[Music]
[Applause]
there was a time when virtually every
occasion
I flew black in saket flew back into
Canada the customs officers would stop
me and search my bags back then I
traveled the world working for women’s
rights and had a passport filled with
interesting visas but I traveled lightly
so I wondered whether it was something
about the way I looked
or a strange note in my file like so
many of us who enter this country I
learned to dread customs and the
frustrating bag opening delays after a
long journey and then a friend said I
need to change my whole approach and she
gave me this special technique I thought
it was ridiculous but frankly I had
nothing to lose so the next time
entering Canada as I stood in the queue
I approached the customs officer and
said I love you I love you in my inside
voice
tall mr. customs peers down at me and as
usual Pepper’s me with questions and
then he asks for my business card
I said sir with all due respect I don’t
think you can ask for that he said no
it’s not for me it’s for my mother she
would just love to become a member of
your women’s rights organization since
that day my bags have not been opened
clearly my friend was on to something
for 30 years I have been giving talks on
gender human rights or climate this is
the very first one I have given on
compassion compassion is the awareness
of the deep connection between us and
all living things and I have learned the
secret power of compassion as an
activist my moments with mr. customs
gave me a hint back then just how
differently things turn out if we’re
open to others in new ways but it was
years later before I could really
practice compassion forged from the
understanding that we are all
interconnected each one of us breathe
the same air each one of us descent from
the same descendants from space we can
see that we live on a planet that is one
living organism it’s people like Nelson
Mandela who showed us the courage of
compassion by actually forgiving the
apartheid leaders who beat and jailed
him and he gave birth to a new nation
and we also know that he learned to
cultivate this conscious compassion
which means that that potential belongs
in all of us the world right now needs
some unifying so imagine if more of us
really knew how to practice compassion I
am convinced based on my experience we
could not only heal ourselves we could
build healthy communities and even save
mother earth I have dedicated my career
to the advancement of human rights and
justice and like so many of us who do
this work I first learned how to fight
and confront before practicing
compassion my 30s I was leading a global
feminist organization working to
transform the laws and cultures that
were keeping women and girls down in the
face of profound discrimination and
misogyny around the world
I learned to sharpen my determination
and convictions in my early 40s I became
a CEO of a global humanitarian
organization that worked around the
world with 15 million people living in
extreme poverty
I traveled endlessly and was witness to
profound suffering in refugee camps and
urban slums I listened to countless
stories by women and girls who had
survived unspeakable violence there was
so much to do so much injustice and so
many who didn’t care I think it was my
anger and my righteousness that kept me
going but eventually all the conflict
and the brutal 24/7 demands they took
their toll after visits through 26
countries in just nine months I ended up
very sick in a hospital in Katmandu
desperate for some piece and part of the
recovery My partner and I retreated to a
little place outside of Johannesburg
there in the natural beauty and
contemplative space known as quiet
mountain I had a bit of an epiphany not
only was this way of the warrior
practically killing me it was not
necessarily leading to deep change I was
contributing to division well I was out
in the world fighting so to were my
adversaries and even within our
movements we were battling each other we
were all shielding our
behind being right and others being
wrong if we were going to solve global
problems we had to stop grasping to our
different positions just as the life in
forests and rivers and oceans show us
everything grows and transforms in
connection to each other to remain fixed
is unnatural instead of blaming and
judging others we can focus on their
motivations and fears now what connects
us compassion simply starts with being
open and getting curious if I was to
lead change I needed to find new ways to
drive solutions it wasn’t long after
that my work took me to northern
Ethiopia to see a successful program
that had lowered violence against girls
I was so impressed by the community’s
achievements I asked the leader of the
group if there was a message she’d like
me to take back to my colleagues
she took my hands looked into my eyes
and said pray for the rain pray for the
rain suddenly I was so embarrassed here
we were so fixed on these successful
anti-violence programs yet the women
were preoccupied with the rain for their
survival they could no longer count on
the weather to feed their families this
was climate change and their greatest
obstacle to a life with rights and
dignity
why weren’t more of us making this
connection it had such an impact on me
it wasn’t long after that I agreed to
take the lead role at Greenpeace Canada
I remember skyping my mom from
Johannesburg to give her the news so
that I was going to be coming back to
Canada but she was a bit taken aback Joe
you’re gonna work for Greenpeace are
aren’t they radicals
how could you no mom not radicals
and I could because I saw the urgency of
climate change as a human rights issue
but admittedly what also attracted me to
the organization was its acknowledgement
that it had to change the environmental
movement was not going to save the
planet
by issuing scientific reports that would
somehow enlighten policymakers or drop a
few banners the organization wanted to
campaign with people and inspire a
billion acts of environmental courage I
was excited to join the organization and
support this new vision and when I
joined we had just launched a campaign
to save the Arctic from oil drilling and
overfishing and as part of our new
approach we wanted to work with and
listen to the very people that called
the Arctic at their home but the
intimate the indigenous people who live
in Canada Alaska and Greenland they
hated Greenpeace and with good reason
see back in the 70s and 80s Greenpeace
had a campaign against the commercial
seal hunt which many animal rights
groups piled on to which led to a ban on
seal pelts and ultimately to an EU ban
by the by the EU of all seal products
this decimated one of the core sources
of income for the no.8 if we were to
proceed with this campaign we needed to
face their pain and anger and
acknowledge how we had contributed to
their trauma so for the very first time
we published a public apology and right
around the same time up in Nunavut in a
in an Inuit hamlet known as Clyde river
the mayor Jerry natin I was fighting the
Canadian government and a consortium of
oil companies who were about to start
seismic blasting this is a horrendous
and deafening means to locate under
water oil imagine dynamite going off
ever
ten seconds they were really concerned
about what impact this would have on the
sea mammals and their food and
livelihoods were at stake not getting
any clear answers they could not give
their consent for this project to go
ahead but Gerry was running out of time
and he didn’t know who or what could
help and then he saw the Greenpeace
apology he saw our shared concern for
the environment and so with the blessing
of his community and its elders he
courageously reached out to us to see if
we could help them stop seismic blasting
that was the beginning of a beautiful
relationship and a journey of
forgiveness and healing and while it
does not absolve us of our past nor
signify forgiveness from all the anyways
it did allow us to support the community
for the past three years and take their
fight all the way up to the Supreme
Court of Canada and in July we all won
in this landmark case intimate rights
were defendant no seismic blasting will
take place this precious Arctic
ecosystem will be protected from oil
spills and the whales and the narwhals
have a much greater chance of survival
compassion is the awareness of the deep
connection between us and all living
things with more compassion we can not
only transform the politics of division
and conflict we as humans can embrace
our responsibility for the beautiful
life-sustaining systems our lives are
completely intertwined with the forests
that give us air to breathe the plants
that give us our medicine the water that
gives us life and just as Gerry reached
out to us I am more committed than ever
to reach out to those
who might not trust us or with whom we
don’t see eye to eye and compassion
doesn’t mean we naively work with those
who don’t trust us and who who are
against us we still absolutely need to
confront injustice it does mean though
finding those clever and discerning
approaches that actually build openings
it enables us to find those solutions
between the environment between the
economy and between human rights for me
the risk has been worth it I’m now an
activist with less stress and more joy
the world doesn’t need any more warriors
or leaders who divide us the world needs
more of us to stop blaming and judging
and get curious and receptive and get
over ourselves a little bit with the
power of compassion we could build
resilient connections that could change
this world and even save life on this
planet compassion might just be the most
courageous weapon we have thank you
[Applause]
[Applause]
there was a time when virtually every
occasion
I flew black in saket flew back into
Canada the customs officers would stop
me and search my bags back then I
traveled the world working for women’s
rights and had a passport filled with
interesting visas but I traveled lightly
so I wondered whether it was something
about the way I looked
or a strange note in my file like so
many of us who enter this country I
learned to dread customs and the
frustrating bag opening delays after a
long journey and then a friend said I
need to change my whole approach and she
gave me this special technique I thought
it was ridiculous but frankly I had
nothing to lose so the next time
entering Canada as I stood in the queue
I approached the customs officer and
said I love you I love you in my inside
voice
tall mr. customs peers down at me and as
usual Pepper’s me with questions and
then he asks for my business card
I said sir with all due respect I don’t
think you can ask for that he said no
it’s not for me it’s for my mother she
would just love to become a member of
your women’s rights organization since
that day my bags have not been opened
clearly my friend was on to something
for 30 years I have been giving talks on
gender human rights or climate this is
the very first one I have given on
compassion compassion is the awareness
of the deep connection between us and
all living things and I have learned the
secret power of compassion as an
activist my moments with mr. customs
gave me a hint back then just how
differently things turn out if we’re
open to others in new ways but it was
years later before I could really
practice compassion forged from the
understanding that we are all
interconnected each one of us breathe
the same air each one of us descent from
the same descendants from space we can
see that we live on a planet that is one
living organism it’s people like Nelson
Mandela who showed us the courage of
compassion by actually forgiving the
apartheid leaders who beat and jailed
him and he gave birth to a new nation
and we also know that he learned to
cultivate this conscious compassion
which means that that potential belongs
in all of us the world right now needs
some unifying so imagine if more of us
really knew how to practice compassion I
am convinced based on my experience we
could not only heal ourselves we could
build healthy communities and even save
mother earth I have dedicated my career
to the advancement of human rights and
justice and like so many of us who do
this work I first learned how to fight
and confront before practicing
compassion my 30s I was leading a global
feminist organization working to
transform the laws and cultures that
were keeping women and girls down in the
face of profound discrimination and
misogyny around the world
I learned to sharpen my determination
and convictions in my early 40s I became
a CEO of a global humanitarian
organization that worked around the
world with 15 million people living in
extreme poverty
I traveled endlessly and was witness to
profound suffering in refugee camps and
urban slums I listened to countless
stories by women and girls who had
survived unspeakable violence there was
so much to do so much injustice and so
many who didn’t care I think it was my
anger and my righteousness that kept me
going but eventually all the conflict
and the brutal 24/7 demands they took
their toll after visits through 26
countries in just nine months I ended up
very sick in a hospital in Katmandu
desperate for some piece and part of the
recovery My partner and I retreated to a
little place outside of Johannesburg
there in the natural beauty and
contemplative space known as quiet
mountain I had a bit of an epiphany not
only was this way of the warrior
practically killing me it was not
necessarily leading to deep change I was
contributing to division well I was out
in the world fighting so to were my
adversaries and even within our
movements we were battling each other we
were all shielding our
behind being right and others being
wrong if we were going to solve global
problems we had to stop grasping to our
different positions just as the life in
forests and rivers and oceans show us
everything grows and transforms in
connection to each other to remain fixed
is unnatural instead of blaming and
judging others we can focus on their
motivations and fears now what connects
us compassion simply starts with being
open and getting curious if I was to
lead change I needed to find new ways to
drive solutions it wasn’t long after
that my work took me to northern
Ethiopia to see a successful program
that had lowered violence against girls
I was so impressed by the community’s
achievements I asked the leader of the
group if there was a message she’d like
me to take back to my colleagues
she took my hands looked into my eyes
and said pray for the rain pray for the
rain suddenly I was so embarrassed here
we were so fixed on these successful
anti-violence programs yet the women
were preoccupied with the rain for their
survival they could no longer count on
the weather to feed their families this
was climate change and their greatest
obstacle to a life with rights and
dignity
why weren’t more of us making this
connection it had such an impact on me
it wasn’t long after that I agreed to
take the lead role at Greenpeace Canada
I remember skyping my mom from
Johannesburg to give her the news so
that I was going to be coming back to
Canada but she was a bit taken aback Joe
you’re gonna work for Greenpeace are
aren’t they radicals
how could you no mom not radicals
and I could because I saw the urgency of
climate change as a human rights issue
but admittedly what also attracted me to
the organization was its acknowledgement
that it had to change the environmental
movement was not going to save the
planet
by issuing scientific reports that would
somehow enlighten policymakers or drop a
few banners the organization wanted to
campaign with people and inspire a
billion acts of environmental courage I
was excited to join the organization and
support this new vision and when I
joined we had just launched a campaign
to save the Arctic from oil drilling and
overfishing and as part of our new
approach we wanted to work with and
listen to the very people that called
the Arctic at their home but the
intimate the indigenous people who live
in Canada Alaska and Greenland they
hated Greenpeace and with good reason
see back in the 70s and 80s Greenpeace
had a campaign against the commercial
seal hunt which many animal rights
groups piled on to which led to a ban on
seal pelts and ultimately to an EU ban
by the by the EU of all seal products
this decimated one of the core sources
of income for the no.8 if we were to
proceed with this campaign we needed to
face their pain and anger and
acknowledge how we had contributed to
their trauma so for the very first time
we published a public apology and right
around the same time up in Nunavut in a
in an Inuit hamlet known as Clyde river
the mayor Jerry natin I was fighting the
Canadian government and a consortium of
oil companies who were about to start
seismic blasting this is a horrendous
and deafening means to locate under
water oil imagine dynamite going off
ever
ten seconds they were really concerned
about what impact this would have on the
sea mammals and their food and
livelihoods were at stake not getting
any clear answers they could not give
their consent for this project to go
ahead but Gerry was running out of time
and he didn’t know who or what could
help and then he saw the Greenpeace
apology he saw our shared concern for
the environment and so with the blessing
of his community and its elders he
courageously reached out to us to see if
we could help them stop seismic blasting
that was the beginning of a beautiful
relationship and a journey of
forgiveness and healing and while it
does not absolve us of our past nor
signify forgiveness from all the anyways
it did allow us to support the community
for the past three years and take their
fight all the way up to the Supreme
Court of Canada and in July we all won
in this landmark case intimate rights
were defendant no seismic blasting will
take place this precious Arctic
ecosystem will be protected from oil
spills and the whales and the narwhals
have a much greater chance of survival
compassion is the awareness of the deep
connection between us and all living
things with more compassion we can not
only transform the politics of division
and conflict we as humans can embrace
our responsibility for the beautiful
life-sustaining systems our lives are
completely intertwined with the forests
that give us air to breathe the plants
that give us our medicine the water that
gives us life and just as Gerry reached
out to us I am more committed than ever
to reach out to those
who might not trust us or with whom we
don’t see eye to eye and compassion
doesn’t mean we naively work with those
who don’t trust us and who who are
against us we still absolutely need to
confront injustice it does mean though
finding those clever and discerning
approaches that actually build openings
it enables us to find those solutions
between the environment between the
economy and between human rights for me
the risk has been worth it I’m now an
activist with less stress and more joy
the world doesn’t need any more warriors
or leaders who divide us the world needs
more of us to stop blaming and judging
and get curious and receptive and get
over ourselves a little bit with the
power of compassion we could build
resilient connections that could change
this world and even save life on this
planet compassion might just be the most
courageous weapon we have thank you
[Applause]
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