Friends Center    
 
   
     
Green Building and Quaker Witness

What began as the need to replace worn out mechanical equipment has evolved into a vision to make Friends Center a living witness to Friends testimonies.*

Friends are known in the world for our work for peace, concern for equality of all people, and for living with simplicity.  We strive to live with integrity—making our words and our actions speak with one voice.

Known for the simplicity of Quaker gray, Friends now seek to be known for the "green" testimony of caring for the earth.

Integrity
As Friends Center began to plan for renovations to our campus, we realized that if Friends are to speak about peace, equality, and simplicity in the 21st century we must address our role and the role of our buildings in contributing to environmental degradation and global competition for energy resources.

O that we who declare against all wars… may look upon our treasures, the furniture of our houses . . . and try whether the seeds of war have nourishment in our possessions.

John Woolman, 1770

Peace
The wars of the 21st century are predicted to be over fossil fuel reserves and water resources.  These wars have already begun in various parts of the world including the Middle East.  Continued overconsumption of energy resources is a “seed of war that finds nourishment” in our way of living.  By creating a fossil fuel free building Friends Center will remove this seed of war from our way of living.

Let us guard against waste and resist our extravagant consumption, which contributes to inequities and impoverishment of life in our own and other societies.
New England Yearly Meeting, Faith and Practice, 1985
Equality
There cannot be equality if others are deprived the basic necessities while we consume more and more of the earth’s resources.  By reducing our energy consumption, using recycled and rapidly renewable materials, and recycling our construction waste, Friends Center is taking a step toward reducing our ecological footprint.


Is the Meeting concerned that human interaction with nature be responsible, guided by a reverence for life and a sense of the splendor of God’s continuing creation?

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, Faith & Practice, 1997
Simplicity
The testimony of simplicity calls on us to remove from our lives the superfluous things that distract us from living in harmony with each other and with creation.  Green building practices move our buildings toward working in harmony with natural processes—lighting our spaces with daylight, using the sun’s energy to generate electricity, allowing rainwater to seep naturally into the ground.  These practices remind us that we, too, are part of the natural rhythm.

*Friends Testimony: A guiding principle of conduct that bears witness to the presence of God in the world and in our lives.