‘Older and Greener’: Communities celebrate International Day of Older Persons with climate campaign

Age-friendly Communities across the UK are marking the International Day of Older Persons by highlighting the role of older age groups in tackling climate change.

With the COP26 climate conference just weeks away, environment campaigners say that tackling the climate emergency requires an intergenerational approach, recognising that older people are amongst the groups most at risk from the impact of climate change – from flooding to heatwaves. Despite headlines that suggest a generational divide on climate change, research shows that older people are actually more likely than younger people to feel that acting in environmentally conscious ways will make a difference. In the UK, Age-friendly Communities have embraced the challenge, with 35 of the 52 local authorities that are members of the network having declared climate emergencies so far.

Challenging those misconceptions and seeking to inspire further action, members of the UK Network of Age-friendly Communities are set to hold a range of activities for the International Day of Older Persons, themed around the climate. In Trafford, residents will be marking the day with a climate change walk and talk, and planting trees; Belfast are holding a month of events and activities including a vegetarian cookery demonstration and a workshop on energy efficiency in the home; and Sefton are holding carbon friendly training. In Greater Manchester, older and younger activists have put together a local campaign which includes a series of films and posters that will be shown around the city highlighting the role of older people in tackling the climate emergency.

One of the activists taking part is Jane from East Lindsey in Lincolnshire. Jane says “the science is very clear that we need to do much more than the government is currently doing. That’s why I believe that protesting is the only thing to do. The potential impact of climate change has definitely become a lot more important to me as I’ve got older – I’ve got grandchildren and I really worry that their lives are going to be cut short and made very unpleasant and difficult if we don’t leave fossil fuels in the ground.”