Summary: 

At Summer Gathering, Lindsey Fielder Cook of the Quaker United Nations Office shared a hopeful but urgent assessment of today’s “triple planetary crisis” — climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss — set against rising geopolitical tension and weakened international cooperation. She highlighted the distinctive Quaker contribution: fostering unity without fixed creeds, holding suffering with love, and grounding action in shared responsibility and ethical values.

She reported emerging momentum for an equitable phase-out of fossil fuels, including growing international cooperation at COP30 in Brazil and strengthened legal clarity from the International Court of Justice affirming that protecting the climate is essential to protecting human rights. At the same time, she noted persistent barriers — political pressure, false climate solutions, militarisation, and declining support for multilateral institutions.

Her call to action: centre justice and human wellbeing in climate policy, align finance and energy systems with equitable transition, amplify hopeful and practical solutions, and prioritise support for those most affected. Science provides the map, she concluded, but shared values must remain the compass guiding humanity toward a liveable future.

You can read the notes of her address made by Phillipa Fletcher, Climate Emergency Correspondent here.  The notes have been checked by Lindsey as accurately reflecting her korero.