Climate justice

Ask your MP to speak up for the climate

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"We encourage local and area meeting to practise speaking truth to power at local level by establishing relationships with all sections of local communities, including politicians, businesses and schools, to encourage positive attitudes to sustainability."
- Minute 36, Yearly Meeting Gathering 2011

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Introduce a newly elected MP to local Quakers in their constituency and help them understand what your concerns are. If your MP has been re-elected, this is a good time to secure support from them as the political landscape changes.

The event could be as simple as meeting for worship, or a coffee morning, which you invite your MP to. Or you could:

1. You could arrange to see your MP at their surgery – on your own or with others – to ask them to speak up for climate change.
2. You, and other Friends, could gather to write to your MP. Perhaps the letter could be sent on behalf of the local meeting. Enclose the briefing for MPs (see below).

Resources to help you

• Quakers actively oppose shale fracking. Find out more and print out the QPSW fracking briefing for your MP.
• The QPSW Toolkit for Action contains guidance on how to engage with your MPs, with the media and on social media, and how to have difficult conversations.
• We are here to support you too. Contact Maya Williams for support and to share your experiences at mayaw@quaker.org.uk or on 020 7663 1056.

Climate justice

Quakers are campaigning for justice for those who have been unequally impacted by climate change. We call for global climate action that stops this injustice continuing. We campaign to challenge the powers that maintain the current fossil fuel economy.

We think all people have the right to affordable energy that does not harm the planet. We want an end to fuel poverty. We believe there should be more equality in the way energy is owned and organised. We want an end to dominance of the energy system by big companies and an increase in community ownership.

We want to sustain life over profit.

Confront fossil fuel power

We need to name and confront the powers that seem to be actively working against climate justice, namely: the huge power of the fossil fuel industry; and economic systems reliant on fossil fuels, which prioritise economic competitiveness.

Fracking

Quakers in Britain call for a ban on fracking and other forms of new and intensive fossil fuel extraction. The industry could seriously undermine the UK's ability to cut greenhouse gases and could harm local communities and ecosystems. Yet with backing from the UK government and investors, fracking companies are set to make vast profits from extracting oil and gas in the UK. Find out how you can take action on fracking.

Divest from fossil fuels

The fossil fuel industry needs many things to be able to extract fossil fuels and produce energy. Crucially it relies on money. Much of our money is bound up in continued fossil fuel extraction – via institutional investments, British government subsidies, or even our own pension funds.

We have a lot of power to change this. Publicly moving money away from fossil fuels helps to reduce fossil fuel companies' social licence to operate by demonstrating our refusal to be complicit.

Does your local or area meeting still invest in fossil fuels? What about the other institutions you may be part of, like your university or local council? Find out more about how to divest from fossil fuels.

Build the alternative

Many Quakers are engaged in exploring what an economy based on Quaker testimonies (and not dependent on fossil fuels) would look like, including how our economy could operate in balance with a healthy living planet. Find out more about our work on the new economy.