Love the water butts in this old photo - pinched from another blog here that has lots more re the 'Cottage Homes for Aged Persons Bill, 1912' - so many of the solutions we need are from yesteryears - at least water butts are once again returning.
Photo: Nelson Mandela bust in South Bank, LondonIt is also refreshing to see the launch of elders by Nelson Mandela and others. Mandela said at the opening the Elders could prove effective in "working objectively and without any personal or vested interest" in dealing with seemingly intractable problems where others fail because of "political, economic and geographic constraints...This group can speak freely and boldly, working both publicly and behind the scenes on whatever actions need to be taken."
Then again will this be an excuse for the likes of older statesmen to strut their stuff still more with out-of-touch ideas and worse?
See more re Elders here: http://www.theelders.org
Plus of course groups like Transition Towns already have written in to their steps that a key point in transition to a different society is that elders should be honoured. Indeed for those of us born in the 1960s when the cheap oil party was in full swing, it is very hard to picture a life with less oil. Indeed with the exception of the oil crises of the 70s we've had more energy year on year than previous years.
Rob Hopkins writes: "In order to rebuild that picture of a lower energy society, we have to engage with those who directly remember the transition to the age of Cheap Oil, especially the period between 1930 and 1960. While you clearly want to avoid any sense that what you are advocating is ‘going back’ or ‘returning’ to some dim distant past, there is much to be learnt from how things were done, what the invisible connections between the different elements of society were and how daily life was supported. Finding out all of this can be deeply illuminating, and can lead to our feeling much more connected to the place we are developing our Transition Town projects."
2 comments:
There is one obvious name missing from 'the elders' and that is YOU
(another missing name is me)
It is exactly the sort of pompous self serving bovine scatology that
you'd expect from the likes of Branson and Gabriel (all right so the
latter did found Womad, but that is no excuse for getting on stage this
year and playing the most turgid load of drivel ever executed in the
name of live music - well I expect he eventually reached some sort of
old man's climax, but by then I had long decamped to the big red tent to
catch the stunning Balkan Beat Box whooping up a frenzy in the mud)(but
talking of old men's climaxes I have to acknowledge that Taj Mahal has
still got what it takes, and many of the wilder bands included members
who looked to be at least 90, but that may just be because my whitey
eyes can't tell the difference between a middle-aged Toureg tribesman
and an elder statesman) which brings this ramble back to the question of
elder statesmen - I simply can't understand why people persist in
believing that because someone was once cutting edge their later ideas
are automatically still worth listening to - you need to judge them by
what they say today.
James Lovelock would be a good example of another 'senior' figure who
has patently gone off the rails and lost the plot, and yet he gets
treated with absurd reverence.
If these people want to get involved in sorting out today's problems
they need to have something relevant to offer today and not just have
once pioneered a mail-order record business or made a duff prog rock
concept album.
In the same way as the GP proposes to elect its leaders every two years,
so our elder statesmen should be subject to review and recall. At least
there is no chance of us falling for the Branson/Gabriel line of vacuous
Hello magazine leadership - we are seeking a servant leader who can
empower and unite us more effectively and who is clearly part of a team,
not a poser.
Could have also mentioned:
http://www.greenseniors.org/
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