Corporate (in)activism
We all want a habitable, thriving planet so why so many of us still stand on the sidelines of activism, particularly at an organisational level?
Most of us care deeply about climate action, we worry about the future we’re leaving behind. We want to ‘do our bit’. We know the facts, the data, the prognosis. And yet, so many of us still stand on the sidelines of activism.
‘I am not an activist’
‘Our brand/organisation isn’t activist’
I’ve been thinking about what it really means to say that, to hold this belief about ourselves and the organisations that we’re part of.
The obvious explanation would be that some organisations may not see themselves in street protests they associate activism with. And while direct action is a vital part of bringing about change, there are of course many different ways to participate in activism. It’s our job to find our form of activism; something we can take on with the resources we have, within the circumstances of our lives. With acknowledgment of our own limitations (we can’t take it all on, we’re not the savior or the solution holder) and honesty for where we can engage deeper. And I feel we know that, by now, right? We know that our activism doesn’t have to look like ____(insert any from of direct action you found edgy or unimaginable for yourself).
So what else is afoot, what sits under distancing from activism? To say “I’m not an activist” or that “our brand/ organisation isn’t activist” is to say we’re unchangeable and separate from our living environment. It is to say we can opt out of participating in life; that we get to sit this one out and cheer on from the sidelines, while life happens around us. In the way I know life to be, this is nothing short of delusion. We’re (in) a constant reciprocal relationship to all life, whether we choose to see it that way or not.
Our way of life in the ecosystem; our behaviours & relationships, create our ecological niche- the conditions in which life finds a way to continue. We simultaneously affect change within and are changed by the ecosystems we’re a part of.
And so, we do not get to not act. As living organisms on this planet, we don’t get to unsubscribe from the interconnectedness of all life.
Every moment we’re practicing something, we’re engaging in a form of activism, participating in bringing about change. We are all activists not because we’re somehow special but simply because we’re alive (and even in death there’s activism to be found, ask a compost heap).
Perhaps it feels like a real stretch to think of yourself or an organisation that you’re part of as activist. It may feel radical or even unimaginable. But what might open up if we allow ourselves to be surprised by our collective capacity to transform? What activism might be possible if we come to remember our long-standing track record of evolutionary change, happening in every little moment?
Not from a place of deluded, reckless optimism, but grounded acceptance that change is afoot; the business is not-as-usual and we’re participating in it. Dr. Angel Acosta calls these times of crises fertile soil for surprise. It’s from within the cracks that we come to really redefine what’s possible within us. For so many of us, our identities, the systems we’re part of and the ways in which our organisations operate have felt calcified, unmovable. But cracks offer an opening to step into something different, to be surprised; “we might need to plan for having our hearts broken open with the surprise that even at the final hour, we might just get it together” (Dr. Angel Acosta).
Whatever past beliefs we may have held are due for a radical revision in the sobering light of the consequences of crossing planetary boundaries; declining biodiversity, failing crops, droughts, floods or climate migration. These are radical adaptations to the way we’re currently participating in life, which call us into radical re-imagining of our own roles and the roles of our organisations within the larger web of life. The scale of this change can be overwhelming, heartbreaking, terrifying and yet, among it all there’s liberation too; radical permission to redefine who we are (becoming).
In these uncertain, complex times, with more difficulty on the horizon, when forecasts are no longer a reliable way to think of the future (perhaps they never were), we get to take a step and ask, who are we now? And now? And now?
And so as life searches for a way to continue amidst planetary crises, stripping the superfluous from the vital, what matters the most is the role we play in the larger ecosystem. Not from the sidelines, not our sentiments or pledges, not what we plan to do by 2030 but what our daily practice of activism looks like, how we’re engaging with what’s ours to do in response to life.
What’s yours to do? is a 1-day climate-action accelerator for teams looking to connect with their unique form of activism for these times.
Over the next 2 months, we’re opening space for 5 courageous organisations to take part in this experience.
Find out more or email hello@becomingcrew.com to book a chat with Dan, Mark & Evva.
What a brilliant piece. Thank you! What are the 2 or 3 questions you would like businesses to answer if they were persuaded by your arguments? Ideally, please make them introductory and easy to answer, I suggest questions 4-6 can be tougher or go deeper, if you get the ideas, juices and reflections flowing initially, and thus you enable people to make a start.