Ordinary people have more power to change the world than they think they do. But it’s hard to stay positive and motivated with the increasing polarization, difficult politics, and the climate crisis in front of us every day. Please join activists Sue Inches and George Lakey to find out why the disruptions we face may be the best opportunity we’ve had in years to create a future that is compassionate, peaceful and healthy.
Since childhood, Susan Inches has envisioned a world that is compassionate, inclusive, and environmentally aware. This vision guided her through a 25-year career in public policy. As Deputy Director of the Maine State Planning Office she lobbied for a portfolio of environmental policy issues on behalf of the Governor. Signature policy issues she’s worked on include fisheries, land use planning, smart growth, building and energy codes, energy policy, working waterfront access, community finance, and rural broadband.
Sue now works as a speaker, educator, author and advocate with a focus on the environment and climate change. She is actively engaged in advocating for environmental rights and energy democracy. She holds a BA in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic, and an MBA from the University of New Hampshire. She has taught advocacy skills at Colby, Bates and Colorado Colleges. Her recent book is Advocating for the Environment, How to Gather Your Power and Take Action.
George Lakey’s first arrest was for a sit-in during a civil rights campaign in 1963, while he was studying at the University of Pennsylvania. Previously he’d been active in demonstrations with the Congress of Racial Equality. With Martin Oppenheimer he wrote A Manual for Direct Action (1964) for the civil rights movement. The daughter of Martin Luther King, Rev. Dr. Bernice A. King, later described that book as “literally a lifesaver for many during the height of the struggle for black freedom and dignity.”
In 1964 he joined the training staff for Mississippi Freedom Summer, in which nearly a thousand students from the North went to Mississippi to lead Freedom Schools and do voter registration. After helping design an activist curriculum with civil rights leaders Bayard Rustin, James Farmer and others, he taught at the Martin Luther King, Jr., School of Social Change, assisting young civil rights workers from the front lines to develop further their leadership skills.
After taking advanced studies in sociology at Penn, Lakey wrote a series of articles and books on the theory and strategy of nonviolent struggle. He taught at Haverford College and the University of Pennsylvania. In 1990 he co- founded Training for Change. He has led over 1500 workshops on five continents, including work with the African National Congress and in the civil rights movements of Zimbabwe, Taiwan, and Myanmar. He has also been an activist in other social movements in the U.S.: anti-Vietnam war, gay liberation, Men Against Patriarchy, Jobs with Peace (a labor coalition), and climate justice. “Peace Educator of the Year, 2010”
Books will be available for sale and signing after the event courtesy of Sherman's Maine Coast Bookshop.