| Rooted in the Quaker
tradition, the Friends Committee on Unity with
Nature (FCUN) is
a member-supported, non-profit organization dedicated
to transforming human attitudes toward the Earth
through spirit-led responses to environmental problems.
Drawing on the Quaker testimonies of peace, simplicity,
and equality, and urging the adoption of “conscientious
protection of the planet,” FCUN invites both
Quakers and other interested people to bear witness
to the Earth and the entire community of life.
Along with its bimonthly newsletter, BeFriending
Creation, FCUN offers a variety of educational
resources linking spirituality and environmentalism,
including literature, speakers, workshops, and
religious education curricula for children and
adults. In
addition to encouraging Unity with Nature Committees
at the local Meeting level, FCUN sponsors a number
of large projects. Through its support of La Bella
Farm, a sustainable agriculture project in Costa
Rica, and its Agri-Cultural Exchange Program between
Costa Rican and North American farmers, FCUN promotes
sustainability and fair trade on an international
level. Most recently, FCUN has established an advocacy
project called Quaker Eco-Witness to promote ecologically-sound
governmental and corporate policies in the United
States (US). Working within the US Society of
Friends and the Friends Committee on National Legislation,
Quaker Eco-Witness keeps its members informed,
connected, and active through its bi-monthly Quaker
Eco-Bulletin and periodic Friendly Eco-Action Alerts. |
| Christianity |
North America
(Administrative Office: Burlington,
Vermont) |
| 1987–Present |
Although officially
founded in 1987, FCUN’s
origins date back to 1985 when Marshall Massey,
a Friend from Colorado, challenged Friends at
the Pacific Yearly Meeting to address environmental
concerns as part of their faith commitment to
serve
as witnesses for peace. When Massey spoke again
at the Friends General Conference Gathering in
1987, his call for greater environmental accountability
on the part of Friends was reiterated by a Quaker
couple who led a workshop on human-Earth relations.
In response, a special meeting was called to
discuss the need to incorporate care for the
Earth into
Quaker belief and practice, and the decision
to establish FCUN was made. From the start, the
intent
was to awaken Friends to the connections between
world peace and environmental sustainability
and to accept responsibility for the protection
of
the planet as God’s creation. Soon after
its founding, FCUN began publishing its newsletter,
BeFriending Creation, and in 1988 the
Pacific Yearly Meeting Committee on Unity with
Nature
published
the first issue of Earth Light, by now
the leading magazine on spiritual ecology. FCUN’s
sustainability projects in Costa Rica, La Bella
Farm and the
Agri-Cultural Exchange Program, began in 1993.
Until General
Secretary Ruah Swennerfelt was hired at the end
of 1994, the organization consisted solely of
volunteers (at present there are only two paid
staff members,
Ruah and her husband Louis Cox, who run the administrative
office of FCUN out of their solar-powered house
in Vermont). In 1998, FCUN established a relationship
with Quakers in Cuba following a sustainability
conference in Havana, organized by the American
Friends Service Committee and several Cuban organizations.
The Ecological Public Policy Committee was formed
in the late 1990s, and in 2002, four members
of this Committee attended the World Summit on
Sustainability
in Johannesburg.Recognized as a non-governmental
organization (NGO) on sustainable development,
FCUN has a representative at the United Nations
(UN). FCUN’s
most recent project, Quaker Eco-Witness, was
established in 2000 to keep Friends in the United
States abreast
of legislative issues pertaining to the environment
and to foster spiritually motivated political
action on behalf of creation.
|
| Seeking to draw attention to the spiritual dimensions
of the ecological crisis, the Friends Committee
on Unity with Nature applies Quaker testimony and
practice to environmental issues. Its main goals
are to affirm the unity of all Creation, to live
in deep communion with all Life Spirit, to be guided
by the inner Light in healing the Earth, and to
serve as a forum with the Religious Society of
Friends to foster spiritual unity with nature. |
Friends’ Committee
on National Legislation
Various
other Quaker organizations
La Bella
Farm
Santa Elena Coop
Monte Verde Institute
National Religious Partnership for the Environment
(NRPE)
Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN)
Christian Peacekeepers
|
| None Listed |
| None Listed |
| None Listed |
Friends Committee on Unity with Nature
173-B N. Prospect Street
Burlington, VT 05401–0308
Ph: 802.658.0308
Fax: 413.714.7011
Email: fcun@fcun.org |
