Environmental Stewardship

Quakers have testimonies and values that guide our lives. Stewardship is one of those values and includes taking good care of all resources, including the care of the Earth. We strive to leave the world a better place. We have been entrusted with possessions, talents and our natural environment. Quakers care for these things for ourselves, for the people around us and for future generations.

At Annapolis Friends Meeting there are many examples of how we are environmental stewards, including the use of solar panels to provide electricity for our building and for changing electric vehicles. The compost bin is available to all and the collection of rainwater runoff system feeds the gardens.

Even when clearing the land to build the meetinghouse in 1992, the use of horse power was an example of how AFM reduced carbon emissions. As the story goes, a Clydesdale horse owned by a birthright Quaker from the Eastern Shore of Maryland was used for some initial clearing of the land, thus avoiding the use of an internal combustion engine powered by a fossil fuel (diesel) for some of the work. In addition, the Clydesdale provided some entertainment the horse was pulling an old discarded water heater from out of the ravine. It is said that a water heater came “flying up out of the ravine hitched to a Clydesdale running away at full speed!”That was one scary sight. Fortunately, no one was injured, including the horse.

AFM helped in the formation of the Climate Stewards of Greater Annapolis (CSGA) where the focus is grassroots involvement in addressing the causes and impacts of global warming through education. On the CSGA website, you can learn more and find ways to act, to live your life in harmony with nature.

In 2018, the Parachute project was launched by an AFM youth, Kallan, who produced a video to encourage people to join in this Earth awareness project: Parachutes for the Planet.