To my amazement, I’m now 88 years old; I don’t know how I got here. So many elderly people sit around having their cocktails and going to Florida, not really being alive. I want to continue to count for something no matter that I do feel my age.

We humans need to understand that we are part of nature, whatever we do to nature will come back to us. Unfortunately, too few seem are aware of this. I have nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. I have terrible visions of what they will face before they are my age. I believe if people don’t wake up we’re done for. I want to help younger people do something—I think it’s up to them, not us older people.

My own children are already well provided for financially. I have what I need to live from the income from a trust set up by my late husband, which will go to our children at my death.

So I am now donating my forest land in South Carolina (about 800 acres) and most of my remaining assets (about $2 million) to Clemson University. It will become “Hardscramble Connections Center,” an educational project teaching us about our vital interconnectedness. I’m very excited about it.