Okay, hi everybody. Thank you for that introduction. So I am going to talk about Greenpeace, which I think probably most folks are familiar with. And Greenpeace was founded in 1971. And one of the things that hasn’t changed at all is this idea and this commitment to the idea of direct action. That if we believe in something and we are working on issues that we actually have to do something about it. And that nonviolent direct action is still the most powerful and effective tactic for change. Nonviolent direct action has a long and very profound history. See if I can work this thing. And it goes across many, many movements. Greenpeace didn’t invent direct action. For us, we specifically use direct action to expose problems and promote solutions to lead us to a green and peaceful future. And there’s no one way to define an action. It can be any activity where people are standing up for what they believe in or speaking truth to power. But what kind of more important than that for us is the personal journey that it takes people on that reaches into their deepest hopes for a better world. So each activist has to come to a place where they are willing to say for themselves that this is something that I care so much about that I’m willing to do this action and take whatever consequences come from it. And this is the most powerful part of the direct action. And this actually is the story that we should be telling. So how you define whether an action is effective obviously depends on what your objectives are. But kind of at a fundamental level, it’s when your audience, whatever that is, stops what they’re doing and pays a little bit of attention to what you’re doing. And if that happens, then you can move into the possibility that that person or people would be able to be moved enough to be a participant in your story. That participation obviously can look countless ways, but at a base level, that audience member is moving from an observer to a participant. So what I want to talk today about is what it looks like and the impact of an organization taking a really big, deep breath, grounding our work and imagination, and starting to loosen our grip on the message box. How we’ve gone from this to this. We’ve learned that by letting go of the message box when people have the space to be their whole nuanced, complex selves and tell their whole nuanced, complex, beautiful stories that the impact is strikingly powerful and that it actually speaks to the true diversity of experience that makes up our communities and the power that they hold. So let’s talk about banners. This is going to be a fun slide show. Greenpeace, for the last 50 years, around the world has hung a whole lot of banners with just a whole lot of words, all kinds of words. I’m going to try to flip and talk. So in today’s saturated, an ever rich data environment, actions that were once really remarkable are now totally ignored. And while there’s no blueprint for an action, we have learned that sometimes too many words is the same as having none at all and that an image can speak volumes more than words could ever convey. So this led to thinking what really happens inside of us when someone is moved or inspired enough to take an action. And it turns out there’s a whole lot of different emotions that is going on. But what we found is that all of those emotions lead to hope. The idea, no matter how faint, that a better and more just world is imaginable is what we need to be communicating with our actions. Something I will never forget is as a nonfiction reader, my English professor in a fiction class I was forced to take told me that the real power and importance of fiction is that it teaches us how to imagine. It teaches us and we have to practice it when we read. And in order, we have to be able to imagine a better world in order for there to be hope. That hope doesn’t exist without imagination. And this lesson applies to social change as well. As an example, a few years ago, a moment presented itself where we were able to manifest some of those learnings. So we were working on a campaign, I think that was mentioned, to prevent drilling in the Arctic. A ship was carrying a mission critical piece of equipment. So Arctic drilling could not begin without this piece of equipment. The drilling rig was already in Alaska and that ship ran aground and was getting emergency repairs in Portland. So that was good information to have. The St. John’s Bridge was in between the ship and the Arctic. And that was a choke point. The action would be an aerial blockade. Climbers would span the length of the bridge, camped out on ropes so the ship wouldn’t be able to pass underneath. You can imagine, perhaps, that then the conversation came to whether or not we would have a banner, what would it say, how would people know, da-da-da-da-da-da-da. But we decided to not do that. We decided to not have a banner, but rather have a blockade that was effective but also beautiful and captivating. We focused on designing an action that would stir people’s imagination and curiosity, that was dynamic and colorful and nuanced, nuanced like each of the activists involved, nuanced like the fight for climate justice. And we hoped that if we could capture people’s imaginations that the story of the fight for the Arctic would spread. So we were 13 climbers under the bridge and after a very long, very cold night we watched the sun rise behind the forest. And as the heat dried the dew and burned away the morning fog, people started to notice these little tents dangling from the St. John’s Bridge 100 feet above the water. And then later on in the day, one by one, each climber let go their streamer and then suddenly it was red and then yellow and then red and then yellow. These streamers pointing the vessel away from the Arctic and capturing the imagination of everyone. The waters below were filled with boats, the small dock was packed and the park was filled with people and unknown to me at the time, during the 40 hours we were hanging there, people all over were inspired to take action in a myriad of ways. It was incredible. These giant fluttering banners became these kinds of icons of resistance. They struck something inside of people’s imagination that gave them hope. Hope that there was a possibility in the world that we might just win. And the story spread all across the globe. Rather than dry talking points, the activists in very real time talked to reporters about who we were as individuals, why we were there, what inspired us to fight for climate justice. We told stories that were important to us and that were important to our personal journeys, stories about police brutality and indigenous sovereignty, of impacted communities and our dying oceans, of protecting both the land of our ancestors but also the land of our children. One of the things that we did in this particular action is that we pre-recorded activists to talk about their journeys and then we were able to slowly release those videos as the action was happening. So I’m going to show you the one that I did, which is kind of awkward to watch myself on a screen, but here it is. I consider myself an activist because of the word active. Being an active participant in our community, our local communities, our greater global community is the responsibility and obligation of all of us. So I very much take that responsibility seriously. A lot of the issues of racism and sexism and the oppression of indigenous people and the degradation of the environment are all connected in that we should be standing in solidarity, so I try to support that in the most best way I can. Ultimately the strength of a group of people who can be the change that they want to see, no matter how small, that accomplishes amazing things. I think what is so moving I guess and why I’m so inclined to stand against Shell is that Shell represents so much of the corporate dominance and greed and power that is unjustly held controlling our governments, influencing our president. There’s no way you can look at the details, look at the facts and think that this is a good idea. And so really all I’m asking any of those people is to be reasonable and stop this horrific thing from continuing to go on. We have amazingly talented people working in the comms department and the video department at Greenpeace who made that video. So what we learned here is that when Greenpeace let go of the need to kind of fully control the story, fully control the narrative, it meant that the story could encompass so much more, more authenticity, more depth, more meaning. People felt like they could participate, like they were kind of invited to play with us and despite the very technical nature of the action it still felt really inclusive. And a few months later Shell withdrew all of their plans to drill in the Arctic. And that was really a victory for everyone. So fast forward to last year and we found ourselves in a very different situation. One where many of our communities were being targeted and years of victories through struggle were being upended and just entirely erased. Many people felt desperate, helpless, attacked. There was no ship coming. There was no train to stop or tree to climb. But we wanted to do something. We wanted to invigorate our movements and also send a very clear and unmistakable message that we are powerful and that we will not be silenced by fear. So we chose one single word and that was resist. But more important than the word we chose was that we painted it inside the rays of a brilliant and rising sun. While the activists were on the crane, they were lucky enough to walk through the streets. I could hear people talking to themselves, imagining, telling each other what they were resisting or what they hoped someone else would resist and how the banner and the people in the image made them feel inspired and hopeful. And that the commanding pulls of the bright yellows and deep reds against the gray DC sky, which was actually very blue that day. To be real, called us all to hope. And from the top of the crane, you can’t see her in this photo, Nancy, who was on Facebook Live, told the entire world that this banner was a love note to the movement. And it really was. And Donald Trump could see it from the White House. So that was nice. Because the fight for the future is an interrelated one, we are going to have to understand how racism and patriarchy and environmental degradation are invariably connected. We really must make more space and hear more voices. And if we want to bring about social change, we have to let go of the control of some of the messaging so that we can ignite imagination. Our tactics, our actions need to represent all of the people who are really at the heart of these struggles and lift up the diversity of experience. Because this will necessarily create space for other people to paint themselves into the story, to fill in the blanks with their own truths and their own struggles and imagine themselves in the future that we should all be demanding. And that is what engenders hope. And with hope, action, and with action, a more just and better world. Thank you.