Youth & Elders for a greener, kinder world

“In and through community lies the salvation of the world.”
— M. Scott Peck

On July 18, 2007, Nelson Mandela announced the formation of The Elders, an idea brought to him several years earlier by entrepreneur and adventurer Richard Branson and recording artist Peter Gabriel. According to Branson, since the world is now a global village, “it’s time we had our global village elders.” Among the group are Nelson Mandela, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Kofi Annan, Jimmy Carter, Mary Robinson, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Muhammad Yunus, and several others.

As President Mandela put it, “Let us call them Global Elders, not because of their age, but because of their individual and collective wisdom. This group derives its strength not from political, economic or military power, but from (their) independence and integrity…They can help foster and introduce innovative ideas and little known solutions to connect those who have real practical needs with those who have something to give.”

We believe that every city, town, and village in the world needs its own Council of Elders…and Youngers! Both groups are vastly under-utilized resources at a time when we need all hands on deck. This need not – and should not – be the case. The longing to contribute amongst both groups is only matched by the complementary gifts they have to bring.

Building on the success of Utne Reader’s Neighborhood Salon movement and the “Let’s Talk America” initiative, the Utne Institute is launching local Community Earth Councils (CECs)—first right here in Minnesota, then across North America and around the world. CECs are designed to:

1. Train young and old participants in the arts of council, as a vehicle for social and environmental entrepreneurship;
2. Identify and discuss common interests and concerns;
3. Inspire and equip participants to create events, projects, or enterprises that address social and environmental issues at the local level; and,
4. Link CECs together (and to other service projects and organizations) in a global, web-enabled network, so they can share resources and ideas and collaborate on common ventures, making a global impact through their collective intelligence and coordinated action.

Community Earth Councils:
Building on the Success of Utne Salons

“Never doubt that a small group of
committed citizens can change the world.
Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
— Margaret Mead

In 1991 Utne Reader published a cover story entitled, “Salons: How to Revive the Endangered Art of Conversation and Start a Revolution in your Living Room.” In the section, readers were invited to send in their name, address, and daytime phone number if they wanted to meet other Utne Reader readers in their zip code. The magazine got over 8,500 responses and eventually set up 500 salons, with 20 people in each, all across North America. Within a year, more than 18,000 people had joined the Neighborhood Salon Association, meeting at least monthly in office conference rooms, church basements, coffee shops, and—mostly—in each other’s living rooms. The Blue Man Group met and formed in an Utne Salon. Countless marriages, businesses, and non-profit initiatives got started there too. Several schools and co-housing projects trace their genesis to Utne Salons.

Shortly after the issue came out, a number of large daily newspapers, including all 77 properties in the Gannett newspaper chain, started discussion circles for their readers. The salon movement was born.

In 2004, the Utne Institute joined with several other organizations to launch “Let’s Talk America,” a nationwide movement that brought Americans from all points on the political spectrum together in cafes, bookstores, churches, and living rooms for lively, openhearted dialogue to consider questions essential to the future of our democracy. Again, many new initiatives for the common good grew out of these gatherings.

We are struck by the fact that, in groups that came together for conversation, collective actions so often emerged. That’s why we’re convinced the world is ready for the next generation of citizen gatherings: Community Earth Councils. Beginning with conversation and community building, they will move beyond talk, taking thoughtful action for the common good.

“…Your old shall dream dreams and your young shall see visions.”
— Joel, 2:28

Eldering: Traditionally and Today

Most traditional cultures have had councils of elders. One of the primary roles of these councils was helping young people identify and affirm their unique gifts and find their place in the community. While some cultures are still relatively intact in this regard, for many the guidance of youth into fulfilling and purposeful roles in society is accomplished superficially or haphazardly, if at all.

Malidom Somé, who was born in 1956 in Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), was initiated by a council of elders in the ancestral traditions of his people, the Dagara tribe of West Africa. Holding two PhD’s in literature from the Sorbonne and Brandeis, Som speaks gratefully of how his initiation at age 22 was a learning experience that helped him “…come to understand the sacred relationship between children and old people, between fathers and their adolescent sons, between mothers and daughters. I knew especially why my people have such a deep respect for old age, and why a strong, functioning community is essential for the maintenance of an individual’s sense of identity, meaning, and purpose.”

According to author Terry Mollner, eldering is a verb, the act of helping another grow to his or her next level of maturity. A young person can elder an older person as well as the other way around. Eldering is a reciprocal relationship, a vehicle for mutual exchange and learning.

CECs: Transforming our Planet…One Community at a Time

A common lament these days is a reaction to Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth.” It goes something like this: “I’m convinced that global warming is a fact, there’s simply no denying it. But, besides changing my light bulbs and lobbying my representatives to pass more eco-friendly legislation, what can I do?”

Enter Community Earth Councils (CECs).

CECs are groups of local citizens united in their desire to heal, steward, and sustain the earth, socially and environmentally, locally and globally. They are local responses to a host of planetary crises, not just climate change. Each CEC is unique, generating its own activities according to the ideas, interests, resources, and abilities of its particular mix of members.

Our fundamental premise, or theory of change, is that engaging young people and elders in thoughtful, heartfelt conversation about their interests and concerns will encourage and enable them to take meaningful and productive action. We bring diverse groups of young and old together and help them get to know each other. We then equip them with a variety of tools and practices that empower them to act together to address both local and global human and environmental needs.

A Self-Empowered Community Group: Linden Hills Power & Light

Our shining example of citizens coming together for the greater good is Linden Hills Power & Light, which began when a small group of Minneapolis neighbors asked themselves what they could do in response to Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth,” and Minnesotan Will Steger”s “Global Warming 101.” First they started a campaign to promote year-round bike use by local students to neighborhood schools. Then they thought about all the food scraps and paper wastes they generated at home, which just ended up in landfills. How, they wondered, could these be put to use instead? Their answer: an anaerobic garbage digester, producing methane gas that could either be bottled and sold to 3M, or used to put electrical power back into the grid. They consulted with experts, devised a plan, and took it to the City of Minneapolis, which thought it made a lot of sense. The city has now begun to collect organic waste from 4000 homes in Linden Hills. This program will serve as a pilot project for similar efforts in neighborhoods throughout Minneapolis.

“I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.”
— Albert Schweitzer

Civic Engagement through Multi-Generational Councils

The purpose of Community Earth Councils (CECs) is to increase the level of grassroots citizen engagement and to build more vital communities. We bring together young people and elders (our most vastly under-utilized but passionate and knowledgeable human resources) to create local initiatives to address the social and environmental challenges of our time. Organized by individual citizens as well as high schools, colleges, businesses, civic and fraternal associations, faith communities, and other organizations, CECs foster the arts of mentoring, group facilitation, and social entrepreneurship. Building on Utne Reader’s Neighborhood Salon movement, CECs enable people 50 and older to become true elders, while engaging the next generation in service projects that help them develop their gifts and find their place in the community.