Get What You Give

Watching Rosa Parks funeral procession pass my office yesterday, got me thinking about how important activism is to social change. The more I thought about it, the more I realized the importance of the work of my own organization, Greenpeace. Don’t get me wrong, I am no Rosa Parks, but Greenpeace does have a more than thirty-year history of raising hell to protect the planet, and some of our founders were very brave indeed.

Greenpeace is rather unique in the environmental world. Non-violent direct action is at the heart of Greenpeace’s work. Bearing witness to environmental destruction and using non-violent direct action to, even if just briefly, make things as they should be. From activists putting themselves between whaling vessels and whales, climbing smokestacks, or forest rescue stations that protect some of the last remaining old growth forest, the common thread is the activists that place themselves in the right place at the right time to stop a wrong.

A colleague forwarded along a link to this Greenpeace video. I realized as I watched it, the importance of activism and taking stand. And while we may feel discouraged at times, we have do have the power to make positive change.

Check out this link to the New Radicals video – people really can make a difference, and its an inspiring thing to understand.