QUNO Interim Deputy Director and Representative for the Human Impacts of Climate Change, Lindsey Fielder Cook, recently spoke in two webinars focused on climate, peace, and militarism. In July, Quaker Earthcare Witness held a conversation between Lindsey and General Secretary of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Joyce Ajlouny, about the interwovenness of peacemaking and climate justice. AFSC and QUNO also provided testimony on these same themes in a September webinar on “Climate justice in a militarized world” that highlighted Quaker work in Gaza, New Mexico, Guatemala, and at the UN.  

During the discussion hosted by Quaker Earthcare Witness, Lindsey and Joyce reflected on the role of Quakers as both individuals and members of community in advocating for peace on earth and peace with earth. From their first meeting as teachers at the Ramallah Friends School in 1987, they shared stories from their time in the West Bank organizing, teaching, and mobilizing to protest violence and injustice.

In the intervening decades, the climate has warmed and violent conflict has increased. They discussed individual and organization-wide approaches that have shown the importance of community solidarity and witness, collective mutual care, and the power of hope in inspiring liberation.

Both Joyce and Lindsey also responded to questions from Quakers and others in the audience about climate solutions, global conflict, and finding hope despite pressing and persistent systemic challenges and inequities.

AFSC’s 24 September webinar also gathered speakers from around the globe to discuss “Climate justice in a militarized world”, make connections, and share solutions. Organizers and activists from the US, Africa, Latin America, and QUNO Geneva shared stories that spoke to the intersections between climate and justice in their lives and work. AFSC Coordinator Douglas Juárez told of communities in Latin America resisting exploitation from extractive corporate abuses and state violence. AFSC New Mexico Program Co-Director Sayrah Namaste explained how indigenous lands in what is now the state of New Mexico, USA were turned into sacrifice zones as a testing ground for nuclear weapons. Moderator and AFSC Policy Fellow Bashir Elhassan described being displaced from Sudan due to war while Lindsey called for action recognizing climate change as an issue of peace and intergenerational justice. Amidst the increasing militarization of our world, the speakers also spoke in solidarity of the essential role of hope and community action.

Held as part of the Global Week of Action for Peace and Climate Justice, AFSC’s webinar served as a fitting follow up to Joyce and Lindsey’s powerful testimony with Quaker Earthcare Witness.