Whenever anyone asks me what it's like to work at Greenpeace the word that always springs to mind is privileged. Not only do I feel privileged to do a job that I enjoy with equally passionate people but more importantly to be able translate my anger about the damage done to people and the natural world into concrete positive action.
Oscar Wilde once said that ‘poverty in an age of affluence is being unable to write and having others write about you.' For me, Greenpeace is at its best when we enable those that don't have a voice to speak the truth to those with the power to change things for the better - be that governments or corporations.
In my job as a forest campaigner I work with our offices in places far away such as the Amazon and the Congo. Part of my work involves highlighting the devastating effects that our lives and the demands for commodities such as timber, soya, beef and leather wreak on the forest - home to millions of people as well as unique biodiversity. More importantly, it is also about identifying the problem and steps needed to get to the solution. This could be getting powerful corporations such as MacDonalds or Unilever to agree to stop forest destruction for soya or palm oil or working with communities in Brazil to map the impacts that soya agriculture has on their lives.
Whilst this all sounds very grand, like most people I spend most of my time at a desk on the phone or answering emails. When you work with people around the world you can expect the odd conference call at unsociable hours. Despite the desk work, life as a Greenpeace campaigner can be quite varied. If challenging ministers and doing TV interviews doesn't provide enough excitement then there is always dressing in an orang-utan costume or shovelling horse manure for the Airplot garden.
After years of working with other groups in the region, as of last autumn, we now have a permanent presence in Africa. It has been a great learning experience and again a privilege to work alongside forest campaigners in the Kinshasa office, especially when Raoul came to work with us in the London office for a few months. Life is very different there with two thirds of the population depending on the forest for their survival. We found that we had a surprising amount in common, despite his support for Man U.
It's sometimes easy to live inside a bubble when you work at Greenpeace. It's very much a rollercoaster. You can't ignore the extent of the problems we face but you always have amazing people around to inspire you. The challenge for us is to reach out to people outside the bubble because if we aren't able to do that then we don't stand a chance of tackling seemingly overwhelming threats like climate change. So it gives me just as much hope when I see our activities inspiring others to find their own voice as much as our victories along the way.
Sarah is one of our forest campaigners and the latest contributor to the blog relay, a whistle-stop tour of Greenpeace staff here in the UK. Click here to catch up on the other entries.
