By Judy Goddess

Sunset resident Margaret Graf is known to many of her neighbors as the founder and director of Senior Power, a community group for older people dedicated to sharing resources and education to make the aging journey less isolating.

Before the pandemic, Senior Power held monthly meetings in the Community Room at the Taraval Police Station. Isolation among seniors became an even more intense issue with the pandemic. In an effort to keep the group together and to respond to the community’s greater need for connection and resources, Graf began a weekly newsletter.

Articles speak to her Irish background, local events and political concerns including climate change.

“Knowing that there are many more scholarly experts than I who had broached this field, I decided to take an imaginative approach by reporting the personal experiences of climate adaptation through the experiences of a bird,” Graf said. “So, the fictional character of Rob Raven was born.

“Rob’s stories and adventures became an instant success, with discussions, reports of sightings, and even a lunch with the newly famous raven,” she said. “When one of my readers reported reading his adventures to her 7-year-old grandson, I knew I had an intergenerational vehicle that had appeal to all years, followed by a desire (like Rob) to spread the word on this important topic.”

“The Adventures of Rob Raven: Climate Change by Wing & Tail” is written for elementary- and early- middle-school-age students and their grandparents, parents and other adults who care for them. It is a book designed to be treasured before or after a walk on the beach, preferably Ocean Beach, where the story is centered.

Each of the 12 short chapters conclude with suggestions for “doable” activities that young children can handle with adult supervision. The suggested activities are focused on actions that will make life more sustainable for animals and humans – like recipes for homemade suet cakes for birds, participating in a beach clean-up, keeping a wildlife journal, learning to read a tide table, growing a pollinator garden without pesticides, and so on.

It was important to Graf that Rob Raven and his partner Rosie be older, like the neighbors who attend Senior Power.

“Their feathers are getting a little sparse in some areas,” she explained. “Their eyesight isn’t what it was.”

One passage reads: “Some mornings,” Rob admits, “I can hardly get a croak out.” But that doesn’t mean they – like all of us at whatever age – have nothing to contribute.

The book starts when climate change forces Rob to leave his old home in Asphaltland, where rising heat dried up their water hole and reliable building materials were getting sparse. Hitching a ride on the Pelican Express, he heads north where he has heard that humans are more concerned about conservation.

The flight takes Rob over land devastated by high heat, forest fires and receding river banks. Climate woes, he realized, are not limited to Asphaltland.

“Humans are back to their old tricks, taking nature for granted, ruining it with garbage and pollution, and having no plan … at least not one that includes wildlife sustainability,” according to the book. “Ravens will do their bit, but they can’t do it all.” Humans must help, they must “wake up before we all face total destruction and extinction.”

Eventually, Rob and his companions reach Ocean Beach in “Frankville,” where the weather is not as hot, the tide brings all sorts of goodies, and colonies of snowy plovers, seagulls and earlier-arriving ravens promise community. While the land must be shared with coyotes, hawks, raccoons and negligent humans, life on Ocean Beach is basically good. So good, in fact, that under the leadership of Rob and his partner Rosie, the birds on the beach plan a celebration.

When one of Rob’s raven friends goes missing, the party is almost scuttled, but thankfully, a kindly older human Rob has taken to accompanying on walks, is there to help. And all works out well.

“The Adventures of Rob Raven: Climate Change by Wing & Tail” is available at Black Bird Bookstore at 4541 Irving St. Graf will conduct a reading and autograph her book at Far Out Gallery on Saturday, Dec. 16 at 2 p.m. The book is also available through Amazon.com. Proceeds from these events will go to the Community Living Campaign, a local non-profit that serves seniors and people with disabilities.