Back In the Saddle

Looking back at the past year, I’m particularly grateful to Greenpeace for inviting me to be a part of an exciting campaign to end private financing for fossil fuels. As if involvement in such a timely and important mission was not sufficiently rewarding in itself, the organization also invested meaningfully in my growth as an activist and leader. Notable, they invited me to attend a transformative leadership training in Thailand, conducted by Robert Gass of the venerable Social Transformation Project. There, I joined other prominent and committed change agents to discuss and practice specific skills that will benefit us in present and future campaigns.

Although the Thailand training was nearly nine months ago, it has resurfaced in my mind as I pore over reports about the dreadful heatwaves and bushfires in Australia. Late last year, I took a step away from the finance campaign work to relocate to Oregon — a move which, I was convinced, would allow me to carry out my role in addressing the environmental challenges of the time more effectively, but had instead created a terrible distraction by being so damned time-consuming. With my attention now returning to my professional mission, I’m eager once again to put to use the various and important lessons imparted to me in Thailand.

For all the distraction it caused, I remain convinced that leaving Tokyo has opened doors for deeper involvement in, and community with, the environment. Whereas the asphalt and skyscrapers of Tokyo deepened my sense of alienation from non-human nature and laid bare the atomizing effects of modern life, I feel a greater connection with nature and humanity in Oregon. Forests and rivers are nearer to my everyday existence. Birdsong provides accompaniment for so many of my daily goings-on. The night sky, when not obscured by the clouds so characteristic of the region, bares its resplendent canvass of stars. It’s a wonderful setting from which to ponder one’s place in our shared moment in history.