Featured blog
6 ways our new government could build a peaceful and sustainable world
25 July 2024 by Anna Lewis & Dixe Wills
Anna Lewis and Dixe Wills shine a light on Quaker hopes for our new government.
The connected crises of climate breakdown and militarism
We are living in a world where our climate is breaking down, economic inequality is deepening and violent conflicts are increasing. We know that underlying these crises is a dominant economic system and culture that is driven by profit, growth and extraction, which is increasingly destroying human and natural life on our planet.
We see how this system is sustained by war and militarism, which by definition destroy human life and the natural world. War and militarism are also key causes of climate breakdown: they pollute and destroy the natural environment, require huge amounts of fossil fuels to operate, and emit vast amounts of greenhouse gases. They also hold us back from addressing climate breakdown by consuming a high proportion of public money, distracting from climate and environmental goals, and driving competition and conflict between states when cooperation is most needed.
Our faith underpins our work to build a sustainable and peaceful world
Love calls us to build a sustainable and peaceful world. This is not just about opposing war or calling for climate action. It is about how we live well together on this planet, from the local to the global level:
- Resisting systems built on relationships of extraction, exploitation and violent control of each other and the living world.
- Striving instead for loving and just relationships.
- Understanding how and why violence has arisen to support the repair of harm, including recognising where we have caused harm ourselves.
Our work towards climate justice and peace
We see the climate crisis as deeply intertwined with global economic injustice. Our historic and current economic system exploits people and planet to create profit for a few. We need a system that operates within planetary boundaries and supports human flourishing.
Read more about Quaker campaigning for climate justice.
We see peace as an active process and we work for a 'just peace'; for a world not merely defined by the absence of violence but by the flourishing of equality and justice. We work for good relationships at every level – from the interpersonal to the international – and believe peace can only be brought about through nonviolent means.
Read more about Quaker campaigning for peace.
Supporting faith in action
Quakers in Britain have developed a broad library of resources that support people of all faiths and none to build a peaceful and sustainable world.
We also support Quakers across Britain who are taking action at local level and advocating for change. This ranges from divesting from fossil fuels and arms companies, to taking direct action, to lobbying local decisionmakers.
Read more about our support for Quaker Faith in Action.
