Happy 2018! Here at ECA we are excited to take action in the New Year!
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Dear Friend of the Climate,
This month we celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., whose iconic “I have a dream” speech played a pivotal role in bringing about the Civil Rights Act of 1964. When King spoke that day on the National Mall, he spoke for his children:“
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character
.”
He held a mirror up to all Americans and asked them if racial discrimination and segregation reflected this nation’s core values of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all Americans. King understood the dependence of our civil liberties on the safety and stability of the natural world. As he said in his 1967 Christmas sermon:
“It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. … We aren’t going to have peace on Earth until we recognize this basic fact of the interrelated structure of all reality.”
Now it is our turn. We, as elders, must step up and speak out for our children, grandchildren, and all life. Climate change threatens life, liberty, and the security that
have been the underpinnings
of our happiness. We must hold a mirror to our leaders, institutions and fellow citizens and demand that they protect our values, our legacy, and all that we have lived for by taking affirmative, aggressive action to stop and turn back the tide of global warming
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"We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. We are made to live together because of the interrelated structure of reality.” ~ Martin Luther King Jr.
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Hinda Blum, Massachusetts Chapter Member
Six years ago, I witnessed my 7-year-old grandson Ben reprimanding his mother for letting the water in the kitchen sink run when she answered the telephone. Studying climate change and water conservation in school, he worried there would not be enough clean water for everyone, and did not want his mother to waste it. After we discussed his concern, I felt inadequate in what I knew, and began reading about climate change.
A friend invited me to a meeting where I met Grady McGonagill who was starting a new chapter of Elders Climate Action (ECA). Being
an elder and knowing many, I was drawn to ECA and have learned a lot in 2 1/2 years!
I felt confident enough to manage my first project, an art show. My goal was to wake people up from their apathy - to hit them in their hearts and guts as well as in their minds. Statistics and data are less impactful than seeing a painting or a photograph, and I wanted this art show to
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have an emotional, mobilizing impact on the attendees.
After that event I was encouraged to do more presentations. After one of my talks at a retirement community, five people began to meet monthly. I emailed them our ECA newsletter and other articles, and they convinced their building management to switch all light fixtures to LEDs.
There is no way I could have done this without the support, knowledge, encouragement and confidence-building that I received from ECA.
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Send a letter to your Member of Congress and urge them to take action on climate change legislation TODAY.
We've made it easy for you. Click the link to send a letter and add a personal message to your Member of Congress.
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From Our Friends at Sage-ing International
Climate Change: Can Elders Make a Difference for our Grandchildren and Future Generations?
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Wednesday January 17, 2018
with Paul Severance (CSL-SCF), John Sorensen, Elli Sparks, & Leslie Wharton
"...together share a vision that in 50 years our grand-children and great-grandchildren can inhabit a livable planet, and know that we made a difference in making that possible. Our elder voices are critical in realizing that vision, and we have the elder-authority to speak on behalf of "our mother, the Earth" (Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi)...
For more information and to register, click...
HERE.
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ECA Monthly
National Call
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January 23, 2018
7:00 PM (EST) | 4:00 PM (PST)
with Guest Speaker Jill Kubit from DearTomorrow.
ECA and DearTomorrow will be partnering on a new project, Letters to Loved Ones in 2050--Writing letters today that will be archived and shared in 2030 and 2050. Join the call and find out more!
RSVP for the call or to receive a recording.
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Excerpt from Margo Frank's Letter to her grandchildren:
"You’ve already experienced fire storms in our area with your parents being ready to evacuate and both of them working extra hours in the aftermath of the fires, helping others. I worry that there will be much more extreme weather events, that the Coastways beach will disappear and that our community will either flee as refugees or be receiving them from elsewhere.
So I’ve been devoting myself to organizing other grandparents and elders to speak up, to get our government to enact laws that force us to make the changes we resist. You might remember that I went to Washington DC and visited Congressional offices and went on a huge Climate March earlier this year."
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Elders Climate Action Highlighted by Yale Climate Connections.
Thank you to YCC for producing this wonderful video about Elders Climate Action and the work of our members!
If you missed the Yale Climate Connections Radio interview with ECA member Grady
McGonagil.
Listen Here.
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Neil DeGrasse Tyson's Simple Explanation of Climate Change
4-minute YouTube video from astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson, in which he makes a compelling case that climate change is real and caused by human generation of GreenHouse Gases.
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