About UWN
The Unity with Nature Committee of Pacific Yearly Meeting (UwN) was formed several decades ago to help further the concern of Earthcare within the Religious Society of Friends. Today the committee is made up of eleven Friends from Pacific Yearly Meeting who meet virtually at least monthly, with subcommittees meeting more frequently.
The Unity with Nature Committee has been given the following charge by Pacific Yearly Meeting:
To follow this charge the committee has developed the following Six Point Action Plan:
Current Members of the Unity with Nature Committee of the Pacific Yearly Meeting (PacYM) of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
Suellen Lowry, Humboldt (Co-clerk)
Keith Runyan, Santa Cruz (Co-clerk)
Paty Constantino, Mexico City
Michael Dunn, Inland Valley
Klara East, Sacramento
Marge Gianelli, La Jolla
Nancy Glock-Grueneich, Santa Cruz
Billie Hamilton, Sacramento
Ragni Larsen-Orta, Strawberry Creek
Gayle Matson, Chico
Lucinda Olney, Berkeley
The Unity with Nature Committee has been given the following charge by Pacific Yearly Meeting:
- Help Friends better understand and experience our unity with and our spiritual call to honor, celebrate, learn from and protect the natural world;
- Encourage Friends to take action to support the health of the world we share with all living things, and to support the movement for Environmental Justice;
- Advance the efforts of monthly meetings and individuals to share their questions, endeavors, failures and achievements, and to develop relationships with like-minded organizations;
- Engage in continued spiritual discernment, seeking input from the wide diversity within the yearly meeting so their work extends beyond any particular project, allowing for growth and adaptation to new opportunities and challenges.
To follow this charge the committee has developed the following Six Point Action Plan:
- Website - to share insights and resources among Monthly Meetings and map the work of our Yearly Meeting;
- Ecological grief workshops - offered by Unity with Nature committee members and also partnering with Quaker Earthcare Witness
- Visits to Monthly Meetings to help network, inspire, and learn from the grassroots of PacYM;
- Consortia – connecting monthly Meetings with similar climate/eco-justice interests or witness;
- Climate Strategy – drafting an overall PacYM strategy;
- Events - virtual and in-person gatherings on various Earthcare and eco-theology topics.
Current Members of the Unity with Nature Committee of the Pacific Yearly Meeting (PacYM) of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
Suellen Lowry, Humboldt (Co-clerk)
Keith Runyan, Santa Cruz (Co-clerk)
Paty Constantino, Mexico City
Michael Dunn, Inland Valley
Klara East, Sacramento
Marge Gianelli, La Jolla
Nancy Glock-Grueneich, Santa Cruz
Billie Hamilton, Sacramento
Ragni Larsen-Orta, Strawberry Creek
Gayle Matson, Chico
Lucinda Olney, Berkeley