Quakers are going to Copenhagen!

Wahoo - Copenhagen!
This is going to be THE event of the year/decade/generation (depending on your source) and the Quaker Institute of the Future, under the umbrella of Quaker Earthcare Witness, is sending several Quakers to the Conference of the Parties (COP) in Copenhagen. And this is THE BLOG to watch for our ongoing thoughts, commentaries, and updates about this exciting adventure. According to Farhana Yamin, who wrote a fabulous, very detailed book on a guide to the Climate Regime (and who was one of my professors at the Institute of Development Studies), this is the kind of event that can change individual's lives, organization's purposes, and, hopefully, the future of the planet.

And who am I, you might be wondering? I'm Sara Wolcott, proud member of Strawberry Creek Monthly Meeting in Berkeley California. I'm a liberal unprogrammed Quaker trying to build a stronger relationship with what I call 'God', whom I truly do not understand. This post, then, will include my thoughts and reflections on how I understand God, and the working of the Spirit in this most critical of circumstances, where we need to listen and respond to that of God within each of us.

I, along with Leonard Joy (pictured with me above - photo is a bit old, and those of you who know me in Britain might not recognize me without glasses) are among those who will be representing QIF. I have been to several massive conferences before (World Gathering of Young Friends, FWCC gatherings, World Social Forum, US Social Forum, Bioneers, etc.) I have almost fooled myself into thinking I know what to expect in Copenhagen which, as I now live in England, isn't really that far away. But I also know that, really, I don't know and, at the moment, I am unprepared for what it will- or won't - be.

I'll let Leonard speak for himself in later posts - suffice to say that while he's attended more-than-he-can-count international conferences and gatherings (as a former consultant for the UN system at large and, prior to that, in his role of Deputy Director of the Institute of Development Studies back in the 60s - way before my time there!), he's never been to anything like this event. So we will both be seeing it with fresh eyes.

On this blog, you can find our thoughts about the process, what it means for Quakers, what we are learning, seeing, and wondering about - probably about every other day or so. Hopefully, there will be a lot of other Quakers (there's about 20 of us with our 'group' at QEW) blogging here as well, so you can get a variety of opinions, ideas and impressions about a conference that some say will be the major determination of the future of the survival of the human race. Me, well, I'm not (quite) that dramatic. Significant? Yes, certainly. But so are the actions (and non-actions) taken before, during and most importantly after whatever the heads of state agree upon. As one local liberal group said, 'Go to Copenhagen! It's important! Don't go to Copenhagen! It's not important!'

Please comment, ask us questions, and connect. One thing I know for certain: without connections - without reaching out to one another - there is no way we will survive the calamities that are coming our way. To connect in