What did you do in the climate crisis, Grandma? | Fi Radford | TEDxBristol

'Retirement is a time to rebel!'

Fi Radford is a septuagenarian encouraging people of all ages and backgrounds to channel their fear, despair and inertia of climate breakdown into positive, tangible action.

The word ‘retirement’ usually implies sitting back, relaxing and winding down - but Fi's TEDx talk challenges this assumption, exploring instead the wisdom, experience and free time that older generations in particular can bring to critical problems.

Fi says, 'We, the Elders, have a key role to play. Do all that you can in the active years you have left. We owe it to the children to leave them the best legacy we can – a sustaining, diverse and inhabitable planet.'

One of the earliest members of campaign group Grandparents for a Safe Earth, Fi has spent the last decade committed to environmental activism. Last year, aged 70, Fi joined Extinction Rebellion on the streets of London. Previously a very law-abiding citizen, she was arrested in Oxford Circus, and continues to lead young and old in environmental actions across the country.

In her earlier years Fi studied Modern Languages at Oxford University, worked as a librarian and raised two sons. She has been happily married to her husband, Andrew, for 50 years.

#ExtinctionRebellion

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Born in 1948, the eldest of four children, Fi went to St Hilda’s College, Oxford, on a full grant to study Modern Languages. Shortly afterwards she married Andrew, the young man she met at a speaking competition, that she won. Nearly 50 years later they are still together, and during that time Fi has worked as a librarian, raised two sons and given her time to a wide variety of voluntary work, including running a Christian retreat house.

Fi’s environmental ‘lightbulb moment’ came while living in France in the early 2000s. It was during this time, when she was engaged in a period of deep spiritual reflection, walking the hills and studying the writing of Marion Woodman and Joanna Macy, that she heard the trees screaming during the heatwave of 2003. Her mounting fear for the natural world and desire to speak out brought her back to Bristol, where she immediately threw herself into environmental activism. A dedicated member of ‘Grandparents for a Safe Earth’, over the last decade she has dressed up as a polar bear, a spider monkey and an orangutan, signed hundreds of petitions, lobbied her MP and occupied the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy for six hours in June 2018. Since its launch in October 2018, Fi has been an active member of Extinction Rebellion.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Good evening.

Earlier this year, I did something
I have never done before in my life,

something I never thought I would do.

I got arrested.

(Applause) (Cheers)

Yep, that's me up there,

being carried away by four policemen
from Oxford Circus

during the Extinction Rebellion
protests this April.

Now, I suspect that, some of you
may be wondering why on earth

a respectable, middle-class, 71-year-old,

(Laughter)

granny like me would do such a thing,

especially at a time of life when many
my age are settling into retirement,

enjoying the grandkids
and maybe planning the odd cruise.

Well, the answer is really very simple.

I am afraid, and I am angry.

I am afraid because I've been
listening to the climate scientists,

who tell us that time is running out

to stop this beautiful
Goldilocks planet of ours

from tipping over into irreversible
climate and ecological disaster.

I fear for the future
of children now alive,

let alone those still to be born,
and I am angry, very angry,

with those in positions of power,
who could do something about it

but who seem to lack all political will

and absolutely any sense of urgency.

If eminent scientists,
whose knowledge I respect,

tell me that all that I love is in danger,

well, I'm sorry, I'm going
to do something about it,

even if it does mean getting
into trouble with the law.

Now, I suppose at this point I ought
to be giving you some facts and figures,

but quite honestly, I don't see the point.

Facts and figures
just don't seem to cut it,

those same eminent scientists
have been giving us facts and figures

for decades now,
and nothing seems to change.

Carbon levels in the atmosphere
continue to rise,

and the fossil fuel industries continue
to flourish with business as usual.

Well, OK, I'll just give you one fact.

The last four years
have been the hottest ever recorded

since records began in 1850,

and 2019 is looking set to top the lot.

Now, this does not mean, yipee,

we can all holiday
on the coast of Cornwall.

No, it means, extreme weather events,

it means flooding and draughts
and wildfires and dying coral reefs

and food shortages,

and thousands, if not millions

of climate refugees
fleeing their uninhabitable homes.

Estimates vary over how long we've got

before we reach that 1.5 degree increase

in average global temperatures

beyond which we dare not go.

Some say we have as much as 10-11 years,

others a good deal less.

Whatever the case,
surely there can be no denying

that we are facing an existential crisis,

the like of which, humanity
has never faced before.

That is why I want to use
my TEDx talk tonight

to call out to my generation,
the baby boomers.

The school children
are in the streets right now,

protesting against their stolen futures
and demanding urgent action,

and we should be with them,
out there with them, in solidarity.

After all, it has been on our watch
that the worst of all this has happened.

So, baby boomers,
consider this your call-up.

We need an army of rebel retirees.

The earth, your children
and your grandchildren need you.

Or else one day you might hear
one of them say to you

'And what did you do
in the climate crisis, Grandma?'

Now, I'd just like to say a few words
to that younger generation.

Well, only one word really.

'Sorry.'

You have every reason
to be very angry with us.

All I can say is, that we did not realise
what we were doing at the time.

But some did,

and they will have to answer to you
and the court of future generations.

When I join your youth strikes,
and I read your placards,

and I hear your impassioned words,
it moves me to tears.

You and Greta Thunberg
have my total support,

so please, talk to your parents
and your grandparents.

Explain to them just what's at stake
and get them to join you on the streets.

And now, a few words to my sons'
generation, the ones in the middle.

You have demanding jobs, young families,

and yes, elderly parents to care for.

Your lives are busy and stressful,
and time is at a premium.

But when you do have a moment,

you must be concerned about
your children's and your own future.

Why not show your parents this TEDx talk

and see if you can enlist their support?

I know that some of you
have taken the very difficult decision

not to bring children into a dying planet,

and I really respect that decision,

though it makes me very sad.

Others of you do all that you can
to keep your carbon footprint to a minimum

but have little time for activism.

I do understand.
I didn't either at your age.

Allow me to share with you
just a little bit of my story.

I have to confess that I'm a latecomer
to activism of any kind.

Although I was a teenager in the '60s,
I never got involved with Ban the Bomb

or the Greenham Common Women,

and my very first march
wasn't until 2003 against the Iraq War.

But during my 50s and 60s,
I have grown increasingly concerned

about the environment.

I can't deny that it was my love
of animals that first drew me in.

I grieved for that poor iconic polar bear
in the melting ice of the Arctic

and the terrified orangutans
in the burning forests of Indonesia.

And closer to home,
I mourn our own disappearing wildlife.

And then, on top of all that,

there is the sheer
outrageous injustice of it all.

That those who have done
the least to cause this problem

are even now suffering its worst effects.

In 2009, I could bear the pain no longer.

We moved from France to Bristol,

just so that I could get engaged
in environmental activism,

because for me, activism
is the antidote to despair.

And so for the last 10 years,
I have dedicated myself,

along with others,
to campaigning for life on earth.

And that is why I so want to call out
to more of my generation,

many more, to get on board.

I love this quotation by Maggie Kuhn.

She founded the Gray Panthers
in America, and for me it says it all.

'The old, having the benefit
of life experience,

time to get things done,

and the least to lose
by sticking their necks out,

are in the perfect position to serve
as advocates for the larger public good.

We must act as the elders of the tribe,

looking out for the best
interests of the future

and preserving the precious compact
between the generations.'

She's right, we do have the benefit
of hard won life experience

and with it a certain amount of wisdom.

This is something only
the elderly can offer,

so let's give up striving to be young.

This youth-obsessed society of ours,

now, more than ever,
needs the wisdom of wise elders.

I will never forget the words
of a young man who said to me

that when he saw old people lying
on the bridges in London last November,

he felt as though it gave him
permission to be there.

Age does confer a certain amount of wisdom
so let's not be afraid to use it.

We also have something else
that many others do not have:

time.

So much so, that some of us feel lonely

and isolated and lacking in purpose.

Age UK has estimated

that there are over 1.3 million
lonely retirees

in this country at the moment.

Don't be lonely; get involved.

Extinction Rebellion
has a group called the XR Elders,

and in Bristol some of them
call themselves the Aged Agitators.

Here is a picture of them, marching
through the streets of London this October

in their splendid silver cloaks.

They brought dignity and gravitas
to the proceedings,

and they did not risk arrest.

(Cheers) (Applause)

I can promise you, you will never
feel lonely on a demonstration.

And you never know,
you just might find your tribe.

Maggie Kuhn also says that we have
little to lose by sticking our necks out,

and I certainly found that to be true
when I got arrested.

All that I risked was 12 hours
in the local police station

and a 70 pound fine.

The police treated me
with the greatest kindness and respect.

Now, I do realise
that as an old, white woman,

I have a certain privilege here,

something that not all
sectors of our society can enjoy,

so all the more reason to use it.

Seeing older people, get arrested
has a particularly powerful effect:

it breaks the stereotype of the activist.

But of course,
you don't have to get arrested.

There is so much else
that needs doing behind the scenes.

There's office work
and catering and legal observing

and welfare and media and driving.

So much else.

But if you do choose to get arrested
and to lay your body on the line,

it certainly makes an impact.

In the Native American culture,

there is something called
the 7th generation principle.

It holds that for every decision we make,

we must take into account
its effect on our descendants

seven generations into the future.

The elders of the tribe
were the custodians of that principle.

Sadly, in our mad, materialistic world,
we've lost that role.

So, let us reclaim our rightful place
as the elders of the tribe,

and with it find our tribe, our community,

our sense of identity and purpose.

We are living in a time

of unprecedented, dramatic change.

We, the elders, now more than ever

have a key role to play
at this crucial time.

Future generations are counting on us.

So please join the rebellion,
support the youth strikes

and do all that you can

in the remaining active years
you have left to work for a safe earth.

We owe it to the children,

to leave them the best possible legacy.

Indeed, the only thing
they will ever really need,

a diverse, sustainable
and inhabitable planet.

(Applause)