"The Green New Deal (with a Touch of Gray)" with Mick Smyer, PhD, Founder of The Graying Green Project

I have a real treat for you guys today, for all sorts of reasons, not the least of which is that at the end of this interview, I am going to drop a bomb. But first, let me introduce my next guest, who I discovered while perusing a copy of USA Today while waiting to catch a plane from Brazil to Mexico. I was traveling to record videos for my new Go!Mobile Youtube channel, which is for people who want to travel in an environmentally sensitive way, sometimes referred to as eco-tourism. You’ll find a link to those videos in the show notes.   What caught my eye in this issue of the newspaper was an op/ed entitled, "Kids, it's time to give your parents 'the talk.' Not that one, the one on climate change.” “Wow!” I thought. This op/ed contains two issues I am really passionate about: intergenerational communication, and the environment. The author, and my guest today, advocated opening channels of communication between generations on the controversial topic of climate change by keeping the discussion short, social, and positive, and I like that approach. Unfortunately the resulting comments to the op/ed were anything but positive, in fact, they were downright harsh.   I wanted to understand the issue better, so I gave the author a call and invited him on the show, so today I am delighted to introduce you to Mick Smyer,  PhD, a professor of psychology at Bucknell University, and the founder the Graying Green project, which brings together climate communicators, scientists, community and business leaders to make older people more visible, valued and effective on climate action.   A national expert, Dr. Smyer has written and lectured extensively on aging. He has also consulted with Fortune 500 companies, state and national legislative leaders and higher education organizations on the impacts of aging. Mick cares deeply about the environment, and you can really feel that in this interview, in which he gives me a polite but appropriate schooling on how to be appreciative of the prior generation. I like that.   Finally, and perhaps most impressive, are Dr. Smyer's prodigious skills as a washboard player with Pennsylvania’s own Rustical Quality String Band. I’ll give you a taste of that sound at the end of the show, but first, let’s hear from Dr. Mick Smyer, PhD, founder of the Graying Green project.