Bringing the Economy in line with Ecology
Libby Perkins, of France Yearly Meeting, writes:
This conference was organised in Montreal from 15th – 16th May 2009 by the Quaker Institute for the Future (QIF) as part of the Moral Economy Project. It was loosely based around the recently published book, “Right Relationship : building a whole earth economy” edited by Peter G. Brown and Geoffrey Garver, published by Berrett-Koehler, San Francisco.
As I was already in Canada visiting Ffriends and relations, I could attend the conference without feeling too guilty about air travel from France! It was a gathering of some 80 people – the great and the good, Quakers and non-Quakers, in the environmental field. The most distant participant, Robert Howell, came from New Zealand. Nancy Irving (general secretary of FWCC) flew in from London and welcomed the opportunity for useful networking, while pointing out that the World Council of Churches has been worrying about these issues for 20 years.
(Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation) Most participants came from the USA and Canada (those from Montreal regretted that English was the only conference language and no French). Akpezi Obuigwe from UNEP in Nairobi briefly addressed us as she was already in Montreal for a UN Environmental meeting at the iconic Montreal landmark, the Biosphere.
Peter G. Brown (McGill University) will visit and speak at UNEP in Nairobi at the end of August.
The Biosphere is worth an aside. It was designed by Buckminster Fuller as the spectacular and innovative American pavillion for the 1967 World Exhibition on the artificial island in the St. Laurence river. Like the Eifel Tower, it was never meant to be a permanent structure, and was virtually in ruins after a fire and ice-storms. The Canadian government has restored it as an excellent environment museum complete with reed beds for sanitation, and water collection methods, and solar panels. Tou can also visit a progressive and sustainable environmwntal house designed by Canadian students for an international eompetition.
To return to the QIF conference. An opening greeting was given in a Mohawk language by a member of the Mohawk Kahnawa:ke community, which, translated, emphasised the importance of respect and connectedness with Mother Earth, whom we are steadily and ruthlessly destroying by our “DEMOCRAPITALISM”. There were three panel discussions on Frontiers of Governance, Frontiers of Policy, and Frontiers of social action, with corresponding workshops. It was relatively easy to see the problems of both the economy and ecology, but Action was a more difficult question.
This needs a real shift in our value system as well as practical action by example. Another layer of global institutions seems over ambitious and idealistic when there are already so many institutions working in the field which need coordinating and with more enforcement powers. To avoid air travel, there were 5 remote presenters including Laurie Michaelis from the UK (Livng Witness Group). Technical efforts to link Friends House, London, to Montreal by remote computer and Internet were a bit hit and miss.
Canada Yearly Meeting Friends Service Committee – Quaker International Affairs Programme (QIAP) – has published “The Future Control of Food: a guide to international negotiations and rules on intellectual property, biodiversity and food security”. It is the first wide-ranging guide to these issues, and was launched at the UN Conference on Biodiversity in Geneva. The book is available for free on internet or see www.qiap.ca.
So did the conference achieve its aim of moving forward a transformational effort and creating a world wide network and dialogue?
I would say it certainly helped, but it is an on-going task for all of us.
