“Rocking Chair Rebellion”
By: Third Act Connecticut
Davida Foy Crabtree, George Stone, Andrea Wyatt
Co-Coordinators
Third Act Connecticut is a statewide movement focused on climate and democracy. We are organizing with a sense of urgency, a commitment to inclusion and justice, and a belief in the power of community. We are working to initiate activism and advocacy – both against climate chaos and for strengthening of our democracy. Third Act Connecticut first gathered with activist and educator Bill McKibben in the Spring 2023, and nationally presently has over sixty-five thousand people who have signed up.
Third Act Connecticut launched this week as an affiliate of Third Act, and we are presently in the process of recruiting Connecticut citizens to join us.
“We need your urgency and passion. Third Act Connecticut will take up challenges specific to Connecticut. Third Act calls upon us, especially as we reach 60+, to share our energy, expertise and commitment to causes we believe in. In this ‘third act’ of our lives, we can build powerful community – creating a sustainable future for our grandchildren. As we retire, we have abundant resources and endless opportunities for engagement,” says Patrick Hennessey.
Connecticut, the Constitution State, has been at the forefront of advocating for democracy since the Fundamental Orders of 1639. It’s in our DNA. We are well acquainted with acts of resistance to tyranny and unjust authority, most notably in the stories of:
The Charter Oak from 1687
The lives of Prudence Crandall and Sarah Harris
The Amistad trial
“Third Act Connecticut will tap into this DNA. We will resist threats to democracy. We will advocate for a fossil free future. And we are not alone! Together, we will overcome a sense of paralysis. We will work in concert with others of similar commitment – locally, across our nation, and around our globe,” says Hennessey.
The destruction of our beautiful and fragile earth is the ultimate call to resistance, creativity and community – and in all three of these we find hope. Join us to build an inclusive and diverse movement of solidarity in a time of transformation. We need you.
What We Do
“Experienced Americans” are the fastest-growing part of the population: 10,000 people a day pass the sixty-year mark. That means that there’s no way to make the changes that must be made to protect our planet and society unless we bring our power into play.
We’re used to thinking that humans grow more conservative as they age, perhaps because we have more to protect, or simply because we’re used to things the way they are. But our generations saw enormous positive change early in our lives—the civil rights movement, for instance, or the fight to end massive wars or guarantee the rights of women. And now we fear that the promise of those changes may be dying, as the planet heats and inequality grows.
But as a generation, we have unprecedented skills and resources that we can bring to bear. Washington and Wall Street have to listen when we speak, because we vote and because we have a large—maybe an overlarge—share of the country’s assets. And many of us have kids and grandkids and great grandkids: we have, in other words, very real reasons to worry and to work.
Third Act is guided by a volunteer Advisory Council led by Akaya Windwood. Windwood facilitates transformation. She advises, trains, and consults on how change happens individually, organizationally, and societally. She is on faculty for the Just Economy Institute, and is founder of the New Universal, which centers human wisdom in the wisdom of brown women. She was President of Rockwood Leadership Institute for many years, and directs the Thriving Roots Fund, which supports young woman’s finance and philanthropic learning and leadership, based in generosity and interconnectedness.
Bill McKibben is a founder of Third Act. He founded the first global grassroots climate campaign, 350.org, and serves as the Schumann Distinguished Professor in Residence at Middlebury College in Vermont. In 2014 he was awarded the Right Livelihood Prize, sometimes called the ‘alternative Nobel,’ in the Swedish Parliament. He’s also won the Gandhi Peace Award, and honorary degrees from 19 colleges and universities. He has written over a dozen books about the environment, including his first, The End of Nature, published in 1989. His most recently released book is The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon: A Graying American Looks Back at his Suburban Boyhood and Wonders What the Hell Happened.
The Third Act model is based entirely on volunteers running their operations in their state-based or affinity working groups. It’s a huge responsibility. We’re darn lucky to have so many capable volunteer leaders running our working groups. Yet we have tens of thousands of people who want to be activated and connected to our groups, and we can’t help them all fast enough.
To learn more about Third Act, and to sign up for notifications or to join the movement go to:
https://thirdact.org/working-groups/connecticut/
