Third Act  – A Testimonial  9/16/24

It’s been awhile since I wrote anything. I’ve been overwhelmed by the magnitude of the problems facing this country lately. The post pandemic lag in volunteers (noticeable in the garden non-profit I work with and in our church), the Trump phenomena and the ever-present climate crisis had left me without inspiration to write much of anything. Lately, however, I have been re-energized by joining Third Act Colorado (TACO) http://thirdact.org/colorado/ and I want to tell you about it.

I had been reading Bill McKibben’s stuff for awhile and connected to 350.org and then the national Third Act movement. Last winter I received an invitation to attend a zoom whose intention was to start a state wide Third Act group in Colorado. Other states are simultaneously forming groups as well. So I attended the zoom and agreed to be the “notetaker” for the Coordinating Committee of TACO, which has led to deeper involvement in what this movement is doing. I was intrigued with the idea that folks of my age group were ready for our “third act”. The “first act” being the activism and idealism of the 1960’s and 70’s when I came of age. The “second act” was when the boomers settled into careers, work, families and life in our middle age. And the “third act” is now that we are aging, retired or perhaps getting ready to retire, and we are ready for third act: saving the planet for the next generations. As the Third Act Colorado website reads: “Third Act Colorado is a dedicated group of over 60’s folks joining together in creative actions as we work to protect our democracy and save our precious planet.”

I guess this idea originated with Bill McKibben, but whoever thought of it, it’s brilliant. It captures perfectly the action I need at this point in my life. I’ve written in this blog and told many people that when I retired I took to heart the thought of Thomas Berry (church historian and theologian) that the climate emergency and environmental work is the “Great Work” of our time. I have tried to be involved in environmental work through Greenfaith International, 350.org and local environmental and regenerative agricultural efforts. With two grandchildren and one more on the way I feel deeply convicted that we owe the next generations this effort to save what we can of the natural world and work to do what we can to clean up the mess we are leaving them. Not that my generation totally caused this mess, but we certainly participated in adding to it, and now that we know better we must do what we can to help.

The genius of Third Act is bringing together people of similar age who share much in common. The people I have met through TACO were mostly activists of some sort of another back in the day. All have contributed to the common good in their lives and careers. Some are frankly outstanding in their organizational and creative skills they used in their careers and now bring to Third Act.  It’s been fun to get to know them and I look forward to deepening this social and community aspect of Third Act. It works because everyone seems to be in kind of the same place. We have lots of other things going on in our lives with retirement projects and family commitments, but are all looking for a way to do something positive about the climate crisis. Many Third Actors are part of other environmental groups and Third Act functions sometimes to connect the diverse actions that are being done by Citizen’s Climate Lobby, 350.org, Sierra Club, Climate Reality Project, Greenfaith International and others.

Retirement can be surprisingly busy but Third Act Colorado isn’t trying to be the center of anyone’s life or focus, so I don’t feel guilty if it isn’t the center of mine. I can show up as I am able and go the protests, tabling and activities I have time for. Right now just about everyone’s focus is on the election of 2024 and so Third Act Colorado has taken up that work and has put most other things aside for now. I have found it to be a sensible organization, knowing it’s limits and yet pushing itself to do a little more than we were doing on our own. Perhaps this sensible work load is based in the wisdom its members have accumulated over our lives. Unlike our younger selves (I should speak primarily for myself) who perhaps unwisely jumped in with both feet and guns blazing to the movements our our youth, we are now a little more tired and (I hope) a little wiser and a little more careful with what we can commit to.

Finally, the other thing Third Act supplies to seniors (at least this senior) is treatment for anxiety. This is an anxious, stressful time. There is the election, of course, climate crisis, climate grief, the extinction crisis, Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan to name the main ones that come to mind. It’s easy to get depressed and overwhelmed. The podcasts like “Climate One” that I listen to all recommend a similar solution: doing something. A long time ago (1983 or so) a family got up in the church I was attending, University Church in Chicago, and shared that their oldest child, a young man of about 11 had been having nightmares  about nuclear destruction of the Earth. They decided as a family to get active. They wrote letters to Congresspeople and started going to anti-nuclear protests and joined the “Nuclear-Free Chicago” campaign. The nightmares stopped. They were standing up to witness to this experience and to urge others to join them in action. For many people, this works. Dealing with the anxieties of our time can be helped by taking action.

If you are of my generation, I recommend looking into Third Act. If you have friends and family in my generation, tell them about it. We Third Actors have unique story to tell and I think have something unique to contribute to environmental activism. Though we are in the last chapter of our lives, we still represent a significant part of the population. Many of us have resources to contribute: from money to experience to creativity and to the wisdom that are needed in this movement. Please seriously consider engaging in this “third act” of your life.