John Seakwood has been an activist since childhood. Early experiences in the natural world guided him towards a fierce desire to protect it. Educated at Williams College, he spent his professional life as a free-lance photographer, primarily on Hollywood films including “Coming to America,” “The Godfather Part 3,” and “Presumed Innocent.” His work took him around the globe — London, Paris, India, Kenya. One of his photographs is included in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery in London, another was used as an album cover for Johnny Cash. Though the border between Massachusetts and New York runs through his driveway, he decided to join Third Act Upstate New York, and was a key member of the small group that launched TA-UNY in 2023.
John’s life as an activist began when he was twelve years old. He was living in suburban Westchester when the local highway authority proposed a parkway be re-routed to run through a patch of woods where he loved to play. His response was to pull up the stakes marking the path the highway was supposed to follow—John’s first act of protest.
Like so many members of Third Act, in the early 1970s John protested the Vietnam War and joined the burgeoning environmental movement. A turning point in his activism came in the 1990’s when New York State planned to authorize a 210 megawatt coal fired power plant to be built in Halfmoon, New York at the confluence of Mohawk and Hudson Rivers. John helped organize the opposition, rallying the affected downwind states, and gathering support from a wide variety of groups including hunters and fishermen like Trout Unlimited. “We make a mistake when we identify just as lefties. The climate crisis is everyone’s problem and we need all people of good will with us!” John helped lead the fight against the coal burner for five years. And they won. The plant was never built. “I’d been an activist my whole life,” John said. “That’s when I became an organizer.”
John’s long history as an activist/organizer is marked by many moments of revelation and joy. As part of a group of musicians called The Hoping Machine, a group founded by Sarah Lee Guthrie, Woody’s granddaughter, he sang songs of protest at demonstrations. And along with Michael Richardson and Marjorie McCoy, he founded Rivers & Mountains GreenFaith, an inter-faith climate and environmental action group. John describes a transformative moment during a protest when faith groups marching from both sides of the Hudson River converged on the Rip Van Winkle Bridge just as a rainbow suddenly appeared above them.
When John first worked with Third Act Central’s organizers as part of a national day of action against dirty banks in 2023, he was impressed. “They were very thorough, very supportive, and had a special focus: they were calling on the untapped potential of us elders, understanding that we had a unique & powerful role to play. I joined up.”
John has occasionally used his skill as a photographer to document Third Act demonstrations and protests. During the Summer of Heat demonstrations, as he videoed fellow Third Actors lying down on the hot pavement in front of Citibank to be arrested, he was inspired by the extent of their determination to bring about change. In December, when Third Act campaigned in Albany for the Climate Change Superfund Act, as a sign of his commitment, John took arrest for the first time.
So – why does John do this? “Because I can. I have a basic measure of comfort that far too many of my fellow citizens don’t have,” he says. “Some things you do simply because they need doing. You don’t know whether they’re going to work or not. But I do know we can’t afford the luxury of despair. You do what you have to do.”
As someone who has been exploring Buddhist teachings, John reflects on the Buddhist notion of “don’t know” mind: “We don’t know how this will turn out, and that’s OK. In not knowing, not having pre-conceived expectations, you can be flexible and adapt to changing circumstances with creativity.”