Overview
There are many resources from all over the world that explore climate justice – our hope is to carefully curate these into a 'year of learning and spiritual reflection'. If you've ever wondered about what climate justice really means or how to practice it, this year and all the resources we are creating are for you! By joining us in this journey, you will deepen your understanding of climate justice, including learning about:
- the historical context of climate justice work;
- practical examples of climate justice in action;
- how a justice-based approach differs from other approaches to climate action.
Quakers in Britain and Woodbrooke will be partnering to launch the project in July 2022. Although the year has been designed with British Quakers in mind, we hope people of faith and anyone interested in climate action will join us in using the resources to explore what climate justice is and why it is important.
Working for climate justice is a collective activity: tending to our relationships with one another, as well as cultivating moments of joy, are at the heart of how we sustain our action! Whether you sign up to join the online community (link below) or work through the resources at your own pace, we encourage you to share, discuss and reflect with others.
What will we cover
Over the year we will explore the following areas:
- What is climate justice? [July – August 2022]
- Loss and damage: exploring historical responsibility and reparations [September – October 2022]
- Climate justice and the new economy [November – December 2022]
- What happens if we don't focus on justice? [January – March 2023]
- Living in right relationship with the earth [March – May 2023]
- How do we act in solidarity and friendship across social justice movements? [May – July 2023]
There are two elements to the project – freely available resources and a pay-as-led online course. Approximate timeframes for the release of resources and gatherings in the online course are indicated in square brackets.
Resources
A series of booklets exploring topics that will help readers to understand key principles of climate justice and the historical, political and economic forces which shape the climate crisis. There will be six booklets in total and each will be laid out in three main sections: analysis; practical examples; and queries.
The analysis section is intended to provide some basic content for consideration, along with lots of further avenues to explore.
The practical examples section shares information about grassroots groups and campaigns both in the UK and globally that you can draw inspiration from or support.
Finally, the queries section offers some questions for reflection or discussion, individually or in groups, as a tool to process and integrate your thoughts about the booklet and its topic.
The booklets will be available to all on this webpage (under the heading 'Joining the year of learning and spiritual reflection' below) as soon as they are released throughout the year.
Online Woodbrooke course
We learn more broadly and more deeply when we learn together. Our concern for climate justice comes out of our faith and our witness is more grounded if it emerges from deep spiritual reflection.
The online course:
- enables you to be part of a spiritual community exploring the issues together;
- has an online forum where you can share ideas and reflections;
- offers regular online gatherings (two for each topic) to engage in collective spiritual reflection of the topic and explore the issues more deeply;
- gives you access to a range of online resources and materials, in addition to the booklets.
The course is pay-as-led. It takes a significant amount of staff time to run a project of this kind, and any amount you are in a position to commit will help us to cover the running costs for the year. We know that not everyone is able to contribute the same amount, and this course is open to everyone regardless of ability to pay.
Register to join the online course.
Joining the year of learning and spiritual reflection
We encourage you to learn, discuss and reflect with others in whatever way you can. That might mean:
- joining the online course;
- working through the resources as part of a reading or discussion group;
- inviting other local faith or community groups to join you in conversation about any of the resources.
Below we share the resources to guide you through the year. Links will be added as these become available to download.
MODULE 1: What is climate justice?
(available July 2022)
