Today would have been Joan Huddleston's 80th birthday. Joan was one of the original co-founders of this website and worked tirelessly to produce material for it and provide guidance and support to the rest of the website team. One of the aspects of the site that Joan took full responsibility for was sourcing materials for the Musings from a Quaker Bonnet section. The series ran for 77 months, so there is a wealth of material from the old version of the site that we plan to gradually move to the new site, and no better time to start that than on Joan's Birthday. Joan would have often ministered in Meeting for Worship on the subject of peace, which was a testimony very close to her heart. If feels appropriate for this reason to start with the following Musing.

Peace begins within ourselves. It is to be implemented within the family, in our meetings, in our work and leisure, in our localities and internationally. The task will never be done. Peace is a progress to be engaged in, not a goal to be reached.

Sydney Bailey

The Eco - Congregations Ireland Candle travels around the 100 or so churches and worshipping groups within Ireland, who participate in the ECI forum. On Sunday the 12th of January it arrived at South Belfast Quaker Meeting. Pictured above are members of the South Belfast Eco Quakers Group with the candle.

The following text was read in Meeting for Worship to mark the event:

Voice 1: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, day and night, and there was evening - that was the first day.

Voice 2: By burning coal, oil and natural gas, we have released billions of tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere, locking in warmth in what is known as the greenhouse effect.

Voice 1: Then God separated the waters under and above the dome, God called the dome, sky and there was evening and morning - that was the second day.

Voice 2: When sunlight strikes ice and snow, 80 percent is reflected back into space and 20 per cent is absorbed as heat. The opposite holds true for land and open water, further increasing the rise in temperature.

Voice 1: God summoned the waters under the dome to form the seas and let dry land appear, and the earth put forth vegetation. God saw that it was good. That was the third day.

Voice 2: Melting glaciers will bring floods to some areas, while changing sea temperature will shut down ocean currents and change rainfall patterns, causing droughts.

Voice 1: God made the sun to rule over the day. The moon to rule over night. And God saw that it was good.

Voice 2: Prolonged periods of drought will wreck harvests and destroy lives, human and other species. Communities that depend on fragile agricultural cycles will be devastated.

Voice 1: God created every living thing that moves and swims and flies. God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply’. That was the fifth day.

Voice 2: Everything will have to adapt to the effects of climate change, but while rich people and nations can more readily afford to counter rising sea levels, or repair the damage caused by hurricanes, poorer countries cannot.

Voice 1: And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind’ and it was so. And God saw that it was good.

Voice 2: The pressure that increasing floods, famine and drought will put on vulnerable countries will be devastating – for some developing countries, the effects of climate change are already catastrophic.

Voice 1: Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image and let them be carers of all the earth.’ God saw everything and indeed it was very good: that was the sixth day.

Voice 1: On the seventh day God rested.

Voice 2: It is time to change the climate of apathy that prevails in our privileged communities and take action to stop global warming devastating the world’s most vulnerable communities and other species.