This weekend I had the pleasure of experiencing Greenpeace’s newest ship, the new Rainbow Warrior, while it is docked in New York City for it’s first ever visit to the United States. I was brought on board the brand new sailing vessel to help introduce her to the public.
For two days I talked to hundreds of people from all walks of life. I showed people the ship’s completely unique design, introduced guests to crewmembers, and told why our ships are so important to the work we do. In many cases, I introduced children and adults alike to Greenpeace for the first time and got to explain how we go about defending the environment.
One of my favorite moments of the weekend came half way through Sunday when I gave a tour to several parents with children between the ages of 6 and 12. The kids looked around the boat in awe and scrambled to sit in the captain’s chair as the 3rd mate showed them how to navigate and sail. As I explained one of the Rainbow Warriors small jet boats to the tour a little boy raised his hand to ask a question.
“How many animals do you think you’ve saved?” he asked. I thought about that for a second and the only answer I could come up with was “a lot.” How do you help a child understand over fishing and deforestation, let alone climate change? I told him that we work to save all sorts of animals in the oceans from being killed by bad fishing practices and that we’re trying to stop rainforests from being burned down so that the animals can continue to live in them.
He listened intently and nodded as he considered what I was saying. Then he looked up, smiled and said “awesome.”
