Alan Cole grew up on a farm in the small town of Fremont, Michigan, the home of Gerber Baby Foods, where, for a couple of summers, he worked in their small Research Department learning how to use a strange new technology called computers. He went on to get a degree in what is today called computer science, and worked for 36 years in IBM’s Research Division in Westchester County. After retirement, he moved to the Mohawk Valley and also loves the family’s camp in the Adirondacks.
Alan Cole believes in collective action to get things done. Third Act Upstate New York, Indivisible Mohawk Valley, Beyond Plastics – he’s a member of all of them. Plus he is on the Democratic Committee in Oneida County. “When you work together you can effect more significant change than working alone.” His commitment to collective action to confront the climate crisis and to protect our democracy runs deep.
Alan is a child of the sixties. In college, he joined the anti-war movement, which gave him a taste for working as a part of coalitions committed to change. In 1976, he moved to Westchester County to work for IBM, and before long he joined the county Democratic Committee, serving for more than twenty years, variously as chair or co-chair of his local town committee. He also served briefly on the Westchester County Board of Legislators. One of his top priorities there was calling attention to the growing plague of microplastics. Alan knows how government works, and why you have to push hard to get things done.
Alan believes that growing up on a small dairy farm in rural Michigan shaped his values. Life on a dairy farm is demanding, to say the least. He learned hard work from his parents. They were church-going people with a strong commitment to education. Alan’s mother taught school. His father managed the farm, worked an outside, full-time job, and also found time to play the viola in a nearby symphony orchestra. Alan helped with the chores such as milking the cows before school. He always felt a deep connection to the natural world. He developed a passion for biking, canoeing and kayaking – activities that were part of the Michigan landscape with its many lakes and waterways. It’s not hard to see why he’s committed to helping to ameliorate the climate crisis.
After Alan retired, he and his wife moved in 2019 to Clinton in the Mohawk Valley, where he devoted himself full-time to collective action. He joined the local Democratic Committee and helped to flip his red district to elect Democrat John Mannion to Congress. To heighten his climate activism, he joined Third Act Upstate New York. And, as a long-time member of Beyond Plastics, he helped Third Act Upstate New York become a Beyond Plastics affiliate. “Cross-fertilization is critical to making change,” Alan told us. And since Alan is still a member of Indivisible, he shares action plans with all three organizations – like the plan for the three-day demonstration in Albany in support of the SuperFund Act, where he joined in civil disobedience.
“That demonstration was the first time I had been arrested,” Alan told us. “It wasn’t as scary as I expected. The State Police were professional and courteous. And it’s a great example of what individuals working together can do. After all, Hochul signed the bill!”
“Working with all these groups,” Alan says. “It does take a fair amount of time. Thank goodness I’m retired!”