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My mom is going back to school at 86, and needs your help [1]
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Date: 2025-01-02
She’s one of those rare people who are as sharp in their 80s as most people are in their 50s. She’s been an agent for change from the anti-Vietnam War movement, when she cofounded the Puerto Rico Peace Center in San Juan, to the present day. Not just protesting but doing effective organization and working for and with government and nonprofit groups that help people.
One thing she’s not put much effort into is making money or saving for “retirement”; she doesn’t know what retirement is. But finding a job, even with agencies that supposedly don’t discriminate due to age, is challenging at 86 so she needs to be extra qualified to stand out. To that end, she’s been taking online courses and getting certified in Microsoft office suite, information management, prompt engineering and other things one needs to know these days. And the big one — she wants to take an intensive online course in business sustainability management for the post-petroleum age. If you can contibute a few bucks she and I would be incredibly grateful. If you can share this appeal through your social media of choice, the more people see it the better it works! Thank you.
Keith Langley (OnPugetSound)
Here’s her intro:
“I'm a Tahitian-born, Mexico-raised, bilingual dual US/UK citizen, and at 86 years old I am fortunate to be a "super-ager," still sharp and with much yet to do. I've spent my life making music, climbing trees, sailing, raising children and grandchildren, fighting for peace and justice, building communities, and creating resiliency. In the process, I've earned a Master's degree in Whole Systems Design for Sustainability from Antioch University and put my skills to work resettling refugees, protecting Hispanic farmers' water rights, securing millions of dollars for parks, schools, and environmental projects, and incubating small businesses and startups.
Whole (holistic) system thinking is about seeing the relations between people, organizations, structures, and the environment. These final decades of the Petroleum Age are filled with promise and peril, and we each can have a bigger impact than we imagine. My unconventional education has given me many tools to help individuals and organizations to be EFFECTIVE change agents - but I need more.
I need $2,500 for an 8-week intensive online course from the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, in Business Sustainability Management. This course will enhance my "EarthNesting" skills, helping communities and organizations thrive.
**Course Benefits:**
1. Understanding the impact of global pressures on business.
2. Creating sustainability action plans.
3. Applying design, innovation, and leadership skills.
4. Earning a certificate in sustainability management. This will enhance my ability to land employment at a nonprofit or governmental agency that's working on helping us to remain relevant by remaining human.
I'm not so vain as to imagine the world won't make it without me, but as long as I can help, I want to. In time travel fiction, people worry that changing a small thing in the past will alter the present, but few people believe that changing a small thing now can alter the future. It can, and we can. Please consider donating $25 to $100 to make this final chapter of my life as impactful as it can be.
Thanks, Nicole”
gofund.me/...
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