My activism is the rent I pay for living on this planet
I understand that many of our readers come to SWS to escape the endless news cycle of wars, natural disasters and petty political brawling, but sometimes it’s important to pull our heads out of the sand and look around. When we started this magazine, we promised ourselves that in a conservative, ageing and male dominated field we would, when possible, we would encourage, female involvement, youthful participation and responsible custodianship of our planet.
With that in mind, I recommend that you take 30 minutes out of your day, and watch a short documentary called “Making Waves”. It’s available on a streaming platform called WaterBear. You do have to sign up, but it’s free and there are plenty of other interesting films on the site concerning climate action, biodiversity, sustainability, community, and diversity.
The documentary,”Making Waves” tells a small part of the story of 41 year old French woman, Lamya Essemlali who has led various Sea Shepherd campaigns all over the world for the last decade.
The power of the film comes, not from any particular radicalism that Lamya shows in her work protecting marine turtles from being poached in the Indian Ocean, or Pilot Whales from being hunted in the North Atlantic, but by showing the counterpoint of her “normal” life in Paris with the horrors of environmental vandalism around the world. She talks rationally to the old Faroese whale hunter, listening to his point of view rather than berating him as most us would be tempted to do. On Mayotte, an island in the western Indian ocean at the same time as trying to prevent turtle poaches undertaking their grizzly task, she understands the circumstances that have driven them to this behaviour.
I’ve watched my fair share of “environmental crusader” documentaries over the years, but “Making Waves” seemed to effect me more than most. It made me realise that you don’t have to be a super hero to make a difference. The most profound changes are made by normal people altering their individual behaviours. I always considered myself to be environmentally responsible. But now I see there’s a lot more I can do.
Perhaps we’ll start by reeling in that trolling line on FAIR WINDS when there’s already enough food on board for the passage.