“The produce of the earth is a gift from our gracious creator to the inhabitants, and to impoverish the earth now to support outward greatness appears to be an injury to the succeeding age.” — John Woolman

Friends’ testimony of stewardship calls us to care for the earth as a trust we share with all living things and with generations to come. This page gathers LEYM’s own witness on earthcare, what our monthly meetings are doing, and trusted Quaker resources for going further.

• LEYM’s witness
• Earthcare across LEYM
• Quaker earthcare organizations
• Taking action
• From our history
• Get involved

LEYM’s Witness

• A Shared Quaker Statement on Climate Change. At our 2016 annual sessions, LEYM minuted its support for A Shared Quaker Statement: Facing the Challenge of Climate Change. The statement is supported by Quaker organizations and yearly meetings around the world.
• The Kabarak Call for Peace and Ecojustice. Approved at the 2012 World Conference of Friends in Kenya, the Kabarak Call (PDF) links earthcare with peace and justice. Reporting to LEYM in 2025, our FWCC representatives shared the world body’s confession that Friends “have fallen short” of the Kabarak commitments, and its call to reflect on what true sustainability requires.
• Quaker Earthcare Witness. LEYM names a representative to Quaker Earthcare Witness, who helps keep us connected to earthcare work among Friends across North America. See the current Nominations Slate.

Earthcare Across LEYM

Much of our earthcare work happens in monthly meetings and worship groups. Here is some of what Friends have shared in recent issues of the LEYM Bulletin and in the 2025 Annual Records:

• Ann Arbor Friends Meeting has committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2030. In October 2021, it led a local interfaith climate witness, part of a worldwide Greenfaith day of action: about fifty people gathered at a downtown Chase Bank to urge the bank to move its investments from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Ann Arbor Friends also joined the September 2019 Climate Strike. The meeting’s Earthcare Committee works with its Peace and Social Concerns Committee on issues affecting Indigenous people in Michigan, and its Earthcare page offers readings, films, and links to climate action groups.
• Detroit Friends Meeting designed its new meetinghouse to be energy-efficient, with extra insulation, triple-pane windows, LED lighting, permeable paving to reduce runoff, and a solar array planned for the roof.
• Erie (PA) Worship Group: Friends have taken part in a local environmental coalition working to ban fracking, which also succeeded in shutting down the Erie Coke plant.
• Kalamazoo Friends Meeting reports that its Earthcare Committee has “gained vitality.” It forms alliances with local groups and brings in speakers, including from Quaker Earthcare Witness.
• Kent Friends Meeting has a named earthcare contact.
• Mid-Ohio Valley Friends Meeting supports local environmental work, including reopening a county recycling center, and joins its host congregation’s Green Sanctuary efforts.
• Pittsburgh Friends Meeting held its 2023 Fall Gathering on the theme “Earth Care, Self Care,” bringing together more than 50 adults and children.

To reach any of these meetings, see LEYM Meetings & Worship Groups. Is your meeting doing earthcare work that isn’t listed here? Please send a sentence or two, and a link if you have one, to the Digital Communications Facilitator.

Quaker Earthcare Organizations

• Quaker Earthcare Witness (QEW): the main North American network of Friends working on earthcare. It publishes the newsletter BeFriending Creation and holds regular gatherings and days of action.
• Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT): a grassroots, nonviolent direct action group including Quakers, pressing for a just transition away from fossil fuels.
• Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL): Quaker lobbying in Washington, including on climate and environmental policy.
• Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC): connects Friends worldwide, including through the Kabarak Call and its sustainability commitments. See collected resources related to sustainability on the FWCC site.
• Quakers in Britain: climate justice: campaigns and study resources from Britain Yearly Meeting.

For more Quaker organizations, see our Links to Outside Quaker Resources and Resources for Peace & Justice.

Taking Action

Get Inspired by stories of Quaker Environmental Human Rights Defenders, as reported to the U.N.

Faith communities working together. The Interfaith Power & Light movement helps congregations save energy, use renewable power, and speak out on climate. It has a state affiliate in Michigan, Michigan Interfaith Power & Light. Check the national site for groups near you in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Contacting elected officials. Friends are encouraged to share their environmental concerns with those who represent them:

• U.S. House: Find your representative
• U.S. Senate: Contact your senators
• State legislators: Ohio · Michigan · Pennsylvania

Monthly meeting minutes can be a strong way to speak together. The Oberlin Friends Meeting minute “We Seek an Earth Restored” (PDF, 2021) is one example your meeting might draw on.

From Our History

• 2019: After discernment at Representative Meeting, LEYM made vegetarian meals the default at annual sessions, “as a response to the dire circumstances of our planet.” Monthly meetings hosted climate-topic displays at mealtimes. Vegetarian recipes (PDF) were shared at the time.
• 2016: LEYM supported the Shared Quaker Statement on climate change (see above).
• 2008: The Earthcare Committee prepared Getting Started! Growing Our Sense of Spirit Home the Bioregional Way (PDF, 29 pages) for Annual Meeting. It is a friendly introduction to our local environment and still worth reading.
• Earthcare sessions among LEYM Friends, including the 2021 “Coffee and Climate Chat,” are recorded on the Peace, Justice & Earthcare Interest Groups page.

Get Involved

LEYM’s Earthcare Committee is currently dormant, but the concern is very much alive among Friends. If you feel led to help carry it, for example by joining a revived committee, convening an online earthcare conversation, or helping keep this page current, please speak with the presiding clerk or a member of the Nominating Committee (see the Nominations Slate).

Updated September 2026.