalytic converters hid the damage being done). It was obvious that situation could not continue, so I decided to refuse to own a car. I’ve tried since then to convince others, especially Quakers, to give up their cars, with no success at all. I mention this as an example of three things–of privilege, as an example of how a Quaker tries to live according to ones beliefs, and of how none of us is completely successful in doing so.
Returning to race, I think many Friends (the vast majority of whom, in the United States, are people who think they are white) are dismayed and bewildered as we discover more and more of the privileges we have been accorded, without having been aware of them. To realize we are on the wrong side of justice is against all we believe in.
Once we start to become aware of these things, that naturally leads one to wonder what else is going on that we are not aware of. Once you discover your ignorance of a subject, the question becomes how can you know what it is that you don’t know? Wow.
During another community book discussion (of The Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire) a good bit of time was spent discussing whether it is the responsibility of the oppressed to educate the oppressor. What I got from that was an ambivalent answer–on the one hand, simply no, but on the other, it is only from the oppressed that the oppressor can learn. It is uncomfortable for Quakers to realize they are oppressors, but that is important to acknowledge.
One of the great things KI has done is offer a welcoming space for people to come together to learn together about these things. As Imhotep often says, “conversation is undervalued”. KI exemplifies what a community is. They are an example of what Martin Luther King and others have spoken of as the Beloved Community.
North Meadow Friends is also an example of a Beloved Community. But our community needs help addressing racial, social and economic injustice.
So this is the event I’m looking forward to, KI and North Meadow Friends together. As William Penn said, “Let us see what love can do.”

KI community discussion

Once again last night the Kheprw Institute (KI) provided an opportunity for an open community discussion.   This time the topic was the environmental crisis, and was also sponsored by Indiana’s NAACP Environmental Justice committee, with Denise Abdul-Rahman, state chairperson.  As KI Director Imhotep Adisa often says, conversation is undervalued.  Indeed, conversation is where change happens because that is where we are challenged to step outside our usual thinking, and consider new ideas.  It is where we learn what other peoples experiences have been, and how they have integrated them into their lives.  It is where we see, always, that we are far more alike than we are different.  I am so grateful that KI offers these opportunities, as they have for years.  This is where real leadership in our community can be found.

This article is a little dated now, but still provides a good view of what KI is about.

Follow what’s going on, including upcoming events, on their Facebook page.

KI community discussion

KI community discussion

I’m sharing this YouTube video because it seems to be on the radar of young people–my godson shared it with me.  Beautiful photography accompanies the message that we are mired in lies and manipulated by corporations, but can use the Internet to connect to each other and create the change we need to avoid our own demise.

The Lie We Live

I was out this evening to get some fall color photos, and had my telephoto lens on to get colored leaves up in the trees.  Having that lens worked out well when I spotted this butterfly.   See related: Monarch exhibit

The following notice was mailed today by Anita Wylie.

NOTICE OF INTENT TO SUE

To:

Governor Mike Pence

Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller

Commissioner Carol Comer, Indiana Department of Environmental Management

Director Cameron F. Clark,  Indiana Department of Natural Resources

Please be advised that the undersigned intends to sue the Governor of the State of Indiana and the Commissioner, Indiana Department of Environmental Management, pursuant to IC 13-30-1-1, to require the State to take immediate action to begin formulating a Climate Action Plan (CAP) or other similar device to address Indiana’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) on a state-wide basis.

The scientific community has reached an overwhelming consensus that GHG emissions are contributing significantly to the massive shift in the Earth’s climate. So much indeed, that the United States Supreme Court found in Massachusetts v. EPA, 549 U.S. 497 (2007), that “[t]he harms associated with climate change are serious and well recognized” and that the United States Environmental Protection Agency had the duty to regulate GHG.*   Massachusetts also states that this duty is mandatory, not discretionary.

Article 1 of the Indiana State Constitution guarantees the citizens of Indiana the inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and that our government is founded on its authority to protect its citizens their peace, safety, and well-being. “For the advancement of these ends, the people have, at all times, an indefeasible right to alter and reform their government.”

IC 13-12-3-1 states:

Sec. 1. The purpose of this title is:

(1) to provide for evolving policies for comprehensive environmental development and control on a statewide basis;

(2) to unify, coordinate, and implement programs to provide for the most beneficial use of the resources of Indiana; and

(3) to preserve, protect, and enhance the quality of the environment so that, to the extent possible, future generations will be ensured clean air, clean water, and a healthful environment.

IC 13-12-2-1 states, “[b]eing necessary for the public health, safety and welfare, this title shall be liberally construed to effectuate the purposes of this title.”

IC 13-30-1-1 gives any citizen the right to sue a state agency or officer of the state for the protection of the environment form significant pollution, impairment, or destruction.

In June, 2013, the President issued a Climate Action Plan (CAP) for the United States. Since then, dozens of states, cities, towns and universities, even businesses, have begun and/or instituted their own version of the CAP.

To date, the State of Indiana has taken no steps to begin formulating plans and regulations to limit GHG. The citizens of Indiana deserve and demand, on behalf of themselves and future generations, that the Governor and the State of Indiana immediately begin a comprehensive and timely CAP.

Included with this letter is an article entitled “Welcome to a New Planet” by Michael Klare. This article is just one of many recent reviews of the most up-do-date science demonstrating how climate change is exponential, not linear. That means mankind has less time, not more, to institute significant and immediate mitigation efforts. Based on your public pronouncements to date, I know you are climate change deniers. But you are politicians, not climate scientist, so your opinions are devoid of merit.

I know this is an unusual use of this legal procedure, but dire times call for extreme measures. For that reason, the undersigned will not be mollified by a “business as usual” response, wherein you reply that you will be instituting some variety of inter-agency taskforce, to meet at some unspecified date, for an unspecified length of time. I am demanding a public/government partnership, weighted heavily with experts in the various fields called upon in formulating a Climate Action Plan; a panel that will be convened on a weekly, not monthly basis, with target dates of months, not years. I know you will say it is impossible, but as you will find out soon, more than enough knowledgeable experts stand ready to assist, and the technology needed to shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources is now both readily available and cost effective.

Without the above response, I am committed to filing this lawsuit. Regardless of the outcome, at least the court of public opinion will have an opportunity to know what the issues are, what needs to be done, and how you intend to adequately address this, our most pressing issue of all time.

*Once the EPA has published its final Clean Power Plan, and sixty (60) days have elapsed, this Notice of Intent to Sue will be amended to include the undersigned’s request and demand that the state immediately begin complying with those regulations, too. However, CPP compliance will not, and does not, substitute for the CAP.

Sincerely,

Anita Wylie

This new article    Welcome to a new planet    clearly explains some of the climate tipping points that evidence shows we are rapidly approaching.  The problem is that all of the mechanisms our environment has used to try to respond to its degradation have been maxed out.  For example, the ocean has absorbed much of the carbon dioxide we have been spewing into the atmosphere, and much of the extra heat resulting from that added CO2.  But now the ocean is overwhelmed, and these changes are killing the coral reefs, where 25 percent of the marine life live.  850 million people rely on this for their food security.

And unfortunately, this is just one of several tipping points.  And unfortunately, each of these changes is increasing the rate at which they are occurring, which means we are RAPIDLY running out of time to save ourselves.

Welcome to a new planet

Stop Keystone Pipeline

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee just passed the Electrify Africa Act!

Electrify Africa

600 million Africans do not have electricity.  No lights for study at night.  No power to refrigerate vaccines and medicines, power incubators and x-ray machines.  Toxic fumes from burning wood for heat and cooking.  Link to more information: Electricy Africa Act

This will help provide power for cell phones there.  This became important as we worked to address the causes of violence after the Kenyan elections in 2007 by using the Quaker Story Project to host stories of the Nandi tribe:  Nandi tribal stories  The Nandi can access these stories via their cell phones, which are widely available in Africa–but need ELECTRICITY!

Please urge your Congressional representatives to vote for this bill now that it has passed out of committee.

In the tundra, above 11,000 feet altitude, along Trail Ridge Road, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

Indiana Senate Democrats are asking Indiana citizens what issues to address in the upcoming legislative session.  Citizens write a proposal, then anyone can vote for or against it.  The Democrats say they will introduce legislation to address the top three issues.

Getting solar energy into economically depressed neighborhoods will not only reduce electric bills, but will result in free electricity once the hardware is paid for.   Money savings and access to power will stimulate economic development.

Getting solar energy for economically depressed communities is one of the issues the environmental action committee of Indiana Moral Mondays is supporting. Solar power is a moral issue

The following idea was submitted on the Indiana Democrats website:

Renewable energy for economically depressed communities