{"id":10507,"date":"2020-08-31T12:52:43","date_gmt":"2020-08-31T19:52:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=10507"},"modified":"2020-08-31T18:26:46","modified_gmt":"2020-09-01T01:26:46","slug":"meet-the-society-of-fearless-grandmothers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=10507","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Society of Fearless Grandmothers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Meet<\/a>

Meet the Society of Fearless Grandmothers, from Santa Barbara Independent, Active Aging Special Section, July 30, 2020.<\/p><\/div>\n

SENIORS BAND\u00a0TOGETHER TO FIGHT\u00a0EARTH\u2019S DESTRUCTION<\/strong><\/p>\n

The planet is in grave danger, and\u00a0a vibrant group of grandmother\u00a0activists has banded together to\u00a0battle against the potential destruction\u00a0of the earth.<\/p>\n

This may sound like the tagline for\u00a0a bring-the-whole-family blockbuster\u00a0movie, but these superheroes aren\u2019t fictional\u2014they\u2019re working in our midst\u00a0right here in Santa Barbara.<\/p>\n

Committed to nonviolent action\u00a0and demanding urgent measures to\u00a0address the Earth\u2019s climate emergency,\u00a0Santa Barbara\u2019s Society of Fearless\u00a0Grandmothers<\/a> was formed last October.<\/p>\n

After their first training session\u2014led by two of the founding grandmothers\u00a0of the indigenous group Idle\u00a0No More S.F. Bay<\/a>, and the Bay Area\u00a0Society of Fearless Grandmothers<\/a>\u2014\u00a0the group quickly built momentum.\u00a0They rallied in front of the County\u00a0Administration Building on Valentine\u2019s\u00a0Day, demanding the denial of\u00a0new fossil-fuel project permits; they\u00a0hosted a virtual Earth Day art project\u00a0collaboration with their grandchildren;\u00a0and they wrote postcards as part\u00a0of an NAACP effort to reach people in\u00a0states where voting rights are under\u00a0attack, urging them to make sure that\u00a0they are registered and to pledge to\u00a0vote in November.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur hope is that people will really\u00a0start to talk about the climate crisis\u00a0issue and demand that we take some\u00a0action, because otherwise our grandchildren\u00a0a children are going to be in a world of\u00a0hurt,\u201d said Irene Cooke, one of Santa\u00a0Barbara\u2019s Founding Grandmothers.\u00a0She\u2019s a longtime climate activist\u00a0who moved from Colorado to Santa\u00a0Barbara in 2018, primarily to be near\u00a0her daughter and young\u00a0grandson.<\/p>\n

\u201cI replaced my mountain hikes\u00a0with beach walks, and it makes me so\u00a0sad to walk these beaches and know\u00a0that, when my grandson is my age,\u00a0those beaches won\u2019t be here,\u201d said\u00a0Cooke. \u201cThey\u2019ll be underwater. There\u00a0won\u2019t be any beaches, not to mention\u00a0the issues with food production and\u00a0migration and disease. The climate\u00a0crisis will impact every aspect of life\u00a0on earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frustrated with the restrictions\u00a0mandated by the pandemic, the Society\u00a0of Fearless Grandmothers \u2014 which\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>has about 40 members ranging in age from their late fifties to 85\u00a0\u2014 is currently using technology and other physically distanced\u00a0tools to demand that COVID-19 responses focus on a transition\u00a0away from the fossil-fuel economy to a system that addresses\u00a0climate justice and protects people, not profit.<\/p>\n

They are also adamantly opposed to racial violence, and\u00a0one of their official statements connects that movement to climate\u00a0activism: \u201cWe\u00a0recognize that the\u00a0impacts of climate\u00a0change disproportionately\u00a0affect\u00a0people of color. We\u00a0can no longer tolerate\u00a0a planet where\u00a0anyone\u2019s right to\u00a0breathe is compromised\u00a0\u2014 whether by\u00a0police brutality or by\u00a0pollution.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Fearless\u00a0Grandmothers fear\u00a0that time is running\u00a0out. \u201cAt a certain point, if enough action hasn\u2019t been taken, it will\u00a0be too late,\u201d said Cooke. \u201cAnd we\u2019re not there yet. A lot of people\u00a0have just said, \u2018It\u2019s too late, we can\u2019t do anything,\u2019 but that\u2019s not\u00a0true. The technology is there. It\u2019s just a matter of the political will\u00a0and people rising up to demand that we do something about this.\u00a0That\u2019s the main thing that we want to communicate.”<\/p>\n

The Society of Fearless Grandmothers:\u00a0fearlessgrandmotherssb.org<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Active<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Originally published in the Santa Barbara Independent on July 30, 2020. To view the Active Aging Guide to Senior Life, Seen Through a Pandemic Lens, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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