Peace and Social Concerns Committee
Minutes of Dec. 15, 2014 meeting

Present: George M (clerking), Chris M, Carol L, Susan C (recording), Dan G, Diane C, Adele S, Beth A

1. Diane offered to be responsible for letter-writing on January 11th.

2. Beth and Jennie I. will share the FCNL announcement on Dec. 28th.

3. The annual Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast in Amherst will be held on Jan. 17th. Groups are invited to set up displays, and Beth suggested that Mount Toby might have a display related to our ongoing race and class discussion. However, we didn't develop this thought further.

4. We read aloud the "statement of conscience" which NY Yearly Mtg wrote in response to events in Ferguson, MO and NYC, and then had a time of worship-sharing.

5. Adele provided us with copies of Michelle Alexander's essay "Race and Caste in the U.S." Adele asks that after we read the essay, we each pass on our copy to someone else in the meeting. We agreed that P&SC will cover the cost of the photocopying; Adele will submit her receipt to the meeting's treasurer.

6. Syrian refugee relief:  At our November meeting, P&SC had suggested that it might be most practical for Mount Toby folks to be invited to attend an informational event that would be scheduled in Amherst, rather than trying to hold a separate one at the meetinghouse. Tonight, Susan reported that she had passed along this suggestion to the local contact person, who accepted it and will contact Susan once a firm plan is in place for an event in Amherst.

7. Adele expressed appreciation for the Mount Toby childrens' craft fair, which was a tremendously successful fundraiser for Ayiti Resurrect; almost $2000 was donated! [Note: later it was announced that over $2100 was donated.]

8. FCNL:  Prior to tonight's meeting, Friends had received copies of the "FCNL 2014 Annual Sessions reflections," written by Jennie and Newell. This report was also presented at the December Meeting for Business. Beth brought copies of FCNL's Dec. 2014 Native American Legislative Update for us, and asked us to keep Native American rights in our consciousness. Dan will be previewing a film on this topic for possible inclusion in our film series.

9. Adele reports that Quaker Earthcare Witness is tentatively on the agenda for the January Meeting for Business. P&SC supports QEW's inclusion in the "Friends' Concerns: Other Organizations" portion of the Mount Toby budget.

10. We read aloud and discussed the "Quaker Statement on Climate Change" from QUNO, QEW, and FCNL. We recognized that the statement is intended to convey the urgency of addressing this issue -- a sense of urgency which we share. But we felt the statement fell short of its aim, and we were not moved to recommend that Mount Toby sign on.

11. Diane is still considering her proposal that Mount Toby host a concert series; she will draft it when she feels ready to do so, and will ask Roger to look it over.

12. Before our January meeting, Chris will send us info (or a link to info) about the proposed Mass. Carbon Tax, so that we can discuss it at that meeting.

13. Possible discussion topic for a future meeting:
    -Does the Earth have intrinsic value beyond its relationship to humans? What are the intrinsic rights of Mother Earth? It might be interesting to think of this in the context of Mount Toby's land use.

14. We deferred discussion of our committee name.

Next meeting: January 19, 2015. Dan will serve as clerk that evening.