Grey power

Almost 10 years ago my 96-year-old mother watched the sequel to Al Gore’s Oscar-winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. Alarmed, she immediately wondered what she could do to leave the world a better place. At her age she wasn’t going to pick up a poster and march for climate justice.

Since then, the population of seniors in Canada has ballooned, and with it, concerns about their environmental legacy.

Some groups, like 4RG (For our Grandchildren) in Peterborough, have been acting on climate for over a decade. The Raging Grannies launched in Canada almost 40 years ago, billing themselves as “making good trouble through humour and song.”

More recently, we’ve seen new groups spring up. SCAN! – Seniors for Climate Action Now, started in 2020 with 40 members in the Toronto area. Their numbers have grown to 800, with nine Ontario chapters, including Kawartha Lakes. Three years later, Seniors for Climate formed as a coalition of climate groups, including SCAN!, Suzuki Elders, 4RG, and Grandmothers Act to Save the Planet (GASP). Organizers were inspired by the Third Act, a group spearheaded by American climate author and activist Bill McKibben. They’ve been known to park in rocking chairs outside major banks to protest how they’re financing global heating with loans to big oil and gas. All that heat is hitting us hard.

In 2022 a derecho blew through Kawartha Lakes. In 2023, I attended the germination of SCAN!’s Kawartha chapter at a backyard potluck in Lindsay, in the shadow of a greenhouse that had just lost its roof to a major storm. Destructive storms have happened in the past, but with climate change they’re more frequent, and more intense. Early last year we saw a major ice storm, spring flooding, then record-breaking extreme heat, drought, and Kawartha Lake’s first wildfires. Projections show these impacts will keep escalating until we stop adding fossil fuels to the fire.

Seniors’ groups are joining with young people and Indigenous communities to not only raise the alarm, but outline a path toward a better future. The Seniors for Climate coalition bills itself as the fastest growing climate movement in Canada. It launched its first major action on Oct. 1, 2024. Almost 80 communities participated with rallies, letter-writing, art exhibits, and more.

SCAN! Kawartha’s rally included high school students, musicians and a surprise visit by Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner. Members across the organization work to support well-placed renewable energy projects, preserve forests and wetlands, and push for more transit.

Many people are doing what they can to help: choosing eco-friendly products, shifting to green investments, eating less meat, installing solar panels and heat pumps, walking, biking, taking transit, driving electric, planting native gardens.

One of the most important actions we can take is to talk about our concerns. Studies show that three quarters of Canadians admit they worry about climate change, but many think others aren’t as concerned. If we don’t talk about it, politicians think there’s little support for climate action.

June 1-7 is Environment Week. Seniors for Climate is urging everyone to “Break through the Climate Silence.” Find little ways to bring up those climate impacts and solutions. Regularly build them into conversations.

As Bill McKibben has said, for young people “their lives are on the line. For those of us who are older, it’s our legacy.”