Reflections on a Green Future & How We Get There

by Owen Charles, Shoreline Green Party, August 2019

How can you reflect on something that hasn’t happened you may ask (quite logically)? It is simple, actually. Imagination. Vision. Sense of Purpose. Goal-directed steps towards the future we want to see.

More than 65% of Americans would like to have third parties become a part of the electoral process. What many folks don’t know is that there is a chapter of the Green Party active here on the shoreline of Connecticut that would welcome greater participation (www.facebook.com/ShorelineGreenParty and www.shorelinegreenparty.com). There are also chapters in New Haven (www.facebook.com/NewHavenGreenParty) and throughout the state (www.ctgreenparty.org/chapters.html). There are Green chapters in all 50 states, 100 countries, and right nearby you, supporting an agenda that embraces: Grassroots Democracy, Social Justice, Ecological Wisdom, Nonviolence, Community Based Economics, Economic Justice, Feminism and Gender Equity, and more (go to www.gp.org for the details of this and the much-heralded Green New Deal).

The Green Party lives these ideals… by accepting no Corporate or PAC funding… and advocating for powerful legislation. In 2017 and 2018 we ran 8 candidates for office and are presently supporting a slate of candidates for local offices to really make one hopeful and perhaps even excited about voting and democracy. We hope you may consider joining and running for office in the future.

As we despair through a dystopian present, we can keep ourselves spirited by reflecting on the possible future that we envision by laying out plans, thinking long-term, and mapping our way forward, step-by-step.

When we began organizing the local Greens, I was inspired by the words of a Green Party leader, Hillary Kane, which I think, summarizes so much:

I’m Green because I still have hope. Despite all of the pollution, racism, corporate control, money in politics, incarceration — the list goes on and on — I still have hope that it can change. I believe it takes a small band of people — in communities all across the globe — that stand up and say “enough is enough.” The Green Party is that small band and we are ALL across the globe. I am Green because I am not just voting on Election Day. I’m involved all year long and I’m “voting with my feet” by walking away from the corporate-controlled Democratic Party and into the Green Party, where grassroots political action rules the day. Most social movements in this country started small and faced impossible odds. Yet it can be done. I am Green because I have hope for our small band to grow into a mighty wave.

Shoreline Greens welcome participants from all surrounding areas and those in New Haven are encouraged to attend New Haven Greens meetings. We are working with other local groups and welcome doing that more.

Please reach out to us by joining our Facebook group @shorelinegreenparty or contacting me! Owen Charles at [email protected] or [email protected].