{"id":1685,"date":"2021-08-28T22:59:32","date_gmt":"2021-08-28T21:59:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/?page_id=1685"},"modified":"2022-01-09T09:29:36","modified_gmt":"2022-01-09T09:29:36","slug":"1685-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/september-2021\/1685-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Emergency!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Charles Worth<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an extremely short poem about climate change:<\/p>\n

C ice melting
\nO dear
\n2 late<\/p>\n

How did you feel when you heard that the world\u2019s top climate scientists had published the latest IPCC report for the UN? They concluded (cautious scientists to a man and woman) that humans have \u2018unequivocally\u2019 caused \u2018unprecedented\u2019 and \u2018irreversible\u2019 changes to the climate. \u2018Code Red for Humanity!\u2019 the headlines screamed, lit up with terrifying photos of forests blazing in Greece.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Poster designed by Stig<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I don\u2019t know about you, but I find it hard to shake off a sense of dread and even despair that is physical \u2013 somewhere in the pit of my stomach. This extraordinary and endlessly beautiful natural world that I love and have enjoyed for my seventy plus years is at risk. Does this really mean that my own children and grandchildren won\u2019t be able to have what I have always taken for granted? Not just the coming generations but countless people now are losing their lands, their homes, their livelihoods. All this on my watch?<\/p>\n

So the big question \u2013 what can I do? We each have to respond to this emergency in our own way, and we will have many different responses. But I am <\/span>wondering how our Quaker testimonies speak to this challenge.<\/p>\n