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Looking Beyond the Election
When the election is over, we will be facing a critical year for the climate and the future that all our grandchildren and great grandchildren will face. It will be a make-or-break time for implementation of the Paris agreement.
The Leadership Team of Elders Climate Action dedicated much of the 3rd quarter of 2016 to planning for the next phase of our work, starting with the drive to pass our #1 national legislative priority - carbon fee and dividend legislation and full implementation of EPA regulations limiting carbon dioxide and methane emissions from existing sources as well as new sources.
Our Strategic Planning set out to create a path forward for the next four years - to ensure that we have the capacity to make a big difference. Here are the key objectives set forth in the plan:
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In 2020, Elders Climate Action achieves a membership of one million elders. ECA has 100,000 active regular volunteers. ECA has Chapters, local organizing teams, and/or organizing partnerships in at least 30 states. 1000 elders participate in our 2020 Grandparents Climate Action Day in Washington, with connected GCAD events in 20 states.
These are ambitious goals indeed. And future generations need us to do our best to accomplish them! To read our priority policy goals read here.
Two essential ingredients are necessary for us to get a good start on this plan in 2017:
- Lots of new volunteers. There are many ways each of us can participate, according to our available time, energy, and skills. Whether you can participate a lot or a little, we need you! You'll be receiving later this month information about the many volunteer opportunities we must fill, and how you can plug in.
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The financial resources to get off to a strong start on our Strategic Plan in 2017.
Strong financial support from our members is essential to attracting major donations and grants. You will also be receiving a fundraising appeal for donations and pledges in this last quarter of 2016 to enable us to get off to a strong start on our strategic plan in January, 2017.
These are opportunities for each of us to step up and make a difference on the most critical issue humanity has ever faced. How amazing to have that opportunity!
When we are asked "What did you do, once you knew?" let us all be proud of our answer.
We can make the difference that all of the grandchildren need us to make!
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Candidates Climate Project in Full Swing!
There's Still Time to Ask
Your Candidates for Congress
to Participate
Over 90 Volunteers have stepped up to initiate Elders Climate Action's Congressional Candidates Climate Project in Congressional districts around the country! We hope you will join them in asking candidates for Congress to make clear their views on climate change.
You can put as little or as much time and effort into
this project as you wish! It takes very little time and effort to present our surveys to your candidates and ask them to complete them.
That in itself will raise the profile of climate change in this election - first those candidates will know that they have elder constituents who care enough about climate change to volunteer for this project. That is really important for our future efforts to secure support for climate legislation.
Note: This is a non-partisan effort. We will not endorse or express preference for any candidates - we simply want them to make their positions clear to their voters!
Be a part of this effort to make sure climate change is not ignored in this election!
To indicate your interest in the ECA Congressional Candidates Climate Project, please fill out THIS FORM
.
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On Behalf of All of Our Grandchildren
A Million Elder Climate Voters
We elders know that the 2016 election, while critically important, is not going to determine the fate of our planet in the face of climate change. We will do our best, working with our partners, to get carbon fee and dividend legislation passed in 2017, along with other important measures.
Think what it would mean if we could visit our Members of Congress during the 2018 election year, and say: We have a million elders, and growing, who have pledged to vote and to consider the positions of their candidates on climate legislation when they vote? Now that would get their atte
ntion!
We're not asking elders to base their vote only on climate issues. Each of us has the right and responsibility to vote based on our best judgement overall. We're just asking elders to commit to considering their candidates' positions on climate when voting. And that will be enough to get the attention of a lot of candidates!
Will You Help Create A Force of A Million Elders Using Our Political Clout to Protect All of Our Grandchildren and Future Generations?
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DON'T MISS OUR NEXT
MEMBER CALL
Join us on October 11th at 7:00 pm Eastern time for our monthly member call where you will learn about the new and exciting projects at Elders Climate Action.
or by phone, dial: +1 646 558 8656
Meeting ID: 477 209 5159.
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ELDERS CLIMATE ACTION DAY IS COMING! SPRING 2017
In September 2015, we had our first ever Grandparents Climate Action Day in Washington, D.C. More than 140 elders came together from around the country to learn, share, and ask our representatives and senators to do right by our children, grandchildren and all life. It was a wonderful awakening for many of us who had been on the sidelines of climate change for too long. We found a community of like-minded elders who are interested in building a real movement.
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Elders Climate Action Day 2016 |
We are doing it again!
Our Elders Climate Action D
ay 2017 will be held in Washington D.C. next spring. While we are in the early planning stage,
we invite your input on the kinds of in
spiring and relevant programming that will strengthen elders to be a positive force for future generations on climate change. Please send your thoughts and suggestions to
lesliew@eldersclimateaction.org.
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Reflections on Elders Climate Action
Jaspal Singh
Massachusetts ECA Chapter Member
I received an email last winter from Grady McGonagill, inviting me to join him and others for a meeting of ECA. My friend, Rajesh Kasturirangan, had talked to me about it earlier. I was out of the country at that time, so I wrote back to Grady, that once I am back, I would love to join them. I have been part of our South Asia Center for many years and for last couple of years, we decided to raise awareness about climate justice amongst the South Asian community in the Greater Boston area, so the mission of ECA was in sync with what we have been doing for some time. South Asia is one of the most adversely affected regions of the world due to climate change. For instance, it has been reported that 80% of the ground water has been depleted there. So I joined ECA in the spring and attended my first meeting at Judy Weiss's house in Brookline. I found everyone very friendly, pleasant and deeply concerned about the state of affairs and what world we were going to leave behind for our children and grandchildren. I felt a serious commitment by the group to climate justice. During the last few months, ECA has joined several other groups in many initiatives regarding the Energy Bill in the Mass. Legislature and protests to Stop the Pipeline, as well as other activities. ECA members have been very active in lobbying with their representatives and senators about this bill. For my wife and me, who also came to couple of meetings, ECA is a very healthy space for climate justice and can only grow. My wife pointed out that we need more women in the group, as at present we have mostly men.
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David Mog,
Elders Climate Action Day Team
Born in 1942, like most of my age-peers I grew up unaware of environmental problems. That began to change in the '50s when beaches near Cleveland were being closed due to raw sewage entering Lake Eire. Awareness grew on moving to Los Angeles in 1964. While Clevelanders could opt to swim in a pool, Angelinos had no alternative to breathing polluted air. Pursuing a graduate degree in chemistry, I was confident that technical solutions to these local environmental problems would be found without further action on my part. And they have been and now we have Global environmental problems!
Fast forward to 1985. I was working at the National Academy of Sciences that has a Congressional mandate to study big problems. Just by overhearing elevator conversations, I become aware of a whole new class of problems: those caused by simple gas molecules released into the planet's atmosphere by human activity. The easy one, Ozone layer depletion by CFCs, was successfully addressed in just two years by the Montreal Protocol. But the hard one, climate change driven by carbon dioxide loading, is still very much with us.
One doesn't have to be a scientist to appreciate that climate change will not be solved by a few geniuses off in a think-tank somewhere. Each of us needs to find a way to grapple with global warming. That is why I've joined Elders Climate Action. Together we can support each other in the hard work of restoring our precious planet.
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A Special Thanks To A Special Friend!
Many thanks and eternal gratitude to Robin Gobetz
who has volunteered her
time to design the fabulous newsletter you receive
each month.
THANK YOU ROBIN, WE WILL MISS YOU!!!
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Climate Parents
BREAKING NEWS!
CLIMATE PARENTS NOW A PART OF SIERRA CLUB!
By Lisa Hoyos, Director & John Friedrich, On-line Campaign Manager
Climate Parents, a national initiative to mobilize parents, grandparents and families for climate solutions, has integrated into the national Sierra Club. We will maintain our Climate Parents name and logo, as well as our Facebook page and website
.
What inspired our integration into the Sierra Club with its 2.4 million members were our shared values and vision and opportunities to work on campaigns with big outcomes -- like retiring America's coal fleet and replacing it with kid-safe, climate-safe energy. We will also benefit from the opportunity to work closely with Sierra Club's 64 chapters and grassroots groups in all 50 states.
We are more enthused than ever about working together for the healthy climate and clean energy future our kids and grandkids deserve!
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Elders Climate Action
P
asses a Resolution in support of the Standing Rock Sioux in Dakota. Click here to read more.
We're under attack from climate change-and our only hope is to mobilize like we did in WWII. By, Bill McKibben, The New Republic, August 15, 2016
Carbon Fee and Dividend Fact Sheet by Citizens Climate Lobby
Oil is changing; The Oil Industry is turning to Dirtier and More Dangerous Sources of Oil - and Regulators Haven't Caught Up, Union of Concerned Scientists Report. Read the report.
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Elders Climate Action On YouTube!
Subscribe to the new Elders Climate Action YouTube feed
here and watch a short inspirational video. (The video was created by ECA volunteer Robin Gobetz.)
ECA Video: Time is Running Out
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Stay connected via our
ECA website
,
Facebook
page, bulletins and newsletters for updates and opportunities in your communities.
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Elders Climate Action
is
a Project of the
Conscious Elders Network
The
Conscious Elders Network (CEN) is an educational, non-profit organization fostering a budding movement of vital elders, dedicated to growing in consciousness while actively addressing the demanding challenges facing our country.
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Do you shop online? Here is a way to help Elders Climate Action!
If you shop on Amazon you can sign up for Amazon Smile and every time you make an eligible purchase a donation is made. All you have to do is sign up and select Conscious Elders Network as your organization to receive the funds. These donations will help Elders Climate Action. What an easy way to contribute and it costs you nothing. To sign up and read about the program go to Amazon Smile. After you sign up you will use smile.amazon.com to make your purchases.
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Facebook is an essential tool in getting the word out about Elders Climate Action. The more our Facebook page is visited, LIKED, and SHARED, the more people we will reach. In order to be seen, we need you! Learn the
Facebook
basics
here.
Like us on Facebook now!
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There are many ways
to get involved with
Elders Climate Action.
Each person and their efforts
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so
let us hear from you on
Facebook
what you enjoyed about this newsletter.
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