This past Sunday, Transition Keene Task Force member Steve Chase and Antioch professor Polly Chandler co-facilitated a community interfaith conversation at St. James Episcopal Church on “Climate Change, Faith, and Action.” This local event was co-sponsored by the Transition Keene Task Force, the Keene Unitarian Universalist Church, and the St. James Episcopal Church. Attenders also included people from the Keene United Church of Christ, Keene Friends Meeting, Putney Friends Meeting, and Saint Michael’s Episcopal Church in Brattleboro.

Over 40 people from these six congregations showed up and took the opportunity to talk deeply with each other about their worries and concerns about the increasing impacts of climate change, their visions and hopes for a sustainable future, and what they and their congregations are currently doing–or could be doing to support positive climate action, help build community resilience, and tackle sustainability efforts as one of the key moral questions of our time–and a core element of our many faith traditions.

As Steve Chase noted, Quakers like himself are inspired by the three great loves shared by all faithful and prophetic Jews and Christians: 1) love of God with all one’s heart, soul, and strength, 2) love of neighbors, including one’s enemies, and 3) love of God’s good earth. Many other participants agreed that these three great loves were at the core of their faith journeys and traditions as well. Indeed, almost everyone in attendance raised their hands when asked if in their deepest heart of hearts they wanted to live in a world that is environmentally sustainable, socially just, and spiritually fulfilling.

After watching a short video segment of the interfaith environmental movie Renewal on the creation and spread of Interfaith Power and Light, a national religious coalition focused on taking action for climate justice and sustainability, Polly Chandler facilitated a process of small group discussions about how the congregations represented could expand their sustainability ministry and further innovative action and practices in their homes, congregations, and in the wider community. Polly asked people to think about easier, technical fixes as well as deeper and more creative cultural shifts and adaptions within their congregations. In the report back, many innovative ideas were shared, from the simple to the more challenging. Among the ideas floated was the idea of organizing a Keene Interfaith Power and Light chapter to keep pushing for these deep spiritual and practical conversations and helping area religious congregations become strong community leaders in addressing climate change.

I hope other attenders will write in comments to this post and share their high points and inspirations from the day.

Also, anyone who is interested in setting up a Keene Interfaith Power and Light chapter can–for now–contact Steve Chase of the Transition Keene Task Force, Putney Friends Meeting, and Quakers In Transition.

What if the best responses to peak oil and climate change don’t come from government, but from you and me and the people around us?—Rob Hopkins

Maybe you’ve already read Rob Hopkins’s first book, The Transition Handbook. Maybe you’re involved in a Transition initiative in your community. Or maybe you’re just curious and just want to learn more about the fast-growing international Transition movement. In any case, you’ll be in for a great treat reading his new book, The Transition Companion.

The original book was published about five years ago, when the movement was very new, as a beginner’s guide to starting, encouraging, and participating in a Transition Initiative. Key elements of Transition work were described in terms of re-skilling for resilience (e.g., canning, tool care, home health care), nurturing local communities, and supporting local economies.

While the original handbook analyzed the successes of just a few pioneering Transition initiatives, the new book is able to share hundreds of examples out of the thousands of Transition initiatives world-wide, ranging from diverse towns and cities to islands, universities, and even neighborhoods.

Since Part Three (the final part) of The Transition Companion” has a “starting out” section titled, “How the Transition movement does what it does—ingredients for success,” you could just read the new book and learn most of what was included in the first book. The remaining sections in Part Three are “Deepening,” “Connecting,” “Building,” and “Daring to Dream.”

Part Two, “Why Transition Initiatives Do What They Do,” begins with this important observation about diversity within the Transition movement:

“People get involved in their local Transition initiatives for a range of reasons. Although when Transition started it was framed very much as a response to peak oil and climate change, as time has passed and the idea has taken root in more and more places, it has been fascinating to see the wide range of reasons why people get involved.”

It moves on to the varied, delightful reasons that people get involved in Transition, including, “because it feels way more fun than not doing it” and “because of wanting a fairer world.” Along with all the descriptions of great tools and strategies used by various Transition initiatives are wonderful color photos of real people making a difference where they live.

Hopkins doesn’t guarantee what the outcome will be. In fact the movement’s publications always include this “cheerful disclaimer:”

“Transition is not a known quantity. We truly don’t know whether Transition will work. It is a social experiment on a massive scale. What we are convinced of is this:

v  If we wait for the governments, it’ll be too late.

v If we act as individuals, it’ll be too little.

v But if we act as communities, it might just be enough, just in time.”

This book is fun, informative, inspirational, and very helpful for our very necessary transition to a warmer, post-petroleum world. The book helped me better understand the next steps my local Transition initiative needs to take to make us truly relevant to our community.

Just 82 days before the scheduled closure of the Vermont Yankee plant, the New Hampshire-based Nuke Free Monadnock affinity group, which includes a member of Putney Friends Meeting and the Transition Keene Task Force, is going to throw a one-hour, afternoon, New Year’s Eve bash at the gates of Vermont Yankee (546 Governor Hunt Road, Vernon, VT 05354). The party will take place from 1:30 to 2:30 pm on December 31st and is part of the SAGE Alliance‘s daily Countdown to Closure vigils at the plant.

At this afternoon New Year’s Eve party, we will have music, sing-alongs, kazoos and funny hats, a sparkling cider and dixie cup toast to the State of Vermont for standing up to the Entergy Corporation on behalf of the people of this region, and a New Year’s style ball drop to ring in a nuke free new year with hope for more green collar jobs and renewable energy to come. We will also take time to share New Year’s Resolutions for what each us will do to create a safe and green energy future in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Vermont in the coming year. The event is even being filmed by Robbie Leppzer, who made Seabrook 77, as part of his documentary on the citizens movement to close VY and move toward a safe and green energy future in the region.

We would love to have many other Quakers In Transition from the Tri-State area near Vermont Yankee join us for this party. So, please bring your friends and neighbors to Vernon, VT, next Saturday afternoon at 1:30 pm as we celebrate the scheduled March 21, 2012 shut down of this aging and unreliable nuclear plant, which has the same design as the leaking reactors in Japan.

Parking for this holiday bash for safe and green energy is available at the municipal building just down the road from VY by the Vernon town offices and library. BTW, parking is not allowed at the elementary school across the street, so please do not park in that lot. Also, please carpool if you can. We encourage everyone to use Monadnock RideShare to coordinate their car pools. Just scroll down to the ride share offerings to Vernon, Vermont, on December 31st. Remember we want a low-carbon, as well as a nuke-free, future!

For more information, please contact NFM member Steve Chase.

P.S. Anyone who attends this party being thrown by the Nuke Free Monadnock affinity group agrees to the following guidelines for being a “good guest.”

Nonviolent Action Code of Conduct

Our attitude will be one of openness and respect toward all we encounter in our actions.
We will use no violence, verbal or physical, toward any person.
We will not harm anyone, and we will not retaliate in reaction to violence.
We will not carry weapons.
We will neither be under the influence nor bring any non-prescribed drugs or alcohol.
We will neither bring dogs nor other animals, except for service animals.
During a demonstration we will not run nor make threatening motions.
While affirming that people’s lives and safety are more important than property, we will not destroy or damage property.

Here is a link to a report back from Gail Parfitt, a Quaker involved in Transition Exeter, who attended the Quakers and Transition event held this summer at Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre in Birmingham, England. From Friday, June 24th to the 26th around forty Quakers met at Woodbrooke and “had a lively time looking at the links and potential synergies between Quakers and the Transition movement.”

The facilitator team, who started planning this event a year ago, consisted of: Catrina Pickering from Transition Network; Sunniva Taylor from Quaker Peace and Social Witness; Jasmine Piercy from Living Witness and Quaker Voluntary Action; Gordon Matthews from Evesham Quaker Meeting and Transition Evesham Vale; and Pam Lunn from Woodbrooke.

Participants came from all over Britain, with one visitor from the USA also joining us. About half the group came representing their local or area Quaker Meeting, and about half came on their own account. Many had been involved in environmental issues long before Transition appeared on the scene, and were bringing their previous experience and knowledge to the movement. We were reminded that transition involved a journey from oil dependency to local resilience and a post-carbon economy and society. One Friend asked, “Should transition (also) mean a move to a more socially just /egalitarian society/world.” Another added “a journey we are all part of!” Certainly the writer of ‘the Transition Handbook’ Rob Hopkins, talks of the importance of reciprocity and the need to address the heart as well as the head within an increased local democracy. This was an undercurrent running through the weekend workshop.

To read the full blog article, click here.

For an example of a local meeting cooperating with a local Transition initiative, here is a link to blog post by Andrew Reeve announcing that “Leicester Quakers and Transition Leicester are presenting their 3rd annual Apple Day event on Saturday 29th October from 10am to 4pm at the Friends Meeting House, Queens Road, Leicester.” For the full post, click here. Also, the local Transition Tunbridge Wells holds most of its community events at the Tunbridge Wells Friends Meeting House. Check out the list of events here.

Finally, I just found this longer “think piece” on the topic of Quakers In Transition from 2009. While I certainly don’t agree with everyone of the author’s points, it is an interesting discussion starter about how the end of the age of cheap and abundant energy will impact Quakers and what we might want to start doing about strengthening our meeting communities and our wider local communities. As noted by the blogspot author, listed only as Craig:

This was a submission to ‘The Friends Quarterly’ essay competition on ‘The Future of the Religious Society of Friends in Britain’. It is an attempt to explore some of the consequences of peak oil and climate change for British Quakerism. References and further reading are in hypertext links within the text. I am a Quaker from Sheffield, and I am also active in the Transition movement.

For the complete essay, click here. Please feel free to comment on the piece below.

What do other people know about Quakers in Transition in Britain, the US, and elsewhere? Let’s starting linking up and talking to each other!

Check out this information complied by Transition US:

Like our friends at Transition Voice and Yes Magazine have written, there are many things you can do to be part of this growing movement—and only some of them involve sleeping outside.

In many Occupy gatherings in cities across the country, people are gathering for teach-ins and sharing skills to build this movement. Here is a digest of some of the articles and resources that we’ve found insightful in thinking about how we can be bold in our next steps and combine our Transition thinking with this new surge of momentum around change. Consider this a virtual, self-guided teach-in that starts now! (And by all means, post a comment below to add to this list)

Richard Heinberg and Helena Norberg-Hodge Discuss the End of Growth

Must the economy always grow? At what societal, personal, and planetary cost? Orion hosted a live discussion on the end of economics as we know it with Richard Heinberg, author of The End of Growth, and Helena Norberg-Hodge, whose film The Economics of Happiness explores the costs and alternatives to perpetual growth. During this hour-long dialogue ranging from Occupy Wall Street to climate change, our guests shared ideas, resources, and answered listener questions.

Wall Street Occupiers: 10 Ways to Support the Occupy Movement
By Sarah van Gelder October 18, 2011

As the Occupy Wall Street movement continues to spread with more than 1,500 sites around the world, we’re seeing more and more people are speaking up for a society that works for the 99 percent, not just the 1 percent. In this article Sarah van Gelder of the YES! Magazine staff lay out 10 recommendations for ways to build the power and momentum of this movement. Only two of them involve sleeping outside.

Occupy Wall Street: The Most Important Thing in the World Now?
by Naomi Klein, Published on Friday, October 7, 2011 by The Occupied Wall Street Journal

“We have picked a fight with the most powerful economic and political forces on the planet. That’s frightening. And as this movement grows from strength to strength, it will get more frightening. Always be aware that there will be a temptation to shift to smaller targets—like, say, the person sitting next to you at this meeting. After all, that is a battle that’s easier to win… Let’s treat this beautiful movement as if it is most important thing in the world. Because it is. It really is.”

Turning Occupation into Lasting Change
Can the Occupy movement transform the legal structures that give corporations their power over the rest of us?
by Thomas Linzey, Jeff Reifman, posted Oct 14, 2011 at Yes Magazine

“Mainstream progressive groups have failed by constraining their activities within legal and regulatory systems purposefully structured to subordinate communities to corporate power. Transformative movements don’t operate that way. Abolitionists never sought to regulate the slave trade; they sought freedom and rights for slaves. Suffragists didn’t seek concessions but demanded the right for all women to vote. The Occupy movement must begin to use lawmaking activities in cities and towns to build a new legal structure of rights that empowers community majorities over corporate minorities, rather than the other way around.”

Consensus Oriented Decision-Making Webinar
by Tim Hartnett

A new model for facilitating group decision making is now available. The seven steps of the CODM process offer groups a way to reap the benefits of a participatory, collaborative process while maintaining clear and efficient progress toward final decisions. This new model marries the dual goals of generating widespread agreement and keeping meetings enjoyable and productive. After decades of experience using traditional consensus models, Tim Hartnett, PhD developed the CODM model by combining best practices from the fields of Group Facilitation, Conflict Resolution, and Non-Violent Communication. Described in the recently released book form New Society Publishers, CODM is flexible enough to be used by large or small groups with close-knit or diverse memberships.

Open letter to the 99 percent
By Steven Liaros October 21, 2011 at Transition Voice

“Build your world from the bottom up. Build a small self-sufficient and democratic community and then another and another. And then connect these with social networking tools. Yours can be different to all previous revolutions because for the first time in human history, we can create communities first before even considering building the physical city. We can organize communities online. Form a group, or circle or network online with the people you get along with. Document your agreements and store them in a shared location. Work out what your needs are: food, housing, clothing, healthcare, IT needs, whatever, and decide who in the group will provide them. You are forming a team, a team of complementary players that collectively can satisfy everyone’s needs. You won’t be fully self-sufficient but strive towards self-sufficiency, at least for your basic needs. Have a look at Mother Earth News for heaps of ideas about how to be more self-sufficient.”

In case you don’t know, the Transition Movement is a vibrant, international grassroots movement that seeks to build community resilience in the face of such challenges as peak oil, climate change and the economic crisis. It represents one of the most promising ways of engaging people in strengthening their communities against the effects of these challenges, resulting in a life that is more abundant, fulfilling, equitable and socially connected.

If you can make it, please join us on the first weekend of December!

* * * * *
News Release
05 August 2011

Low carbon future for Quakers

Quakers in Britain have today committed their whole movement to becoming a low-carbon, sustainable community. They have always tried to lead simple lives but this decision goes further. It means every Quaker in Britain will be urged and supported to reduce their carbon footprint.

A plan is being drawn up to turn this commitment into action and members have agreed to support each other and hold each other to account to achieve it. “We can no longer ignore the fact that our planet is finite,” say Quakers. “We have not only inherited the earth from our ancestors: we have borrowed it from our children and from their children.”

More than 1,500 Quakers made the decision gathered at the University of Kent in Canterbury for their annual Yearly Meeting to discern the way ahead for Quakers in Britain. The eight-day programme for all ages, from 30 July to 6 August, was an inspiring mix of worship, business, spiritual growth and fun. Recording Clerk Paul Parker said: “We met to grow in the Spirit. We listened to God and we discovered with certainty that what the world needs of us at this time is to change our lives. Our decision is exciting. This involves every child, every adult, every person in our Quaker community.”

The decision is rooted in Quakers’ longstanding work for a peaceful and more equal world. Quakers understand that many global problems are connected: speakers during the week highlighted the fact that the environmental crisis is inextricably linked with global economic injustice. The meeting also decided to challenge the values of consumer capitalism and engage with politicians and other decision makers to develop policies to safeguard people and planet. “We believe this corporate action will enable us to speak truth to power more confidently,” says the minute recording the decision.

The same theme of sustainability and spirituality in challenging times was explored by Pam Lunn, of Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre, in the Swarthmore Lecture, traditionally delivered during Quakers’ Yearly Meeting. She said: “We need to take with utter seriousness the place of theology, religion and spirituality as necessary to our human response to the challenges now facing us. People of all faiths have a crucial role to play.” She spoke about Quakers’ practice of spirituality and about the “absolute need for serious and sustained spiritual discipline if we’re to develop the inner resilience to meet the challenges and demands that face us.”

Yearly Meeting focused on many aspects of Quaker life. During one session a woman who recently celebrated her marriage expressed profound thanks to Quakers for campaigning on same sex marriage. Many listening shared the joy of the two women as she movingly described the “profound step on our spiritual journey”. This was one of the first marriages of same sex partners since Quakers decided at Yearly Meeting in York in 2009, to seek a change in the law so that same sex marriages can be prepared, celebrated, witnessed, reported to the state, and recognised as legally valid, in the same way as opposite sex marriages are celebrated in Quaker meetings. Quakers are clear that changes they are making will stay within the law.

Quakers’ Yearly Meeting decision in 2009 asked for a revision of Quaker Faith and Practice – the book of Christian Discipline which guides Quakers in Britain. And those gathered in Canterbury have updated text on marriage and acknowledged further changes will reflect future changes in the law. Quakers, who were given the right to conduct marriages in England and Wales in 1753, do not have clergy. They do have registering officers who are present at the solemnisation of a marriage at a meeting for worship.