Spirit in Action

A clear-eyed, informative, powerful look at the reality of Zionism on-the-ground in the Middle East by Eve Spangler, associate professor of Sociology at Boston College. In Understanding Israel/Palestine - Race, Nation, and Human Rights in the Conflict she uses facts and experience to call us to the best framework for true peace in the Middle East.

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

Tieraona Low Dog has lived Integrative Medicine, learning both practical & spiritual wisdom, including herbalism, from her Native American grandmothers, working as a massage therapist and midwife, and then becoming a Medical Doctor. With laser-focused intelligence and ocean-wide heart, Tieraona teaches healthful lives in simple, inspirational, and compelling ways.

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.

Anti-war activists and military folks are predisposed to see each other as "the enemy", but even mainstream or conservative folks can have a very difficult time truly welcoming home vets. Zachary Moon is very concerned about treating vets as real people, not political or theological pawns in some game. Relatively few Quakers serve in the military, even as chaplains, as Zachary does, and too few know how to really support our troops when they return home, so he has helped pioneer a way forward.

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.

The effective struggle to protect us against the destruction and desecration of the Earth draws on the powers of both mind and heart, and little can capture our hearts and open us to realities like a powerful song. We draw on the music and messages of Sarah Pirtle, David Rovics, Brian Bethke, Sara Thomsen, & Bryce Black to shine a light exposing the wrongs of fracking, mining for frac sands and copper, piping tar sands, and more.

Jenn Rogar is passionately called to work for healing of the world in too many ways to enumerate. All are rooted in, however, and fed by, a deep connection to the Earth and its creatures. Whether the topic is addiction, native rights, homelessness, corporations, or whatever, Jenn's call for action and healing comes through with compelling power and folk music brilliance.