The killing of Tortuguita scares me. As an environmental activist, I often participate with my friends in public actions to try to bring attention to our evolving environmental crisis. I’ve realized for years that white privilege meant I didn’t feel particularly threatened by police during such actions in the past. I don’t think my Black, … Continue reading A dangerous trend toward authoritarianism
12/31/2022 It still seems strange that tomorrow we will have transitioned to a new year. As a scientist I understand measuring and classifying things like time. One of the few times my godson got really upset was when he learned about losing an hour of his life with the switch to daylight savings time. I … Continue reading A New Year Begins
NOTE: I am truly blessed to have many Indigenous friends, many who are involved in the Great Plains Action Society (GPAS), including the founder Sikowis Nobiss. As a White person I’ve tried hard to learn how to appropriately engage with my friends. I’ve made mistakes. I’ve written a lot about my experiences, hoping other White … Continue reading INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES RISE TO RESIST CARBON PIPELINES
Yesterday I wrote an introduction to one of the key elements of the Buffalo Rebellion’s work that was discussed during a recent community call via Zoom, i.e. carbon (CO2) pipeline resistance. The call was to build upon this new coalition’s first year of work together, and plans for the future. Resistance to the proposed carbon … Continue reading Pipeline Resistance: Landowner Harassment and Field Damage
NASCENT: just coming into existence and beginning to display signs of future potential It was a foregone conclusion that the fossil fuel industry would find a new way to generate profits as fossil fuels are becoming more difficult to extract, and resistance to fossil fuel infrastructure, i.e. pipelines, continues to rise. [capitalism] is causing five … Continue reading Scenarios for “nascent” carbon capture technologies
What follows is a history of the development of relationships among people of the Great Plains Action Society (GPAS) and some Quakers in the Midwest. I’ve had a lifelong concern for our environment and always wanted to learn more about Indigenous peoples and their spiritual and sustainable ways of living. But I hadn’t known how … Continue reading Great Plains Action Society and Midwest Quakers
Members of Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) (Quakers) have a long history of involvement with the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL). FCNL is the national lobbying organization that works to promote legislation consistent with Quaker beliefs in the US Congress. Every two years FCNL contacts all the Quaker meetings and churches in the US, to … Continue reading FCNL, Iowa Quakers and Native Americans
When I say I pray each morning, seeking what to write, I do spend time in quietness. But I also research what my sources are saying. I came across this photo I took in 2013 that I found on the Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement’s (ICCI) website. The photo was taken at ICCI’s offices during … Continue reading You have to be in it with them
Don’t Look Down is a spoof of the recent movie Don’t Look Up in which people refuse to acknowledge a meteor heading for earth. That’s what came to me as I’m praying about what to write this morning. One of the things I heard my friend Sikowis say recently was the earth below the surface … Continue reading Don’t Look Down
This morning I wrote about peacemaking. Encouraging Friends, each of us, to take a careful look at our life, and to speak out against the injustice and violence occurring today. To work to fill the spiritual void. But to do that means we have to show up. Be at Cowles Commons tomorrow at 1 pm … Continue reading Peacemaking means stopping carbon capture and pipelines
Quakers and Mutual Aid 