Greenseniors

Welcome to Green Seniors

Green Seniors is based on the belief that there are thousands of people in the world who care about the natural environment, have some time to spare, and want to do something to try and fix the problems that we have created.

We know that global warming is real; it has been made far worse by greenhouse gases building up in Earth's atmosphere; and the burning of fossil fuels, the loss of our forests and many other human activities are causing this.  Carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, stays in the atmosphere for up to 200 years.  Right now the oceans and soil are absorbing much of the excess carbon, but in a couple of decades these "sinks" will be full, and we will still be pumping ever more carbon into the atmosphere. Other gases like methane and nitrous oxide are making the problem even worse, and it will get worse...

The people of Earth must do everything they can, as soon as possible, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and help nature to protect us from the consequences.  Every nation. Every state or city. Every village. Every home. Every person.

What does that mean?  We will explain in simple terms what we can do, show what other people are doing, and put people in touch with others who feel the same.

People everywhere are learning what they can do and doing what they can.  Retired persons ("Green Seniors") have a special opportunity to make a difference for future generations.  Visit this site often and get going!  Your grandchildren will cherish you for it.  An inhabitable world is the most important legacy we can give them.

The good news is that we can make changes to our lives and those of people around us, and there are technologies that can help us make those changes even more effective.  People and their governments, businesses, and organizations are waking up to the challenge - the greatest challenge humanity has yet faced.

But the time for action is growing short - we may only have a few years to turn things around.

---

What Are Green Seniors?

Green Seniors have always existed. They are the people who, regardless of age, fight for what they believe. They are the people who see the way that our natural environment is changing for the worse and want to do something about it. They are the people who are a pain in the neck of authority, in fact of anyone and anything that operates in a way that degrades the environment for no good reason.

We are entering a new age of global environmental awareness, and this is affecting all of us, not just in what we see and read in the media, but also directly in the form of extreme weather, changes in animal populations, changes in crop patterns. Our lives are changing due to the inaction of the generations that came before us, and the malicious activities of those people in power whose interests meant that people were not told the true scale of the damage that was happening to our world.

There are 36 million people aged over 65 in the USA; in the United Kingdom there are 9 million; in Germany, 16 million; in Canada, 4 million; in France, 10 million. National elections have swung on a just a few hundred votes.

There is a very large group of people who have time to spare, and the motivation to change things for the better. They are the Green Seniors, and you could well be one of them, just by having taken the time to read this.

We at www.greenseniors.org believe that all that time and energy can make an impact where it is most needed, whether that be as an individual writing letters and informing friends or simply, and very importantly, lowering the impact of our way of life; people acting together in small community groups to raise awareness of environmental issues, and changing the behavior of large numbers of people; networks of people and groups spread across a large area, working together to ensure that state and national governments or multinationals are no longer able to get away with the terrible activities they have for so many years. In fact there is no limit to the number of ways that people can work together or alone – if the message is clear enough then things will change through your actions.

So tell the world that there is a way that everyone - whatever their age, whatever their ability – can reverse the damage we have done. The Green Seniors are coming.

---

About This Web Site

This web site is designed to provide a hub for anyone interested in being a Green Senior, or who just wants to know more about the kinds of work that is being done, and needs to be done to move humanity towards a better existence - an existance that has a future.

<< On the left hand side are links to resources on the Green Seniors web site itself - articles, information sources, news items and essays on other sites run by the Green Seniors authors. This information keeps being added to.

>> On the right hand side are links to other web sites that we think are relevant and helpful in the effort to improve the state of the natural environment through effective action. Links can be added on request (see "About Us" for contact details)

The items below are from the Green Seniors Blog archive. This is no longer regularly updated, but all of the information is recent and still relevant.

For monthly news about Green Seniors, our partners and the world in general, please sign up to the Bulletin via the link on the left.

---000---

Seniors Are Needed As Educators

What is the difference between education, learning and schooling? Some of you may be familiar with the writing of John Taylor Gatto; some of you may have had very bad, or very good experiences at school, college or university; some of you may have managed to buck the trend and turned out far better than the school system expected you to, or simply contrary to the way the system hoped you would.

You have probably worked it out by now: there is very little difference between Education and Learning – they are just two sides of the same mutually beneficial process; Schooling on the other hand is a deliberate, institutionalised methodology to create civilized workers that form part of the industrial economy. Education and learning, in this process, is a side effect – not the main intention. This is one of the most serious problems we face in the coming decades: a population who have only been equipped with the skills necessary to be part of the economy are unlikely to be equipped with the skills necessary to grow their own food, construct a simple shelter, repair household items, make clothing, cook meals from raw ingredients and live together as cooperative beings rather than isolated economic units – we have an entire generation unable to do anything useful for themselves. And it is getting worse.

Last month “The Unsuitablog” ran a series of articles about the intrusion of commerce into schools: it is becoming increasingly clear that the role of schools is for the benefit of an economy that values material wealth over human need. It is becoming increasingly clear that the world needs the experience, and the determination of those people – the older generations – to educate those who have missed out on the kinds of skills that really matter. The current generation is lost without previous generations to help them out.

Not only can Green Seniors take the lead in directly protecting the natural environment; we can also take the lead in being educators for society’s Lost Generation. Getting back in touch with younger generations is more important that it has ever been.

Green Groups...Trees For The Elderly (Bomen Voor Bejaarden)

It is always a good thing when people contact Greenseniors with ideas, tips and information; we do see an awful lot of "greenwash" coming our way, along with quite a few oddities, but whatever we see, it informs our work so we know what is going on in the world -- good, bad or indifferent.

Recently we received information from a person in the Netherlands who is using online mapping in a brilliant way. Bomen Voor Bejaarden, or Trees For The Elderly could be the start of something very influential. We all know that trees are natural air conditioners -- anyone who has walked into woodland on a hot day would have experienced the welcome drop in temperature that accompanies the shade and increased humidity that trees provide -- but even on their own, they can be extremely beneficial. The campaign group

Bomen Voor Bejaarden have used Google Maps to plot where trees are providing shade in urban areas, particularly around nursing homes and other facilities where seniors are prevalent. They are also researching the best types of trees to provide shade in summer months -- not all trees are suitable, but it is no coincidence that the best shade trees are also the best climate change preventers, and the best pollution catchers (it's all in the leaves).

Green Seniors foresee this idea going global; there is no reason that there shouldn't be a global database of shade trees and other trees of ecological importance -- at the moment protection for trees, both urban and rural, is utterly useless. It's way past the time when we should have realised how important trees are for life: without them we really cannot live.

You can contact Arno via the web site at http://www.bomenvoorbejaarden.nl/CMS/index.php/contact (yes, he does speak English too), and we would also encourage you to go to the Trees For Cities website, which is doing a great deal of good work in raising the profile of urban trees.

How To...Choose Green Events for Senior Organizations

Recently Green Seniors was contacted by a volunteer working with a local community council in New York, USA.  She was looking for ideas for a "greening initiative" to educate the community about the importance of conservation and recycling.  Greengranny replied immediately with ideas off the top of her head.  Since these requests are fairly frequent, we decided to organize our thoughts and share a set of ideas with everyone. 

Volunteers (of any age) who work with communities that include seniors, or paid staff who work with senior residential organizations of all kinds, this post is for you.

 

Have Fork Will Travel

Let's begin with a real-life example, Denise D'Anne, pictured above with her take-away plate that cost $1. She aptly titled the photo "Have Fork Will Travel" even though she rarely drives her car out of concern for the environment.  Denise wrote in,

I am a senior and am on the Board of Directors of a Senior Organization.  I see many areas in which seniors can help the planet for the benefit of their children and grandchildren.  For instance, senior centers provide lunches for seniors and almost all use plastic and paper material.  I use a covered take away plate and fork leaving no throwaway material.   

Little things mean a lot especially when you times it times millions.

Denise didn't stop with her personal action, but actively helps others to change.  She received an award for her environmental work that you can view here, along with her speech.

General Strategies for "Going Green" Actions

Don't underestimate your senior clients.  Giving up the use of a disposable item here and there matters in the sense that it all matters--but when it comes to going green, be ambitious.  Dream big dreams.  If your senior group becomes determined to pursue a challenging goal, it will excite others in the community.  It will be newsworthy.  Before long, many additional people, and the resources they bring along, can be applied to the mission. The whole community can change for the better. (See How To... Build Communities on this website.)

For example, one of the most valuable disposable items in America is the aluminum beverage can.  It takes the mining of ore plus a lot of energy to manufacture the can, and unlike many other "recycled" items, the returned cans actually are made into other products.  However, one estimate said that half of all aluminum cans in the USA end up in landfills from which they are never reclaimed. 

Now, your senior group could take actions on a number of levels. They could decide to stop buying beverages in aluminum cans.  They could take steps to insure that any cans used by their group are turned in for recycling.  Or they could choose to launch a campaign in their larger community to bring awareness of the wasted energy and resources from the use of aluminum beverage cans. The same strategic approach could apply to bottled water, an increasingly "hot" topic lately.  Don't let your vision for change end at the boundaries of your senior group.  Empower them to act more broadly, and they will reap the benefit while giving something of value to the larger community.

The List of Going-Green Actions For and By Seniors

The list of ideas is kept short on purpose to stimulate your own thinking.  Please, use the Comment feature of the blog to send in your own ideas for going green activties, events, and campaigns by and for seniors.

1. Tackle the problems connected with one shared experience of the group, such as the communal meal.  Brainstorm with the group, evaluate suggestions, bring recommendations to the attention of management, and work together to get changes made.  With that mission accomplished, choose another goal that can be addressed with the same strategy, perhaps one that involves the larger community. 

2. Hold an event that helps reuse items.  The classic is the "rummage sale" as it was called when I was a child.  In the Middle West it's called a garage sale. In the American West it's called a Swap Meet.  But you can be more creative.  One Senior Center group collected donations of jewelry for several months and cleaned and repaired the items.  Then they held a publicized sale open to the community, with the items nicely displayed.  Such activities not only help the senior center but they help minimize the purchase of new goods.  Many venues are needed for passing items from those who no longer need them to those who do.  Our culture needs to value vintage and second-hand items more than things that are new and trendy, and seniors are naturals at doing this.

3. Establish a group to look into energy usage including transportation.  Does the senior organization provide bus transportation, and if so, it is fully utilized?  Does electricity come from coal fired or natural gas power plants, and if it does, can greener energy be obtained?  Are prudent energy conservation measures in place for the heating and cooling of the Senior Center building or residential facility?   Residents can initiate an energy audit--these are usually provided at no cost by the local energy utility, or at least, directions for self-audits.

Remember, please comment with activities you have thought up or have tried.

Green Seniors, do you know how your pension funds are invested?

As Green Seniors become increasingly aware of the stresses placed upon all of Earth's resources by today's high-consumption society, the last thing they want is to be an unwitting participant via any pension fund they might have.  Retirement funds are supposed to be invested conservatively: retirees want the money that was put aside for old age to be secure for the time when their minds are no longer sharp, to be free from financial concerns.  Yet, it is not wise during these trying times to take for granted that pension fund managers are making investments that are ethical and proper -- indeed, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that pension fund investments are no more ethical than any other corporate activity.   

A headline in an American newspaper today read: "Pensions drive up oil."  The weakness of the US Dollar prompts investors to buy commodities, such as oil or corn futures, as an inflation hedge.  In other words, they are betting that they can sell the futures at a later time for more money than they paid.  When investors with huge sums of money, such as pension funds, trade in commodities, they can then be accused of driving up the price (and helping fear of inflation become a self-fulling prophecy).  So far, it has worked extremely well for the them.

Some people claim pension funds and other large speculators shouldn't be allowed to do this, while others say the weak economy forces them into it.  That relates back to the rising US national debt, in particular, and to financial bail-outs by the Federal government such as the sub-prime mortgage fiasco.   

Certainly there are some complex financial issues at work here that confound the great majority of Seniors -- and the majority of people of any age.  Although corporations have always been about making money, today's multinational corporations are not the same as the ones we grew up with -- they are not our parents' institutions -- humanity is entirely absent from their operating methods.  Pension funds have become huge and impersonal as well. The financial industry does a lot of "creative" work nowadays, but ordinary people -- even those with pensions -- do not seem to be the primary winners.  The Earth and its future generations certainly are not.

Suppose the floods of the American Middle West make me think, "I have some money to invest, so I'll buy corn oil at today's prices and sell it later".  I may only need to put down $8 of my own money to secure the "option" of $100 worth of corn oil.  Furthermore, I won't actually have to take delivery and store the corn oil till I choose to resell it.  It's all just a transaction on paper.   I may sell the option later for $140, making a handsome profit of $40 which I bought with just $8.  Have I produced anything useful to obtain my profit? All I did, really, was keep $100 worth of corn oil off the market till it became more dear (or until the dollars with which people buy it became worth less).

Some people claim commodities trading serves to make prices more stable, avoiding sudden surges and drops, which helps everyone.  This was indeed helpful for while the trading was limited to commodities suppliers and the people who actually were going to use the commodities -- for instance, the wheat farmer and the baker.  Commodities trading as a hedge against inflation by huge investment entities is a rather recent phenomenon. 

Would you feel comfortable being the "middle man" that siphons off wealth while producing nothing of value in the process?   Is your financial security to be ensured by you indirectly engaging in these kinds of dubious financial transactions?  Or would you rather have a little less money but have the peace of mind that neither your pension fund nor other large scale investors could manipulate the markets for the things people, not just those in your home country, but all around the world, must have to survive -- food, water, energy, a healthy environment?  For surely as global population continues to rise while Earth's environment becomes more stressed, trading in these things will only increase.

Green Seniors, it is time to find out where your pension funds really are.

Having A Green Seniors Moment

Take a moment to switch off from the bustle of the overcharged, frenzied world, and you suddenly understand that there is a lot more going on around you, and within you than you could imagine.

Seniors are the subject of so many clichés and stereotypes; some true, some not quite true, and some entirely wrong. This article isn’t about necessarily casting off those stereotypes, as about discovering a bit of reality. Yes, as you get older the synapses do fire more slowly and mental messages do have to find their way round the backroads rather than along the highway. It’s also true that our short-term memories do get poorer as we age – but on the other hand the amount of information we have stored away can be enormous; most of it being little used.

It is the amount of information stored in the heads of seniors, along with the experience and wisdom that accrues over time, that results in the kind of things that can surprise all of us. Ideas may take time, but when ideas do bubble to the surface, the chances are that they are good ones that should be shared. You see, as people age, they build up a retinue of internal filters that screen out the unwanted information; the desire to blurt out 57 varieties of nonsense; the incessant chatter that seems to be an inescapable part of being young – slowing down can be a great thing.

That increased amount of time that seniors are often rich in, is a fertile ground for capturing ideas – really important ideas that could truly make a difference. In the frenzy of modern life it is almost as though we are being asked to ignore ourselves in order to keep moving forwards, not stopping until we reach some unattainable goal: a goal that is a lot further off than the environmental catastrophe just on our doorstep.

So what if we occasionally forget things? So what if our minds aren’t as quick as they once were? Our minds may not be what the culture of ever-escalating consumption finds ideal for its purpose, but with a little time, and a little effort, our minds could be put to a far more important use: having ideas that could change the world for the better.

We think it’s time people had a few more Green Seniors Moments.

Green Networks...Great Old Broads

Great Old Broads have a tough job ahead, trying to convince the American people that wilderness matters – well, of course it does, and the more true wilderness that exists, the more quickly wild nature is able to re-establish some kind of stability on the Earth once more. That is obvious: yet wilderness is seen by industrial civilization as "other", something we are not connected to, and something to be feared and, in consequence, "tamed" for the benefit of humankind. Yet this taming process is what started the rot in the first place.

Great Old Broads for Wilderness, to give it its full name, want to keep wilderness in the hands of nature, and allow people – in particular older people – to understand why it is so important:

"Great Old Broads, with lifetimes of adventures and experiences to draw from, bring a broader perspective and valuable insights to wilderness discussions than other environmental organizations with more youthful memberships are able to do. Great Old Broads are uniquely qualified to speak up for the lands and to protect what we have learned is valuable and important. We are prepared to alleviate the destruction to wilderness, and we are optimistic that we will make a difference."

They were formed 19 years ago by a group of "ladies of a certain age" who thought that seniors were under-represented in the wilderness movement, as well as being used as an excuse to block wilderness designation on the premise that elders all need wheels to enjoy the backcountry. Green Seniors are proud to feature Great Old Broads as a Green Network, and a real asset in the efforts of seniors to turn round the march of environmental destruction in the guise of "development".

Veronica Egan, Executive Director, was keen to answer our questions about the group, stressing that she could have written an essay in answer to each of them!

Why do you think that modern society has undergone a progressive disconnection with the natural world in the last 50 years?

Our sense is that with the increase in urban population, and population in general, coupled with increased electronic entertainment and commerce and two cars (plus a boat, ATV, dirt bike and jet-ski) in every garage; folks simply are not growing up with the time or inclination to explore outdoors. All of these modern "conveniences" not only remove us from our natural environment, but they require ever-increasing extraction of natural resources as well. As well, parents are ever more fearful of letting their kids loose in "the wild", much less in their own urban jungles.

How important is the role of senior generations in bringing people round to understanding the importance of wilderness and wild nature?

We feel that it is crucial for elders, especially those who valued their time in the outdoors as youths, make an effort to connect with today's kids, the earlier the better! People won't be inclined to want to protect wildness if they are ignorant of it, or afraid.

What are your priorities for the next 12 months as a group?

We are focusing our energies on building our local "Broadbands", or chapters, thus engaging more folks in on-the-ground activities and service. Our main areas of concern, aside from actively supporting good wilderness proposals around the country, are our Broads Healthy Lands Project; which trains volunteers to monitor motorized impacts in their local areas and become involved in Travel Planning issues with the agencies. This project will ultimately be a nation-wide program. We are also involved in public lands grazing management issues in the West. We also conduct two or three "Broadwalks" a year, in places that have either wilderness potential, or are experiencing some threat, or both. Our website describes these events quite well. We just completed one near Mesquite, NV in support of the proposed Gold Butte Wilderness Proposal.

Green Seniors wish Great Old Broads every success in their efforts, and encourage you – dear reader – to discover your own local wildernesses, however small, and do everything you can to enjoy, protect and expand them.

Green Hero...Floyd Sherburne

By now you know that Green Seniors champions a wide variety of people through its series on Green Heroes.  Floyd Sherburne, age 98, came to our attention through an article in a local American newspaper (Des Moines Register, December 9, 2007) describing the amazing life he had led for the past three decades. 

Until retirement at age 65  in 1974, Floyd’s life seems to have been like many others.  He married, raised a family, and worked hard to achieve a small savings.  Then he dropped a bombshell on his adult children:  he was going to buy an old farm acreage in a wooded area, build a house from the ground up with his own hands, and live off the land. And he  did just that—and lived there with his wife Florence for 31 happy years.  That may not seem like a very unusual story, until you know some of the details.      

It took nearly all Floyd’s savings to buy the land.  He tore down some old farm outbuildings on his property and used the wood from the two barns to build his home. He hauled native rock in buckets up to the homesite for the massive fireplace he would build to heat both levels of the 3,500 square foot home.  He salvaged shingles and nails from old buildings, and he bought the windows and doors at a closeout sale—including five picture windows for viewing the wildlife that would come to the bird feeders, bird baths, and the salt lick he provided. 

The wild turkeys and deer had nothing to fear, for Floyd did not hunt.  Rather, he and Florence kept a huge garden that provided most of their sustenance, even grinding grain for flour.  They planted an orchard and gathered berries and nuts.  Their vegan diet was a personal choice they made, stemming from a love of nature and a deep religious faith.

As decades passed, they continued their regular walks in the woods and growing their garden, even as they had to start supplementing their wood fireplace with electric heat.  After suffering a broken shoulder, Floyd was not able to haul enough wood.  They continued on, however, even when Florence became frail and needed a walker, and Floyd became blind from macular degeneration.

Eventually the passing of years forced Floyd and Florence to leave their beloved home in the woods.  In  2007, Florence, now aged  97, needed care in a nursing home.  Floyd moved with her to remain at her side.  She lived on for only about a month.  A widower at 98, Floyd sold his land and home at a bargain price to the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation and now lives with a daughter in another state.   His land became part of the state park which adjoined it, and his home will become a vacation lodge for park visitors.

 

Many families will benefit from Floyd and Florence’s work for years to come.  His daughter says she will bring Floyd back, as a lodge guest in his former home, in May 2009 when the family gathers to celebrate Floyd’s 100th birthday in the park. 

Floyd, you don’t know you are a Green Hero, but on behalf of all Green Seniors, we send you our admiration for a life well lived, and for a happy 99th birthday this month.

 

Why Should I Care?

Green Seniors has always prided itself in providing materials for people who want to carry out communication work either as part of a group or individually. For this purpose we have now developed an ongoing catalog of these materials as a single page on this web site. You can find this link on the left hand navigation bar as "Downloads and Other Resources".

The latest resource is a new poster we created in response to a reader's request for something she could use in a community hall. Essentially she wanted to know how to answer the simple question, "Why should I care?" This is something we suspect the majority of people -- unlike most of you reading this -- ask themselves whenever they are told they should reduce the amount they drive, buy, use electricity, heat their home and so on.

So why should people care about the future of the planet?

The poster, which you can download as an Adobe PDF file here, points out some of the key reasons, ranging from the scientific to the philosophical:

---

Because…

…the climate is changing and humans are the major cause

…animal and plant extinctions are happening faster than at any time in history

…every bucket of seawater contains plastic

…every person contains chemical residues

…the arctic ocean will be ice free in less than a decade

…we have placed our grandchildren in jeopardy

…we have been lured into thinking unsustainable economic growth makes people happier

…we are losing our connection with community, family and everything around us

…we have forgotten that we are part of nature

…we have a choice!

---

We think it will have an effect on a great many people.

Please print out the poster and place it wherever you think it might make a difference.

Green Networks...Slow Food Movement

When the Happy Meals are eaten, are you left with anything but a collection of cardboard boxes and cheap, plastic toys? What about the textures, the colors, the aroma and wonderful taste of what you have eaten? What about the knowledge that the food was cooked with love and pride; that it was assembled with regard for the growers and the environment; that it was not thrown together in a hurry, but created over time so that the outcome would be more than just a collection of bland items, but an experience?

The Slow Food Movement exists to achieve all of these. Formed in 1986 in the small Italian town of Bra, this originally small group of producers and enjoyers of food has grown into an international organization consisting of 850 conviva, or chapters – each working in a specific geographical area. The philosophy of the movement is simple:

We believe that everyone has a fundamental right to pleasure and consequently the responsibility to protect the heritage of food, tradition and culture that make this pleasure possible. Our movement is founded upon this concept of eco-gastronomy – a recognition of the strong connections between plate and planet.

Slow Food is good, clean and fair food. We believe that the food we eat should taste good; that it should be produced in a clean way that does not harm the environment, animal welfare or our health; and that food producers should receive fair compensation for their work.

We consider ourselves co-producers, not consumers, because by being informed about how our food is produced and actively supporting those who produce it, we become a part of and a partner in the production process.

The recognition of each individual not as a consumer, but as a co-producer is probably the most important factor that makes Slow Food different from all other philosophies, whether gastronomic, environmental or both. The term “consumer” is an invention of the industrial world: it defines people as economic units rather than individuals, thus taking away our basic right to self-determination – we are allowed to exist within the limits of an economic consumer system rather than the limits of our imagination.

This is expressed beautifully by one person, who states: “Being a Slow Food member is a self-fulfilling prophecy because as the saying goes, if ‘We are what we eat’, who wants to be fast, cheap and easy!” In those terms, Slow Food is most definitely a revolution in the way we look at both the food we eat, the also who we are.

There is a huge amount of information available on the web site, including a 46 page “Slow Food Companion”, the ideal starting point for everyone new to the concept. In keeping with Green Seniors’ global ideals, the Companion is available in seven languages, and will, no doubt be translated further as the movement grows:

Dutch: http://www.slowfood.com/about_us/img_sito/pdf/Companion_DUT.pdf
English: http://www.slowfood.com/about_us/img_sito/pdf/Companion_ENG.pdf
French: http://www.slowfood.com/about_us/img_sito/pdf/Companion_FRA.pdf
German: http://www.slowfood.com/about_us/img_sito/pdf/Companion_DE.pdf
Japanese: http://www.slowfood.com/about_us/img_sito/pdf/Companion_JAP.pdf
Portuguese: http://www.slowfood.com/about_us/img_sito/pdf/Companion_POR.pdf
Spanish: http://www.slowfood.com/about_us/img_sito/pdf/Companion_ESP.pdf

We can also, almost guarantee that there is a Slow Food Conviva near to you. You can look up the details at http://www.slowfood.com/about_us/eng/where.lasso. And even if you don’t want to formally join the movement, there is nothing stopping you embracing its philosophy: for many of you reading this, slow food is what you have known for most of your lives.

How To...Organize Marches And Rallies

Have you ever taken part in a street demonstration of any kind?  Few of us have.  Perhaps when you were much younger, you watched the civil rights marches or peace demonstrations of past decades on TV and wished you were out there too.  Will you ever find yourself taking part in a march or rally for the environment, or even organizing one?

The Role of Marches and Rallies in Communities and Nations

Although symbolic, marches and rallies are a first step in changing behavior and cultural values that can help the nations of the world to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to the degree necessary to avoid the worst consequences of global warming.  The need to publicize issues surrounding global warming and environmental degradation is only going to grow. 

Last year in the United States, Step It Up rallies around the nation told Congress “Reduce carbon 80 percent by 2050.”  The idea was to achieve publicity and raise awareness. At the community level, rallies may show support for local sustainable energy industries and/or objection to new coal power plants or other local proposals that only increase greenhouse gas emissions. 

As the focus moves from awareness of global warming to changes that actually reduce carbon emissions, you can be sure that vested interests will fight tooth and nail to stop them.  The entire community must serve as watchdog and referee, and that includes you and me.  There will be times when the direct actions available to citizens in free societies are needed to counter “the powers that be” and the status quo.   

Until the movement of carbon through a series of interlinked industrial, farming, and cultural practices is better understood, we’ll be playing “whack-a-mole.”  Bash carbon emissions down in one place and they pop up someplace else.  People will try to continue business as usual for themselves and their livelihoods and let some other group bear the burden of rapidly reducing emissions.   When Governor Bill Richardson was running for president of the United States, I heard him use the “S” word – sacrifice.  This is rare to hear from public figures.  Global warming means sacrifice is inevitable.   If everyone bears their share, it need not spoil the joy of living life.  In fact, examining what truly makes us happy could increase our satisfaction in life. 

Can Rallies and Marches Change Anything?

In recent years, marches, rallies, and strong direct action in concert have shown that people of the world can still change government and corporate policies dramatically.  For example, following World Bank advice, in 1999 Bolivia granted a 40 year privatization lease to a subsidiary of the Bechtel Corporation, giving it control over the water on which more than half a million people survive.  The justification was to bring in foreign capital to build a modern water system for the area.  Immediately the company doubled and tripled water rates for some of South America's poorest families.  People were denied access to all sources of water by the government lease, including being denied the right to collect rainwater, and yet they could not afford to buy it without going hungry.  In 2000, protests became widespread and eventually the Bolivian government ended its deal with Bechtel.  Development of the region’s water system was placed in the hands of local people.   

Starting in 2004, demonstrations took place at Coca-Cola bottling plants throughout India.  It takes nine liters of drinking quality water to make one liter of Coke.  Coca-Cola, like many other multinationals, locates large deep aquifers where it wishes to expand business, buys the land, builds its factory, and begins pumping out the water.  The water table falls and local wells supplying the population dry up.  Following massive global pressure and the constant presence of the locals at the plants, Coca-Cola is now scaling back its extraction.  Unfortunately, this kind of predation upon local water supplies is widespread.

These examples may seem far-fetched in developed nations, but as water sources diminish and the demand for water as a commodity rises, people in these nations too are going to find their water being sold out from under them.  Irrigated crops? Mining operations?  Ethanol plants? Water resources are being over committed, often by well-meaning local authorities trying to bring more jobs and financial prosperity to their residents. 

“Water Wars” will be the immediate crises that come from the combined effects of unrestrained development, water sources being sold to the highest bidder, and climate change.  Where only a small portion of the US population joined the Step It Up rallies for a goal involving the year 2050, everyone who loses access to an essential for life will not hesitate to take to the streets and demand change.  Better we should rally BEFORE the situation deteriorates to that degree.

Green Seniors, the time has come for you to be aware of using marches and rallies as a tool for change.  It belongs in the toolkit for environmental action.

New Handbook for Community Marches and Rallies

The Step It Up team has written a book “Fight Global Warming Now—The Handbook for Taking Action in Your Community” (Holt Paperbacks, 2007 by Bill McKibben), which puts their experiences and lessons learned on paper to assist others in organizing rallies and fighting global warming. You can buy this book, but check your local public library first.

Below are some of the book’s key points.  Keep in mind that these points were developed for symbolic actions.  If your water is gone tomorrow and you know who took it, you will not need a handbook to tell you what to do.

* Take action. Do something. Get together with whomever you can and brainstorm. …Plan it, do it, learn from it, repeat.

* Don’t fret about structure.  Far more than we need new organizations, we need nimble, relevant, strategic, and often temporary groups of people who can come together to do what needs to be done at the moment….

* Emphasize openness.  Let people know what you’re up to, invite them in to help, make them leaders. Figure out what you can work together on, not what divides you.

* Have fun.  The best antidote for fear and powerlessness is joy.  If you need to have meetings, make them fun…if you can.  Joy should not be postponed until after we have conquered global warming; it’s precisely the fuel that will keep your passion burning for the long run.

Although “have fun” sounds trite to us at Green Seniors, we take it in the sense that pessimistic and unpleasant people rarely succeed in rallying the troops.  We would prefer the term “inspire,” for to unite people with purpose and meaning is a path to success.  The “S” word doesn’t scare us.  We seniors, especially the elders in our number, have experienced sacrifice and do not consider what passes for “sacrifice” today as doing justice to the concept. 

In Conclusion

Many more of us need to organize rallies and marches or other, more direct, actions on behalf of ourselves and the environment we depend upon for our survival; or to assist others in our communities in doing so.

The on-line technique used by Step It Up made it easy to set up local actions coordinated in a national framework.  However, there is no need to wait on a national group to launch a local rally.  The Handbook for Taking Action in Your Community gives tips on how to organize with little time and less money.   However, just by thinking it through, you can figure out how to take effective action on your own.  People of every age are continuing to build the movement.