“After the final no there comes a yes and on that yes the future of the world hangs”    ~Wallace Stevens

In 2006, Al Gore made this argument in the movie An Inconvenient Truth: the one thing lacking to solve the climate crisis is “political will.” In 2015, he is still stating this same basic fact. We have found an untapped source of this much-needed portion of this will. Project Green and Grey exists to identify, activate and create this political will.

In a January 15, 2015 article on the Grist website titled “Here’s What Climate Activists should do in 2015″ was this quote, “One big common theme: The need to broaden and diversify the climate movement, bringing in low-income communities, people of color, and other groups that haven’t traditionally been engaged in green causes.”

Project Green and Grey is doing just that by engaging Americans 50 years and older in this fight.

What the Green and Grey campaign is for: A clean-energy future leading to climate solutions.

What the Green and Grey campaign is against: Policies that promote a continued reliance on carbon-based fuels.

Our vision for engaging people 50+ is to identify and train a state-level leadership team in each of the target states. We provide tools needed for success- training, branding, list building and communications capabilities, materials, fund-raising assistance, a targeted, professional newsletter, a Green and Grey e-mail address, and a partner in DC.  These leaders will be comprised of people who fit our demographic and who have already shown an interest in working for climate solutions but have yet to connect to a larger effort. We will then engage this team in developing a state-specific plan for raising this issue in their state.

The organizing philosophy emphasizes engaging people where they are in terms of how they consume information and what they believe they can contribute. In other words, we will choose electronic contact only when in-person contact makes no sense. Whenever possible, we will err on the side of deeper engagement over numbers. The skills of these individuals will drive what we ask of them, knowing those over 50+ tend to want to be asked to do things that reflect their skills and knowledge. Ideally, the team should seek to know their activists as one would know a co-worker.