By Alliance President Terry Gips
I can more than relate to the depressing, debilitating experiences of young people today as highlighted in the Lancet study as I’ve felt them myself and they’re in the DNA of the Alliance for Sustainability.
In my early 20s I became enraged at the prevalent willful ignorance and lack of adequate action on everything from the Vietnam War and politics to the treatment of animals and the environment. However, I soon found people didn’t want to be around me and I had to bury my anger, hopelessness and despondency so that people would even be willing to talk with me.
I had to learn to keep it contained but use it as fuel for my fire. I decided to channel it into positive, strategic action. Consequently, I decided to work as hard as I could in my personal and professional life to turn the tide in numerous arenas.
My need to redirect my internal fury led me to run Jerry Brown’s successful 1974 campaign for Governor in Yolo County, co-found the Sacramento Community Garden Program and work for two US Representatives and then President Carter in 1979, where I conducted research on energy conservation and renewable energy due to the nationwide oil embargo.
Little did we know then about the climate crisis to come and that energy conservation and renewables were key to its solution. Sadly, the US global leadership in both areas was abandoned by the new administration.
From Planetary Threat to Possibility
At the same time, I was deeply concerned about global hunger, the environmental impacts of agriculture and growing corporate control of our food system. Consequently, I worked and researched in 45 countries around the world to discover whether we could feed everyone on the planet without destroying it in the process.
The answer I discovered was a resounding yes. Together with the leaders I met, we co-founded what is now the Alliance for Sustainability (www.afors.org) 41 years ago to make that a reality for our world’s children and all life. We were young with little funding but lots of hope and energy, plus a big vision of sustainability.
The Darkness of Depression from Our Planetary Destruction and Back to Hope
I spoke at conferences across the country about the cutting-edge, breakthrough work of organic farmers around the world. Audiences were excited and uplifted. But back home, the funders, elected officials and the media I knew quite well weren’t interested. Even my own family wasn’t willing to buy organic.
I became deeply depressed, even though I had a great home and life. My depression continued to worsen over three months as I painfully witnessed our rape of the planet. It confounded me that we wouldn’t chose a healthy, sustainable future instead of the grave harm we were causing to people, animals and future generations. It was so distressing I went to bed at night and willed myself to not wake up.
Finally, out of the blue, University of Minnesota Biology Professor William Cunningham asked me to speak to his ecology class, which I had spoken to before. I said I couldn’t given my depression but he insisted.
I finally gave in and shared slides of our horrific impact on the planet just from agriculture. People cried, along with me. And then I shared inspiring stories and slides of the extraordinary, ingenious organic and indigenous farmers often braving numerous threats to create a sustainable future. I ended by saying we had little time to support them and turn things around.
Following the presentation, an attractive older man walked up to me and said he agreed with everything I said and that he wanted to support our efforts. I was dumbfounded and my depression disappeared.
The man introduced himself… Horst Rechelbacher, the founder and CEO of the Aveda Corporation, the world’s largest natural personal care products company. He asked if we could have lunch and six weeks later he had me speak to the Aveda World Congress with 600 of its leaders from around the world. The result was that Aveda went organic and we developed a partnership which supported our efforts.
I share this to underscore how distraught our young people can feel by our lack of listening and action. But as I experienced, just one person can make a huge difference.
The Power of We — Overcoming All Odds to Change the World
And since then, I’ve witnessed how the joining together of many people can change the world. The Infant Formula Action Coalition and the Nestle Boycott began in the same building and by the same group as the Alliance, the Third World Institute, which was a small group of people taking on big challenges. Less than 30 people with a powerful message grew to millions and somehow successfully overcame all odds and corporate opposition to create the greatest consumer victory in the history of the world.
In 1989, following the massive Exxon Valdez oil spill in the Arctic, the Alliance joined with other environmental groups, socially responsible investors, religious institutions, labor unions and the pension funds for the State of California and City of New York to create the CERES Principles for Corporate Environmental Responsibility, which have now been adopted by hundreds of corporations and other entities.
Then in 1992, the Alliance worked with more than 100 NGOs and various governments to overcome agrichemical industry opposition and get all 178 countries attending the UN Earth Summit in Rio to adopt sustainable agriculture as a goal. And it was there that then VP to be Al Gore awakened awareness about the threat of global climate change. It’s hard to believe we’ve taken three decades to recognize the seriousness.
Clearly, collective action can change the world and our mental well-being. There’s a real imperative for us to support such initiatives. And now that I have four children from 26 to 13, I have been moved to dig deeper and work even harder, especially as the climate crisis has worsened.
Turning Horror into Action and Hope – An Antidote for Climate Anxiety
But things really shifted for me and everyone at the Alliance in 2020 with the horrific murder of George Floyd, along with the devastating, growing climate crisis and unbelievable threats to our democracy. The Alliance re-evaluated our work and felt we had to scale our impact.
We created our Campaign for Sustainability, Health, Equity and Kindness (S.H.E. Kindness) to fulfill this commitment. It is fueled by the Alliance’s 10-15 diverse, dynamic and committed college and grad school interns from across the country. I feel called and honored to volunteer full-time to support them and their vision in strategically addressing the numerous challenges we face. Making a difference together is one of the best antidotes to climate anxiety.
Though the threats are daunting, we have a sense of purpose, hope and possibility. We find joy and connection as we support each other and make a difference