So you want to change the world?

I have never been afraid of being an island. In a sea of trends, fashions and hash tags, I have often stood still — believing in the things that have gradually anchored from my childhood to become the core for who I am in adulthood.

It hasn’t mattered to me advocate unfashionable (sometimes anti-fashionable) beliefs alone; in fact I enjoy the challenge: to seek out those who harbour enough empathy to re-align their moral compass somewhere in the direction of recognising the beauty of wildlife and power of the natural world.

“Revolution will not be organised”
Announces the slogan of the recently released docufilm “How to change the world”. The story of Greenpeace co-founder Bob Hunter explores the mission that Greenpeace’s crew undertook in sailing to a nuclear test zone; how Hunter manages to consecutively drive the group apart, then re-assemble the organisation before standing between a whale and a harpoon, and in front of an Arctic ship carrying seal carcasses.

But I know enough to realise that great things can happen when you irradiate borders to embrace an ally. It’s just that letting other join you can mean watering down: compromising — or worse, leaving yourself exposed. And that’s where being ‘the island’ has an advantage: where being cut off can feel like king.

“Like much of the world, George Dante knows that the African elephant is under siege. A booming Chinese middle class with an insatiable taste for ivory, crippling poverty in Africa, weak and corrupt law enforcement, and more ways than ever to kill an elephant have created a perfect storm. The result: some 30,000 African elephants are slaughtered every year, more than 100,000 between 2009 and 2012 and the pace of killing is not slowing.” National Geographic magazine.

I feel fortunate, however, in that my cautiousness has served me well. The bridges that I’ve built have connected me to those individuals who continue to encourage and inspire me on my way to really understanding the depths of my desire to make a difference. And to the revolutionaries — the best of the best — ‘anti-fashion’ simply means ‘forward thinking’.

Vivienne Westwood was amongst the panel at the premiere of ‘How to change the world’: “When Greenpeace was doing all this [pointing at the screen], when all this was happening, I was at home raising my children; wondering what all these hippies were talking about,” she mused. “But then I heard about the Arctic, about Shell and about predictions for the future population rates — how it’s not sustainable — and I woke up. Something has to be done.”

But as an independent, or surrounded by companions or allies, there is so much that needs reviewing, reforming, redirecting that it can be hard to keep yourself from drowning in all the issues you want to see made better. I’m only just beginning to understand how to stop myself from sinking.

From a reading of St Francis, by Will Travers at ‘A service of celebration for all animals’, 17th October.

“He explained that it’s easy to love animals towards which we feel love and admiration, but we must also love, in his words; ‘wicked and ferocious animals, animals which we find sickening and repugnant, ones which we are spontaneously tempted to crush beneath our feet. Love should not be solely reserved for the things that are dear to us, even slithering reptiles which will never raise their voices in song or sing hymns praising creation’.”

I think the key is to do. To do together, to do as an individual, to do as a team, to do as a crowd: whether captain or crew mate, I think if you put your views into practise, you can be firm in keeping those morals anchored down, whilst holding your head above water.

‘They did exactly what they were supposed to do: they proved that the Black Mambas: a nearly all-women anti-poaching unit created to protect the reserves rhinos, could keep poachers out of the park. Still, says Mkhabele, “It would have felt good to shoot the guys who keep trying to kill our rhinos.”

“They say women can’t work on the bush. So I am very proud of us here, because we are working in the bush. Without guns, as women. It means we are strong”.’ Nkateko Mzimba, 24 year old member of the Black Mambas. TIME magazine.

A 25 year old woman, I choose to surround myself with this kind of knowledge: to be a part of this world, sink or swim, because I believe in power of education and the power of ‘preserving’ over ‘conquering’. Maybe it helps to be comfortable with being an island, but maybe it brings with it a previously little understood notion; that to stand alone one has to learn how not to be conquered, or invaded by single-track opinions and ignorance.

“The most important role, however isn’t in the reserve, but in teaching the value of wildlife to residents of impoverished townships surrounding Balule and Kruger National Park where many poachers originate. Many locals see wildlife sanctuaries as the preserve of white and wealthy tourists. They resent the fact that they cannot graze their cattle in the reserves, or hunt game freely like their forebears did.
That’s where the Black Mambas come in. They may not be able to stop poachers with pepper spray alone. But they can stop them with education.”

To combat ignorance is the biggest battle. I try my best to overcome my own ignorance by listening to as much — and as many people — as possible. I find my patience for different viewpoints and different interpretations increases as my desire to understand where lack of knowledge (or lack of understanding) comes from increases also. I believe without doubt that education is the key to feeling empowered enough to be the lone ship on the horizon — the Greenpeace of the ocean, if you will.

And if education spreads far and wide enough, I see no reason as to why this island cannot be surrounded by an entire fleet looking to change the world.