I was seven-years-old when I was lucky enough to discover my passion for bears and learned first hand, through a lemonade stand and a couple of letters in support of protecting Alaska's Kodiak bears, that each person - no matter their age - can make a difference for all life. It was the most important lesson I ever learned and it was the foundation from which I built my involvement in the quest to give a voice to the spirit bear - through my organization, the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition - at the age of 13.
I believe that every campaign - much like life - is ninety-nine percent hard work and about one percent good luck. My efforts ran into roadblocks every step of the way. Teachers didn't want their students getting engaged in politics. My parents were nervous about how this campaign would affect my studies. I lost my friends, not because they didn't support me, but because saving a bear was different. However, I believe strongly that if you believe in your message and stay the course, no challenge is insurmountable.
On those dark days when all I wanted to do was give up - to not go through the hell that was my high school life or deal with the ugly politics of the issue - I'd remember: it wasn't about me, it was about a bear - a bear that had no idea what was in store for its future. If I gave up on this bear, I would have to be prepared to grow up in a world where this bear wouldn't exist - something I could never do. And it wasn't that I was the best equipped or the smartest person to lead this fight, but I was one of the most passionate and I knew, more than anything else, this bear needed - deserved - a passionate defender that wouldn't capitulate to political whims or issue fatigue. So I always kept going.
Finally, that one percent of good luck came knocking at the door: Time Magazine had selected me as one of their 60 Heroes for the Planet, one of only six young people selected from around the world. I didn't - and still don't - think I'm a hero, but I gladly accepted the honor for what it was: an acknowledgment that young people can make a difference and that their voices, in these issues, do count.
The recognition, seemingly overnight, transformed the Youth Coalition. It gave us the ability to speak to government with credibility and the opportunity to share our message with the world. The issue went from the wilderness of public awareness to the forefront of boardrooms, cabinet meetings and the public eye. What began with 700 hundred letters from a middle school in Vancouver became the most supported conservation initiative in Canadian history. And with support coming in from all corners of the globe, the issue's varied stakeholders, including the Youth Coalition, began working with the BC government to create a sustainable future for the BC coast and, in the doing, the spirit bear.
Today, the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition spans more than 65 countries and enjoys the support of more than 6 million young people, all of whom have helped protect of two-thirds of the spirit bear's last intact habitat. We've reunited the team responsible for Lion King to help us produce The Spirit Bear: a major CGI Hollywood animated movie that, when released to theatres worldwide in 2009, will see a portion of every ticket sold go directly back toward helping save its namesake by protecting the final, unprotected third of the bear's habitat.
The journey from middle school letter writing campaign to our forthcoming Hollywood animated movie has been both remarkable and humbling, but began with that belief in a single, but powerful idea: that each person can make a difference.
Anyone could have done what I've done for any issue that they believe in - whether it's trying to protect a peregrine falcon's nest in their neighborhood or trying to rid the world of cancer, there are simply no insignificant endeavors. Every time someone stands up to help improve the lot of others, they are helping to create a better world. I was driven by my passion and the good fortune of knowing, thanks to my luck with the lemonade stand at the age of seven, that I could succeed. And in creating an organization that has united the unengaged teenager in New York City with the isolated student in rural Klemtu, British Columbia with the voiceless child in the war-torn suburbs of Baghdad, Iraq, in order to give a voice to a creature that did not have one, I'd like to think we helped create a mechanism of hope.
I believe our greatest challenge must be to illustrate that the greatest sin is not trying and that by trying, together - as one voice - our dreams are possible and our missions are most certainly winnable. After all, we are the voices for the sick, the poor, the children, the dreamers...and the bears. It is our most important endeavor and our greatest tool for a better tomorrow.
For me, it begins by saving this undeniably, irreplaceable bear and if together we can succeed in saving the spirit bear, we will have succeeded in something far greater: We will have been able to prove that a young person with no remarkable skills, or intellect, but simply with a passion, can take hold of a cause and unite the world.
And that's the power of one.
Simon Jackson, now 25, is the founder and Chairman of the volunteer, youth-run Spirit Bear Youth Coalition and is the Executive Producer of THE SPIRIT BEAR - the forthcoming CGI animated movie. For his efforts, he has been named a Hero for the Planet by Time Magazine and was the inspiration for a recent made-for-TV movie - Spirit Bear: The Simon Jackson Story. He is represented by Speakers' Spotlight www.speakersspotlight.com .
www.spiritbearyouth.org