Get a job!

I knew I had finally settled into working for Greenpeace a few years ago when I walked through our canteen with our events co-ordinator and saw a clothes rack with costumes hanging on it containing: a furry polar bear; a foam chicken; a papier-mâché cow. And I didn't bat an eyelid. It seemed normal.

Working for Greenpeace is anything but normal though. I am now in my tenth year (first working in our Human Resources department and now in our Supporter Development team). You never know what will happen. Of course there are many standard days in the office with people quietly getting on with their jobs but there are many days that are totally out of the ordinary which make my friends jealous of where I work.

My friends teased me when I first joined Greenpeace. Not because I was working for one of the world's most famous environmental organisations, but because I was so damned smug about it! I was immensely proud and excited. I still remember the feeling when I walked down Canonbury Villas and saw the office on the day of my interview and the elation that followed when I heard I got the job.

Ten years later and I still love working here. I've never worked with such a group of dedicated and inspiring people who have so much passion for the issues.

Within the first week of joining Greenpeace, I was dressed up as a polar bear outside the offices of BP in London acting 'sad' at the loss of habitat due to new oil exploration. From inside the hot costume I heard a van drive past and a bloke shout 'GET A JOB!' I chuckled inside – this was my job! Brilliant.

Since then I've dressed up as a city stockbroker to attend a BP Annual General Meeting, as George W Bush during his official visit to the UK, and as an undertaker for a 'cod funeral' outside the Department for the Environment, Fisheries and Agriculture. All serious issues highlighted in a creative way.

For cod's sake! Andrew campaigning outside DEFRA, 2006

Highlights? Sailing under Tower Bridge one evening last October on our flagship, the Rainbow Warrior. I was bursting with pride when the children watching us shouted, "We love you, Greenpeace!" It brought tears to my eyes.

And the piece of work that most inspires me? Our recent purchase of a plot of land in the area of the proposed third runway at Heathrow. Never have I seen something we've done galvanize so many of our supporters and public opinion, because it is clever and because it is right to oppose airport expansion. I am still infinitely proud to be working for an organisation which is part of the solution, not part of the problem.