Quakers, social justice and revolution

Peace, Social Concerns and Native Peoples

Posted on September 28, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

Yesterday I discussed the visionary statements we wrote during our Peace and Social Concerns committee meetings this summer at Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative).

One area of ongoing interest and concern is our relationships with Native peoples. The blog post at this link summarizes some past work of our Yearly Meeting regarding Native Americans: Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) Friends and Indigenous Peoples. This has been the focus of my spiritual work, study and activities for several years now. Participating on the First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March in September, 2018, was transformative for me. As a group of about forty Native and non-native people walked 94 miles over 8 days together, along the path of the Dakota Access Pipeline, I was blessed to make so many friendships. Now I have Native friends who can help me learn more about Indigenous life and spiritual practices.

As written below, we were fortunate to have Paula Palmer with us this summer, leading workshops related to “Toward Right Relationships with Native Peoples”. More about that can be found here: https://kislingjeff.wordpress.com/?s=toward+right+relationships. One important thing related to that was writing a land acknowledgement statement, describing the history of the land we are meeting on. I encourage Friends who don’t have such a statement yet to write one. Consulting with Native people in your area to help write, and verify the accuracy of your statement will help you build relationships with Native peoples.

Following is part of the Peace and Social Concerns Committee report that was approved this summer.

To this day we have not come to grips with fundamental injustices our country was built on, the cultural genocide and theft of land from Native Americans, the enslavement of African Americans and the legal justifications of bestowing rights and privileges on white land-owning men. The consequences of these injustices continue to plague our society today. And will continue to impact us until we do what is necessary to bring these injustices to light and find ways to heal these wounds.

Several Friends recently assisted Boulder Meeting Friend, Paula Palmer, to lead workshops and discussions as part of her ministry “toward right relationships with Native people.” Part of the tragedy of the theft of Native land is that some Native people don’t have the concept of land as property, belonging to a landowner. Rather they have a spiritual connection to Mother Earth, that the land is sacred and not something that can be claimed as property by anyone. Being forced to leave their land broke their spiritual bonds with the land.

Native people have asked us to begin work toward reconciliation and healing. The first step needed is truth telling, recognizing that injury or harm has taken place. One of the important parts of holding “right relationship” workshops is to determine which Native nations were on the land before white settlers arrived. The following Land Acknowledgement for Iowa was approved by the Meskwaki Nation. We encourage Friends to read this acknowledgement statement when meetings take place on the land called Iowa.

We begin by acknowledging that the Land between Two Rivers, where we sit and stand today, has been the traditional homeland for many independent nations. These include the Ioway and the Otoe, who were here since before recorded time. The Omaha and the Ponca were here, moving to new lands before white settlers arrived. The Pawnee used this land for hunting grounds. The Sioux, Sauk and Meskwaki were here long before European settlers came. Members of many different Indigenous nations have lived on these plains. Let us remember that we occupy their homeland and that this land was taken by force. Today, only the Meskwaki Nation, the Red Earth People, maintain their sovereignty on their land in the state of Iowa. They persevered and refused to be dispossessed of their home. Place names all over our state recognize famous Meskwaki chiefs of the 1800s like Poweshiek, Wapello, Appanoose, and Taiomah or Tama. We honor the Meskwaki Nation for their courage, and for maintaining their language, culture and spirituality. May our time together bring respectful new openings for right relationship to grow.
Iowa Land Acknowledgement Statement

Part of the healing needed relates to the forced assimilation that was attempted, and often time occurred, by kidnapping Native children and taking them to Indian Boarding Schools. This was the topic of Paula’s presentation at Scattergood Friends School and Farm. Some may question why this needs to be discussed today. The reason is for the truth telling, and to name how whiteness historically ignores the multigenerational trauma imposed upon indigenous people. Healing begins when truth telling begins. Multi-generational trauma affects Native people today. One Friend shared with a Native friend that he knew about the Quaker Indian Boarding Schools, and he was sorry for what happened. His friend then told about a phone call from his mother when he was at Standing Rock. She was very distraught because she recognized the rope used to tow a boat across a narrow channel of water, and it reminded her of the Indians using a similar boat and tow rope to help the Native children escape when white men came to take them to boarding schools.

Some Friends have been working to support the concept of an indigenous led Green New Deal. Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (ICCI) is supporting the youth organization, the Sunrise Movement, that has been successful in moving toward a Green New Deal.

Posted in #NDAPL, First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March, Native Americans, Quaker, Toward Right Relationship with Native Peoples, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Spirit Led Peace and Social Concerns

Posted on September 27, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

Again this summer Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) met at Scattergood Friends School and Farm for our annual sessions. I am clerk of the Peace and Social Concerns Committee which is a challenge. This summer our meetings went more smoothly, in part because most members have been on the committee for several years and gotten used to working together. This year no letters to our Congressional representatives were brought for us to work on. This was in part because some of us felt working on those letters took too much of our time together, and online tools to submit such letters resulted in Congressional offices being flooded with letters.

Although we always try to be attuned to the Spirit during our meetings, this year there was a strong sense of the presence of God leading us. The additional time we had, since we didn’t have letters to work on, gave us more time to reflect on issues of peace and justice. It also helps that our meeting room is quiet and isolated.

One member had hand written the two paragraphs below from the 2006 Minutes. Those words resonated with us and led us to think of other statements in the same form, which we referred to as visionary statements.

What follows is part of the approved Peace and Social Concerns Report.

In dark times it is easy to feel discouraged and helpless. Sometimes it helps to step back to get a different perspective. The following statement was printed in the 2006 Minutes of Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative).

There once was a frame of reference in this country that said, “Slavery is a reality. The best we can do is hope to regulate it and work for the just treatment of slaves.” John Woolman stepped out of that frame of reference and said, “Slavery is wrong.” His vision was to end slavery.
Today there is a frame of reference in this country that says, “Illegal immigration is a reality. The best we can do is regulate immigration. We step out of that frame of reference to say, “All are worthy of a decent life. Our vision is the recognition of migration as a human right.” (We thank the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) for their years of work on behalf of migrant people.)
Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) 2006

This statement provoked us to consider how we might express such visionary statements today. Some examples of how that might look follow.

There once was a frame of reference in this country that said:

• “Systemic racism is a reality. The best we can do is make people aware of this racism.” We want to step out of that frame of reference and say, “Racism is wrong.” We believe this vision will help create the Beloved Community Martin Luther King, Jr, spoke of. All of these visions contribute to that possibility.
• “Theft of Native land is a reality. The best we can do is help Native people, especially children, assimilate into white culture.” We want to step out of that frame of reference and say, “The theft of Native land and culture is wrong.” We believe this vision will lead to reconciliation, healing and lifting up Native culture.
• “War is a reality. The best we can do is limit conflict.” We want to step out of that frame of reference and say, “War is never the answer.” We believe this vision will lead to world peace.
• “Those who do wrong must be incarcerated.” We want to step out of that frame of reference and say, “Abolish prisons.” We believe this vision can rehabilitate prisoners so they can re-enter their communities.
• “Some people must die for their crimes.” We want to step out of that frame of reference and say, “No one should be put to death.” We believe this vision will end this inhumane practice.
• “Fossil fuel use is necessary for our economy and transportation”. We want to step out of that frame and say, “Use of fossil fuels must end now.” We believe this vision can temper the environmental catastrophe we are moving more deeply into.
• “Borders are a reality.” We want to step out of that frame of reference and say, “Borders are wrong.” We believe this vision will lead open borders which is becoming increasingly important as millions more become climate refugees.
• “Health, including mental health is available to those who can pay.” We want to step out of that frame of reference and say, “Health, including mental health, is a human right.” We believe this vision will heal us.
• “Violence against and sexual trafficking of women and children are a reality. The best we can do is incarcerate the perpetrators”. We want to step out of that frame of reference and say, “Women and children have a right to be free and safe, always and everywhere.” We believe this vision will help us all feel safe and protected.

We are joyful knowing the Spirit’s guidance will show us how to attain these visions.

“But the end is reconciliation; the end is redemption; the end is the creation of the beloved community. It is this type of spirit and this type of love that can transform opposers into friends. It is this type of understanding goodwill that will transform the deep gloom of the old age into the exuberant gladness of the new age. It is this love which will bring about miracles in the hearts of men.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. from “Facing the Challenge of a New Age,” 1956

AM Deb Fink Horace Autenreith George Welch Jim Ginger Kenney Mary Autenreight Birdie Kisling Don Nagler

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Confusion

Posted on September 27, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

I usually don’t know what I’ll write as I sit in silence before my computer the first thing each morning. This is a spiritual practice, to listen deeply for guidance. I will often scan through social media and some email digests from certain sites. In these days of widespread injustice, conflict and environmental chaos there are innumerable choices of subjects. Worshipful waiting usually focuses on the topic of the day. Once that has been determined the words seem to flow. I can usually see the outlines of what I will write.

Lately I’ve been having trouble finding what to say. Rapidly advancing environmental destruction and chaos are difficult to face. Climate models, which always underestimate what damage will be done, and how quickly, show we have almost no time to try to turn things around. A growing number of people, including myself, feel it is already too late. It seems a spiritual answer is our only possible hope.

Those who know me know I usually bring up my decision nearly forty years ago to not have a personal automobile. I fear people will think I’m bragging when I bring that up. But that’s not it. Being a Quaker, I’ve always been told we should each live our lives as the Spirit guides us. Our example might cause others to do the same. I bring this up now because, as far as I can tell, changing others by that example hasn’t happened. It is possible others have made changes in their lives that I don’t know about, and perhaps getting others to give up cars wasn’t God’s intention. The other thing about living lives in accordance with the Spirit is that we should do what we are being led to do and not be concerned with the result or lack thereof (also discussed in the last quote below).

What is devastating is believing that instead of every person having their own car, we had developed mass transit systems 40 years ago, we would probably be living today, and in the future, within the boundaries of sustainability.

My confusion relates to what I should do, what we should do, now. Is it still possible to create the needed change within the system, as the Sunrise Movement and the Green New Deal are trying to do? As Bold Iowa is working so hard on to make climate change the priority of every Democratic presidential candidate?

Or, as Chris Hedges says below, is nonviolent civil disobedience what is needed? My friends of Bold Iowa are also doing that. Todd Steichen, Kathy Byrnes, Miriam Kashia, Martin Moinroe and Ed Fallon were arrest for protesting near a Trump rally. Their Climate Justification Trial is scheduled for Oct. 10th.

The ruling elites and the corporations they serve are the principal obstacles to change. They cannot be reformed. And this means revolution, which is what Extinction Rebellion seeks in calling for an “international rebellion” on Oct. 7, when it will attempt to shut down city centers around the globe in acts of sustained, mass civil disobedience. Power has to be transferred into our hands. And since the elites won’t give up power willingly, we will have to take it through nonviolent action.
Saving the Planet Means Overthrowing the Ruling Elites by Chris Hedges, Truthdig, Sept. 23, 2019

I’m also part of an organization called Rising Up. I helped to set it up in 2016.
It’s a network of something around 5,000 people, about 70 organizers across the UK and our focus is on non-violent direct action and civil disobedience because we believe they are proven ways for eliciting change.
Traditionally when you’re giving talks about climate change you try and be a little bit hopeful when helping people to think about something positive they might do.
This is quite a different talk.
We’re going to cover two things; the truth about the ecological crisis that we’re in at the moment and the issues of policymaking within that, and then moving on to how we actually feel, emotional responses, and what we can actually do.
So the premise of this talk is to tell the truth and ask us all to act accordingly and consistently with the information that’s presented to us including our understanding of what actually enables change to happen in the world.
Some of it’s hard to hear and I thought I’d faced this stuff but I realize I haven’t, it’s layers isn’t it, with grief, and it’s welcome here tonight, ask permission of your neighbour but feel free to hold hands, shed tears and so on all going on is the typical traditional English way, isn’t it?
Gail Bradbrook of Extinction Rebellion

There’s two influential schools in the history of ethics; utilitarianism which is where you do something wanting an outcome,and there’s nothing wrong with that, but to an extent it’s better to look at virtue ethics which asks us, what makes me a good human being? What does it mean to live a good life in these times?
And in this tradition it’s practical wisdom, it’s our heart that leads and precedes the actions and decisions.
So it’s always worth doing something if it’s morally good and the right thing to do, no matter how successful it will be, and that’s where we’re at in Rising Up, this is what we’re about.
And just to quote Dr. Kate Marvel again,”courage is the resolve to do well without the assurance of a happy ending.”
We’re talking about traditional values here orientated towards service to community, duty, responsibility, honor, and the desire to be a worthy ancestor, in fully understanding that we will die one day, it could be soon, wishing to fully live a meaningful life, and in facing the risk of life on Earth dying, to step forwards and be willing to offer our service to something bigger than ourselves, to life itself.
For some this is a basic orientation of their spiritual expression, the part of ourselves that understands what’s sacred.
So I’m asking you to take a minute to ask yourself, given what I just heard, What does it mean for me to be a good human? What does it mean to die without regrets? Will you be able to look your grandchildren in the eye and say you did what you could?
Gail Bradbrook of Extinction Rebellion

Those quotes are from this video, “Heading for extinction and what to do about it”.

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Time for revolution

Posted on September 26, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

When I began this blog nearly five years ago, the Spirit told me the title should be “Quakers, Social Justice and Revolution.” At the time I wasn’t sure what the revolution part would mean. It was clear the status quo was oppressing so many of us and raping Mother Earth in the process. The status quo was and is violently maintained by social, political, religious, white supremacist, economic and militarized forces. Moving toward justice requires transforming those forces with peace and love, building Beloved Communities instead. But to do that we need to take back our power.

This morning I’m reading Saving the Planet Means Overthrowing the Ruling Elites by Chris Hedges.

Friday’s climate strike by students across the globe will have no more impact than the mass mobilizations by women following the election of Donald Trump or the hundreds of thousands of protesters who took to the streets to denounce the Iraq War. This does not mean these protests should not have taken place. They should have. But such demonstrations need to be grounded in the bitter reality that in the corridors of power we do not count. If we lived in a democracy, which we do not, our aspirations, rights and demands, especially the demand that we confront the climate emergency, would have an impact. We would be able to vote representatives into power in government to carry out change. We would be able to demand environmental justice from the courts. We would be able to divert resources to the elimination of carbon emissions.
The ruling elites and the corporations they serve are the principal obstacles to change. They cannot be reformed. And this means revolution, which is what Extinction Rebellion seeks in calling for an “international rebellion” on Oct. 7, when it will attempt to shut down city centers around the globe in acts of sustained, mass civil disobedience. Power has to be transferred into our hands. And since the elites won’t give up power willingly, we will have to take it through nonviolent action.
When power is threatened, as it was in the sustained protests during the Occupy encampments and at Standing Rock, the ruling elites react very differently. They employ the full weight of the surveillance state to demonize the protesters, arrest and detain the leadership and infiltrate agents provocateurs to carry out violent assaults to justify the use of the police and security forces to shut the protests down.
Saving the Planet Means Overthrowing the Ruling Elites by Chris Hedges, Truthdig, Sept. 23, 2019

The screenshot and the video below are from the Extinction Rebellion referenced in the above quote.

I imagine almost everyone who has worked for peace and justice has experienced how ineffective our efforts have often been. Have we have now come to the revolution part of “Quakers, Social Justice and Revolution?” I think the video below does an excellent job of describing how dire our environmental situation really is today. And describes what can be done in great detail. I plan to write more about this, but for now will share some of what was said about grief. I am just learning how important it is to grieve now.

Posted in civil disobedience, climate change, Extinction Rebellion, revolution, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Climate struggles continue

Posted on September 24, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

Once again Greta Thunberg delivered an eloquent and impassioned address, this time at the United Nations during the Climate Action Summit.

Millions of young people around the world participated in the first day of the Global Climate Strike last Friday.

Yesterday the Climate Strike continued. In Washington, DC, climate activists blocked several intersections in the downtown area.

I’m a father, a Sunday school teacher, a youth baseball coach and an Eagle Scout. My idea of a perfect day is backpacking on the Appalachian Trail employing the “leave no trace” ethic, disrupting nothing around me.
So stepping into the middle of Independence Avenue SW in Washington, determined to block rush-hour traffic with dozens of other protesters, is not my natural comfort zone. But that’s what I did Monday morning. Perhaps we ruined your commute. For that, I am truly sorry. But it was for a higher cause, part of the #ShutdownDC initiative to combat climate change.
I’ll just be blunt: Global warming has radicalized me. It’s radicalizing young people all around us, too. Perhaps you’ve noticed. Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg has millions of climate devotees worldwide under the age of 25. And now, I submit, it’s your turn to become radical, whoever you are, wherever you live. That’s because the climate threat is now truly radical, and time is almost up.
Sorry I ruined your Monday morning commute, but our planet is on a highway to hell by By Mike Tidwell, Washington Post, Sept. 23, 2019

On August 28, a victory in the “war of the NoDAPL narrative” occurred when a judge agreed to release 12 previously sealed depositions of law enforcement officers in the criminal case against Standing Rock water protector, attorney and Lakota People’s Law Project member Chase Iron Eyes.

We went through a lot here with NODAPL and the battle for Standing Rock. A lot of people were brutalized and criminalized and we needed to seek a reprieve in a redress work for all of those people. We asked everybody to continue to lend us your ear, lend us your support, your energy because we’re fighting big extraction, we’re fighting big finance, we’re fighting the guys who are trying to destroy your children’s right to clean water in a healthy ecosystem. Things that we understand. Our birth rights so sometimes this is how we vote. We have to put our bodies in harm’s way to bring these injustices to light. What went on here today is encouraging. It’s just a reminder that there is hope. That those of us who are willing to engage this struggle can be redeemed, that people are willing to make sure we can find out the truth. But sometimes we’ve got to stay committed to the struggle, so thank you for your support.
Chase Iron Eyes

For some time now I’ve been thinking and writing about what I call the Overground Railroad, the idea being climate refugees from our coastal cities will migrate to the Midwest as oceans rise and flood those areas. https://kislingjeff.wordpress.com/2018/02/22/design-and-build-beloved-community-models/

Scientists’ Advice To People Living In Coastal Areas? Move

Any time in the wilds of Earth now brings solace, without which I lose my psychological and spiritual footing as the ongoing litany of loss, corruption, degradation, aggression, death and trauma that is the daily news assaults us all. It is in nature, and my loving nature with all my heart on a daily basis, where I find the equanimity necessary to continue walking forward into our increasingly broken world.
And you, dear reader, where is it you find your equanimity? Whether it is a place, a person, an activity, or a mental state, please remember to go there, regularly or as you are able, as the unraveling of Earth’s biosphere continues apace.
The signs are ever with us. In particular, in the past month, scientists have warned that it appears as though the Greenland Ice Sheet has experienced a record melt year. This year alone, it lost enough ice to raise global sea levels by more than one millimeter. Researchers told the BBC they are “astounded” by the acceleration in melting and expressed fear for coastal cities in the future. One scientist told the BBC, “So, we’re losing Greenland — it’s really a question of how fast,” and said Greenland is already facing a melting “death sentence.”
Scientists’ Advice To People Living In Coastal Areas? Move, by Dahr Jamail, Truthout, September 23, 2019

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Strike DC Press Release

Posted on September 23, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

Contact press@strikedc.org for inquiries

Facebook: facebook.com/StrikeDC/
Twitter: @shutdown_dc
Instagram: shutdowndc923

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: SEPTEMBER 23

Washington, D.C., September 23 – Hundreds of people have shut down the center of decision-making in the U.S. to demand the government immediately ends fossil fuel production, and enforces a swift and just transition to renewable energy.

A broad coalition of climate and social justice organizations began to seize key intersections in the city at 7AM, disrupting the city’s morning rush hour traffic. Extinction Rebellion used a pink and yellow yacht as a barricade amidst a dance party. Activists seized intersections dressed as scuba divers and dinosaurs. Black Lives Matter and healthcare workers fighting for climate justice set up a mobile blood pressure clinic in the middle of the road. Some groups led dance parties through the streets. The group Rising Tide North America blocked roads by locking themselves to a car and an 80’s conversion van. Others participated in mass mobile blockades. A labor rights and Democratic Socialists of America group shut down the intersections around Amazon’s DC headquarters, and a Migrant Justice group did the same at the headquarters of ICE.

Much of the coalition met at four separate locations (Hancock Park/L’Enfant Metro Station, Folger Park, Columbus Circle, and Farragut Square) before fanning out in groups to seize their planned intersection. The blockades they have erected have gridlocked downtown D.C. during rush hour.

“I am a father, a Sunday School teacher, a youth baseball coach, and an Eagle Scout. And today I am peacefully breaking the law by blockading a downtown DC street in solidarity with students worldwide,” said Mike Tidwell, Executive Director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network Action Fund’s Executive Director.

“In the United States, through the radically pro-pollution policies of the Trump Administration, we are pushing our planet Earth further and further outside of its comfort zone. Which means concerned Americans like me must push ourselves further and further outside our own comfort zones in an effort to pressure our leaders to finally solve this crisis.”

#ShutDownDC builds on the recent surge of climate strikes and mass protests that have rattled politicians around the world. The blockade of the U.S. capital is also timed to coincide with the start of the UN Climate Action Summit in New York.

“The UN Secretary General called this summit today to strengthen the political will of the world’s leaders. But the only thing that’s stronger in the four years since the Paris Agreement was passed is the yearly rate of global carbon emissions and the volume of public outcry,” said Kaela Bamberger, organizer with Extinction Rebellion. “What will it take to reach the ears of those with our future in their hands?”

The coalition’s demands include a Green New Deal that brings about a swift and just transition to 100% renewable energy. It also wants governments to protect at least 50% of the world’s lands and oceans, and to halt deforestation by 2030. The coalition is also calling for climate justice for everyone. The transition to a clean future must boost rather than further harm communities hit by poverty and pollution.

LOCATIONS:

Extinction Rebellion is using a yacht to blockade just above the White House, at 16th ST and K ST, NW, with several people locked to the boat and blockading the intersection around it. All the while, a dance party raged on.

350 DC, accompanied by Werk for Peace, a queer-activist group, and Code Pink and World Beyond War, peace groups, have set a blockade for Massachusetts and North Capital, NW.

A group of college students held the intersection of New York and I-395, as well as they hold the moral authority on climate change.

Black Lives Matter is teaming up with healthcare workers to connect health with the climate crisis; they are holding blood pressure and glucose screenings in the middle of Pennsylvania and Washington Ave, SE.

A combination of the labor rights activists and members of the Democratic Socialists of America are blockading the intersections providing entry into the Amazon’s DC headquarters at New Jersey and Massachusetts, NW.

Rising Tide North America (RTNA) have started a mass mobile blockade stepping off from Hancock Park. They locked down to a car and 80’s conversation van at the intersection of 14th ST and C ST, SW, and were promptly towed away with people locked to the top and inside the vehicles.

Employees of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network Action Fund are block ing Independence and 12th, SW. At the headquarters of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), migrant justice activists are blockading the intersections of 12th and Maryland, SW.

THE COALITION:

198 Methods, 350 DC, Backbone Campaign, Beyond Extreme Energy, Black Lives Matter DMV, Chesapeake Climate Action Network Action Fund, Code Pink, Extinction Rebellion DC, Friends of the Earth Action, Friends Meeting in Washington Social Concerns Committee, Labor Network for Sustainability, Metro DMV Democratic Socialists of America, Movement for a People’s Party, Rising Tide North America, Sunrise Movement DC, and Werk for Peace

Please direct any media enquiries to:

Spokesperson
Kaela Bamberger, +1 (518) 847-5341 or, kaelabamberger@gmail.com

Press officer
Miles Amoore, +1 (202) 867-6080, milesamoore@gmail.com

Visit https://www.strikedc.org/ for more information and for press updates and previous announcements see: https://www.strikedc.org/index.php/press/

FAQ: https://www.strikedc.org/index.php/faq/

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Have you no sense of decency?

Posted on September 23, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

Mackinac Island is a special place for me. It epitomizes the idea of living without personal automobiles, something I’ve done and advocated for most of my life. I am very glad I was able to visit the island during a family vacation to Michigan. The absence of cars transforms the atmosphere on the island. The pace of life is calm and peaceful, or at least it was before Pence’s motorcade arrived.

So I am personally affronted by the Vice President’s intrusion on the island, with eight gas guzzling SUVs. I am reminded of Joseph Welch’s question to Senator McCarthy on June 9, 1954, “You’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?”

This atrocity typifies the assault on Mother Earth by the Republican administration and members of Congress. At a time when there needs to be a massive global response to the environmental crisis, the Republican administration not only has done everything it can to obstruct efforts to address environmental collapse, but actively overturned existing protections of Mother Earth.

What a shameful legacy of profit over people and our environment.

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A Quaker and Native peoples

Posted on September 22, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

This morning I have the opportunity to talk about my experiences with Native peoples. As I was preparing for this, I realized my spiritual environmental journey led me to Indigenous peoples.

Some recent experiences have helped me move along the path of learning more. One was participating on the First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March, where about 40 Native and non native people walked together along the path of the Dakota Access Pipeline in central Iowa. We spent eight days walking from Des Moines to Fort Dodge, Iowa, a distance of 94 miles. Being together that long, much of the time walking down deserted Iowa roads was an amazing opportunity for us to get to know each other and share our stories.

This summer I was blessed to help organize some workshops and presentations titled “Toward Right Relationships with Native Peoples”, developed by Paula Palmer and Native leaders. The intention of this project is to teach people the history and present day issues related to things that happened, and continue to happen, between Native people and white people in the United States.

Being a visual person, I began to visualize what these interconnected things looked like to me as shown below. To summarize, I have spent my life trying to convince people we need to decrease greenhouse gas emissions. I had hoped to see people stop having personal automobiles, and I did about 40 years ago. I obviously was not successful. It was especially difficult to try to find ways for this to happen in rural communities and towns where no mass transportation was available.

As I try to explain in the diagram above, as I had no success related to cars and fossil fuel, I began to want to learn more from Native people, who have always lived in sacred relationship with Mother Earth and each other.

Now I am working to find ways to bring Native spiritual and environmental ways to the attention of those who want to show how to decrease our reliance on fossil fuels and address the spiritual poverty that has also been a part of our culture of materialism and unsustainable economic growth.

Here is a link to the online version of a PowerPoint presentation I plan to use as I talk about this at Des Moines Valley Friends meeting this morning.

https://1drv.ms/p/s!Avb9bFhezZpPieUQUMs9tBy89X3Evg?e=uzqyk3

Your prayers for this endeavor would be most welcome, thank you.

Posted in climate change, First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March, Green New Deal, Indigenous, Native Americans, Quaker, Quaker Meetings, Toward Right Relationship with Native Peoples, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

China And The Prospects For A Global Ecological Civilization

Posted on September 21, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

It was great to see millions of students and others across the globe striking for climate change yesterday. I also feel deeply discouraged, believing a conglomerate of conditions seem to indicate we are past the point where we could have stopped runaway global burning. Our apathy and embrace of a materialistic culture allowed us to avoid confronting the changes that needed to be made in the past.

I wish this global climate concern would have occurred years ago, when we could have prevented the situation we are in now. But as a person of faith I can’t discount a miracle might happen. I’ve heard stories of Indigenous people who changed the weather.

Some of the barriers to significant greenhouse gas reductions are the huge consumption of fossil fuels by the military, and the significant reliance on coal for energy in countries such as China.

“China And The Prospects For A Global Ecological Civilization” is the title of an interesting article by David Schwartzman on the website Climate and Capitalism, September 17, 2019.

Abstract: While the emergence of a global ecological civilization (GEC) in this century is still possible in spite of the ongoing conflicts we now witness, an ever-narrowing window of opportunity exists to prevent the onset of catastrophic climate change (C3) which would make such an outcome virtually disappear. The military industrial complex and its imperial agenda are the main obstacles to freeing up the necessary resources and creating a regime of global cooperation essential for C3 prevention program. As the world leader in renewable energy capacity and production, China has the potential to open up a path for global ecosocialist transition, creating a GEC, but is contingent on class struggle of sufficient power growing out of both the huge negative impacts of its industrial infrastructure and the paradox of its capitalist development with remnants of 20th century socialism still in place.
“China And The Prospects For A Global Ecological Civilization” by David Schwartzman

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Climate Strike Iowa September 2019

Posted on September 20, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

After so many years of working and hoping for attention to climate change, the climate strikes across the world are so wonderful to see. Even though it might be too late in the long run, building community is never a wasted effort.

I recently wrote about this being a youth led movement now. But I was touched when one young man thanked me for documenting the day, and another made sure I knew the route of the march from the Capitol building to Cindy Axne’s office.

Here is a link to the photos of today’s strike in Des Moines, Iowa.

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Avb9bFhezZpPicZzJYH0pq0zW1TD3Q?e=RFWr7f