It’s very cheering to see more and more of the senior generation coming forward and making their voices heard above the white noise of the business as usual clamour. Grandparents have traditionally championed the cause of grandchildren and right now more and more of us are becoming very disturbed at the prospects for their future.

We see little chance of things changing for the better as events like Copenhagen, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and the G20 Summit all end as fiascos. Watching world leaders dither and floundering around in a futile search for ways to patch up our broken unworkable economic systems instead of building new sustainable ones would be funny if it weren’t so frightening. Gambling with our rising generations futures is so irresponsible it’s no wonder we seniors feel compelled to stand up and demand change. As James Kunstler says in his blog – where are the adults?

Well, I’ll tell you where some of them are – they’re networking on websites like GreenSeniors.com and GreenGranny.org and if like me, you’re feeling in need of some inspiration you’ll find plenty of it here. I urge you to check them out and see what you, as a concerned grandparent can do to help change things. Here are role models worth emulating. Browse around their sites, read their blogs, check out the links and come away feeling re-energised.

Yes, I can make a difference despite my society’s attempts to side-line and discount me as nothing more than a burden. I do have a very urgent role to play today, joining increasing numbers of older people as champions of our grand-children’s future.

As I uncover more of these senior activists websites, I’ll post up the links here. And if you come across any, be sure to tell me about them so I can add them to our network.

Time is running out for both us and our children’s children.

Living in the 3rd Age raises a lot of challenges which I hadn’t expected to face. I thought it would be a time of reflection and contemplation, reading and philosophising with old friends. But not so. Every day seems to bring fresh demands on my time, attention and energy. The times they are a-changing.

Having grown up during the era of Vietnam war protests, anti-nuclear ban the bomb demos, civil rights marches and  equal rights battles, I figured that my activist period was behind me. That I would move into the sunlit uplands of my later years that I had read so much about as a young man. But not so. It seems the times are still a-changing.

The struggles that were so important during the period of the 60s and 70s have been supplanted by new more pressing demands on my attention during my own 60s and 70s. The political activism of my youth and mid-life, my first and second Ages, has morphed into the green activism of my 3rd Age.

And there is a troubling difference. Although those early struggles seemed frightening and potentially life-destroying if we lost the battles, we never really believed we would fail. In the darkest, bleakest moments of the Vietnam war and  even peering into the abyss of the Cuban missile crisis, we retained some threads of hope. Holding hands with the women of Greenham Common as we circled the nuclear airbase, it was impossible to believe we would not ultimately triumph. But not so today.

Today I engage in the new green struggles for the planet – the twin threats of Peak Oil and Climate Change with a sense of foreboding I don’t recall from the 60s and 70s. Is the difference just my age? The idealism of youth versus the skepticism of old age? What has brought about that sea change from optimism to pessimism? A lifetime’s accumulation of experience, perhaps? The sinking feeling that this time we’ve gone too far, past the ‘tipping points’ the scientists continually warn us of.

Am I alone in feeling like Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner buttonholing the wedding guests, fixing them with my glittering eye, pointing in horror at the approaching cliff edge? But the wedding guests do not want to hear bad news, for there’s a party going on, there is still more fun to be had with plenty left over for our children to have their turn.

On more days than I care to admit to, I am sorely tempted to rejoin the party. What perverse instinct always puts me on the outside looking in – pointing the finger, forever the party-pooper. But although I cannot bring myself to rejoin the party, I can at least discern a possible alternative to joining the doom crowd.

The little wall-eyed French philosopher, Jean Paul Sartre seems an unlikely person to pin my hopes on but I have always secretly admired his courage in facing up to his awful truth. It is true, he said, that life is meaningless. But we must act as if it had meaning. In other words, we must create our own meaning. In the face of the abyss he declared himself an optimist – every day making new meaning out of life.

I admit it’s not much to hold onto as I enter my 75th year, my three-quarter century mark, but you have to start somewhere. As the poet Theodore Roethke said, “I learn by going where I have to go.”

I had no idea I had so much in common with James Hansen, the chief climate scientist at NASA. It turns out we are both grandfathers and both obsessed with how we can rescue our grandchildren from the plight our society is intent on inflicting on them.

In his new book, STORMS OF MY GRANDCHILDREN, Hansen spells out, chapter and verse, the life-threatening errors we have made and continue to make that are going to create a living hell for our granddaughters and grandsons.

And he is quite clear about who are the only ones who can take the hard decisions and  make the necessary changes. The young people – the rising generation. The rest of us are too in thrall to our western standard of living even though we know it is unsustainable. In spite of knowing all about Peak Oil and climate change.

So does that let me off the hook, then, as one of the older generation? I am part of the problem, not part of the cure?  I can continue adding  my small portion of deliberate destruction of my and your grandchildren’s lives?

Am I being too melodramatic here? Over-egging the pudding? Not if Hansen is to be believed. The crisis is real and it is here now. Right now. So why don’t I act – do something to match the enormity of the crisis?

The answer is obvious, of course. I’m waiting for you. And who are you waiting for? That’s right, you’re waiting for me. So round and round we go, circling the drain.

But not James Hansen. He has called time. The party’s over. The jig is up. And why has he taken this stand – stated  clearly that Obama doesn’t get it? Harsh words but necessary, he believes. They leave him open to attack and there are plenty ready to do so. Tens of thousands of lobbyists for a start. Hundreds of vested interests telling him to go back to his laboratory where he belongs. So why doesn’t he?

Because he is a grandfather. Like me. We are both concerned about our grandchildren. Notice how as grandparents we talk about our grandchildren, not our children. Does that mean I’m not concerned about my kids? Sure I am. I think about them all the time. Daily. But when it comes to Peak Oil and climate change, I leap-frog a generation. My kids will have it tough in the years ahead, no question. My grandchildren, however, on current estimates, don’t seem to stand a chance.

Unless. Unless I, as their grandfather, part of the problem – become part of the cure. A clear role – James Hansen has shown the way.  On present behaviour, my grandchildren have a lot to worry about.

Am I up to the challenge? Are you?

At last after many slippery errors and delays my latest novel in the 3rd Age Trilogy - THE BLUE-EYED BOY is released. It is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble as well as my publisher’s website: booklocker.com.  It is also available as an e-book from booklocker.com, to read on your computer or for those of you early adopters with e-book readers such as Kindle, I-Pad or Sony’s e-book reader.

The audiobook version will also be available soon from my website – it’s being recorded and edited at present and should be available soon.

Meantime, you can read the first two chapters of THE BLUE-EYED BOY here.

As I move tentatively into 2010 I become more and more aware of an impending sense of unease. Like most of us, I want to get on with my own life – writing, in all its variegated hues, but voices from the wider world – voices I read and respect – are becoming shriller and shriller. Many are tinged with fear.

Up until now I suppose, I’ve managed to somehow fit them into my world-view, such as it is, by rationalising that many of these voices are coming from the same sector of the political/social/environmental/economic spectrum – what is broadly referred to as ‘the left.’

Being from the left myself, I am familiar with their temptation to overstate the case in order to draw attention to the problem. This is perfectly legitimate to my mind so long as ultimately what they have to say is true.

But lately, the voices are coming from all sides – right, left and centre. And they are all singing from the same hymn sheet. They might be using different verses or different words but the tune is recognisably the same. Financially, economically, environmentally, demographically, socially – the music goes round and round. We are circling the drain.

One of the many dilemmas this poses for me as a 3rd Ager is how to prepare for the coming crisis. The options open to me are not the same as those open to my children and their generation.

Consider: I am on a fixed income – small pension and modest savings. Next, I cannot retrain at my age, to do something else to become more flexible and roll with the impending punches. Further, I have only limited energy compared to my kids. If I were 40 or 50 or even 60, I would seriously consider becoming a farmer.

But I have no illusions as to how much energy and strength that requires – even on a small scale. And that is what the farms of the future will be. Small. And heavily labour-intensive as oil becomes increasingly scarcer.

When, of course, is the question on everyone’s mind, if not their lips yet. Can’t I risk just a few more years of my current life-style before I need to change my unsustainable ways? It’s amazing how precious my life-style is to me, now that it’s threatened with removal. I have become acutely conscious of how soft I am – how easy I’ve had it for so long.

Al Gore said recently, how are we going to face our grandchildren when they confront us with our criminal behaviour?

Setting aside the moral dilemmas for a moment, there are a few practical things to consider. One is the number 2013. That is the date currently most favoured as the next crunch point. The point when oil prices rise so high that our economy collapses again. 2013 is less than three years away. Three years to figure out how to get prepared.

Shall I rent or buy? Shall I conserve my savings or spend them before they become swallowed by inflation?  Shall I buy land and grow food for my grandchildren? Have you seen the price of land recently? An awful lot of people are obviously thinking the same thing. As Mark Twain said: ‘buy land, they’re not making it anymore’.

Shall I live in my small town or Vancouver, so I can use public transport and get rid of my car? Or shall I live in the country so I can at least grow food for my family when my money is inflated to worthlessness? How long can I go on being self-sufficient with my fading energy levels?

Currently, I’m backing my local community as the best bet for the future. But local communities can only survive if they prepare in time for the looming energy and climate crises. And if my community is anything to go by, most of us bear a striking resemblance to the Gadarene swine. Remember them?

As someone aptly remarked, growing old is not for sissies.

Christmas is the time when the latest new ‘must-haves’ appear and this year is the year of the ebook reader.
There are several to choose from but the one that’s hogging the limelight is Barnes & Noble’s Nook.
So far, most of the reviews seem positive and in the ratings tables it has outclassed its two main rivals in almost every category. I’m referring to Amazon’s Kindle and Sony’s two e-book readers.
There is as always good news and bad news. The bad news, at least for Canadians like me is that the Nook only sells and functions in the US so far.
Both Amazon and Sony’s e-readers are now available everywhere, I understand.
The other downside to them all is the price. All of them sell for around $250 US. But watch the January sales for deals according to insider reviewers.
If you want to try them out you can now find them in the big electronic stores and the Sony e-readers are on sale in some of the larger bookstores.
The Nook is on display in Barnes & Noble bookstores and website. The Kindle is Amazon’s top-selling item on their websites, they claim.
If, like me, you’ve been toying with owning one of these e-readers but couldn’t make up your mind, the jury is still out. Apparently several other big boys – think Google, Microsoft and more Japanese manufacturers are launching devices soon.
So reluctantly, I guess I’ll wait a bit longer before I buy unless the price drops below that $100 barrier which probably won’t happen too soon. If I do weaken, I think my money will go on the Nook.
To make up your own mind,  just google latest e-book readers for reviews of what’s out there – there’s quite a few at the Las Vegas gadget show this month, too.
And if you do decide to buy one don’t forget my novels are available as e-books too.

Just finished reading YOUR WORLD IS ABOUT TO BECOME A WHOLE LOT SMALLER by Jeff Rubin. For anyone who wants to have a succint overview of what’s in store for all of us in the coming decade, I urge you to take a look at this book. I think it has particular relevance to those of us over 60 who don’t have the option of going back to work when everything begins to fall apart. The writing is on the wall and we’d do well to take the time to read what it says if we don’t want to be caught with our guard and our pants down.

Tough times lie ahead as outlined by Rubin so we’d better have a plan ready to deal with them. If you’re looking for a new year’s resolution I suggest putting this book at the top of your list of must reads.

Best wishes for 2010 but remember Louis the 14th’s cry – ‘Apres moi, le deluge’….

The old adage that everything takes longer than you thought certainly applies to writing books. For this past summer and autumn I’ve been redrafting, editing and revising THE BLUE-EYED BOY, the second novel in my 3rd age trilogy. But finally, it is with the publisher and should be available in January. Watch this space.

Hopefully, the last book in the trilogy, A SINGLE STEP will be finished this winter and ready for release in the spring.

In my latest book, THE BLUE-EYED BOY, I’ve been exploring all the themes of the first novel, IN HOT PURSUIT, against the backdrop of travelling through China, Tibet and Nepal as well as Europe. The two 3rd Agers, Barney and Alice Roper go in different directions as they follow their new-found freedom to explore how best to navigate through the uncharted territory of life post-60.

THE 3RD AGE TRILOGY follows the life journeys of Barney Roper and his wife Alice, a pair of ‘60-something’ empty nesters who determine to explore this next stage of their lives fully to see what this 3rd age has to offer.  Their journeys take them in opposite directions and into new relationships which they hadn’t foreseen. Alice stays anchored in the UK but Barney travels first to Canada, in the first book, then Asia – China, Tibet and Nepal in the second book and to Europe and Africa in the last book of the trilogy. Although they decide to divorce, they are continually thrown back together by the problems faced by their children. But they persevere with their new roles as 3rd age pioneers – breaking trail for their kids, as Barney sees it.

IN HOT PURSUIT- Book 1 – Published June 2007 – more info

THE BLUE-EYED BOY – Book 2 – Published March 2010 – more info

A SINGLE STEP – Book  3 – available later 2010 - more info

A Novel for the ‘sixty-somethings’

IN HOT PURSUIT is my first novel about a couple of empty-nesters facing life in the 3^rd Age. Here’s a brief synopsis:

Barney Roper is a ‘sixty-something’ in search of some purpose to this third age of his life. His children have all left home and his marriage seems an empty shell. He decides to break from his wife, Alice and go back to his roots in Canada.

Alice, in her turn, determines to change direction and follow-up on her long-cherished wish to study archaeology. She plunges into her new life as a 60-year-old Oxford student and quickly becomes entangled in an unexpected relationship.

Barney, meanwhile, starts hares in all directions with some amusing and unpredictable results – his stated aim to follow TS Eliot’s dictum that ‘old men should be explorers’ takes him into the seamier sides of Vancouver.

Whatever else they expected their 3^rd age to be, it is certainly challenging and they both willingly rise to meet it. The novel deals head-on with all aspects, both funny and sad, of living fully in this undiscovered country of the ‘sixty-somethings’.

To read the first two chapters – download here