VERSION 10.0

RE-IMAGINING GREENPEACE "AS AN EPIC GLOBAL STORY

April 2015 by Tommy Crawford, Brian Fitzgerald, Amrekha Sharma, Lucy Taylor, "Iris Maertens, and Nicoline Huizinga

VERSION 10.0

Welcome to the Story Deck!

VERSION 10.0

The Three Commandments of Great Storytelling:

1. Tell the Truth"2. Be Interesting"3. Live the Truth"

VERSION 10.0

Surprised? Many people think of stories as fiction, but the greatest stories -- whether made up from imagination or anchored in real experience -- are the ones that reveal profound truth. Martin Luther King told a story of climbing a mountain and looking out across the promised land. The power of that story wasn’t the part about the mountain that he made up, it was the truth his listeners heard in it: about the hard and bloody struggle that made them want to turn back, of a long, exhausting journey that was like climbing a mountain, and the compelling nature of the dream of what awaited on the other side that kept them going.   Martin Luther King was telling a big story that explained the world. "When you inspire people to believe in that kind of story so fully that they adjust their lives to it, become characters in it, see themselves as its protagonist, you can no longer stand apart from your tale. You have to live the values it champions. At Greenpeace, we’ve been telling a big story that explains the world for many years now, though we’ve not always consciously articulated it, nor actively promoted it, nor consistently lived the values it implies.

VERSION 10.0

This Story Deck aims to answer 6 questions: 1.  What is Storytelling? 2.  Why is Storytelling of interest to us? 3.  Why is Storytelling of interest to us, NOW? 4.  What is our vision of a better world? 5.  How do we bring the vision to life? 6.  What is the Greenpeace Story? The story we tell the world has consequences for how we develop, select, and evaluate our projects and for how we behave as an organisation and individually. Some of the changes implied by the story we tell are explored in a document called the “Seven Shifts”: which charts the directions the organisation needs to head in if we are to deeply ‘live’ our Story and make the shift to becoming a truly people-powered agent of transformational change.

VERSION 10.0

Global Engagement through storytelling The Greenpeace Story team consists of Tommy Crawford, Brian Fitzgerald, and Amrekha Sharma, with the help of Lucy Taylor of eatbigfish. The objectives of the project are:   1.  Articulate the overarching story that Greenpeace tells through all

its work."

2.  Enable all Greenpeacers to see themselves as part of the story, and effectively tell their piece of it.

3.  Provide tools and content that help us “live” out our story and values, and inspire millions of others to do the same."

4.  Infect our campaign work, tapping into broader, societal narratives that provide people with meaning and that drive behaviour change."

5.  Ensure that the story and the thinking behind it helps drive the organisation’s strategic thinking and output, enabling an outside-in, audience-centric approach at all levels of the organisation.

VERSION 10.0

The background of this document The story you find in this deck has been developed across a span of 18 months in a  process which had input from the Executive Directors, Senior leadership at Greenpeace Internatioanal,  the Global Campaign Leaders, campaigners, communicators, fundraisers, actions units, volunteers, and ships crew. Special thanks goes to the offices where we stress-tested early drafts: Greenpeace USA, Greenpeace Brazil, and Greenpeace East Asia. They helped turn this into a truly global story. "This work began when Jonah Sachs introduced us to his ideas about story as theory of change and the concept of modern mythology which he introduced in his book, Winning the Story Wars. We highly recommend it. "Are we sitting comfortably? "Then let us begin...

VERSION 10.0

What is Storytelling?

VERSION 10.0

Stories are cultural DNA"�

Humans have always shared stories to remind each other of who we are, how we should behave, and to teach lessons in group and individual survival.

VERSION 10.0

Stories provide meaning" �

Every culture has a Story of the People to give meaning to the world. Part conscious and part unconscious, it consists of a matrix of agreements, narratives, and symbols that tell us why we are here,

where we are headed, what is important, and even what is real.

VERSION 10.0

We live vicariously through stories �Stories can excite and affect us on both a conscious and an unconscious level. Often we will relate to characters in

the stories we read or watch -- sometimes almost becoming them for a short while. This can have a profound impact on us, as we use stories to try and learn what might happen to us if we took a similar path or made similar choices as

the protagonist in the unfolding story of our lives. Stories tell us how to overcome obstacles -- evolution has hard-wired us to pay attention to them, because they’ve helped us to survive as individuals, as tribes, and, with luck, as a

species.

VERSION 10.0

Taking Stories to the Next Level Greenpeace is no newcomer to the power of story. Our history is brimming with tales of amazing feats of bravery and imagination. We know how to tell a David and Goliath story, how to paint the line between good and evil, how to cast ourselves as the underdog, the champion of nature, the voice of the voiceless.""But there’s another level at which story operates: the level of “Myth”, and it is at this level that storytelling becomes not merely a means of capturing attention for our messages, but a theory of change."

VERSION 10.0

Taking Stories to the Next Level Humans are storytelling creatures. We understand the world and ourselves through a complex matrix of evolving stories -- many of which we share with others to form a collective “reality”. The stories which make up our day-to-day reality can be so powerful that we can forget that they are just stories.""The days of the week, for example, are simply stories. “Wednesday” doesn’t exist in nature. Monkeys are not happy on “Friday” because the weekend is coming, and Giraffes are not more sanguine on a “Monday” morning. ""Yet those stories shape our individual and collective behaviour and expectations. ""They colour our entire perception of the world. They shape our beliefs about what is possible."And they hold the key to our collective future."

VERSION 10.0

Why is storytelling of interest to us?

VERSION 10.0

Change the Story, Change the World Right now, many of the collective stories that people are using to make sense of the world are not "conducive to creating a brighter future for humankind nor for our beautiful planet.""These dominant cultural “myths” often misdirect our attention and intention away from important matters, promote fear-based thinking, apathy and indifference, and work to maintain the status quo by presenting alternatives (and alternative thinkers) as either hopeless, misguided or downright dangerous.""Changing those stories amounts to changing humanity’s operating system, the most basic level of code which determines who we are and how we act.""Changing these stories will determine whether the conditions exist in which meaningful, transformational and systemic change can occur. ""Changing these stories will determine whether we win or lose in the battle for our planet."

VERSION 5.0

VERSION 10.0

""

Stories help us make sense of the world. "They limit or enlarge our sense of possibility."

VERSION 10.0

A culture’s most important stories are known as myths. Myths combine:EXPLANATION (how the world works)MEANING (how we see ourselves as a result)STORY (they are set not in the literal world of facts but in the more emotional world of symbols)RITUAL (ways for the listener to live the story)In all societies myths combine the above elements. Stories that don’t deliver these elements come and go. Stories that get this formula right last for millennia and shape our world.

}

VERSION 10.0

The American Dream is an example of a once-functional myth: EXPLANATION: Opportunity for success and prosperity is open to immigrants and Americans alike MEANING: If you work hard you too will be rewarded: from rags to riches! STORY: America was clawed from the tyranny of British class and privilege and formed into an exceptional nation by people who believed in liberty, merit and self discipline RITUAL: Millions of people working hard and making sacrifices today for the dream of a better tomorrow.

VERSION 10.0

The American Dream equates liberty with economic opportunity for anyone willing to work hard. It not only shaped people’s expectations, it was the inspiration for art, literature and popular culture in the U.S. and abroad. For some it was so compelling that they packed up their lives and sailed to New York. It shaped peoples choices about what to do, who to marry, and how to behave. It fueled the US economy for decades. However, after the economic crisis in 2008 and the government bailout of the “too big to fail” financial institutions, the story of the “American Dream” was looking evidentially untrue. It helped fewer and fewer people make sense of the world. The rituals it had spawned began to break down — the openness to immigrants, the trajectory of employees from mail room to head office, the rewards for hard work and endeavor. All those things evaporated for many, while big bonuses were still handed out to a privileged few. The American Dream no longer explained America. A “Myth Gap” had appeared.

VERSION 10.0

When Occupy Wall Street staged its protest in Zuccotti park, a new story explaining how the US economy worked was drawn into the vacuum created by the collapse of the American Dream: practically overnight, the story of the “99% and the 1%” was sucked into the Zeitgeist. It reflected people’s actual experience of the US economy: it may not have been a better story, but it explained the way things worked. It was believable. A new myth was replacing the old.

VERSION 10.0

What kind of world do we live in today? If we look at the world through the lens of today’s most powerful stories, what does it look like? What are the conditions these stories create that hold back change? If we were to describe the dystopia that needs fixing, how would we describe it?

VERSION 10.0

A world of Division We think in divisions: in nationalities confined by borders, businesses separated by competition, classes separated by income, cultures separated by beliefs. We are taught to anchor our hopes in the triumph of one division over another.  

VERSION 10.0

A world of Separation Many of our stories encourage us to see ourselves as separate from others, and from the world around us."The logic of separation traps us in a paradox. The world can change only if billions of people make different choices in their lives, but individually, none of these choices seems powerful enough to make a difference.

VERSION 10.0

A world of Misdirection Where we are bombarded with messages designed to keep our attention focused on the superficial, and our intensions focused on pursuits of material wealth, visible success, and power over others – hypnotized by the illusion that that these things can bring us happiness."

VERSION 10.0

The control mythologies tell us war is normal, "greed is good, "

And the destruction of tomorrow "is an unfortunate, unavoidable by-product "

of the pleasure of today.

VERSION 10.0

"These stories are so pervasive, "

so all-encompassing, that they appear not stories, "but reality itself."

Stories maintained and enhanced (often unconsciously) by those benefitting from the status quo, particularly those looking to

amass and horde power."

VERSION 10.0

What kind of stories create that reality? We’ve pulled together a sample of some of the big, unhelpful myths that are holding back a brighter future. This is not exhaustive: every project and every region will have its own “myth neighbourhood” of stories that explain the world in ways that need to be challenged. Knowing what those stories are can help us better understand how to win. Similarly, no project or region is going to address all these myths: we can select by audience, geography or issue the most relevant ones which we’ll actively work to replace. For the others, we need only ensure we don’t reinforce them.

VERSION 10.0

It ain’t me, Babe

It’s not my problem. I can’t do anything about it. Someone else* has to fix it.

*The government, a charismatic leader, Big Business, the scientists, the engineers, God, Greenpeace, that guy over there…

VERSION 10.0

Economic Growth = Progress

Bombing people, interest-rate apartheid, and ecological decimation are all acceptable, as long as the economy keeps growing.

VERSION 10.0

Money makes the world go round

Everyone, and everything, has its price. The value of natural resources, human happiness and fulfilment, future security, and a

clean environment are without meaning unless they can be expressed in monetary terms.

VERSION 10.0

Shut up and shop

Happiness is a commodity. You can buy the answer to any problem. OK, maybe that last product didn’t make you happier, more

beautiful, more popular, or deliver on improving your life the way it was advertised it would. But the next one will.

VERSION 10.0

It’ll grow back

Nature is a resource to be extracted, plundered, and conquered. "The Earth is too big for human beings to harm.

VERSION 10.0

Technology will save us

Technology can solve any problem humanity creates. "We can replace whatever we exhaust and "

fix whatever we damage, without changing our way of life.

VERSION 10.0

All of these stories require common "elements to survive:

•  Apathy & cynicism •  Disconnection: from each other, from ourselves,

our communities, from place (planet) "and from time (short term thinking)

•  A failure of imagination

VERSION 10.0

So what are the antidotes to the power "of these stories?

• Hope • Connection • Creativity

VERSION 10.0

Why NOW?

VERSION 10.0

"Disruption is change’s best friend, and "we’re in the midst of major disruption.""What if we could find the gaps where old stories are failing, and consciously build new, better stories to take their place?""What if we could hack the operating system of the world?

VERSION 10.0

We live in a world of dead mythologies, created for a bygone era, that are ready to fall. There is a void that science, religion and an increasingly vacuous consumer-culture are failing to fill, leaving people seeking purpose and meaning. The good news is that we have purpose and meaning; by the bucket-load….

VERSION 10.0

The battle for hearts and minds is raging. Energy companies, banks, governments and brands are already shaping the stories that people use to understand the world. Not only is there a great opportunity here to introduce a better story to explain the world, there is a big opportunity cost from not adding a bolder, better one.

VERSION 10.0

The context in which we operate is shifting. Doing what we’ve always done is no longer standing still, it’s going backwards. The good news is we’ve been able to reinvent ourselves over and over: we’re good at change.

VERSION 10.0

And all around us, gaps in the old stories "are widening, there are glimmers of hope,

pockets of resistance and "transformational changes under way

VERSION 10.0

Interconnectivity

We are in the midst of an unprecedented revolution in the scope, depth, and richness of global communications. As the web and mobile communications become faster, more intelligent, and more ubiquitous, it increasingly ties us together in a single communications system not unlike a planetary nervous system, capable of sensing and responding. It enables coordinated actions by large numbers of people. This capability enables new ideas and actions to spread at the speed of light, and accelerates the process of change.

VERSION 10.0

Gate keepers were once a "powerful force in maintaining the status-quo "

"But gate keepers can no longer keep out the

change makers

VERSION 10.0

Artists can find audiences without agents or record labels. Music and art that once might have been suppressed as “subversive” or too controversial can find a global audience through pocket-to-pocket marketing, binding distributed global communities more tightly together.

VERSION 10.0

Twitter is terrifying tyranny. When repressive forces are under threat, switching off the internet is often first in their power-maintenance plan. When Gezi park was besieged by defenders of Istanbul’s last green space, state television news censored any mention and ran a documentary on penguins in prime time. But the protestors live-streamed their cause across every digital media to the world, and adopted the penguin as a symbol of the government’s inability to contain their message.

VERSION 10.0

Hackers are disrupting power. Crowds are building what they need and sharing what they want through open source development platforms. The deepest government secrets are intercepted and shared. Corporate claims of ownership over everything from basic human needs like food and water to our entertainment to politicians to the internet are meeting resistance.

VERSION 10.0

More connections are creating more empathy. We now live in the most complex, urbanised societies our species has ever known. Our increasing closeness to each other has put us in touch with those who are different to us. It’s enhancing our understanding of other cultures and communities, raising compassion for their struggles. Despite bloody and widely reported conflicts, there is evidence that we are living in the most peaceful time in human history.

VERSION 10.0

The Collaborative Commons is "redistributing power

VERSION 10.0

The sharing economy is disrupting traditional industries, and in some cases the very heart of consumerism. Services like AirBnB and Lyft monetize existing infrastructure in ways that can be more efficient. Intellectual properties released under Creative Commons licenses allow collaboration to have value in competition with ownership. Self-interest is learning to take second place to the power and interests of the social commons – a powerful concept for a more sustainable world.

VERSION 10.0

The fundamental systems at the core of our economies are evolving. Historically, when an energy revolution (now distributed) meets a communications revolution (Web 3.0), this means transformation for human civilisation, as seen in the past, when the rise of the printing press and steam power coalesced. We’re living this right now. The world is reaching a tipping point in terms of energy and a full transition away from fossil-fuels is a matter of “when,” not “if.”

VERSION 10.0

The “impact economy” has grown rapidly over the past decade as entrepreneurs, investors and non-profit sector leaders began developing more socially and environmentally conscious and responsible business models, legal structures and investment vehicles.

The Triple Bottom Line (People, Planet and Profit) is changing the dominant narrative about value, away from ‘profit at any cost’, to a more holistic approach to creating value for people and planet, too. We’re seeing this clearly in the proliferation of new concepts, like the social enterprise, and the B corporation.

VERSION 10.0

Digital Technology is putting the telling of these new stories on STEROIDS

VERSION 10.0

Storytelling is returning to its roots in the oral tradition, thanks in large part to technology. Around the campfires of our primitive ancestors, a story only survived if it was good enough or useful enough to be retold.

VERSION 10.0

That changed when the Broadcast era put storytelling in the hands of those with the money to buy hours of TV, radio, and print ads: whether their story was good or not, it could get a captive audience - because money was the gatekeeper to mass communication.

VERSION 10.0

The internet has democratised publication: today we tell our stories around the electronic campfires of YouTube, Weibo, Twitter and Facebook. We have returned to an era where it is the merit of the idea, not the depths of your pocket, that determine whether a story spreads or not. And thanks to digital tools, those that are worthy can traverse the globe in the blink of an eye.

VERSION 10.0

We are seeing disruption in the systems "that have governed our lives and the

myths they've operated under like never before."

"There has never been a better time for a

better story than right now.

VERSION 10.0

“One can not change an existing system; "one must create a new system that makes the

old system obsolete” ""

— BUCKMINSTER FULLER

VERSION 10.0

To inspire people into action, we need to set out a "vision of the world we are looking to co-create. Our experience of trialing several draft visions with national and regional offices during the story stress-test convinced us of two things, however. 1.  We’re much clearer about the world we DON’T want than

the one we do. 2.  No single vision of a better world is going to be

universally accepted.

VERSION 10.0

We propose that we co-create that vision, "with our supporters and volunteers, with thought leaders, staff and crew, through a crowd-sourced process.""Which elements of this vision we emphasize will vary from culture to culture, region to region, and project to project: we can and should create a set of vision elements that will resonate with the audiences we want to reach.

VERSION 10.0

The better story we might want to "tell may be about a world where…

VERSION 10.0

We share more

VERSION 10.0

We create more

VERSION 10.0

We are what we contribute

VERSION 10.0

Nature is our model, measure,

and mentor.

VERSION 10.0

Or it may be entirely different. We can continue to "drive change with a generic vision of a “Green and Peaceful” planet, but our case is stronger if we can paint our vision in detail. Co-creating this vision could be an inspiring, global task for our supporters. Articulating it as a positively-framed agenda for change could be a galvanizing task for ourselves.

VERSION 10.0

VERSION 10.0

How do we bring a better world to life?"

VERSION 10.0

The power of a story grows exponentially as more and more people accept it as their truth

VERSION 10.0

“Only when people in large numbers started to believe that change was possible, did change

become possible” ""

– KUMI NAIDOO, ON APARTHEID"

VERSION 10.0

Our stories need to be retold to audiences we can’t reach, by audiences we CAN reach

VERSION 10.0

Prospectors

Outer Directed (OD): Unmet need for success, esteem of others then self

esteem. Acquire and display symbols of success.

Inner Directed (ID): Unmet need to connect actions with values, explore ideas, experiment.

Networking, ethics, social innovation

We think about audiences in terms of their Motivational Values, what Maslow described as their “unmet needs.” There are 3 Maslow Groups

Sustenance Driven (SD): Unmet need for safety, security, identity,

belonging. Keep things small, local, avoid risk

VERSION 10.0

Prospectors

These 3 Maslow Groups can break down into "6 Values Modes

Roots

Concerned Ethical

ETHICAL COMPLEXITY

ETHICAL CLARITY

SAFETY

BELONGING

ESTEEM OF OTHERS

SELF ESTEEM

The Sustenance Driven

The Outer Directed

The Inner Directed

VERSION 10.0

Change Makers & Culture Shapers While the proportions in each group vary from country to country, the vast majority of the people who currently support Greenpeace (and the majority of us who work for the organisation) are from the Inner Directed Maslow Group, namely Transcenders (the “social innovators”), followed by Now People (the “culture shapers”).

VERSION 10.0

To change the stories in mainstream culture, we need to enhance our understanding and engagement of those “culture shapers”, the willing adopters of new ideas, who hack those ideas and make them more attractive or “normal” to the rest of society. This is a key social role of “Now People”, a Values Mode of the Outer Directed group, who, "along with the Transcenders "are the influencers who shape "culture by bringing new "ideas into society.

VERSION 10.0

These are the dominant Motivational Values that underlie the Values Modes. We tend to frame most of our communications to reflect the Values of the Inner Directed like Justice and Nature. In order to engage the Now People, the culture shapers, we need to also engage using Values like Creativity, Self Direction and Novelty – those the Transcenders,or social change innovators, also engage with."

VERSION 10.0

How Ideas Get Trapped The trap to avoid is speaking strictly within the Values frame of the Inner Directed group. It may be an important idea, it may be absolutely the right thing to do: that’s all these people may need to be convinced. But that’s insufficient reason on its own to get a Now Person to pay attention, much less to emulate, adapt and spread it out into the mainstream. This is why we need to engage with some of their Motivational Values too.

VERSION 10.0

We don’t want Greenpeace to become mainstream. We want "

our ideas "to become mainstream.

VERSION 10.0

Seen another way, we are primarily seeking to engage the Innovators and Early Adopters - the leaders and the first followers - who help turn great ideas into inevitable conclusions.

VERSION 10.0

It’s called culture hacking. Just as we can apply the “Mind Bomb” concept to specific political or policy goals, we can

detonate Cultural Mind Bombs as well. ""

And we do that with a powerful overarching story about how to change the world.

VERSION 10.0

What is the Greenpeace Story?

VERSION 10.0

The story Greenpeace tells, and has always told, is that a better world is possible, "

and brave individual and collective actions "can make it a reality

VERSION 10.0

This was the story we told when the Phyllis Cormack sailed out to stop nuclear weapons testing in Amchitka, or when we’ve galvanized a network of activists to win important victories against Arctic oil drilling. It’s a story that’s proven true when we’ve collectively stopped radioactive waste dumping, put an end to oil rigs being thrown away at sea, turned Antarctica into a land of peace and science, off limits to exploitation. Our job, every day, is to make that story come true again and again. And to challenge the forces that tell us it’s not a true story, and that we can’t change the world.

VERSION 10.0

Every Greenpeace campaign &"every Greenpeace action can be "

boiled down to this, "the moral of our organisational story:

VERSION 10.0

A billion acts of courage can spark a brighter tomorrow

VERSION 10.0

The moral of a story is the thing you tell at the end which makes sense of the story, and which explains the way the world should work. People from around the world joined together to declare Antarctica a world park: a billion acts of courage can spark a better tomorrow. Nestle bowed to people power and agreed to stop buying palm oil from destroyers of the rainforest: a billion acts of courage can spark a better tomorrow. We don’t need to say it literally every five minutes: it’s not a tag line, but it should be a conclusion anyone can draw from any of our campaigns.

VERSION 10.0

Only by understanding the moral of our organisational story can we create coherence

across all of our global campaigns

VERSION 10.0

"Only by understanding the moral of our

organisational story can we choose campaigns and projects that enable us to deliver a coherent

and compelling vision

VERSION 10.0

A Universal Story Arc There’s a standard hero’s tale which every culture, every language, every country shares – a hero sets out from a broken land, meets someone who gives them a powerful gift or wise advice. With it, the hero slays the monster, overcomes the obstacle, or conquers the enemy and delivers a brighter future. It’s the arc of stories as diverse as Harry Potter and the Bhagavad Gita. This form is hard-wired into our brain because it served an evolutionary role: we learned from others how to overcome obstacles by projecting ourselves and our obstacles into the story: “Let me tell you how I outwitted a bear. Listen to how your grandmother kept the fire going all winter…” Stories like these shape our behaviour and our definition of what’s possible.

VERSION 10.0

The Greenpeace Story Arc

VERSION 10.0

People Power is the Hero of our story

VERSION 10.0

The gift we give is courage

VERSION 10.0

The monsters we slay say change is impossible

VERSION 10.0

In our story, we help people find their courage. We may gift it directly by example, or provide the conditions for it to be found by providing hope, connection to others, or by sparking their creativity. Courage is what enables the hero to go on, and to win. In Jack and the Beanstalk, the gift is the magic beans. In Star Wars, Obi Wan’s gift is a light sabre, Yoda’s is the secret of the force. In Harry Potter, Dumbledore’s wisdom aids Harry, Hermione, and Ron. The role we play is a hero among heroes – we enable warriors, but we’re warriors ourselves. We expand our heroes’ sense of what’s possible. The thing we inspire, the thing we teach, the gift we share is courage. The monsters we fight are numerous – but they all resist change in the same way, and they all tell the same stories that constrain people’s sense of what’s possible. The monster of our story may be Monsanto, it may be the Indian Government, it may be consumerism, or the 1%. But the dialogue always boils down to the following:

VERSION 10.0

We say: •  We can change the way we feed and fuel our world •  We can live within Earth’s limits •  Nature can be our mentor & our model •  We can redirect human ingenuity away from short term, destructive

technologies and practices to the challenge of building a better future •  We can find harmony despite our differences •  We can build a fairer, more sustainable world

VERSION 10.0

The Monster says: •  Change? That’s impossible •  It’s too expensive •  It’s naïve •  It’s impractical •  It’s being proposed by people who aren’t like us •  People who are anti-progress. Anti-jobs. Anti-science. Anti-everything •  People who hate our country •  People out to overthrow our traditions & way of life

VERSION 10.0

The stories told by entrenched powers are designed to convince us that a better world isn’t possible. That we’re small and powerless. That action is futile. That we should simply shut up, and continue to seek the meaning and purpose we crave along the dead-end avenues those same powers built. The stories that hold us back may be told by governments, corporations, or individuals. They’ll be different from country to country and from project to project. But all will be dedicated to keeping transformative change at bay, maintaining the status quo, and keeping people docile. Which is where courage comes in…

VERSION 10.0

“Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you cannot practice any

other virtue with consistency”""

— MAYA ANGELOU

VERSION 10.0

“Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but "the form of every virtue at the testing point” "

"— C.S. LEWIS

VERSION 10.0

Courage is Personal Life begins at the edge of our comfort zones – and everyone’s comfort zone is different. All acts of courage will be context dependent, and deeply personal.

VERSION 10.0

Courage is Stronger Connected Some acts of courage may feel like a drop in the ocean, yet what is an ocean but a collection of drops? ""By acting together, we can multiply our impact and add up to something greater than the sum of our parts." Connection also enables courage: we will do things together or as a team that we would not do alone.

VERSION 10.0

Courage is Powerful Big or small, individual or collective, all acts of courage have value and hold inside them the power to inspire strangers and friends alike. ""Who’s to know which act of courage will set off the ripples, that transform into waves, that gather together into a mighty tsunami of change? ""We will recognise and appreciate the inherent value in all acts, even if we cannot understand it right now.""

VERSION 10.0

Courage is Contagious Our acts of courage, and those of others help us reshape and redefine our sense of self. ""They allow for even greater acts of courage in the future as the edge of our own personal comfort zone expands with each new action we take. ""Contagious acts of courage can magnify, catalyse and combine in unpredictable and magnificent ways, having the power to propel us at rocket speed toward a new world so beautiful we can barely dare to imagine. "

VERSION 10.0

Courage redefines people’s sense of what’s possible

Apartheid: Only when people in large numbers came to

believe change was possible did change become possible.

VERSION 10.0

The Five Keys to Courage

1.  Purpose (A bigger story that gives people reason to believe their actions matter)

2.  Role Models (Examples of courageous heroes – succeeding and failing)

3.  Social Proof (A community to connect to online and through events)

4.  Skills (Practical tools to help build the courage muscle)

5.  Trigger (Specific calls to courageous action)

VERSION 10.0

Our aim is to become the organisation that "people the world over associate with "

the universal value of courage

VERSION 10.0

To become Champions of the Impossible: "heroes who inspire heroes, "who expand the boundaries "

of what people believe can be achieved

VERSION 10.0

Inspire""

We will lead by example with our own courageous acts: adding real value to the broader movement by doing those things that no one else can, breaking new ground, and pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable or even possible.

VERSION 10.0

Enable We will debunk the myth that courage is for the lucky few and we will provide specific tools, events and relationships that give people a deeper belief in their ability to step outside their comfort zones. ""We will share our skills, such as non-violent direct action and strategic thinking; and provide meaningful ways for people to take action as part of our campaigns, leveraging their unique skills and encouraging them to dream big. "

VERSION 10.0

Catalyse""

We will embrace a symphony of visions, catalyse collaboration between unlikely partners, and encourage the exploration of new ideas and possibilities, helping to redirect our unlimited ingenuity as humans toward the creation of a better world."

VERSION 10.0

Amplify""

Every time people experience something that doesn’t fit with an old story, it weakens it, disrupts it, and makes space for something new. ""We’ll lend our reputation, name and energy to amplify and celebrate stories of contagious courage from our own network and beyond; from our local environment to the other side of the world, knowing that these stories have the power to inspire hope, courage and action."

VERSION 10.0

A kaleidoscope of stories.""This is our story of a Billion Acts of Courage.""A story designed to compete with the multitude of myths and stories already out there.""Sometimes it will be told directly. Sometimes it will be told via our campaigns. Sometimes it will be told by people we don’t even know.""

VERSION 10.0

One story, told a billion times, in a billion different ways, by a billion different audiences, across a billion different mediums.""The core, the essence, the moral, will stay the same. How we tell it will vary. We can be seductive. We can be compelling. We can dare to believe in impossible things.""This is a new chapter in our unfolding Greenpeace story, one we can write together. """

VERSION 10.0

What remains constant are the values we espouse, the role we play, and the moral our stories reinforce:

“A billions acts of courage will spark a brighter tomorrow”

VERSION 10.0

What will your act of courage be?

VERSION 10.0

Developed by a pirate band of communicators at Greenpeace: Tommy Crawford @TheEcoWarrior Brian Fitzgerald @Brianfit Amrekha Sharma @Amrekha Iris Maertens @Irisistablyme With inspiration and big ideas from Jonah Sachs, Drew Beam, Lucy Taylor, and their colleagues at Free Range Graphics and eatbigfish, Smoke-jumping from Mike Townsley and support from Nicoline Huizinga @NicolineHuizinga