Green With Age

Baby Boomers are going gray as they age, but they are apparently also going green.
As the Baby Boom generation reaches its 50s and 60s, they are returning to a cause from their youth – the environment.
We were in our prime when the annual Earth Day celebration began in April 1970. We talked a lot about conservation, recycling and protecting our trees, water and air. We actually put programs in place and jump-started movements.
Now, it appears Boomers are returning to those ecological roots.
According to AARP magazine, a recent consumer survey found people over 55 are more likely than any other age group to conserve energy in their homes. The new wave of seniors is also using technology to get their point across.
One of the leaders is 64-year-old Joyce Emery. The Iowa grandmother of six co-founded an online community at “greenseniors.org.” The “Green Granny” dispenses advice on that page as well as points visitors to news stories and other organizations. On the web page on this day is an aerial shot of the Hawaiian Islands taken from space. The caption mentions how fragile the atmosphere above the lush paradise is and how action needs to be taken to preserve it.
Baby Boomers are apparently in partnership with the generation ahead of them, too.
Max Lindberg, 76, records podcasts from his Arizona home and broadcasts them from his web site, “thelindbergreport.org.” The show features interviews with other activists. On the page today is a podcast with Emery.
Robert Lane, 90, helped create the web site “grayisgreen.org.” On his page, he states the older generations exploited the Earth when they were younger and they now need to save it for their grandchildren. A “Pledge to the Planet” form is available.
The environmental crusade is one of many Baby Boomers can take up as they age. Many of us have raised our children. Some of us are retired or semi-retired. We have the time and experience now to make a difference.
It appears our generation is off to a good start. In December 2006, the Corporation for National and Community Service reported volunteering in the United States had reached a 30-year high, jumping 32 percent between 1989 and 2005. Baby Boomers are leading the charge. Almost 31 percent of Boomers between the ages of 46 and 57 are volunteering, the best percentage of any age
group in the country.
In addition, Boomers and other older Americans are putting in more time after they sign up. In 2006, the average volunteer over the age of 55 was donating 226 hours a year compared to 132 hours annually by volunteers aged 30 to 39. More than half of people over the age of 55 who don’t volunteer said they would help if they found the right opportunity.
“A lot of us were activists in the 60s,” says Barbara Rodgers, a veteran anchorwoman at KPIX-TV in San Francisco. “A lot of us were out there, really believing we could make the world a better place. A lot of us got disillusioned. A lot of us got tired. But I think we can be re-energized.”
“We have just as much opportunity to change the world today as we did in our youth,” says Mike Helle, an Oregon Boomer who is the father of two and grandfather of two more. “Our challenge is to turn our efforts of self-gratification to acts of helping others.”
President John Kennedy asked us to think about what we could do for our country. Perhaps it’s time to heed his call. A good place to start might be with the air we breathe and the water we drink.