Kindred Quaker Groups
Earthcare activities in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

In the Works...
A report from the Earthcare Working Group of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

EWG’s Advices for Responding to the Epistle on Climate Change.

WHILE NONE OF THESE SUGGESTIONS are new, and many more could be offered, any one of them can provide an opening for re-thinking practical ways that each of us can help with the process of transforming our society’s relationship with the earth.

One way to consider how Friends can support one another might be to ask who in the Meeting would like more information about a particular suggestion, and then to ask who in the Meeting can provide that information based on their experience with it.

Buying Renewable Electricity

MANY FRIENDS who previously bought renewable electricity from Green Mountain have asked what they should do now. EWG suggests that you buy wind certificates form Community Energy.

If you are not already purchasing renewable electricity, please consider buying wind certificates from Community Energy. It is something everyone can do, including those who live in an apartment or retirement community. You do not have to switch to a different electrical supplier. While it means you will pay a little more for your electricity, it is one of the most important things you can do as a consumer to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Community Energy focuses primarily on developing new wind turbines in the mid-Atlantic region, and is highly rated by two independent organizations, Center for Resource Solutions Green-E project, and Pace University’s Power Scorecard. For information about the other available choices, see www.green-e.org or www.powerscoredcard.org.

For more information about Community Energy’s Wind Certificates, see PYM’s Climate Action webpage, or Joy Bergey, Community Energy’s marketing representative to religious organizations, at 215/836-5978, or sign up yourself, on internet, at www.newwindenergy.com.

A Report on the Climate Action Network and the future of “In the Works…”

THE CLIMATE ACTION NETWORK now includes contacts in 75 monthly meetings. There are four active regional teams covering ten of PYM’s 13 quarters, a unique arrangement for Concord and Western Quarters, and a single coordinator for Southern Quarter.

The Climate Action Coordinators Group is now having monthly conference phone calls. The coordinators include Julie Bates (Middletown Concord), Taylor Lamborn (Reading), Gary Lapreziosa (Gwynedd), Cathy Thompson (Third Haven), Ken Thompson (Seaville), and Justin Weaver (Central Philadelphia), plus Isobel Cashman (Radnor), corresponding clerk, and Ed Dreby, (Mt. Holly), project leader.

There have been many programs about climate concern in monthly meetings. To date, eight meetings—Birmingham, Buckingham, Gwynedd, Lansdowne, Media, Merion, Mount Holly, and Swarthmore, plus Concord Quarter’s Environmental Stewardship Group—have approved minutes about climate change.

The Coordinators understand that there are minutes “in the works” in at least 12 other additional monthly meetings. All the minutes received between now and the end of June will be displayed at Annual Session, and will contribute to planning the Climate Action report and a proposed minute for plenary consideration in July.

There were several conversations within the Network about Climate Action as a narrow focus for PYM, and a suggestion that a broader focus would be better. The Coordinators Group concluded that Climate Action should remain the Network’s focus because a) of the urgency that PYM has minuted about climate change, and b) so many other environmentally damaging human activities contribute, directly or indirectly, to climate change.

The Coordinators subsequently considered a possibility that if Climate Action is broadly conceived, the Network might become a means by which the Earthcare Working Group could communicate with monthly meetings. If this proves acceptable and sensible, EWG would lay down “In the Works…” as its occasional newsletter.

“In the Works…” has been distributed two or three times a year for about 10 years. It has served EWG well in some monthly meetings. In others, there are people who have never seen “In the Works…” and become interested in EWG’s activities when they find out about them. Furthermore, it costs $200 to $300 per issue to distribute.

Perhaps the CA Network would be a better way for EWG to communicate with monthly meetings. It would certainly be less work and expense. If EWG explicitly links its various activities to Climate Action, it may help PYM conceive of Climate Action more broadly than narrowly. This “mailing” of “In the Works…” is being sent electronically to the Climate Change Action Network as a way of exploring the possibility of laying down “In the Works…”

To EWG’s Monthly Meeting Contacts:

FIRST, we are very grateful to you for helping EWG “spread the word” these many years. Our heartfelt thanks for being our network.

SECOND, while some of you are your monthly meeting’s contact for Climate Action, others are not. In some cases, your meeting has not named a Climate Action contact, and we hope you might ask to be it.

In any case, we will happily and gratefully add you to the Climate Action distribution list if you wish. Just e-mail your name and e-mail address to ED (drebymans@igc.org) or Isobel (iac.mail@verizon.net).

To Climate Action Network Contacts:

WE HOPE you will be open to the idea that the Network be used in this way, understanding that rarely if ever again will a CA e-mail message involve this many attachments.

The regional teams, when they next meet, will season this idea. If you have reservations, please e-mail your regional team contact, or Isobel or Ed (see above).

If you are both an EWG contact and a Climate Action contact, and prefer receiving the enclosures via p-mail to receiving attachments via e-mail, please communicate this to your regional team contact or to Isobel or Ed.

And thank you too for helping to unite PYM in communicating and witnessing about the climate concern.

Advices for Responding to PYM’s Epistle on Climate Change

What Can Our Meeting Do?

The current threat of climate change is a result of dramatic increases in heat-trapping greenhouse gases (GHGs)—CO2, methand, CFCs—in the atmosphere since humans began burning fossil fuels in the 1800s. By trapping the sun’s warmth, GHGs have made the earth habitable, but too much of them threatens to unbalance our entire climate system. Any actions that reduce GHG emissions are part of the solution.

C02 is the product of product of burning fossil fuels (gasoline, oil, natural gas, coal) and other organic material, such as wood, leaves, trash.

Methane (natural gas) comes from landfills (as organic matter decays), livestock, and their manure.

CFC’s and their replacement HCFCs are used as propellants in spray cans and as refrigerants.
Reducing GHGs by increasing your building’s energy efficiency.

• Turning down the thermostat just 1 degree can shave 2 percent off your heating use (and bill!). Install a programmable thermostat. Set it at 55 degrees as default when the meetinghouse is not in use, and program it to increase to 68 degrees about 30 minutes before meetings are scheduled.
• Service your heating system annually to ensure operation at peak efficiency.
• How well insulated is your building? Consider an energy audit and implement whatever suggestions you can afford. Call ICE (Interfaith Coalition on Energy) 215/635-11122. For individual home audits, call SES (part of Energy Coordinating Agency) at 215/988-0868 or nealr@ecasavesenergy.org.
• Set the hot water heater at the minimum temperature necessary (about 120 degrees). If your meeting has a dishwasher without hot water booster, 180 degrees is recommended to sanitize dishes.
  
• Replace incandescent bulbs with CFLs (compact fluorescent lights), which use one-fourth the electricity.
• If you meeting’s refrigerator is over 10 years old, replacing it with a new Energy Star model will use less than half the energy.
• If you are not already purchasing renewable electricity, please consider buying wind certificates from Community Energy. Community Energy focuses primarily on developing new wind turbines in the mid-Atlantic region, and is highly rated by two independent organizations, Center for Resource Solutions Green-E Project, and Pace University’s Power Scorecard. For more information, see PYM’s Climate Action webpage, or call Joy Bergey, Community Energy’s marketing representative for religious organizations, at 215/836-5978.
• Reducing GHGs through your food and beverage choices.
  
  
• Encourage vegetarian dishes for potlucks, and use local food as much as possible.
  (See reverse side)
  
  
• Fair Trade organic coffee/tea/cocoa is grown without pesticides and fertilizers and offers a social justice bonus—fair price to farmers. Faith groups can order wholesale at www.equalexchange.org.
• If your Meeting has land, consider a vegetable garden. (See reverse side regarding native plants and lawns.)
  Reducing GHGs by reducing waste wherever possible.
  Reduce or eliminate use of disposable during potlucks and coffee hours. An energy and water efficient dishwasher pays off over time. Make and use cloth napkins and tablecloths. Meeting members can wash their family’s laundry.
  A sink disposal uses energy and increases demands on the region’s wastewater processing system. Compost kitchen scraps instead of trashing them (reduces waste stream too).
• Recycle whatever you can. Take home materials if there is no collection at the Meetinghouse.
• It takes more energy to produce new products than recycled ones. Purchase products with the highest post-consumer recycled content possible, e.g. 100-percent post-consumer paper by XEROX (Staples), Seventh Generation toilet and facial tissue from 100 percent recycled/80-percent post-consumer material (Whole Foods or www.seventhgeneration.org) Marcal is best of the big brands. Avoid Charmin and Cottonelle.
  
  Items marked with an asterisk (*) are also effective actions for individuals.

What Can I Do?

How do my food choices make an impact?

The average food item in our grocery stores travels 1,500 miles! Buying locally grown food supports local farmers and cuts CO2 emissions (a greenhouse gas or GHG) from transportation. Seek out farmers markets, urge your grocery store to buy local produce, try participating in a CSA farm (Community Supported Agriculture. When eating out, look for restaurants that prepare locally grown produce. See www.localharvest.org for information on farmers markets, restaurants, and CSAs near you.

To produce a pound of steak, which provides us with 500 calories of food energy it takes 20,000 calories of fossil fuel, expended mainly in producing the crops to feed the cattle. (Lappe, Diet for a Small Planet) Try growing some of your own food. Avoid using fertilizers and pesticides, which degrade streams and harm wildlife. Fertilizers also require fossil fuels in their composition and production. Consider adopting a vegetable and grain-based diet.

Organic foods are grown without chemical fertilizers and pesticides (fossil-fuel based), but often travel long distances. When you don’t have local options, buy organic. But do invest in organic, shade-grown coffee, preferably Fair Trade. See other side on how to purchase through your Meeting.

How does waste impact climate change?

EVERYTHING YOU PURCHASE must travel many miles to you and will travel in a truck away from you to a landfill or trash-to-steam plant when you are finished with it. It will not go “away.” So, buy less.

Disposables add to the waste stream and demand fossil fuels to manufacture, transport, and throw “away.” Use reusable dishes, glasses, utensils, and linens.
Food and yard waste make up 25 percent of the average American’s garbage. Composting reduces the CO2 emissions created to dispose of this waste and generates fertile soil for your garden.

Purifying and transporting water to your home takes energy. Replace older toilets with a newer water-saving model. Minimize water usage to reduce GHGs.
For household cleaning and laundry, consider using Sun and Earth detergent and cleaners, which are Earth-friendly and locally produced in Norristown, Pa.

How does my energy use make an impact?

Individual transportation (from boats to planes) is responsible for 28 to 51 percent of greenhouse gases and air pollution. These impacts include vehicle operations and manufacturing. (Union of Concerned Scientists, 53) Consider carpooling or travel by bike or public transit, whenever possible.

Live in Philadelphia? Consider giving up your car and using PhillyCarShare, www.phillycarshare.org

If you must travel long distances, avoid flying, which is by far the most fuel-intensive form of travel, and consider purchasing carbon offsets to mitigate the emissions. Check out www.davidsuzuki.org

As much energy goes into the manufacture of equipment and appliances as will be used by them for many years. Select the most energy-efficient (person-powered, if possible), good quality equipment and appliances. Maintain all records so equipment can be repaired and life extended.
Running a gas-powered lawnmower for an hour produces as much SO2 and NOx as driving 800 miles. Plant native plants instead of grass to minimize the need for water, mowing, fertilizers, and herbicides.

Native deciduous trees planted on the south side of your house help cool it in the summer. Evergreens planted on the north side insulate in the winter.


Prepared by PYM’s Earthcare Working Groups in response to the June 2005 Epistle on Climate Change. Updated March 2006. Questions? Contact Ed at drebymans@igc.org or Hollister at h.knowlton@comcast.net