A grassroots group in the Harrisonburg area, mostly led by retirees, has educated the public about climate change and advocated for solutions for 18 years. This spring, they decided to disband, and pass the environmental baton to other organizations that have sprouted up. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.
The first seed was planted by a hurricane. Two hurricanes, actually – Ivan and Katrina. Cathy Strickler, a retired Harrisonburg High School counselor, and her husband Charlie, a retired dentist, volunteered doing disaster relief work in Grenada and Mississippi. They questioned what was fueling these powerful storms.
CATHY STRICKLER: I started reading and learned that climate change was the main magnifier of these horrible events that change people's lives, and destroy some lives. … I said, "I've got to do something."
In 2008, she founded the Climate Action Alliance of the Valley, or CAAV, with the early goal of electing politicians who would address climate change.
STRICKLER: We soon realized that we needed to educate people first, before they cared enough to form a force of advocates.
Lynn Smith, a retired James Madison University track coach, was a founding member.
LYNN SMITH: We were looking for ways to get people to take in the information, and the science of it, and the need for being active. … I thought it was really hard for people to actually accept that this was happening. … We wanted it to become a part of people's lives.
With a core group of around eight to 15 people throughout the years, CAAV branched out into a myriad of projects – film screenings, talks, protests, Earth Day celebrations, political lobbying, public art, fundraising for natural disaster victims – the list goes on. WMRA covered several – including a 2017 event in support of the Paris Climate Accord.
CHRISTOPHER CLYMER KURTZ [archived tape]: … Anne Nielsen, too, returned.
ANNE NIELSEN [archived tape]: We can do this, for ourselves, for our children, for our grandchildren, for the planet. We have no choice. But it's a happy choice. We can do this.
And a look at their community composting initiative in 2019.
ROSIE LYNCH [archived tape]: We've gathered 31 tons of compostable waste.
MARGUERITE GALLORINI [archived tape]: And that's Rosie Lynch …
STRICKLER: Another action that stands out that was very controversial was that Mark Warner was here as a senator and had a luncheon meeting at Clementine, and we found out about it and organized a march that drew people from the region, and crowded the street, Main Street, because he was supporting the KXL Pipeline out west.
That's the Keystone XL Pipeline that was proposed to transport tar sands oil from Canada to the U.S. It was officially abandoned in 2021.
STRICKLER: A lot of people thought that was totally inappropriate, because he was a Democrat.
Laura Dansby, a local mother and community volunteer, her husband Bishop, and the Stricklers got arrested in D.C. in 2013, protesting that pipeline.
LAURA DANSBY: The whole area in front of the White House – the park … it was filled! … It wasn't that scary until – I guess the scary part was when they put the handcuffs on [chuckles] and loaded us onto the paddy wagon.
But CAAV wasn’t just organizing and marching in protests. Joy Loving, a retired Social Security analyst and management information analyst, was an early adopter of residential solar panels in Rockingham County. Through CAAV, she worked with the national nonprofit Solar United Neighbors to create four solar cooperatives throughout the Shenandoah Valley.
JOY LOVING: It was a buying in bulk kind of thing. … They got a pretty good deal on the installation. And of course, at the time, there was also a federal tax credit. … It helped promote something I thought was really important, which was to give people the opportunity to have some energy independence in terms of their energy source, and to reduce their electric bill as well as help the climate.
Les Grady, a retired professor of environmental engineering, led the group's speakers bureau.
LES GRADY: The most interesting talk that I gave was to the Page County Tea Party. … Most of them were sitting there with their arms crossed across their chest. I approached it from the science. … As I went on, they started asking questions. The arms came down. And by the end of the talk … they still stood around for 15 or 20 minutes just one-on-one asking questions. … That's one where I really felt like I wasn't preaching to the choir!
His wife, Joni Grady, a retired high school librarian, recounted a parade they marched in as part of the Carnival de Resistance in 2013 – a traveling artistic performance promoting the theology of creation care.
JONI GRADY: I dressed them in shredded black trash bags, and they were zombies – fossil fuel zombies. And a couple of fellows, Doug Hendren for one, wore a fancy coat and a top hat, and he was an oil millionaire. So we chased him up the road. … The zombies came out and danced and danced and finally threw off our bodies … and buried them!
They rallied against the Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast natural gas pipelines at regulatory hearings and community meetings.
CHARLIE STRICKLER [archived tape]: I’m so thrilled to see the young people finally starting to jump in … it’s their future, not mine.
[Anti-pipeline group singing protest songs]
They commissioned a steel sculpture, named "The Defenders," that they set up around Nelson County, near the path of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
That project was canceled in 2020 following years of legal battles with environmental organizations and local grassroots groups across the political spectrum. When Cathy Strickler heard the news –
CATHY STRICKLER: Well, I cried, because I didn't think it was possible. I just thought we were doing the right thing, but I really thought it was impossible. But I was so pissed that I wasn't going to stop.
With many of CAAV's founding members now in their eighties – or beyond – the steering committee has decided to shutter the organization. Many of them told me they're sad to see it end, but proud that other groups such as Renew Rocktown, Livable Harrisonburg, and Valley Interfaith Action are carrying on the work. CAAV has borne its fruit – and in doing so, reseeded the valley soil.
[Group singing at 2017 Paris Climate Accord event]
