April 2017

ELDERS CLIMATE ACTION DAY 
APRIL 27 & 28, WASHINGTON DC


Will you join us as we Launch A Nationwide Drive To Hold Congress Accountable On Climate Change?


The Trump administration is:
  • gutting the Environmental Protection Agency
  • wiping out the Clean Power Plan whose goal is to limit CO2 emissions from electric power plants
  • cancelling proposed Methane emissions rules
  • threatening to pull out of the Paris climate agreement

In a few weeks, Elders Climate Action will be in Washington DC. Our two-day conference will combine inspiration, education and action.  We have great speakers lined up to speak on all aspects of climate change.  We will visit the offices of all 535 Representatives and Senators to let them know that elders are demanding action on climate.  And we will meet in small groups by geographic area to plan our next steps back home.  These teams will publicly push Members of Congress to block the administration's agenda and push for constructive action on climate.  They will call for new candidates to step forward for the 2018 Congressional elections as needed.   Our voices as elders will be especially important as we emphasize the moral responsibility of Congress to protect future generations from the harm of global warming and climate change.

You can step forward in one of two ways to help stop the radical pro-fossil fuel agenda while there is still time to protect future generations:

For the grandchildren and all life,


Geri Freedman
Elders Climate Action Co-Chair


Mary Beth Versgrove
Grannies.org & ECA Member

There is so much work to be done.  I am a co-defendant, along with four other Grannies,  in a case in Lee County, Iowa after being arrested in Mississippi for trespassing in a demonstration to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline.  We still do not have a trial date, but continue to insist on a jury trial to expose the threats this pipeline poses to not only local drinking water for businesses and residents of Keokuk, Iowa, but also those downstream. This includes the entire ecosystem of the largest river in the U.S. and all of its tributaries! The county would like to dismiss us, but we want the reality of the Dakota project to be recorded for history to decide. We feel strongly that future generations must be able to hold the out-of-state oil company accountable when there  is a leak.

I smile when I see the picture of our group on the steps of the nation's capitol during Grandparents Climate Action Day in the fall of 2015.  It was a great trip to DC!  I learned so much and met so many wonderful people.  I remember it so fondly because our founder, Barbara Schlachter, is seated next to me in that photo and I miss her physical presence every day as we continue to carry forward her vision of protecting our Mother Earth.
I have encouraged other Grannies to make the trip in April because of the impact that trip made upon me. I hope that a number of them will be there. Thank you for all your group does for the environment.




NEWS FROM MASSACHUSETTS

by Grady  McGonagill, Chapter Member


The current #1 priority of the Mass. chapter of ECA (supported by a $5000 grant from the New England GrassRoots Fund)  is launching an outreach project designed to engage and support a collaborative network of climate activist clusters in locations of senior concentration.  We aspire to create 10 such clusters in Massachusetts within the next year.  In identifying and approaching communities, we are actively collaborating with three of our closest partners: Massachusetts Climate Action Network , 350 Mass for a Better Future , and Mothers Out Front .

Like our chapter, each of these partners is a grassroots organization building membership in communities throughout the state. We are striving to draw upon the accumulated wisdom and existing networks of our partners, while striving to avoid competing with them for membership or exacerbating the further fragmentation of climate change initiatives in our state.  We are excited by the prospect of using this initiative to deepen those partnerships. We are mindful that this will be a challenge. At the same time, we see this project as an opportunity to build our capacity.



Joel Wool 
Clean Water Action, Advocate:  Energy & Environment, Clean Water Action

Since its founding during the campaign to pass the landmark Clean Water Act in 1972, Clean Water Action has worked to win strong health and environmental protections by bringing expertise, solution-oriented thinking and people power to the table.  In the era of Flint, the Aliso Canyon gas leak and Standing Rock, the need for powerful grassroots organizations is greater than ever.
 
While fighting for clean drinking water is at the core of our work, CWA campaigns span many issues:
  • Removing health-harming toxics out of everyday products
  • Protecting our water from dirty energy threats, including drilling and fracking for oil and gas and power plant pollution
  • Building a future of clean water and clean energy
  • Keeping our clean water laws strong 
    and effective to protect water and health
During the Trump administration, Clean Water Action will work to defend federal water protections and methane regulations while pushing new environmental reforms at the local and state level.

The Best Kept Secret to Heal our Climate-Work with Mother Nature
ECA Members Lynn Raskin & Leslie Wharton

For those who will be in DC, our partner organization, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate is hosting a conference on Sunday, 4/30 following the C limate Mobilization March.  Restorative agriculture to sequester carbon, reverse global warming and desertification, increase dangerously low levels of top soil and wetlands, is getting government support from Maryland, California, the Netherlands, France, Australia and Africa and small farmers are leading the way. For info visit their website.




Practice Your Flash Mob Lyrics!  We're getting ready to head to D.C.


Grandparents Climate Action Day 2015 - Flash Mob Performance


Find up-to-date climate news at    http://climatenexus.org


Don't forget to Register for Elders Climate Action Day! 


Find out more about the People's Climate March
 April 29th in Washington D.C.





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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.


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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There are many ways 
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Elders Climate Action.
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can make a big difference! info@eldersclimateaction.org 
  

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