by Web Posts | Aug 19, 2026 | Activity, AFSC, Current, Earthcare, Quaker Earthcare Witness
Quaker Earthcare Witness (QEW) Global Day of Action: Saturday, September 19, 8:45 to Noon
Worship made visible: head, heart, hands & voices
Join the collaboration of QEW, Sierra Club Falls of the James Group & AFSC Love as Action for a local trash cleanup (location coming!) including breakfast snacks and a short meeting for worship!
A QEW Day of Action – twice yearly in Fall and Spring – envisions Meetings creating a locally organized community event where Friends choose an action that fits its own land, gifts, needs, and community and gather in love, listen to the Spirit, care for the land and one another, and let our worship be visible.
Why do humble actions as a community? This Day of Action is a way for Friends to:
- Bring communities together through shared labor, laughter, sweat, and love.
- Make Earthcare visible as a living Quaker witness.
- Invite neighbors, youth, families, and seekers into meaningful action.
- Deepen the spiritual connection between worship and ecological repair.
- Connect spiritually across time zones and share our stories around the world.
More information is forthcoming from Barb Adams and Diane Bowden.
Quaker Earthcare Witness (QEW) is a network of Friends (Quakers) in North America working on Earthcare concerns. We work to inspire Spirit-led action toward ecological sustainability and environmental justice and a spiritual transformation in our relationships with each other and the natural world. As all our communities are being impacted more and more by the climate crisis, we feel an urgent leading to share our witness.
by Diane Bowden | Mar 16, 2026 | Activity, Earthcare, Hike
The Earthcare Working Group (ECWG) will host a Spring Hike and Picnic as a social event for Meeting on Sunday, April 12, 1 to 3 pm, at
James River Park Pony Pasture. Meet at 1:00 pm at the Pony Pasture parking lot. Bring a bag lunch and good walking shoes. The Working Group will provide drinks. Margaret Porter-Daniel and Katy Rugg will share information on medicinal plants along the way.
by Diane Bowden | Jan 3, 2026 | Earthcare, Peace and Social Concerns, Social justice
All are welcome to an informational program with guest speaker Tim Cywinski, Communication Director of the Sierra Club Virginia Chapter on First Day, January 11 at the rise of Meeting (12:30 - 2:00 pm).
The Earthcare Working Group, continuing our exploration of water issues, became interested in the phenomenal impacts of data centers. Data center developers are increasingly tapping into freshwater resources to quench the thirst of data centers, which puts nearby communities, and the greater aquifer source, at risk. A medium-sized data center can consume up to roughly 110 million gallons of water per year for cooling purposes, equivalent to the annual usage of approximately 1,000 households. Larger data centers can consume up to 5 million gallons per day, or about 1.8 billion annually, equivalent to usage of a town of 10,000 to 50,000 people!
We have invited Tim to do a deeper dive in our exploration. Tim is a noted expert speaker on data centers and skilled at empowering Virginians to voice their concerns when faced with powerful companies proposing such projects in their community. He will share latest information on the exponential increase of data centers in Virginia, their energy, environmental and economic impacts and what citizens can do. Tim will also share briefly on the environmental and environmental justice - related legislation being brought to this year’s General Assembly and ways we can support them.
Please bring your questions and thoughts to this first program of the New Year. There will be snacks! Questions? Contact Barb Adams.
by Diane Bowden | Jul 24, 2025 | Activity, Earthcare
The EarthCare Working Group is hosting three Quaker Community Hikes this fall, hoping to continue them in the Spring and beyond.
Saturday, October 11, Yike! Hike 8:30 pm (after dark) at Larus Park- Looking for luminescent fungi and critters w/fluorescent lights
November Date TBD Endurance (6 mile) Hike Buttermilk Trail (N) (Giving thanks when the hike is over!)
by Diane Bowden | Dec 13, 2024 | Adult Spiritual Education, AFSC, Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Earthcare, FCNL, Quaker House
The Fourth and final session of Quakerism 101 will be held at the Meetinghouse on January 26 at 9:30 am.
Topic --"Quakers in the Wider World."
Kelly Kennedy will facilitate beginning with a PowerPoint including maps of Quakers in Virginia, the nation, and worldwide. With the help of three Friends with deep experience in organizations such as Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Friends General Conference, Friends Committee on National Legislation, and Friends in Unity with Nature, we'll look at how Quaker values drive their work and their outcomes.
Bring your coffee and join us Sunday January 26, at 9:30 in the Community Room. Childcare will be provided at 9:15.
by Diane Bowden | Jan 19, 2023 | AFSC, Announcement, Earthcare, FCNL, Peace and Social Concerns
There is so much happening in the realm of social justice, environment, and world emergencies.
How to keep informed and act according to our Quaker values? The following organizations can help you take timely steps to address various issues. Subscribe to get their updates.
- American Friends Service Committee: https://www.afsc.org/about-us
- Friends Committee on National Legislation: https://www.fcnl.org/
- Virginia Interfaith Center on Public Policy: https://www.virginiainterfaithcenter.org
- Virginia Interfaith Power & Light: https://vaipl.org
“The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) promotes a world free of violence, inequality, and oppression. Guided by the Quaker belief in the divine light within each person, (they) nurture the seeds of change and the respect for human life to fundamentally transform our societies and institutions. (They) work with people and partners worldwide, of all faiths and backgrounds, to meet urgent community needs, challenge
injustice, and build peace.” They offer several workshops to increase our knowledge and develop skills to act.
In addition to these activities, they work directly with populations in need.
FCNL seeks a world free of war and the threat of war, a society with equity and justice for all and a community
where every person’s potential may be fulfilled. They lobby members of our national legislatures on issues
related to Middle East and Iran, Nuclear Weapons, Peacebuilding, US wars and militarism, gun violence
prevention, Just Immigration, Justice Reforms and Native Americans. They will keep you up to date on
upcoming legislation so you can communicate with your legislators most effectively.
Richmond Friends Meeting is affiliated with Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy (VICPP), a non- partisan coalition of 25,000 members, including 750 houses of worship, 1,000 clergy of all faiths, and people of goodwill, ten chapters (and growing!), many partner and affiliate organizations, most of the judicatory leaders in the state, and activists in every House and Senate district in Virginia, all working for a more just society.” Just as FCNL helps us make our efforts effective on a national level, VICPP helps keep us informed about current legislation initiatives.
RFM supports Virginia Interfaith Power and Light (VAIPL), a local branch of national organization which is dedicated to bringing together faith communities to “mobilize a religious response to climate changes through energy conservation, energy efficiency, and renewable energies." Similar to the other organizations they can help keep you reliably informed on current legislation and local initiatives.