Column: Thanks to Thunberg, 101-year-old makes a stand against climate change
Normally I post stories about inspiring young people. But I believe being young at heart is an excellent reason to be acknowledged. With that said, meet 101 year-young Marian Sachs.
“I am 101 years old and live in an assisted living facility,” Sachs wrote, saying that she was inspired by Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg’s activism on climate change. “There is not much we seniors can do to help,” Sachs wrote. “However, I have thought perhaps we could observe one meatless day a week in our dining room. The proposal has met with remarkable acceptance by our residents.”
Her hero Thunberg, 84 years her junior, has stared down complacent world leaders and exclaimed, “How dare you … entire ecosystems are collapsing.” But Sachs — whose home is a gallery of the wildlife painting she took up as a hobby — did not want to talk politics.
“I’m rendered speechless,” Sachs said. “Don’t get me stirred up.”
Photo of Marion Marx, left, and Marian Sachs, 101 years-young
Sachs told me she recognized that she and her fellow residents couldn’t change the world on their own, but doing nothing is not an option. The meat-free menu was all she could think of, and her neighbor and friend Marion Marx embraced the idea.
“We have to do something,” said Marx, “or we’re going to be in dire straits.”
Less meat means lower methane emissions, said Sachs. And if we don’t keep cutting down trees to clear space for grazing, that would help, too, said Marx.
A small weekly sacrifice at one retirement center won’t accomplish much, the women conceded.
But it’s better than doing nothing, Sachs said, and the idea might catch on at other retirement centers. If a teenager was able to start a movement, why can’t they?
