The Earth Quaker Action Team is working to fight the intertwined problems of climate change and income inequality.
Their website (eqat.org) says they are “a grassroots, nonviolent action group including Quakers and people of diverse beliefs, who join with millions of people around the world fighting for a just and sustainable economy.”
EQAT directly confronts those who benefit from the current systems, but they emphasize doing such confrontations in a nonviolent manner. They say they believe in this method because “it works. Direct action has been crucial to the success of every major social movement over the last century.”
Founded in 2009, EQAT did not wait to launch their first campaign. In 2010 they started their Bank Like Appalachia Matters (BLAM!) campaign, asking PNC Bank to stop financing corporations that participated in mountaintop removal coal mining. After five years of nonviolent direct action, PNC changed their investment policy.
It took six years of work before EQAT’s second campaign — Power Local Green Jobs — successfully influenced PECO, a Pennsylvania electrical utility to boost the local solar economy and invest in job creation for Black and Brown community members.
Their current campaign is working to make Vangaurd change their investment approaches to help address the climate problem and build a livable future.
For more information about EQAT visit their website at eqat.org or follow them on Facebook and Twitter.
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