Steve
aka Greenpeace Cyberactivist Polecat
19 August 2001
"You? A Greenpeace activist... it's a joke, right?"
No, it really isn't, but I had some trouble convincing
my friends of that. It turns out that people consider it
outlandishly out-of-character of me to be a Greenpeace volunteer.
Maybe I need to work on my image but in
the meantime, let me tell you how I went from being an individualistic
environmentalist to the proud owner of a jungle-hat. In
a few days I'll leave for Brazil to participate in the Deni
demarcation programme.
Most of the time, we set off with an idea or conviction,
we decide to do something about it and eventually find a
way. There are times, however, when all you have to do is
be visible and the opportunity will find you or, more to
the point, it will hunt you down like a jaguar. Here is
where the
Greenpeace Cyberactivist community comes in because I am
living proof that it actually works. I can't explain why
without telling you a bit about myself.
At the age of nineteen I joined the army with an urge to
do it right. I soon found myself stepping off the train
in a remote part of northern Sweden, the home of the fourth
Cavalry Arctic Ranger regiment. Becoming a ranger did a
lot of things to me and not all of them good, but it also
showed me that not only can you survive, but you can also
find stunning beauty in a wilderness so cold it makes reindeer
literally freeze to death.
Successively, the army took me on a United Nations Peacekeeping
Forces mission where I learned that extreme heat can be
as deadly as extreme cold and also that a desert tornado
is as awe-inspiring as the northern light over a frozen
mountain. After leaving the army I went through
several incarnations and careers but I always kept returning
to the mountains, carrying a camera instead of a rifle.
It's my firm belief that if you spend enough time in nature,
it is inevitable that you start to feel remorseful about
the damage that humans do to it.
With age you also start to wonder if there will be any wilderness
left for your future children to enjoy. That's when you
start signing partitions, recycle your garbage and send
money to Greenpeace.
Unfortunately, the leap from being a passive supporter
and
environmentally concerned individual to practically mobilizing
yourself can be a very long one, at least if you are anything
like me.
There may also be a (perceived or real) cultural barriers
between you and the mythical Greenpeacers that are hard
to penetrate. I believe that the Cyberactivist
Community is a time-typical vehicle to bridge that chasm.
I am convinced that without it, I probably would not have
met the great
people at the Greenpeace Nordic office, and I would not
be going to Brazil on Wednesday. I would certainly never
have got this chance to meet the Deni, to contribute so
directly in the effort to help save their land and therefore
ultimately my own.
All this happened because I noticed a request for volunteers
when I was browsing the Greenpeace Activist News email one
day. The listed requirements made me stop scrolling and
pay attention because to my surprise I recognized myself.
I can safely say that up to this point I had never
considered volunteering for this type of thing. Sometimes
things just match up so well that you feel there's an order
to the universe, a scheme of things, what C.G. Jung called
synchronicity. It takes a bigger fool than me to refuse
such a calling.
Right then and up to the point where I received a phonecall
from Greenpeace Brazil three months later, my doubt was
not if I was suited for the task, but if I was welcome as
a Greenpeace activist.
I have my fair share of prejudices and I was pretty sure
that my profile didn't match that of the typical Greenpeacer.
I also realized that an organization with the word "peace"
in its name might have some prejudice of their own, towards
people with my past. So far I have been proven wrong in
my fears and while I've been met with a healthy curiosity
regarding my status as a nutcase or a fairly sensible individual,
I have always been given the benefit of the doubt.
You may have the idea that the people you see hanging from
drilling platforms on TV are a different breed than you,
and that you're best advised to stay hidden in the shadow
of the cybercommunity and the anonymity of annual monetary
contributions. I am learning that this isn't the case.
Here's what it boils down to: the struggle for global
environmental awareness is a fight for mankind. In the long
run, the planet can probably take care of itself but if
we don't stop our destructive tendencies, we will not be
around to see it.
It gives the term self-defense a whole new meaning, we
are defending 'us' against ourselves and it is everybody's
business. Not only is there something for everyone to do
but more important, we really need all types of people in
this struggle. We need the young idealists as well as the
old pragmatists, the action-oriented people in the field,
as well as the patient researchers in the labs. A homogenous
crowd isn't an advantage in this movement, but rather its
biggest threat.
All you need is your concern for the environment we live
in. There is a mission for you out there and if you can't
find it, just sit tight, it'll find you.
Residence: Johanneshol, Sweden
Date of birth: 7 August 1965
Swedish citizen
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