+ This is What an Activist Looks Like campaign

International Day of Older Persons was on 1st October and to celebrate, the GMOPN teamed up with Talking about My Generation to launch a new campaign called This is What an Activist Looks Like. The campaign featured older and younger activists in their communities and showed how generations are working together to tackle climate change.

The activists came together to launch the video on 1st October at a public living library event at Manchester Central Library. There they shared their stories and inspired others to make changes too. A living library event allowed visitors to browse the ‘bookcases’ and chose the ‘story’ they wanted to listen to, pull up a pew, and have a conversation with their chosen activist, who was all set to share their personal stories about their activism to inspire all generations to act.

Additional videos were created for the This is What an Activist Looks Like campaign – featuring residents from Wigan and Tameside.

Chair of the GMOPN Steering Group, Elaine Unegbu, said, "We wanted to share a positive message about how important it is for the generations to come together to tackle big issues like climate change. This is not about young versus old, it’s about all of us doing our bit, as individuals and in our communities. We can all do something and so many people are playing their part already and enjoying themselves in the process. Climate change is a serious business but you can still have fun and make a difference at the same time. We need to celebrate what people are already doing and inspire others to do the same. Ageism tries to divide generations - but the fight against climate change is uniting them."

An Activist Lesson pack for primary schools was also created. The pack was designed to inspire our next generation and show that we can all be activists and make a difference in our own way, supporting our communities and coming together to tackle the big issues like climate change.

Download a “This is what an Activist looks like” lesson pack here.

GMOPN members developed this campaign through our Representation and Ageism Campaign Group, where we developed the key messages and tone for the campaign. The network wanted to show older people making a contribution and generations working together in a positive way, challenging damaging divisions between old and young. The campaign links with an overall theme for Older People’s Day this year #OlderAndGreener.