A snapshot of BOLD Climate Action group's recent activities

Blog by Rod Crichton, BOLD Climate Action member 

Hello and welcome to this BOLD Blog! Greetings to those of you who have been part of the BOLD clan in the past – and to those who may just be hearing from us for the first time. As those in the know will tell you, we are a group for the older climate activist (over 60’s).

We’ve been fairly quiet on the communications front for the past 6 months – but far from quiet in deed or action! Behind the scenes there is a hive of activity within our steering committee of Carol-Anne, Christine, Jimmy, Maureen, Peter and Rod. 

To get our points of view across, BOLD needs outreach and linkage with NGO’s and groups who share our priorities for a just journey to a climate-stable world. This creates an opportunity to share information on the work and profile of BOLD; to highlight the impacts of the climate crisis on older people and to input into policy submissions 

• Notable connections have been made in two exciting projects that have both been funded by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. Both projects look at Irish Government responsibility related to Climate Action, Human Rights and Equality: 1) With Friends of the Earth, we’ll be looking at the climate action plans that have been published by County Councils. We’ll see how much they include (or exclude) older people. BOLD has found that older people are especially vulnerable to certain extreme weather events – such as floods and heatwaves. As older people are more likely to live in leaky homes and struggle to afford retrofitting, have County Councils taken factors like these into account? Look out for further news from us about this project. We’d like to invite you to participate in workshops for the project – your contributions would be very helpful.. 2) Age and Opportunity: Following BOLD’s presentation to their staff team meeting on Climate Justice, we were invited to join their citizens’ research programme on the lack of visibility of older peoples’ needs evident in Irish Government’s foreign aid policy.
• BOLD have taken a particular focus on older people’s especial vulnerability to transport and energy poverty in our alliance with Feminist Communities for Climate Justice. They are a network of over 100 groups and organisations from around the island of Ireland involved in Climate Action supported by the National Women's Council and Community Work Ireland. 
• We are also now represented on Age Action’s VOICE forum. This forum is to facilitate the input of the lived experience and perspectives of older people into the work and policies of Age Action. Hopefully BOLD's involvement will also create space for bringing a stronger climate emphasis into their work
• Also we made contact with Age Friendly Ireland, whose aim is to provide a holistic service to enable older people to remain in their homes for longer - motto “Age in Place with Independence”. They provide really practical assistance, tailoring available services to individual need. 

But BOLD is about more than building connections and policy. As far as making a real practical difference, Peter has been a dervish:

• promoting the Warmer Homes Scheme through FoE groups and at Phibsboro’s Buzzfest
• working on funding and installation of solar panels in his local Community Centre and promoting them to four local homes so far in Dunboyne
• establishing a Sustainable Energy Community in Dunboyne
• assisting local Friends of the Elderly with Home Energy Grants for attic insulation etc. for older people - one cottage at present (including mucking in with his son to help clear the attic out!). As these local Actions bear fruit, we hope to roll out the programmes further afield with lessons learned.

Update: Beginning in January, when New Year thoughts will be turning to keeping fit and healthy, BOLD is commencing a series of webinars and workshops - “Healthy Ageing, Healthy Planet”- seeking to square the circle of personally keeping in the pink with worldly wellbeing. First up will be a Zoom meeting “Active Travel – the Magic Pill?” 

You may be wondering what is Active Travel? What benefits does it have? Is it for you? To answer these questions and more we are delighted to have Dr Caoimhe Clarke to present. She is a consultant geriatrician as well as lead in Irish Doctors for the Environment and a member of the Climate and Health Alliance, who recently launched the report with that very title "Active Travel: The Magic Pill". As you might gather, Caoimhe has a huge interest in this area and is a very engaging speaker. This promises to make for a fascinating event. Other topics to be announced will follow. We will be in contact with a date soon!

To sign off on an Active Travel note, just as a bicycle needs its gears and chain connecting to a wheel to make it go somewhere, so BOLD needs its steering committee to take the hunger for change expressed by you, fellow BOLDers, and turn those into actions. Do you want to get a grip on the handlebars yourself so you’ve got more say in what direction we go in? BOLD is looking for new committee members to join us. Together let’s see how far we Older BOLDers can go!

BOLD Climate Action members