Grandparents of the World…Unite!

My name is Kate. I’m 68 years old, and I have three granddaughters — Rose, age 12, Eve, age 11, and Alice, age 4. I’m one of the very lucky people who was born after the war, grew up in a (relatively) peaceful world, at a time of plenty, at least in the West. And I have the added bonus of knowing, and being known by my grandchildren, which my own grandmothers did not.

But this good fortune has come at a price to those who will come after me. It saddens me that our profligate use of fossil fuels and concentration on unbounded economic growth has already damaged the earth, and will bring catastrophic problems to our descendants if we don’t start to limit the effects right now by cutting the amount of carbon dioxide we are pumping into the atmosphere. I am very concerned that some world leaders don’t appear to be acting urgently or decisively enough to limit the anticipated temperature increase to a “safe” level of 2 degrees, but appear to be more interested in popular short-term goals for political reasons.

I have therefore decided to link with other like-minded grandparents to form “Grandparents For A Safe Earth” in order to use what power I have to influence the situation before it is too late. As older people we have less to lose by taking risks. We no longer have to earn a living to support our families, we have more time on our hands and we have the benefit of life experience. Our remaining time on earth is relatively short, which concentrates the mind wonderfully. We are committed to influence and confront policy makers and organisations by a variety of means, including disseminating information, lobbying, and taking direct action — always non-violent- in order to promote the reduction of damaging CO2 emissions.

I simply cannot stand by and do nothing. How can I look at my grandchildren and know that the world is heading for catastrophe and just get on with “business as usual”? Let’s work together to halt the madness. Let’s use our personal power to ensure that all our children and grandchildren, wherever we are, will inherit the beautiful earth that we did.

Kate is a member of Grandparents For A Safe Earth, campaigning for action on climate change for the love of their grandchildren’s future. To find out how you can protect what you love, visit For The Love Of…

_{Source: medium.com/@TheCCoalition/grandparents-of-the-world-unite-cf55e27b3a5a}