Dear YAF Friends,
The New England Young Adult Friends (Quaker) Climate Working Group invites
you to join us in a pilgrimage along the route of the proposed
Kinder-Morgan methane pipeline in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
We begin this invitation with confession; that the reality of climate
change is overwhelming and that we do not know exactly how to respond to
the devastating truth that the world is ending on our watch.
Yet there are things that we can say clearly: That we must reduce
atmospheric CO2 levels below 350 ppm immediately and that to do so requires
an immediate phase out of fossil fuel use. Given this reality, the further
expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure makes no sense. Every dollar
invested in energy must be spent building renewable sources, like Cape
Wind, instead of pipelines and power plants for fracked gas.
Therefore, we are called to witness with our own eyes this pipeline route,
to walk its length and to fathom the changes that must be made. We walk
praying for clarity, determination and boldness to take the necessary next
steps. We walk acknowledging that we do not yet possess the inner resources
to live our lives fully into the reality that our scientific understanding
of the climate crisis calls us to. We walk creating a community of climate
dissidents, understanding that we need each other in these challenging
times. We walk bringing public focus to the immorality of perpetuating the
status quo, and to a genuine hope for a different future.
We invite you to join us to bear witness to the power of God in our lives
to make a way out of no way, to move from what is dead and past to what is
alive and new. This is a time for needed renewal and transformation. This
season is one to roll away the stone and to see what new life may move
among us.
The pilgrimage will be a 12-day walk from Pittsfield, Massachusetts along
the 143 mile proposed pipeline route to Dracut, Massachusetts beginning
April 1st. It will be Quaker-led and open to all, with opportunities for
Worship, for meeting local community members working to stop the pipeline,
and for fellowship.
We hope you will consider joining us. To find out more about the route, to
sign up to walk, or to contact us visit http://www.pipelinepilgrimage.org.
“We dedicate ourselves to let the living waters flow through us – where we
live, regionally, and in wider world fellowship. We dedicate ourselves to
building the peace that passeth all understanding, to the repair of the
world, opening our lives to the Light to guide us in each small step.” –
The Kabarak Call, World Conference of Friends 2012
