Greenseniors

Green Hero...Morag Parnell

Green Seniors began as an idea nearly three years ago, which seems like a long time when you consider the amount of Amazonion and Indonesian rainforest that has been removed in that time; the number of frog species that have become extinct; the rate at which the marine ecosystem has changed...and that is not even taking into account the direct effects of climate change. As a very eminent climate scientist recently stated: "By the time we see the real impacts of climate change, it will be too late to do anything about them".

So much change and so little time. Which makes you wonder what must be going through the mind of our latest Green Hero, Morag Parnell from West Lothian, Scotland, who has been campaigning on environmental issues for the last 37 years. It was upon reading the Club of Rome's 1972 report, "The Limits to Growth" that Morag decided that she needed to act, so spent much of the 1970s and 1980s campaigning on many issues including nuclear weapons, exposures to asbestos, and industrial chemicals in local microelectromics and clothing factories. In 1990, she joined the Women's Environmental Network in order to work on her key interest as a medical doctor -- the impact of toxic chemicals on the environment and in all aspects of human life.

Morag says: "Climate change is the most urgent and publicly acknowledged campaign. However, I think it is difficult to disassociate the many other aspects of what threatens us  from this. They are all related. In particular, our campaigning against the effects of exposures to toxic chemicals has a particularly strong link to climate change. Most of the suspect substances are derived from fossil fuels- mainly petroleum. While climate change is concerned about pollution of our external environment , our health campaigns are concerned about our internal pollution -- largely from the same sources. And our internal pollution is killing and maiming millions worldwide now."

Her 82 years shows no sign of slowing her down, and she continues to lobby heavily in the Scottish Parliament and campaign widely.

We asked Dr Parnell a few questions, which she kindly answered:

What motivates you to keep campaigning?

I think that everyone has the right to live in a clean and uncontaminated environment.

What makes toxic chemicals in the environment such an important subject?

Most, if not all, of the illnesses caused by exposures to such substances are preventable. Most of the substances are synthetics and were invented by human beings who are perfectly capable of inventing substances that do not kill or maim.

Do you consider your work to have been successful and, if so, in what ways?

I think what we have done in the communities has been well supported. Most "ordinary" people are receptive -- they already have some knowledge or have suspicions about this topic -- they know someone who has, or have themselves experienced adverse health effects from what they suspect may have been environmental or occupational exposures. In the political arena we have had a small amount of success, but still a very long way to go before real primary prevention and precautionary action are accepted as public policy.

What advice do you have for people who don't think it is worth trying to make a difference?

Never give up. It is only by the small cumulative efforts of people like us that differences are made!

Thank you, Morag, our latest Green Hero.

If you know someone who you think should be a Green Hero, please write to us at heroes@greenseniors.org and we will contact you to find out more.

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.

 

Green Hero...Robert Lane

A few months ago, we featured a small group working out of Hamden, Connecticut, called GrayisGreen. Based in the Whitney Center, a retirement community, GrayisGreen initially set out to make the Whitney Center a model for other communities in the USA, and around the world. From small acorns can sometimes, with the correct soil, weather conditions and careful nurturing, grow mighty oaks. Indeed, there has clearly been plenty of that around, for GrayisGreen is now spearheading the rolling out of standards for environmental management to any community that wants to be greener, as well as having even bigger plans in the pipeline (more later).

Responsible for a great deal of that careful nurturing is Robert Lane. At a mere(!) 90 years old, Robert continues to drive his environmental work forwards, just as he has driven himself all of his long and illustrious life.

Robert Lane was born August 19, 1917, the son of a school principal and a college professor. He received both batchelors degree and doctorate from Harvard before serving in the military between 1942 and 1946. For the next 40 years he taught political science at Yale, during which he was also the recipient of numerous fellowships from Cambridge University and the London School of Economics among others. He is a prolific author, having penned 75 articles and ten books including the highly influential The Loss of Happiness in Market Democracies.

We asked Robert a few questions related to his work:

Do you think Retirement Communities are able to retain the real sense of community that has been lost in most of the industrial West? 

“Not usually, because people enter these communities with the mindsets and values of the individualistic (and materialist) society that nurtured them. But, like the utopias that have dotted the landscape of history, I think those in faith-based retirement communities are more likely to create genuine community feeling.”

How much environmental anger and frustration is pent up in the people you speak to, and do you think this can be usefully turned into something that can change society as a whole?

“This is America. There is very little environmental anger and frustration to work with. I hope we can develop some anger and frustration as our movement matures.”

Can you tell us a little more about your plans for the future?

“The short future ahead will firstly be filled with finishing writing a book on the need to revise the Enlightenment view of human nature as autonomous, rational, materialistic, and primarily self-interested. Behavioral and especially neurological evidence daily falsifies that view of humankind. With a better understanding of human nature, we can make markets and democracies work more benignly.

“Secondly, the senior conservation movement I have been working on will be given a great boost by incorporation, tax-exemption, and an infusion of funds to create educational materials for seniors, stimulate the growth of senior green committees, arouse their interest, and make our website title (www.grayisgreen.org) come true.”

On March 7, 2008 Robert learned that his nascent National Senior Conservation Corps had been incorporated. Green Seniors are very excited with this news, as it marks another major step in the involvement of seniors in our environmental future. For this, and his unstinting efforts in trying to make the world a better place, Robert is undoubtedly a Green Hero.

Green Hero...Bry Lynas

What do you do if you have retired from your former life as an eminent field geologist, but want to stay in touch with the land that you love so much? Obvious, really: become an organic farmer. Dr Bry Lynas has always been fond of using his hands, as the picture at the head of this article shows, and in both of his careers he clearly had and is continuing to have, the time of his life.

Bry is also a prolific writer on environmental issues. His ideas, opinions and analysis on “It’s The Planet, Stupid!” (a clever alternative take on Bill Clinton’s “It’s the economy, stupid”, quote) make for fascinating reading – and, like all good writers, he has a style all of his own.

And it’s the passion that he puts into everything he does; whether it be geological research, farming (the Llangybi Organics blog is devoted to the small Welsh farming collective his farm is part of), writing for both adults and children or campaigning; that makes Bry Lynas a Green Hero. You only have to read some of his blog entries to appreciate this:

“I feel guilty car camping at all but now that I've reached the age of 60, I find backpacking in places that are generally wet and windy less than pleasurable. But I still do it: I had a week in May in the Scottish Highlands which was hard work, given rather rough weather and mostly no tracks in my chosen wilderness. And yes, I got there by bus and train. I find a week of really 'roughing it' does wonders for making me appreciate all the relative comfort and luxury I have on my small farm in Wales. A hot shower seems like heaven after a week of washing in a billy-full of cold water between rain or sleet squalls.”

His passion has clearly rubbed off on his son, Mark Lynas; one of the most respected environmental writers of his generation. One of Bry’s most notable contributions to Mark’s work has been the photographic record Bry kept of his geological surveys in Peru, which subsequently revealed the horrendous extend to which the photographed glaciers had retreated. I asked Bry how this had affected his outlook on life.

“I was quite shocked to see Mark's dramatic photos, in which he and his companion had painstakingly found precisely the sites from which I had taken my images years before. I was greatly saddened to think of my favourite glacier, above Laguna Jacabamba, now vanished completely. I had been there for weeks, on and off, and had experienced the scary power of this small glacier calving a large berg into the lake where I was working. It's hard for me to believe that the glacier is not there any more, even after seeing Mark's pictures. It's like losing a friend.

“Thinking about what I was doing in Peru, years after, I was hugely relieved that the molybdenum deposit I found was so remote (mostly above 5000 metres and on the east side of the continental divide) so that there was and is no realistic chance of its ever being exploited with all the attendant environmental devastation which always accompanies mining.”

Bearing in mind that Bry lives frugally compared to many people in the industrial West, I also asked him if he thought that being environmentally aware had to come at the expense of having a good life. His response was typically down to earth:

“Yes and no. I am known amongst family and friends to have what my granny once described (referring to my geologist grandfather who lived, incidentally, to be 101) as a 'hair-shirt mentality'. I deliberately try lifestyle things which I know would be anathema to most modern people, partly as a challenge for myself and partly to see how reasonably I can live without all the accoutrements of today's luxurious, energy-rich, travel-mad Western life. I am more prepared than most to put up with hardship and my gloomy view of our future means that most of us will have to put up with many hardships, so I'm sort of testing the water. That said, I do like my hot shower in the evening, my widescreen LCD telly, my gin and tonic and the company of attractive intelligent women, amongst whom I include my wife Val!”

Bry shows us that living an environmentally friendly life can be as – and probably more – satisfying and fulfilling as any type of life you could imagine. So, hats off to Dr Bry Lynas (but not for too, long – the Welsh hills can get very cold in November!)

Green Hero...Anita Roddick (RIP)

   

It is with an acute sense of loss that Green Seniors heard of the death of Anita Roddick, on 10 September 2007, at the age of 64. We had, for some time, been planning to feature Anita as a Green Hero, but now are only able to pay tribute to her work posthumously.

A small feature can in no way do justice to a person of such monumental stature as Dame Anita Roddick: peace campaigner; environmental activist; pioneer of the Fair Trade movement; astonishingly successful anti-vivisectionist; business leader who showed other business leaders what ‘ethical’ actually meant.

There is an excellent profile of her in The Independent newspaper, as well as a reprint of an article she wrote four years earlier, when she turned 60. One paragraph is particularly pertinent to Green Seniors:

‘As we age, we want to be heard, whether it's in marriage, politics, friendship or in the workplace. We also become more radical. That's our pattern. As Dorothy Sayers said, “A woman in advancing age is unstoppable by any earthly force.” I hope to be no different.’

Sadly she only had four years from that time to carry on her work, in ever expanding areas; but it is clear that she meant what she said. Her sale of the Body Shop to L’Oreal in 2006 was highly controversial, but to Anita it was a way of simultaneously moving out of the business world (and further into activism), and planting an ethical ‘Trojan Horse’ in the centre of a cosmetics behemoth. She launched an activism web portal in 2004, and worked tirelessly on the campaigns dear to her heart up to her death, despite (or maybe because of) the knowledge since 2004 that her Hepatitis C might claim her life at any time.

The photo at the top of this article – of Anita taking action against nuclear weapons alongside Greenpeace campaigners – was taken in 2006, when she was 63. No doubt she would have liked to have continued in such a manner for far longer than she did.

Green Hero...Betsy Reid

Off the back of a recent appearance on the BBC News web site, and in honour of her public devotion to reducing personal resource consumption, Green Seniors is pleased to recognize Betsy Reid as our latest Green Hero.

© BBC News 2007

It is not so much the recycling aspect of Betsy’s extremely resource efficient life that makes her a Green Hero, but rather the careful thought that goes into each and every action that may consume resources, or pollute the land, water or air. Such a regime can seem extreme to the majority of people in industrial society at first, as this quotation from the BBC article suggests:

“Waxed inner liners from cereal packets are used to wrap sandwiches. An outgrown jumper, which subsequently became a dog bed, has recently seen a new lease of life as elbow patches on another worn jersey. And she always cuts the tops off toothpaste tubes to get out every last squeeze.”

But really it is not too far removed from the way most current seniors grew up. The overused - but poorly understood – phrase “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” just describes an attitude that was, and should still be, instinctive to everyone.

Betsy was brought up in South Africa on a farm, though her mother was a nurse and midwife.  She realised – unlike even other members of her family - that both the rural poverty of the black workers and the urban poverty of the ‘townships’ or ‘locations’ (the segregated black towns under Apartheid where her mother ran clinics) were rooted in institutional political inequality.

She is quick to point out that local use of resources is clearly not the same as the unsustainable use of imported resources that defines our increasingly urbanised industrial way of living.

Betsy says, “neither the urban nor the rural group had much option but to exploit and degrade their local environment in trying to survive.  My father had some wealthy ex-army friends at the other end of the economic spectrum : they over-consumed and also destroyed.

“Fragile African eco-systems can take much less abuse than for instance Britain with its kindly climate and absorptive soils - and I saw and worried about soil erosion, the buck vanishing from our farm, the thin cows on the black 'reserves', etc from very early on.”

Betsy is an avid proponent of Bokashi, a method of using live organisms to speed up the composting process and also allow items that are not usually composted – for hygiene reasons – to be reused effectively. And it has some even more astounding properties:

“By its adherents it is seen as a possibly 'earth-saving revolution' (in the words of the Japanese soil scientist Teruo Higa) in that Effective Microorganisms seem to have the capacity to restore degraded soils and water.”

“At both St Christopher School Letchworth where I worked before I retired and Waldringfield Primary School where I now volunteer, I have made bokashi with pupils - enormous fun!”

So, is it still possible that the huge pool of seniors still have that instinctive desire – like Betsy -  to reduce consumption and waste as was simply a necessity in their formative years? Betsy thinks so, and that gives her – and us – some hope for the future:

“The habits of frugality and mending and using what you have that those of us of sufficient but not excessive means had fifty years ago have not been nearly so clearly experienced by people even just ten years younger - they have grown up and lived thinking resources are almost limitless. Those old habits may help us to move towards a more responsible way of living - partly because they are quite satisfying and we are going to need to find happiness in other things than just consuming.” 

“They aren't going to be enough, but you have to start people thinking outside their usual safe boxes somehow!”

Green Hero...Erv Klaas, Ames, USA

Green Seniors is pleased to recognize the environmental work of Erwin “Erv” Klaas, our featured Green Hero.  Erv is Professor Emeritus of Animal Ecology at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.  We are recognizing him today not for that distinguished career, but for the work he did as a volunteer, after retirement. To the people of Ames, he is known as the person who spearheaded the effort that safeguarded our city water supply and created a beautiful city park for all to enjoy.

Erv developed his love for nature and the outdoors in childhood.  A family friend was a professional conservationist who inspired Erv with stories of the Alaskan wilderness.  It was only natural that he chose to enter the field of animal ecology.  One of his first areas of research was the effect of pesticides—DDT—on birds. 

When Erv retired in 1999, he immediately became involved in a hot controversy in town.  A developer had purchased an old, water-filled quarry just north of the city and wanted to build water-front homes all around it.  The city water department depended on that billion-gallon body of water to re-charge the aquifer that supplied the city wells, and had done so in the droughts of 1977, 1981, and 1988.  By pumping the quarry water into the dry Skunk River, the shallow aquifer beneath it could be replenished.  Home development would discharge nitrogen and phosphorous into the quarry lake, causing algae blooms and spoiling water quality.

Erv’s first effort was to work with the Ames City Council to prevent annexation of the land, thus stopping the developer’s plan.  He helped educate, inform, and persuade people as to the benefits of saving the water supply and with it, of having a lovely lakeside park. A compromise was worked out with the developer, who was allowed to develop a small area of 24 acres in a less environmentally sensitive area near the lake.

Erv’s next effort was to help raise funds to purchase the land (307 acres) and lake (130 acres) from the developer and turn the quarry into a natural setting.  A bond issue to raise nearly five million dollars was passed by 86 percent of voters.  Once the lake was secured for the city, Erv obtained funding from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to protect the lake from agricultural runoff.  Farmers of land in the lake watershed were paid for using less fertilizer for five years.  After the five years elapsed, they continued the practice because it was shown to be effective in reducing production costs and saving money.  Grass waterways and other control structures were put in place to reduce soil erosion and sedimentation.

Some of that agricultural land has since been bought up by developers, though for now it is still farmed.  Erv’s next concern will be to encourage “low-impact” development strategies on that land, as he feels that with the parkland buffer of native prairie, homes can be built nearby without polluting the lake if proven strategies are utilized.

The new park was named the Ada Hayden Heritage Park, after a well-known Iowa conservationist.  Erv helped create the “Conservation Heritage Trail” around the lake, in which boulders were placed at intervals, each commemorating with engraved inscriptions the work of a noted Iowa conservationist.   Ada Hayden Heritage Park immediately became a popular place for walking, biking, skating, boating, and fishing.

Obviously you have had many successes.  Do you ever get discouraged?

“Oh yes, all the time.  But I fight that frustration by being active in the outdoors, hiking and watching nature.”

What advice do you have for other retired people who want to help?

“Get involved! Start watching what is going on in your local community. I’ve found no end to the things that can be done.”

Having gotten acquainted with Erv, it is plain that all a person need do to become involved in Ames is to let Erv know that they want to—Erv and his network of volunteers will find suitable tasks while providing support and camaraderie!

Erv found success as a volunteer because he was able to work with community leaders and townspeople.  With Iowa State University being a part of the Ames community, being a university professor is commonplace and in itself does not impress.

Having the passion and the persistence to work out the solutions mattered as much as Erv’s scientific knowledge of the situation.  Erv knew how to form alliances and win people over.  In the end, many entities worked on the park, but they acknowledge Erv Klaas’s pivotal role and superb leadership.

Erv’s strategies of educating, negotiating, and alliance-building can work for other Green Seniors in other communities.  If some public officials can be recruited to the cause early on, there is a reasonable chance of success with these strategies.  However, success rarely comes without an enormous amount of hard work.  We can’t all be like Erv, but we can all support the Green Seniors out there who are doing good works for our environment. 

Green Hero...Irene Willis, Canvey Island, UK

Green Seniors is pleased to recognize the environmental work of Irene Willis, a 61 year old widow with 3 grown children. She used to teach young school children and has lived in south Essex, in the UK, for most of her life. She is a regular face in the local press, being asked about and writing about a wide variety of environmental issues, and has fallen foul of the law on a number of occasions protesting against the things she believes are unjust and harmful.

Her main method of working is through non violent direct action (NVDA) which she has always found to be very empowering, after feeling frustrated writing letters and attending meetings. She found that the best way to feel that she was changing the world, for hers and for everyone’s children, was by NVDA. The laws that she breaks, she regards as laws made by people who only think of getting the next vote and being based on power and greed : “At the end of the day only you can make the choices that you make, it is up to you whether you decide to do what you feel is right.” She does, however, have her own “moral laws” which mean she aims not to hurt animals, people or the planet, whatever she is doing.

She is currently working with a number of groups to prevent the renewal of Trident nuclear missiles in the UK, and also doing a great deal of work on climate change, as well as local campaigns against developments that will destroy green areas.

She said : “I think that it is not a question of getting people just to use energy saving light bulbs, or not driving or flying, but making the change within people such that they do things because they know that they will not hurt people and the planet. It is essentially a oneness with everyone and everything. We need to change the way that we relate to the earth and each other.”

How do you think that getting older has changed your attitude to the environment?

“I see that while I have been alive that people have taken a turn for the worse. It is in the last 50-60 years that things have really gone wrong. When you get to be 60, you know that this is the last bit of your life, and I really value that I can do the things that I can; that I still have the energy so that I can cycle, take part in actions, climb buildings and lots of other things. In my mind I have the acceptance that this energy and this health will go, and I am planning my life so that when I can’t do what I do, I will carry on doing support work and computer work, or whatever I can, while I can.”

“The other thing I find so wonderful is that every day I find I am learning from other people and growing; I haven’t shut down and closed in – my life is expanding and getting more exciting as I get older.”

Do you have a message for anyone of your age who cares for the environment but doesn’t know how to put things right?

“Once you write a letter, once you say ‘I don’t want that to happen’ and do something, then you are empowering yourself and starting to turn things round. Everyone can do something, even if you just share your knowledge and wisdom with one other person. Think about yourself as someone who can make a difference – we have created the world and we can change it, and we will change it because we have to.”