I’m sure most of my readers are familiar with SSAFE (Senior Stewards Acting For the Environment), an organization of retirement communities focused on dealing with the climate crisis. (For more about SSAFE, visit www.ssafe.org.) SSAFE recently established an annual award to honor members who have done outstanding work in climate advocacy, and the very first recipient is Kendal resident Barb Smith.

Barb was chosen for her work on the protection of deep-sea habitats against the threat of mining for minerals that are in short supply. The mining activities might have a devastating impact on marine ecosystems, both on the seabed itself, and in the ocean waters above, where the unneeded “tailings” would be dumped by the mining ships. Not only did Barb put together a presentation here in the Kendal auditorium, she also spearheaded work on a petition to the International Seabed Authority and to Elon Musk, who wants to mine the seabed for materials for EV batteries. SSAFE circulated the petition, which received hundreds of signatures.

I recently spoke with Barb about the origins of her interest in protecting the seabed. She told me that her son, a lawyer who works with the Deep Ocean Stewardship Initiative (www.dosi-project.org), pointed her to the book The Brilliant Abyss by Helen Scales. Reading that book convinced Barb that more needed to be done, and she brought up the issue at a SSAFE Advocacy Team meeting, which led to SSAFE’s petition drive.

More details about the award and its origin can be found at https://ssafe.org/net-zero-all/2023-mike-burke-excellence-in-advocacy-award-annouced/

Congratulations to Barb for this well-deserved honor!