Putney Friends Meeting

Putney Friends Meeting recently wrote and published a strong and moving Minute in support of the closure of Vermont Yankee. At the recommendation of our Social Justice and Peace Committee, we also had Laurel Green from Safe and Green meet with Business Meeting in January. If there is anyone looking to actively engage or to form an affinity group for the campaign to close Vermont Yankee, please feel free to contact Laurel for more information.

Laurel’s Notes for VY Talk at Putney Friends Meeting for Business, Jan. 15, 2012

First off,  thank you for Minute. Thank you, too, to each person who has participated in the series of daily vigils at the gates of the reactor called Countdown to Closure – a third of the folks at the Nuke Free New Year’s vigil were from Putney Friends Meeting.

Steps Individual or the Meeting as a Whole do to “take up our stewardship commitment.”

• Write letters to the editor and send them to your legislators. Commit to writing one letter about why you as a Quaker want to see the reactor closed and decommissioned.
• Model voluntary simplicity by spending one day a week without using electricity – someone I met suggested “Watt-less Wednesdays” as a form of boycott. The Catholic Bishops of Japan have called for immediate closure of all 54 reactors in their country. In their missive they recognized there will be a “gap” in available electricity and so have called on all their fellow citizens to adapt a lifestyle away from excessive dependence on nuclear energy. This is a kind to “taking away the occasion of all wars.”
• Make friends with one person who’s livelihood depends on VY. Hear their story and tell them why you want to see the reactor closed.
• Sign up and organize a C2C vigil with friends, family, co-workers, yoga or book group. One friend joined me and was shocked to find out the reactor was so close to her home in Brattleboro. Take photos or videos to post on the web. Pray about it, talk about it, write about it.
• A speaker from the Safe and Green Campaign would be willing to come with me to a educational session here after Meeting to present an overview of the history of protest at VY, the court case that is pending, possible actions by the network of grassroots organizations working to close the reactor, about forming an affinity group for such action and the trainings available for people who decide to take direct action and commit civil disobedience.
• If someone is interested in taking part in Non-Violent Direct Action/Civil Disobedience and would like to find an Affinity Group to join please call Laurel at 275-4646.
• A day long training for Non-violent Direct Action could be scheduled for anyone interested and it could be sponsored by the Meeting.

***Resources about Nuclear Power ***

Safe and Green Campaign website: The Safe & Green Campaign is an urgent, grassroots-people-powered effort to close Entergy Nuclear’s Vermont Yankee facility and replace it through conservation, efficiency and renewable solutions—Moving us towards a truly “Safe and Green” energy future. email: safeandgreencampaign@gmail.com

Fairewinds Associates  website: Short video reports explaining in layman’s terms about the continuing disaster at Fukushima presented by Arnie Gundersen

Citizens Awareness Network (CAN) website:  A sister organization working to close Vermont Yankee

Beyond Nuclear website:  A larger view on ending nuclear power and nuclear weapons

For more information, call Laurel Green at 802-275-4646 or email her.