The post-Labor Day dash is upon us. My family and I are feeling the melancholy that comes with shorter days, the faster pace of September into October and the knowledge that we have stepped onto the people mover that brings us with alarming speed to the holidays and the middle of winter.
But something else is going on. The primary is over and the general election looms. The only way to beat the fear I feel growing as each day brings us closer to Nov. 3 is to act now and do something to make the change I want to see. It is about who is elected of course, but it is about how we make it happen. Everyone needs to vote and have easy access to a voting process that works for them in their own situation. Everyone in our household is now of voting age. We are lucky enough to be able to talk about these issues in our family. What follows are thoughts from all of us.
At age 22, it’s not at all uncommon for my friends and I to have heavy conversations about our futures – or rather the lack of futures we envision ourselves having. Will we be able to have families one day? Is it even morally right to bring children into this world when it seems like the only direction things are going is down? How will we survive more climate fires, droughts, and hurricanes, especially with an administration that rolls back on environmental legislation, not to mention who sullies the image of what it means to be a proud American?
My generation is feeling the pressure of an insurmountable climb – yes, we are an inspired, motivated, and capable generation, and we are already fighting and speaking out against injustices in our world. But to sit back and say “Well, it’s up to our youth now” is dangerously passive and unfair. We are barely two decades old – we are just starting to figure out who we are and where we might want our lives to take us – and yet the responsibility has been left entirely on our shoulders to amend the crisis we are in? I don’t think so.
Yes, it is imperative that my age-group vote. But we all need to. Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America, made many sacrifices in her work to bring health care, higher wages, voting rights, and so much more to the thousands of oppressed and marginalized farm workers in the 1960s. She made sacrifices so that her children could have meaningful lives. Will we be able to give our children meaningful lives?
I am 24 and stuck at home. I have thrown myself into the work I can do here to help get out the vote, educate people about climate change, and learn as much as I can about our candidates. But we need to remember, this is no longer a competition between political candidates; this is no longer a battle between parties. This is a fight for our survival as humans.
The climate crisis is happening now. As climate fires burn across the West, hurricanes tear through communities in the South and around our country, early frosts and chilling temperatures distress crops here in New Hampshire, and COVID-19 continues to devastate each and every one of us, climate change is and will continue to affect every single one of us. Period.
This is the time for our country to role model what it looks like for individuals to put down their weapons, their hate speech, their opinions, and come together in the hopes of giving our Earth, all life everywhere, and each other a chance at survival. Because the alternative is too frightening to even imagine.
Speaking from the perspective of a 57-year-old, I am deeply saddened by the fact that the struggle to protect American democracy is facing its greatest threats not from Russia or China or North Korea or the Taliban. The greatest threats are coming from within America itself, and from the highest offices in the land. Put aside for a moment efforts within the past year to suppress, confuse, restrict, and frustrate the Black and brown Democratic vote. Put aside the president’s efforts to discredit absentee voting during a pandemic and to stymie the efficiency of the United States Postal Service. Consider that for the first time in history, the president has openly declared that he might simply reject the outcome of the general election and force the decision upon a newly aligned Supreme Court.
Our country needs racial healing. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have died of COVID-19. Millions are newly unemployed. In my opinion, no election has ever mattered so much for the future of humanity. Whatever our political affiliation, Americans of conscience dare not abandon our children’s generation to utter hopelessness for their future. Sitting out this election dishonors our children as well as the memory of the many martyrs of the civil rights movement who died to protect our vote.
So how can you combat climate change? How can you fight for a brighter future for yourself and others? How can you help elect a president who will listen to the people of our great nation? You spread the word, you talk to your friends and family, you volunteer, write letters, host webinars, post on social media, write op-eds, and most importantly? You vote. Because your vote matters, and so do you.
(Laurie, Marta, Brynne and Jed Rardin live in Concord.)