The optimism of that moment is impossible to conjure up right now (though, truthfully, it was a short optimism; the killings at Kent State and Jackson State followed it by mere days). But we can honor that moment by doing all we can to produce some of the same kind of momentum.

The hottest March on record just came and went—and at the same time, we’re seeing an alarming rollback of environmental protections dating all the way back to that first Earth Day in 1970. What we can do in this moment is remember that day not just as history, but as a blueprint. I talked about it on PBS NewsHour, and about the work needed to meet this moment. Third Actors across the country are rising to that challenge—building grassroots power in all the ways that count.

Many of Third Actors will be participating and hosting Earth Day events—and even more are using this week to start planning their participation in Sun Day in September. And of course every day we’re honoring the spirit of these grand gatherings with the daily, prosaic work that they make easier: lobbying of public utility commissions for cleaner energy, pushing city halls and state houses to make installing renewables easier, and all the other tasks that lack drama but get the job done. 

 Remember that the first Earth Day was powered by the pictures that had just come back from space: the first glimpses of a beautiful blue-white earth suspended in the inky void. That earth is more tattered now, and it’s lost some of that white at the poles, but it remains sublime. And it remains worth fighting for!

As I am sure you know, there’s joy to be found in many corners of Third Act. But what brings me the greatest joy, at this moment, is the amazing national volunteer community which I have the honor and privilege to facilitate. 

I want to extend this personal invitation to you to learn more about who we are and join us.

Who we are

We are Third Actors from across the nation, residing in states with and without working groups. We are introverts, we are extroverts, each of us with unique lived experiences all working together to grow and sustain the beloved community that is Third Act. We bring a multitude of talents and gifts to support Third Act behind the scenes: as writers, as facilitators, as tech gurus in different areas, as content specialists. We all love our country and our planet and are determined to continue to make a difference.

We are introverts, we are extroverts, each of us with unique lived experiences all working together to grow and sustain the beloved community that is Third Act.

What we do

At our monthly community meetings, we share in welcoming attendees, offer technical support, select the music that opens and closes our meetings, report on what we are doing, and even participate in Zoom speed dating.

Our info@ team answers questions that come to Third Act. Our Welcome team holds the biweekly, national Welcome to Third Act calls. Our web coaches, Zoom coaches, and Google coaches support all Third Actors with questions about technology. And as the staff requests, we take notes at meetings, we search for venues for retreats, we phone bank, we support working groups, and much more. 

I’ll be honest, some roles are not exciting (like maintaining a spreadsheet), but it is this work that provides the staff with additional hours to plan and lead. Many of us are willing to step out of our comfort zones as we take on roles, ones critical to the growth and maintenance of our movement. 

Many of us are willing to step out of our comfort zones as we take on roles, ones critical to the growth and maintenance of our movement.

The rewards

There are so many rewards—it’s impossible to just share one. But the deep friendships that come from collaborating with other Third Act volunteers is first for me. In addition, there is the joy of meeting so many experienced Americans from across the country who bring their own gifts and talents to this work, often in ways they had not originally imagined. There are also the incredible opportunities to learn with and from other volunteers and Third Act staff.

The surprises

I have been most surprised by the agency that Third Act gives its volunteers. In August of 2022, a team of volunteers began to hold the biweekly “Welcome to Third Act” meetings—important gatherings that are entirely volunteer-led. Each time our team counted down the minutes to begin another call, I marveled at the fact that we had this remarkable privilege to be the welcoming face of Third Act. Not only does the welcome team continue; now responding to all the emails that come into info@thirdact.org has been turned over to volunteers. Volunteers’ gifts and talents are truly valued. 

Why join us 

Now more than ever, we believe we need to harness the “old and bold” that is Third Act and stand up for our democracy and our planet—we need you to share your gifts and talents in service to our staff. 

I would love to personally welcome you to our community and hear the ways you’d like to contribute and collaborate with us to expand our capacity to support the Third Act and advance its mission.

Click here to sign up and learn more about our volunteer program—I can’t wait to see what we do together!

Thank you for all that you do.

And that new generation, represented by Kamala Harris, is fascinating. She’s not old enough to join our Third Act ranks, which is for the best: the world spins on, and it’s important to get new perspectives. Consider: as a Black woman married to a white man, she would have been committing a crime in much of the country when we were born. America’s greatness lies in its ability to change, to move, to progress—the things that she embodies, and that Donald Trump (perhaps the most backward-looking politician in the world) simply can’t abide.

Of course it’s going to be an uphill battle—if it’s indeed Harris, she begins by needing to create momentum with barely a hundred days till the election, and has to overcome the sexism and racism that mars our country. But this means that we’ve never been needed more: to phone bank, to write postcards, to knock on doors, to make the case in every conversation we have.

We are beautifully positioned to help move our fellow Americans over 60 towards Harris and in doing so bend the arc of our country towards justice and a deeper democracy.

At that hearing, election deniers turned out in full force, spreading more disinformation about widespread voter fraud and using other incendiary rhetoric to undermine confidence in the electoral system. But pro-democracy groups like Indivisible, Climateers, and Third Act also mobilized, determined to counter these extreme falsities. 

We called out the absurdity of claiming that any election not resulting in a Republican victory was rigged or stolen through voter fraud. We firmly denounced the drumbeat of election denialism, emphasizing that it has profound and deleterious implications for the survival of our democracy. 

After several hours of impassioned public testimony, our efforts bore fruit. We succeeded in flipping two votes on the Commission, resulting in a 4-1 vote in favor of certifying the election results. So, for now, Democracy is safe in Washoe County!

Many thanks to our Secretary of State, Cisco Aguilar (pictured below with Bill McKibben, Rebecca Solnit, and Elvira Diaz from Third Act Nevada in 2022), whose  strong and principled stand helped ensure the will of the people and the sanctity of our elections were upheld.

Which is why we’re bringing some heat of our own, to the big banks that are the main funders of the fossil fuel industry.

Summer of Heat is centered in New York City—indeed, it’s centered outside Citibank, which has lent 400 billion dollars to Big Oil since the Paris climate accords were signed in 2016. This is venal—the International Energy Agency said in 2021 that all new investment in fossil fuel infrastructure needed to end right then. But it’s also predictable, because the banks (remember Mary Poppins?) care a great deal about money. As we learned from leaked documents a few weeks ago, Citibank told the Federal Reserve last summer that if the planet reached net zero by 2050 it would cost them $3 billion in loan losses to their fossil fuel clients.

Meanwhile, a recent peer-reviewed article in the journal Nature projected that the world economy will see an income reduction of 19% and global annual damages estimated to be about 38 trillion dollars by 2050. So, you’d think if the banks cared about money in the longer term, then they’d care about climate-related financial risks and transitioning their portfolios out of fossil fuels and into a clean energy economy, thereby reducing projected future losses and damages.

But the banks aren’t acting anywhere near fast enough. That’s why the Summer of Heat coalition—including Indigenous groups and frontline communities, environmental justice organizations, youth movements, and yes, us elders—is planning to “turn up the heat” on Citibank and other fossil fuel funders via 12 weeks of sustained disruption in New York City. The first week features an Elders Day on June 13th in NYC, along with a Scientists Day and other themed days. And this will be followed by themed weeks, including Elders Week July 8-13 (in New York City and other locations – more info coming soon!), Youth Week, Frontline Fighters Week, and more.

So, why should you all join in for this effort?

Because we older Americans, taken together, have powerful financial resources. Because we’ve been saving our whole lives, we have something like 2/3 of the country’s wealth—enough that banks and asset managers have to pay attention to us. We are elders—retired union members, teachers, health care professionals, lawyers, as well as parents, grandparents, great aunts and uncles and now activists with decades of life experiences—who are backing up youth fighting for a peaceful, just, and healthy world.

This “Rocking Chair Rebellion” will rise up during Elders Week to demand that Wall Street banks and financiers stop using our savings to bankroll the climate crisis. We are “Fossils Against Fossil Fuels.”

Join us and lots and lots of other people and groups outside these banks this summer to disrupt business as usual.

We’re not going to change these banks overnight. But we have to keep putting them on notice—that began with the actions you pulled off last spring in 100 cities; it continues this summer. Because if the weather is going to be sizzling, then we need to be on fire!

Maybe you want to lean into a skill you already have or maybe you’d like to try something new! We hope you will decide to volunteer in ways that both utilizes your abilities and also brings you joy and fulfillment. Your contributions will be appreciated!

You’d be working with a wonderful group of people, some of whom have already been involved at the national level. We asked them how they feel about being a national volunteer and here’s what they had to say. 

Lani on the unique joy of being a national volunteer: 

The true friendships and deep relationships that come from collaborations, especially on teams, with other Third Act volunteers bubble up first for me because of a recent experience. In addition, there is the joy that constantly fills my soul as I meet so many experienced Americans from across the country who bring their own gifts and talents to this work, often in ways they had not originally imagined. And there are the incredible opportunities to learn with and from other volunteers and Third Act staff.

Join us and experience a new-found or renewed sense of purpose as we work together for a fair and stable planet.

Be willing to move out of your comfort zone if becoming a national volunteer feels like a stretch to you. Anna Goldstein said this gently to me and I am gently passing it onto you. I would encourage you to lean into this unique blending of joy, fierce determination, humility, boldness, kindness, sharing and elderhood that is Third Act which in reciprocity may continuously renew your hope and fill your spirit as it has for me as a national volunteer. 

Bruce on advising national staff on policies, procedures, and campaign strategy:

I partner with the Organizing Team, primarily to establish and mentor new working groups. I also advise the national staff on policies, procedures, positions, and campaign strategies. Having been an organizer and manager of a grassroots based national organization with state level chapters, my perspective can help Third Act set up its own unique systems and policies. I also have decades of experience in lobbying, organizing, media messaging, fundraising, non-violent direct action and other skills and tactics that can inform Third Act. 

If you have the capacity for and an interest in national action, this is a way to magnify your effectiveness and to help Third Act empower many more volunteers.

Laurie on making connections from a new home:

Not knowing that many people in my new hometown, national work for Third Act felt like a great fit.

Connecting with people with common concerns and experiences and contributing to something important are the most rewarding parts of being a national volunteer. 

I have helped on several teams—the Welcome Call team, the Zoom Coaching team, and the Google Docs Coaching team. I feel happy knowing I am helping others find where they want to contribute and helping them be successful and efficient with their Third Act roles.

Peggy on bridging the technology gap for elders:

This work has become my favorite part of my own third act. 

I see the national welcome calls as a way to share Third Act’s philosophy and Working Principles, and I feel juiced up after every call. It never gets old. As an educator, I am always eager to help others learn. In my work as a Third Act technology coach, I find it gratifying to help elders bridge the technology gap and connect meaningfully with others using tools that can feel very intimidating. It makes me sad that technology can be a barrier to Third Actors who feel the urgency of addressing the climate catastrophe and the frightening threats to our democracy.  

These roles help facilitate engagement of new Third Actors with the working groups, and educate them about the work of the organization and its mission. Coaching helps members of the CCs to more effectively and confidently communicate with like-minded souls and allows them to focus their energies on TA actions instead of email.

To prospective national volunteers: Say yes! Embrace your new role for a few months and assess how you feel about your contribution to this dynamic organization and its mission.  

My guess is that you’ll find it gratifying.

Join Us 

We are seeking volunteers with various skills (facilitation, coaching, mentoring, digital) to support the 3 teams: organizing, campaigns, and digicomms in accomplishing their goals. Time commitment will vary. You will be expected to attend monthly team meetings. And we request an initial 6 month commitment.

As this is a pilot cohort, we are mindful of Third Act Lead Advisor Akaya Windwood’s words:

The good news is that we are all learning and growing. The challenging news is that we are all learning and growing, and that means we will make mistakes, fall down and occasionally mess things up… each “mistake” becomes a learning/growing step which is essential on a joyful path.

With that, we will work in good faith and to the best of our abilities to match people and roles.  And we appreciate your grace as we figure this out.

Lani, Bruce, Laurie, Peggy, and the rest of the cohort can’t wait to meet you.

Update: Please note we have reached capacity for our initial cohort of national volunteers. We are thrilled with the response. We will relink to the interest form when we are ready to start accepting national volunteers again.  

See you on the other side!

Bill McKibben, for Third Act

Flash forward to the present, and now I’m one of those Third Act staffers listening to and learning from hundreds of amazing volunteers each week. As the Network Campaigns Lead, I interact with our working groups every day, so I know that these volunteer-led groups are the heart and soul of Third Act.

Most working groups are geographically based, but some are nationwide affinity groups, based on passion or past professional experience. All of us believe that elder power can be harnessed to fundamentally transform our culture and our politics. Taking on the financial and political forces that threaten our climate and our democracy is a daunting task. But Third Actors are committed to  sustained, collective action to tip the balance of power away from fossil fuels and fascist tendencies and towards clean energy and a healthy democracy.

We embrace a relational model of organizing where we build trust and confidence in each other over time. Our tiny yet dedicated staff trains and organizes groups which then make it a priority to reach out and engage an ever-growing number of Third Actors, finding a place for everybody to make a difference. Volunteers research local issues, write postcards, and lobby decision makers. They attend outreach events, work with local media, register voters, and organize public protests with Third Act staff supporting them as needed.

All of this takes time, dedication, and a lot of resources! In addition to our thirty existing working groups, the Third Act staff is committed to establishing a vibrant group in every state as soon as possible. This is no time to think small! We know we have no time to waste.

Which brings up another Third Act working principle: “Be generous, but not to a fault.” We all want our generation to leave a legacy to be proud of, so we give generously of our time, talent, and treasure. In just two years, we have grown to 70,000 strong. But we need at least twice that number to meet the urgency of the challenges we face in 2024 and beyond! To meet that goal, we have set up a new fundraising campaign called the  No Time to Waste  fund, with a goal of raising $500,000 in 2023.

Third Act is the nation’s home for activists over sixty working to protect our climate and our democracy. Won’t you join me in supporting this urgent  No Time to Waste  campaign so we can start off strong in 2024?

Happy Holidays!

In Solidarity,
Melanie L. Griffin

Third Act co-founder Bill McKibben tells us that the best thing an individual can do to address the climate crisis and attacks on democracy is to stop acting like an individual.  That is why we all joined Third Act.  With fellow Third Actors, we will be more powerful and able to take action collectively.

It has been so satisfying to work with local Third Act volunteers who are eager to join and make a difference with the most vital issues of our time. So many fellow elders have been searching for this home to fulfill their commitment to making a difference for our families and our future.

One of the best ways to make this happen is to get active in a Third Act state or affinity working group.  But in over half of the country, our members still do not have a local working group to join.  We have made amazing progress in organizing working groups over the past two years, but much more needs to be done. All of our members need access to state working groups to plan and implement dynamic and effective local and state campaign actions.

Third Act needs additional resources urgently so that we can recruit, train and empower volunteers to establish working groups in every state and Puerto Rico.  Right now we are organizing as quickly as we can, but we are at capacity.

Your donation to the No Time to Waste Fund can help us reach our $500 thousand goal and then we expect to:

• Add two additional organizers to our team to expand the support we can provide, and start Working Groups where we don’t yet have them, 
• Increase the direct support we can offer to Working Groups for their own trainings, actions, and materials,
• Add digital support for Working Group leaders building a web-presence, coordinating events online, and for maintaining our CRM, data, and privacy work;   
• Support two (out of five) in-person regional convenings

Your support can build Third Act communities ready to fight for a better future. Working together we can get much more done than we can as individuals. Can you chip in now to help resource Third Actors to respond quickly—as needed, when needed, where needed?

Your fellow Third Actor,

Bruce Hamilton, National Volunteer

As we watch what is unfolding in Gaza, Israel, in the West Bank, in Sudan, Ukraine, Armenia and the Congo, in Pakistan, Tigray, Ethiopia and elsewhere––we are reminded of the way human beings are capable of so much harm amid so much life. We join the United Nations, Doctors Without Borders, Amnesty International and so many more in asking for a ceasefire in Gaza.

As I sit in the relative comfort of my home, I’m asking myself ‘what are the depths and limits of my humanity?, should not all suffering be an offense to my conscience?’ Indeed it is offensive to my conscience, to my heart that works and to my firmly held belief that a better world is possible for all of us.

This time is harsh and painful, and so it demands of us to activate our better angels; to educate ourselves on the ways in which we are complicit in harm; and the ways we can do and be better. I’m comforted by how many Third Actors have reached out on behalf of humanity. What a gift to generations to come. In the words of our very own advisor Rebecca Solnit, “Hope is a gift you don’t have to surrender, a power you don’t have to throw away.”

If you, like many others, feel daunted by the enormity of what’s happening, one place to start is by educating ourselves. Knowledge breeds empathy, it’s difficult to remain apathetic when we know one another. Knowledge, like action, is an antidote to despair. Below you’ll find a series of articles, books, and readings to help you be better informed on the state of the world. This knowledge will crack open your heart, but in the words of the great poet Rumi ‘The wound is where the light enters you.’

I said: what about my eyes?
He said: Keep them on the road.

I said: What about my passion?
He said: Keep it burning.

I said: What about my heart?
He said: Tell me what you hold inside it?

I said: Pain and sorrow.
He said: Stay with it. The wound is the place where the Light enters you.

–Rumi

Resources

• Information on Tigray conflict
• Information on Sudan Conflict
• Information on Armenia Conflict
• How the Israel-Hamas War Imperils Action Against Global Warming

Books

• Freedom is a Constant Struggle by Angela Davis
• The Hundred Years War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi
• King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild
• Maus by Art Spiegelman
• On Antisemitism: Solidarity and the Struggle for Justice in Palestine by Jewish Voice for Peace
• Peace, Justice, and Jews: Reclaiming Our Tradition by Murray Polner and Stefan Merken
• Free book resources from Verso Book
• Free ebook resources from Haymarket Books

Films

• Ghost Hunting (2017) dir, Raed Andoni
• A World Not Ours (2012) dir, Mahdi Fleifel
• They Do Not Exist (1974) dir, Mustafa Abu Ali

Nevadans saw first-hand the power of Third Act in the last election—CNN highlighted your powerful work to knock on doors and rally voters to protect Sen. Cortez Masto’s Senate seat in northern Nevada. Third Actors were ambassadors at over 800 schools in the U.S. to set up voter registration drives for high school seniors, which reached 100,000+ new voters. You’ve sent over 46,000 postcards to voters to help raise turnout. This commitment to free and fair elections is crucial, and it’s inspiring. 

If you haven’t already done so, I hope you will donate to support Third Act’s No Time to Waste Campaign to build an even stronger movement going into 2024. To build communities and a society that we can believe in, it will require everyone’s participation. We’re counting on you!

This election week, and each week between now and November 2024, we need to defend every eligible American’s right to vote, remove barriers to voter participation, and make our elections as transparent as possible to maintain the public trust. Third Act can be an invaluable help. I’m glad to be on side with you all in the fight to protect our precious democracy.

Yours in service,
Cisco Aguilar
Nevada Secretary of State

Meanwhile, Donald Trump is polling ahead of Joe Biden a year out from the 2024 elections. That’s terrifying too, but if we fight like heck we can win this contest, and in the process push back authoritarianism for a generation.

Third Act is going to be key. We’ve identified a new, massive, and under-organized demographic: Americans over 60 who care about the future but need a vehicle to get involved. We’ve provided that vehicle, and it’s working powerfully in place after place.

Which is why we’ve launched this No Time to Waste fund. We’re hard at work to raise $500,000 by the end of this year to supercharge our organizing work and bring on a few more staff to help hold it all together. If you can pitch in, this is the time. Donate Today.

At the moment we’ve got more than 65,000 members, and a staff of about ten to tend to them. That’s one staffer per 6,500 volunteers, which is not good enough. We volunteers can accomplish a huge amount, but we need people pointing us in the right direction, coordinating our actions for maximum effect, and linking us up with other progressive groups.

We’ve been consciously putting the brakes on new recruitment because we lack the staffing to deal with the volunteers who come flooding in whenever we put the word out. But if we can raise some money before the year ends, then my guess is we’ll have 100,000 volunteers hard at work by the spring of next year—as the northern hemisphere heats up, and the election too.

That’s where The Civics Center comes in. The Civics Center is a non-partisan, non-profit organization that wants to make voter registration a part of every student’s high school experience.

We host two annual events that promote high school voter registration: Cap, Gown & Ballot in the spring to ensure every graduating senior has an opportunity to register to vote; and High School Voter Registration Week in the fall. This year High School Voter Registration Week will be October 2-6, 2023.

High School Voter Registration Week is a week of action aligning the school calendar with the election cycle to establish a dedicated time for students, educators, parents, and others to team up, share resources, and organize student-led voter registration drives at schools. The start of a new school year is an ideal time to encourage teens to register to vote and to build awareness for registration efforts later in the school year.

During High School Voter Registration Week the Civics Center will be holding free workshops for parents (and grandparents!), educators, and teens on October 2, 3, and 4 so anyone can attend and learn about the importance of welcoming our newest voters with a smooth on-ramp to democracy. Participants will walk away with tools specific to their cohort that will help bring voter registration to their high schools on a permanent basis.

On October 2 at 4pm (PT) / 7pm (ET), parents, grandparents and other adult friends and family members will learn about the importance of high school voter registration and its role in strengthening our democracy. We’ll help identify important resources teens can use to organize a drive in their schools. Click here to register.

In addition to training workshops, The Civics Center provides free supplies and resources to high school students and educators at any school in the country. Our “Democracy in a Box” toolkit includes everything students need to organize successful voter registration drives, like pens, clipboards, stickers, tote bags, promotional posters, and candy (a must-have for every drive!).

Third Act volunteers in Southern California and Arizona are actively promoting High School Voter Registration Week by contacting schools in their communities to help recruit educators and students. Over 35 volunteers from those Third Act Working Groups attended a one-hour training session, before getting a list of schools to call to identify educators and administrators best positioned to be liaisons for student-led voter registration efforts at each school.

This outreach is key to The Civics Center’s ability to get the word out about High School Voter Registration Week. Most schools have no current plans to help their students register to vote, and the best contact person at each school varies tremendously. We are extremely grateful to Third Act and its wonderful members for helping to make High School Voter Registration Week a success!

If you would like to contact schools in your own community to encourage educators and students to participate in High School Voter Registration Week, please visit Third Act’s “Senior to Senior” Page (linked below), which has more info about how to use TCC’s Volunteer Toolkit, including email templates you can copy and paste into a message to send to educators, students, principals, and superintendents. Just scroll through the Toolkit to find your target audience and click on the pink oval to access the desired template.

If you have high school students in your family I hope you will join me at the workshop on October 2. If not, you can still help recruit schools in your community to participate in High School Voter Registration Week using our Volunteer Toolkit and Third Act’s resources or help raise awareness of the potential for high school voter registration in your community. Thank you!

It’s work, of course, that we’re all engaged in, as we push for a stronger democracy (especially against racialized voter suppression) and a cooler planet (since climate change hurts the most vulnerable humans the hardest).

This conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Bill:

I follow the news around climate change constantly. And so not long ago I was leafing through the latest issue of Current Opinion in Nephrology and Hypertension (a journal for kidney doctors), because cases of kidney disease are going up due to higher temperatures, increased sweating, and dehydration.

But here’s what struck me: They had some interesting data about the temperatures in American cities, and they connected it to something you might be familiar with called redlining. Back in the 1930s, the federal government drew lines around minority neighborhoods, essentially limiting further investments in those areas. 

These were places that just steadily deteriorated as a result of federal policy. Each neighborhood was graded from A to D. When you visit those neighborhoods that were given a D grade a century ago, you’ll notice a significant difference in temperature. Due to the lack of investment, there are fewer parks and trees, which has led to much higher temperatures in those areas. And when I say “way higher,” I mean, way higher.

In comparison, the neighborhoods that received an A grade in the 1930s now have an average temperature that is 8°F lower than the city’s overall mean temperature. On the other hand, the neighborhoods that received a D grade have an average temperature that is 4.8°F hotter.

So, we’re looking at a 12°F temperature difference in these neighborhoods because of the racist policies enacted by the federal government a century ago. But it’s not just history. In my recent book, I dove into the real estate market and how it shapes our economy. Did you know that the total value of real estate in the United States is a staggering $33 trillion? That’s more than the combined GDP of the US and China. It’s mind-boggling.

The connection between race, climate, housing, and economic justice is undeniable, and we need to address these systemic issues head-on.

Wayne actually has a picture of the house that I grew up in, located in the suburbs of Boston. My parents bought it in 1970 for $30,000, which in today’s money is about $200,000. It was as simple and standard a suburban tract home as it was possible to imagine. 

The house that Bill grew up in, Lexington, MA.

That $200,000 investment in 1970, by the time that it was last sold––exactly the same house––over 50 years ago, skyrocketed to a value of $1.2 million in today’s currency. So that staggering $1 million gain came from nothing other than being on the escalator at the beginning. Right place, right time.

And of course, there were lots of people who couldn’t be on the escalator as it began to dramatically rise to the top, either because there were places where segregation kept them from, or in places like the suburbs of Boston, because people lacked the means to participate. People of color. Why? Well, because of things like that red lining all those decades before or the fact that when the federal government adopted Social Security in the 1930s, it exempted domestic workers and farmers: the two largest categories of Black workers at that time.

So people didn’t have retirement income the way that my parents and grandparents did from social security. That’s why the racial wealth gap in our country has continued to widen over these years. So it’s really important that we talk about equal protection under the law.

But it’s equally crucial to seriously address our history and how we got to where we are today and how to begin making amends One small piece of good news is that in this town where I grew up, Lexington, earlier this year became the first of the Boston suburbs to announce that it was rezoning in order to allow fairly substantial multi family homes for the first time. 

But if you think that battle’s won, then you’re wrong. Most of the suburbs in Boston haven’t taken such steps yet. Just last week, in the New York State budget discussions in Albany, a bill was defeated because suburban homeowners in Westchester and Long Island opposed the idea of multi-family housing.

They put up too much political heat and the legislators in Albany couldn’t stand up to it. This fight is ongoing, and it’s why it’s such a pleasure now to turn things over to Wayne, who understands this history in deep powerful detail. And he’s gonna tell us a couple of stories that are incredibly fascinating and important. Over to you brother!

Wayne:

Hey Bill, thanks for kicking us off. Your latest book did a bang up job describing institutional racism. I think that’s a question people have like, well, what is institutional racism? And you brought it right down to housing. 

And I’m so glad that you did, because housing is everything. I’m super pleased you brought up the fact that the formerly redlined areas in cities tend to be much hotter. I only came across that information about six years ago when I read an article in High Country News.  

It’s astonishing how, in this country, when you dig deeper into any issue that seems to go against the best interests of the nation, you often find race. Who would have thought that peeling back the layers and asking, “Why are these places so damn hot?” you would find redlining?

Ferguson, MO

I chose to start with Ferguson because we’re all familiar with it, and it conjures up a particular image in our minds. Several years ago, I had this idea to go on a winter adventure, so I hopped into my pickup truck and drove all the way to Vermont to go ice climbing. It was a lot of driving for not much ice climbing, but during my journey, I made a stop in Ferguson. It was late at night, and in hindsight, asking a cop for directions might not have been the best decision. 

But the next day, there I was, standing in the very spot where Michael Brown was shot. I had always pictured a typical inner city, but in daylight I saw that it was quite attractive. It really took me by surprise. Ferguson, what we all think of as a Black city, is really a suburb. And not very long ago––into the sixties––it was a sundown town. 

Sign from a “Sundown Town” that reads: “Whites only within city limits after dark”

Sundown towns had signs on the edge or actual barriers across the street, oftentimes way cruder than this one, and Blacks could come into town and spend their money, and if you weren’t out by sundown, you didn’t want to pay the consequences.

Lamar Williams, one of Ferguson’s first Black residents.

But they were pretty clear in Ferguson that they didn’t want anybody other than white people. And how that changed is the story of the turmoil that has shaped Ferguson today.

So these housing projects were in Saint Louis. They typically would go into an integrated community, bulldoze it, and  put up these buildings. Interestingly, they were intended for both Black and white residents, with separate buildings made for each group. You can tell the Black side from the white side, because there’s open and green spaces on the white side. 

Housing projects in Saint Louis, MO. You can tell the Black from the white buildings because of the open, green spaces on the white site.

The United States government began building housing projects at exactly the same time as suburbs developed. And so today’s conversation is largely to help us grasp that the segregation of towns and white flight was not solely a result of individual prejudice and bigotry, but rather a systematic creation fueled by conditions and laws at the state, local, and federal levels.

Now let’s look at Grosse Pointe. I’m gonna guess that white people live in this house. Not only do they have large lots and homes due to zoning, but they also employ another strategy on the outskirts of town, specifically in Black communities.

Grosse Pointe, MI

This is a Black Detroit town situated near heavy industries, a sight typically absent in white areas. These industries effectively serve as boundaries for Black neighborhoods, making them less desirable places to live and causing home values to diminish.

Outside of Detroit, MI

Moving on to Interstate 880 in Oakland, CA, not far from there is 580. 880 runs through West Oakland, permitting a significant volume of diesel truck traffic, with around one and a half million trucks passing through every year.

Interstate 880 in Oakland, CA. One and a half million diesel trucks pass through every year.

Just a few miles away, in the town of San Leandro, which is 99% white. And guess what they prohibit in San Leandro? These massive diesel trucks.

This stark contrast serves to increase the value and desirability of the white area while devaluing and making the Black area less desirable. As intentional laws and zoning take their toll on these Black communities, we also witness the departure of businesses that contribute to the local economy and provide employment opportunities. In their place, less desirable businesses are given the green light to establish themselves.

I’m going to propose that when you’re left only with liquor stores, it’s not so conducive to a well functioning community. Pawn shops and payday loan businesses also make their presence known. The average annual interest rate at a pawn shop is 200%, while payday loans come with an average interest rate of 400%, where borrowers commit their next paycheck to pay off the loan. Clearly, this is not beneficial for residents facing financial hardship. These types of businesses are not found in places like Grosse Pointe.

Another thing is the 1956 Federal Highway Act, which was the largest Public Works Act in history. Originally, it was intended to provide easy access for white suburban homeowners to travel into the city for shopping, work, and conducting business. It was proposed to link 42 state capitals in 90% of all cities with populations of  50,000 or more. It’s hard to imagine a country without interstates today, but prior to 1956, there were no such highways.

Interstate highways were deliberately constructed through Black neighborhoods

These interstate highways were deliberately constructed through Black neighborhoods, creating massive concrete barriers that physically separated the white side of town from the Black side. This intentional division made it difficult, if not impossible, for residents to travel between the two areas. As a result, the Black side of town became less desirable and its property values declined.

Let’s talk about this guy, Robert Moses, the infrastructure czar of New York City and the director of the New York City Slum Clearance Committee. Those two positions are contradictory. He gained a great deal of prestige and power all across the city, and he was very clear in his directives: “ram those highways right through the cities, do not go around.” 

Robert Moses, infrastructure czar of New York City and the director of the New York City Slum Clearance Committee

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA), informally referred to this program as “getting rid of the local *** town.” Alfred Johnson, pictured here, lobbied to get rid of the Black sections of cities.

Alfred Johnson lobbied to get rid of the Black sections of cities

Over a million Black Americans were displaced, given a 30-day notice to leave as bulldozers arrived. There was no help whatsoever to get them into new housing. What happened is those million black Americans just crowded into existing Black neighborhoods, exacerbating overcrowding and making them even less desirable places to live.

When I was learning about redlining, I used to think that the FHA was a bunch of racist bankers, but after World War II, they launched a major initiative to build the middle class. They financed housing subdivisions across the country, offering programs that brought housing prices down to around double the average annual salary.

For instance, these houses in New York back in the 1950s were sold for $8,000, while the average American salary was $4,000. It’s a dream for many of us to be able to afford a house for twice our annual income, but finding such opportunities is nearly impossible nowadays.

Levittown, NY in the 1950s

The FHA became the mortgage lender and insurer in the 1950s. Subdivisions like Levittowns, named after William Levitt, were constructed all over the country. However, the FHA explicitly stated that these homes were exclusively for “Caucasians.” These white-only suburbs were tools for generating wealth available only to white individuals.

For instance, this home in a 1950s Levittown was priced at $8,000. Fast forward to the 2000s, and these homes in the same area now cost around $400,000. They look a little better. White people ought to be chagrined when the Supreme Court ends affirmative action here in a couple of weeks.

A former 1950s Levittown in the 2000s

Not only were Black people unable to live in these areas due to mortgage restrictions, but the FHA also required restrictive covenants. One covenant explicitly stated that the property could never be sold, leased, or mortgaged to anyone of the Negro race or anyone married to a person of the Negro race. Such agreements were mandated by the federal government and included as part of the closing documents.

Documentation of an historic FHA covenant

Another document that reads: No property in said Addition [a house] shall at any time be sold, conveyed, rented or leased in whole or in part to any person or persons not of the White or Caucasian race. No person other than one of the White or Caucasian race shall be permitted to occupy any property in said Addition or portion thereof or building thereon except a domestic servant actually employed by a person of the White or Caucasian race where the latter is an occupant of such property.

We ended up with segregated neighborhoods not only because white people desired it, but also because our government actively created these conditions. The map illustrates a typical red line, with red indicating areas where mortgages were unavailable, while green represented areas deemed suitable for loans.

Redlined map

Bill: 

This was not like just some casual thing that someone sat down and did one day. This was all across America at a really granular level of detail, block by block, figuring out what the good parts were that we wanted to support and the bad parts that we wanted to degrade. 

When people talk about systemic racism, this was about as systemic as it was possible to get. And remember they were doing this in the days before you had GPS and computers; the amount of effort involved in doing this was astonishing.

Wayne:

The FHA justified their actions by claiming that Black neighborhoods were poorly maintained, suggesting that the presence of Black people would devalue the area. Richard Nixon even coined a term for it, benign neglect. A ghetto isn’t necessarily a slum, right? They ghettoized Black people by herding them into specific areas, and then they intentionally turned off services. So, garbage collection, pothole repair, emergency services, and so on were nonexistent or slow. Streetlights went to pot.

In 1970, Lyndon Johnson formed a committee to figure out why Black people were so damn pissed off. And this fellow Adele Allen, who had moved into a white town adjacent to Ferguson, testified:

I don’t know if the police were protecting me, protecting someone from me; we have patrols on the hour. Our streets were swept neatly monthly. Our trash pickups were regular and handled with dignity. The street lighting was always up to par. 

But now that Kirkwood is Black, we have the most inadequate lighting in the city. People from other sections of town leave their cars parked on our streets when they want to abandon them. What they are making is a ghetto in the process.

So the federal government looked at the factors victimizing residents of these towns, but instead of addressing the underlying issues, they used them as an excuse to prohibit mortgages in these neighborhoods. 

Furthermore, national, state, and local realtor organizations would revoke a realtor’s license for selling a home in a white area to a Black family.  I would call that institutionalized racism.

Additionally, in those days, many well-paying jobs were unionized. However, unions actively barred Black individuals from joining their ranks, and the federal government sanctioned these unions to speak for workers.

Unions previously barred Black individuals from joining their ranks

Now we’re in Portland, Oregon. This is called the Albina district of Portland. It was white, then it went Black, and the government stopped investing in it. It reached a point where you could buy a home for the same price as a used car.

Albina, OR impacted by divestiture

This is Albina today, after it was gentrified.

Albina, OR after gentrification

The cycle of decline is evident: Inner city services are gradually withdrawn, resulting in a decline in the neighborhood’s quality. The residents are blamed for the deterioration, leading to banks and investors pulling out and divesting from the community. This further exacerbates the downward spiral: established businesses leave and others of lesser quality take their place. As a consequence, crime rates tend to rise, home values plummet and property taxes suffer.

And when property taxes suffer, schools suffer. So now all of this leads to poorer quality schools and educational opportunities. People don’t have the credentials and the knowledge to get into college, so their job prospects suffer.

They stay at lower economic levels, returning to the same neighborhood they were trying to escape, and then it’s wash, rinse, and repeat.

And here we are, back at the beginning of our conversation. That’s why housing is so important

Some actions that came out of our group discussion:

• Attend local planning meetings to promote fair and affordable housing.
• Speak up and call out racism when it is recognized.
• Punch back hard against politicians who use race as a campaign platform.
• Promote low-income housing instead of affordable housing for middle-class individuals.
• Consider ways to enable home ownership for lower income families to promote wealth transfer.
• Connect issues of race and classism to build more powerful and intersectional movements.
• Support ongoing efforts to allow multifamily housing for affordable housing options.
• Participate in the Power Up Communities campaign to address racial and environmental justice in local energy commissions.
• Continue to deepen the conversation and build personal and organizing skills to mobilize collective action.

Message to the Big Dirty Banks: Stop Financing Climate Destruction

We dove into this work to pressure the Big Banks because we know that older Americans hold a large portion of our nation’s wealth—that the banks might care more about the demands of their longest-standing clients than of younger folks whose lives depend on climate action. And because we want to back up youth who have been fighting for their future, and help grow our movement.

For the 3.21.23 National Day of Action to Stop Dirty Banks, there were 102 registered events in 30 states and Washington, DC, involving thousands of people. These events, large and small, were organized and supported by Third Act Working Groups, with the help of more than 50 national partners, and countless local and regional partners. 

This short video highlights the powerful, diverse, and joyful ways that people shared our messages with the banks through speeches, art, music, street theater, civil disobedience, marches, rallies, sit-ins, and die-ins. Here are highlights of some of the bigger events: the large rally and Rocking Chair Rebellion in front of the nation’s capitol in Washington, DC; especially large marches and rallies in New York City and Boston; chain saws cutting giant credit cards in Alaska, a paper maché Orca eating credit cards in Seattle, Bigfoot ripping up credit cards in Oregon, a multi-generational non-violent direct action and a giant street mural in SF; and events and actions at bank branches and impacted places across the US. Make sure to check out Bill McKibben’s shoutout to all the rock star rocking chair organizers in his Rock on! Substack.

Customers cut up their credit cards to chants of “Cut it out or we will cut it up,” demonstrating their resolve to move their money out of the big banks, if the banks won’t move out of fossil fuel investments. Four videos of Third Actors cutting their credit cards showed some deeply climate-impacted places; Hawaii, the coral reefs off of Florida, and the fire-scarred forests of California. Air, fire, earth and water were used to demonstrate how banks are financing the destruction of the planet through their investments in fossil fuels. People delivered letters and Banking on our Future Pledges to their local bank branches and shared letters with bank staff, asking them to deliver the messages to bank leadership. More than 24,000 people have now taken the Banking on our Future Pledge (you can still sign if you haven’t yet!), and more than 2,500 people sent faxes on March 21 to each of the banks’ CEOs pleading with them to stop investing in climate destruction. 

Big Banks: Are You Listening?

For years, people have been asking these big four banks to transform their business to align with the Paris Climate Accord, but the banks’ leaders are not listening. So, this Day of Action was an exclamation point – but not an end point – in how we are escalating and communicating our message to the banks.

One of the letters faxed to Bank CEOs said “I hang on to the thread of hope that keeps me going. I will not let go. Will one of you hear my voice? …. I am alive and care deeply about all of life. My solitary voice is all I have. So I will keep begging PLEASE, please stop funding fossil fuels!”

At several of the bank branches, including Bank of America and Wells Fargo in California and Chase in Vermont, bank staff literally locked the doors and called the police rather than accept the letters from elderly customers. At the Rocking Chair Rebellion 10 were arrested at a Chase bank branch in Washington, DC on March 22 for singing in the bank’s lobby.

The banks can lock out messengers and not listen to their customers and concerned community members, but we know the banks’ leadership are reading the news. The Day of Action received widespread media coverage, raising the visibility of our campaign to stop investments in fossil fuel expansion. Coverage included the The New York Times, The Guardian – twice, NPR, The Washington Post , The Independent, Democracy Now, Reuters, and more than 50 other newspaper articles, radio stories, TV news stories and podcasts. 

Third Act and our partners and Working Groups had tremendous reach via social media, with posts, videos, actions, photos, and links being shared via #StopDirtyBanks, #32123, and #ActOnClimate (in these links you can see a compilation of posts for those hashtags). One couple posted their first-ever Instagram post showcasing the cutting up of their Bank of America credit card (they were customers for 27 years!) and reciting a poem calling out the banks – “They are the past, the future’s here at last, as green projects sweep across the land. But the banks are full of greed, though they know just what we need. They refuse to lend a helping hand. Stop fossil fuels.”

Our Movement Is Growing

The 3.21.23 Day of Action was the first big in-person climate action since the pandemic and it was great to see people back out in the streets and being led by older Americans. These actions were organized by a fantastic mix of experienced old-timers and older newbies. A 90-year-old elder in Bedford, MA remarked “This was my first protest demonstration. It was wonderful”. What made it so good? “I was doing something important with other people, rather than just getting through the day one way or another.” 

Based on our feedback surveys from event hosts, more than half of respondents said that they had never organized a protest or event like this before. For older Americans, with life and professional experience, often with more financial resources than younger people, and with more time on their hands, Third Act has offered a place to fit in within the wider climate and progressive change movement. We are excited and committed to welcoming new people and growing our movement.

We are thrilled that 53 national partners and numerous local partners collaborated on the Day of Action. Some of them include, Stop the Money Pipeline, Sierra Club, Stand.Earth, Hip Hop Caucus, Climate Hawks Vote, Elders Climate Action and Elders Action Network, Greenpeace, Dayenu, Greenfaith, and Idle No More SF Bay. These groups and many more mobilized their memberships in creative ways. We heard powerful speakers uplift their vision for a clean, healthy, vibrant future and how transforming the banks’ investments into climate solutions can accelerate a just transition. A better future is possible. In fact, Rebecca Solnit, a Third Act Advisor, at the San Francisco event, invited us all to fill the “imagination gap” and that envisioning a better future is necessary as part of our work.

An Exclamation Point, Not an End Point

Our movement’s campaigns to divest from fossil fuels and invest in climate solutions will continue to escalate and build on the energy from the 3.21.23 Day of Action. Our partnerships will deepen and our memberships will grow. 

The most immediate next step is to take action as part of the Shareholder Showdown and work to pass shareholder resolutions on climate change that are pending at the big banks’ Annual General Meetings this April and May. You can sign the Stop the Money Pipeline’s coalition petition asking state treasurers and public pensions funds to vote YES on these pending shareholder resolutions on climate. The petitions will be delivered soon in advance of the AGM votes. 

You can also sign the petition joining with New York Public Advocate Jumaane Williams calling on the Mets to break-up with Citibank over its dirty investments and rename “Citi Stadium” – perhaps back to Shea Stadium? The Mets’ contract with Citi for stadium naming rights comes up in 2028.  

We will continue to communicate with and engage the leadership at the big four banks and escalate our pressure by enlisting commercial clients with a climate conscience to break-up with the dirty banks.

Our clarion call: Fossil Banks? No Thanks! 

About the author:

Vanessa is the President and co-founder of Third Act. She is an activist and administrator, a gardener and a mother. Vanessa began her activist work in the world of food justice at Slow Food USA, SolidarityNYC, and on small farms across the northeast of the United States. Her writing has been published in State of the World: Innovations that Nourish the Planet. For the last decade she’s worked on the climate crisis at 350.org, helping coordinate actions big and small. She lives in upstate New York with her family.

Featured Image photo credit: Brooke Anderson, Movement Photographer

These banks are using our money to bankroll the climate crisis, investing in oil drilling, pipelines, and fracking wells that cause global warming. Seventy percent of the country’s financial assets belong to Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation and tens of thousands of older Americans—together with their children, grandchildren, and other youth fighting for their future—have signed the Banking on our Future Pledge to move their money out of these banks if the banks don’t move out of fossil fuels.

This is exactly the right time.

The recent failures of Silicon Valley Bank and two others have exposed the mismanagement, deregulation, and lack of oversight of financial risks in the banking industry. And the big four banks, which before this upheaval approached 50% of the deposits in the US, are now growing even larger with Bank of America raking in $15 billion in new deposits in a matter of days. 

Now more than ever, these big banks must be held accountable for managing financial risks and climate risks. Indeed, climate risks exacerbate financial risk as many fossil fuel investments will become stranded assets and as damages from extreme climate disasters grow and decimate our economy and communities. 

As Third Act co-founder Bill McKibben and Sierra Club Executive Director Ben Jealous share in their Guardian op-ed, the bank failures make the four big banks bigger and give them a quasi-governmental role in our economy, since everyone knows the taxpayer is backing up the banks. That extraordinary privilege brings these banks power and profit, but it also means they need to act responsibly and address the gravest crisis the planet faces. Climate scientists around the world, organizations like the International Energy Agency, and the United Nations have called for an end to any fossil fuel expansion. 

There’s more than one way for a bank to fail.

The big banks have failed because they continue to fund the expansion of fossil fuels, long past the point where scientists have told them to stop. The most recent example is of oil company Conoco Phillips, which has received $11 billion from these four banks for the Willow Project, a vast new oil complex in the Alaska wilderness that will spew annual carbon pollution equivalent to 76 new coal-fired power plants’ annual emissions. The cash these banks invest turns into carbon pollution warming the planet. And these fossil fuel projects devastate communities around the world, primarily Black, Brown, and poor communities who have been polluted, uprooted, redlined, and undermined. 

Where do you come in?

So, one of the biggest environmental decisions you make personally is where you choose to bank.  You can estimate how much carbon pollution is generated by your cash in your bank using this nifty “Cash carbon calculator” from Bank FWD, TOPO, and Green Portfolio, and compare it to emissions if you moved your money to a greener bank or if the big banks were to reduce their fossil fuel investments. 

Millions of Americans already get great checking, savings, and credit card services from local banks, online fossil-fuel-free banks, and credit unions. An easy first step to align your money with your values is to start by getting a new credit card and trying it out. We have resources and tips to help you find better banks and credit cards. Wherever you are on your journey to align your money with your values, it is important for you to speak with a financial advisor, ask the banks and credit unions about their security and stability, and check the financial health and FDIC status and limits of banks, credit unions, and your accounts.  

These big four banks are considered “too big to fail,” but we don’t want them to fail all of us on climate and a livable future. 

We don’t want our money and savings to be used to bankroll the climate crisis. Americans want climate action and they want banks to invest in clean energy, climate resilience, and healthy communities. 

That’s why on March 21, thousands of us will be showing up to demand that these big four banks stop investing in fossil fuel expansion. 

Here are things you can do:

• Join an event near you on 3.21.23
• Take a selfie with a sign demanding the banks stop financing fossil fuels and post on social media March 21, #StopDirtyBanks #32123
• Check out other ways you can participate even if you can’t get to an action on 3.21.23
• Send a letter to Bank CEOs
• Sign the Banking on our Future Pledge
• Explore better banking options

Let’s stand together and call on the banks to heed science, embrace justice, and respond to customer and community concerns. It’s time these banks start walking the talk, responsibly investing our money in service of a safe and abundant future. 

About the author:

Vanessa Arcara is the President and co-Founder of Third Act. She is an activist and administrator, a gardener and a mother. Vanessa began her activist work in the world of food justice at Slow Food USA, SolidarityNYC, and on small farms across the northeast of the United States. Her writing has been published in State of the World: Innovations that Nourish the Planet. For the last decade she’s worked on the climate crisis at 350.org, helping coordinate actions big and small.

As educators, we believe that the purposefulness, passion, and play of learning are essential to the individual human spirit. We also believe that collaborative learning in working groups will be the foundation of building a successful Third Act community. Emergent collective wisdom to which we all contribute will be at the core of transforming our societies and civilizations. 

“It is in collectives that we find reservoirs of hope and optimism.”
-Angela Davis 

As we are just getting started forming the Third Act Educators Working Group,  we are always looking for more energetic people to grow and learn with us.  We currently include K-12 classroom teachers, early childhood educators, health educators, intergenerational learners, and college professors who are honing our skills as activists and organizers! Eventually, we plan to fully represent K to 20 educators and anyone else who has found their path in teaching, training, etc… We are reaching out to educators in many settings, including those who have retired from active teaching. We are still recruiting a few more members for our Coordinating Committee to help in leading and organizing our larger Educators Working Group. 

As a Third Act Working Group, we are collaborating with the “Seniors to Seniors: intergenerational voter registration” campaign to help register high school students and seniors throughout this 2022 graduation season! You can learn more about the projects and campaigns we are thinking about, and how the Third Act Educators Working Group will contribute to Third Act’s campaigns on climate and democracy, please visit our “How to Start” page. We’re still figuring out the areas that we hope to focus on and want to hear from you! If you’re interested in having your voice heard, please RSVP for our Launch Follow-Up Call that will be on June 15, 2022.

If you want to learn more about us, make sure to watch Our Educators Working Group Launch Call (June 1, 2022), the May 25 All-In Call, where we were featured, and/or sign up on our website to join the Third Act Educators Working Group!

We hope to learn more with you all soon.

From now on we’ll be in regular communication.

You’ll get an email from us every two weeks at a minimum, because we’re not just building an organization, we’re trying to build a movement, one with its own culture. Which you can only do when you talk back and forth, regularly. This is Number One—collect ‘em all.

There’s a couple of people you need to meet right away. One is Vanessa Arcara, who’s going to be President of this operation. I’ve worked with her forever; she’s beyond competent, and she’s also got a good heart.

The other is Akaya Windwood, former and longtime President of the Rockwood Leadership Institute—she knows as much about movement-building as anyone I’ve ever met, and she’s going to be Lead Advisor for this project.

Next, there are two early campaigns to know about and help with:

1. Climate Change – Young people have asked us to back them up this year as they take on the big banks—Chase and Citi especially—that fund the dirty, polluting fossil fuel industry. Their first day of action is only a couple of weeks away on October 29. Save the date for joining an action at a bank branch, writing and calling bank CEOs, and learning about how to stop investments in climate-destroying fossil fuels and using your own wealth to advance climate solutions. We may not be fully engaged, but we’ll have some actions scattered across the country. Details here.
2. Voting Rights – It’s possible that the Voting Rights Act of 1965 may be the most important law Congress passed in our lifetimes, so we are horrified to watch the right to vote being suppressed and eroded in many places. Much of the work will be rolled out state by state—but we have one request of everyone. Could you use this form to send us a story of the first time you voted, or of some time you voted in your life that really mattered to you? We know some of you grew up in places where the color of your skin meant you couldn’t vote, and that others immigrated here from places without elections; all of you have stories, which apparently some of our leaders need to hear. If you send them to us, we’ll figure out how to turn them into peaceful ammunition.

Again, you’re going to hear from Third Act regularly.

And here’s a little warning—be on the lookout for an email connecting you up with others based on your location, and also based on what you told us about your life’s work or passion. (We want Third Act Phoenix and Third Act Ohio but also Third Act Lawyers or Musicians or People of Faith or Teachers, or any other groupings that let you bring lifetimes of expertise to bear). If you signed up early, we may not have that information for you, so you can bring us up to speed here. We’re exceptionally grateful to Bob Fulkerson, Anna Goldstein, Veronique Graham, and a host of local leaders who are helping build out that infrastructure.

This communication works two ways. Feel free to respond with ideas or gentle critique, to donate to help support the work, and to encourage us onward together!

With great affection,

Bill McKibben for Third Act

PS: One thing we’re ever more aware of: Americans over the age of 60 have a lot in common, but their lives also span a huge amount of history. Our oldest supporter we know about so far is the great Norman Lear (see his video here) who is in his 100th year—which is to say, 40 years older than our newest members. So part of our task in building a Third Act is to celebrate that long span. One way is with music, which really does cross time. Let’s start with 1959—that’s about the year someone in the exact middle of our Third Act age group would have graduated high school. (People’s musical tastes, it turns out, are formed with surprising strength in their teen years). Each letter from now on we’ll work one year backward and one forward, with a song you might have heard that year at prom.

So let’s look at the charts for 1959—and let’s bear in mind that in 1959 music, like many things in America, was pretty segregated: there were the pop charts (Bobby Darin, Mack the Knife) and the R&B charts (James Brown, Try Me, which hit #1 in February). But there was one song that crossed over in both directions: The great Lloyd Price, who died in May of this year at the age of 88, singing Personality. And in the chorus he asks our kind of question: “Over and over, What more can I do?”

Next time: 1960 and 1958—send suggestions!