At Area Meeting we consider reports from Friends who have attended various conferences and events. On Saturday 7th June, at Bamford, we had a summary of a very interesting report on a conference on the subject of moving towards a low-carbon society. Read on here for the start of that report….

Transforming Ourselves: Transforming the System
Creating transition to a Low-Carbon,Sustainable Society – how do we do it?
Gathering at Hayes Conference Centre, Swanwick, Derbyshire
7th – 9th March 2014

This being the first large Quaker gathering I had attended, I was intrigued to see how it might work. As we
gathered for dinner on the first evening, there was a murmur of polite conversation. Seven of us sat down
together – all strangers to one another. Politeness continued through the soup course. Then, as we tucked into vegetable kievs, the topic of recent documentaries on the First World War arose. One of my companions maintained strongly that Max Hastings’ view was essentially correct – Britain did the right thing in entering the war, there was no real choice. Needless to say, not everyone agreed – and the conversation gained an “edge” to it.

“Ah, good,” I thought – controversy! That’s what we’re going to need this weekend.

So how do we create a transition to a low-carbon, sustainable society? Finding answers to this question is at the heart of the Canterbury Commitment, made at the 2011 Britain Yearly Meeting in Canterbury. What’s been happening since then? Where are we now? Where are we going next? These were the questions posed by Lis Burch, Clerk to the Gathering, before we retired for our cocoa on Friday night. I had the distinct sense that Lis would keep us – over 100 of us – firmly on track over the next two days.

To read the whole report, go to the website for Sheffield and Balby Area Meeting (reports tab) or click here:

http://www.sheffieldandbalbyareaquakers.org.uk/m/bbqu/transforming_ourse...