SHEP Elders for Earth

ELDERS FOR EARTH is a network of adults who are concerned about the world we are leaving to the next generation. We are grateful for the beauty and wonder of the world we inherited, and we would like to pass that on to our children and grandchildren, our grandnieces and grandnephews. But we have woken up to the fact that our way of life, with its constant pressure to buy more, consume more, and dump more, is leaving them instead an impoverished world, and maybe even an unliveable one.

We are resolved to do all we can to change things before it is too late. If our children and grandchildren ask us, “What did you do to stop the chaos and the destruction of life?”, we want to be able to look them in the eye and say, “We did the very best we could!”

We know that this will require change in our own lives. But we also know that change is needed in the structures of society and the economy, and that the politicians who represent us must act to change those structures and the laws and rules we live by, so that they are no longer encouraging unlimited and unsustainable consumption, and so that responsible choices become the easier choices.

In joining ELDERS FOR EARTH we commit ourselves to

• Cultivating our appreciation and gratitude and love for the wonder and beauty of our universe

• Opening our minds and hearts to the catastrophes facing our planet, its people, and the whole web of life, and letting this knowledge affect the way we live, so we are less caught in the trap of consumerism

• Promoting awareness of these issues among our families, our friends, our colleagues, and our communities, and supporting movements and groups working for a just and liveable world, for sustainable and humanly fulfilling communities, and for the protection of the web of life

• Lobbying and educating our politicians on these issues, acknowledging positive steps taken, and encouraging and persuading them to take the further difficult steps that might halt and reverse the slide into destruction.

• Supporting each other in our efforts to act effectively on these commitments.