Quaker

John Greenler is part of 2 institutions looking for energy ways forward in Wisconsin, the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center and the Wisconsin Energy Institute, where John works as director of education & outreach. In addition to these professional roles, John is co-owner of a CSA called Zephyr Farm, which keeps him grounded in hands-on sustainable alternatives as well.

In his memoir, Not From Here, sociologist & author Allan G. Johnson takes us on an odyssey of introspection about our unrootedness and the symptoms of that dysfunction in our personal and national identities, things like the native genocide, slavery, but also the holes in our lives because we don't belong.

From a financially-strapped Irish-American upbringing, to Peace Corps Service in Botswana, to the the trade-offs of life, family, and finances, and, now, to deeply engaged activism with Global Warming and environmental responsibility, Renewable: One Woman’s Search for Simplicity, Faithfulness, and Hope is Eileen Flanagan's story of wrestling with the big issues and putting her life in service

Tom Small found a way to take on species extinction on the local level, and he tells about it in his book, Using Native Plants to Restore Community (In Southwest Michigan and Beyond). By converting his grass-lawn into native flora, creating habitat for native fauna, Tom found a way to make a difference, locally.

Don't know about the planned (and underway) Nicaragua Inter-oceanic Canal? Tere Campos, Nicaraguan native, and her husband, Brad Stocker, are working to put out the word about this potentially disastrous plan which would put at risk the 9th largest lake of the Americas, and much more.

While there are many roots to the global environmental crisis we face, some of the most important emerge from our concepts of ownership, especially of land. Howard Vogel is an emeritus professor of law at Hamline University, having taught constitutional law, restorative justice, international human rights, and a seminar in ethics after having done extensive public interest litigation in environmental law.

Greg Elliott is helping the American Friends Service Committee to launch a program, innovated by Unitarian-Universalists, and adapted to Quakers to help avoid the burn-out & lack of results which result from un-centered, though well-motivated, activism. With an approach that ties together spirit & action, using worship, story-telling, & deepening relationships, we are helped to remember the ways in which we can be faithful to our work of world-healing, without giving in to a exhausting and unfocused treadmill.

Matt Southworth was a wrestler in high school, fought as a U.S. Army intelligence analyst in Iraq after graduation, and now conducts legislative battles for peace on Capitol Hill.

Comparing how our Federal Income Tax is spent versus how we want it to be spent can be a deep spiritual lesson. Published as a "Matter of Faith" clergy column in the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram on September 13, 2008.

This is an excerpt from Pendle Hill Pamphlet 389: From West Point to Quakerism, by Mike Heller, narrated by Mark Helpsmeet, with music by Mathilda Navias.