Do Your Part, Make a Positive Change | Peter Jay Brown | TEDxTopanga

Peter Jay Brown discusses how he makes change in his world every day and how you can do it too.

Thank you very much.

Actually I’ve lived
in Topanga for 35 years

and my job is television director.

Mostly junk television shows

like Entertainment Tonight,
things like that.

My hobby has always been
the environmental movement,

which 35 years ago I was very lucky

to bump into Bob Hunter
and Paul Watson,

two of the most famous
people in the movement.

And being in the
television business,

there are like
stories made to happen.

Just like a train wreck
waiting to happen.

I hooked up with them
years ago and we tried,

at that time -this is 35 years ago,

it was in Vancouver, British Columbia –

we took a billboard out,
which had one word on it:

Ecology, look it up!

No one knew what the word meant.

And so now, 30 / 35 years later

I can say, we have won the revolution.

At least people know
what the word means,

and BP Oil wants to be green.

So the kids that are coming along next

-I’m kind of old,
and semi over the hill –

The kids that are coming along next

will have to learn
how to govern it,

because we have won the revolution,

as environmental groups,

we want to be good,
we want to have less population

-at least I do-

we want to teach our kids
to do the right things,

we want to do all those things.

And everyone has to do their part,

in the Tapestry of Life, which was
on the brochure this morning.

I guess I’m the person
who just can’t wait around for that

and I have to get out there
and stop it right now.

I consider myself a conservationist,

and what I do in the
media business is,

I take the problem to the world.

We consider ourselves
an acupuncture needle.

We can stick the problem,

make a big stink,

which we do, if you know what we do,

and all over the world
we’ll hear about it,

and then it’s time for everyone else,

our own selves to get in there and fix it.

And both as a small group,
which I ran for years,

and as an individual,
that is all we can do.

And recently
– I will get to it in a minute –

but Margaret Mead told me one time,

and she obviously
– it’s written out all the time,

and you hear about it-

that individuals change the world,
not groups, not governments.

Nobody.
It’s individuals.

And when people ask me,

"What can I do? It seems
like such a big deal!"

Well, it isn’t such a big deal.

Everyone can do something positive.

It’s real easy to sit around
in our couches

and football games and bitch about,

you know, the Topanga Creek
being dirty, or whatever,

and not even care
where our separate tank goes.

So that’s a very easy
subject to deal with,

And when people tell you ‘No’,

if you find something you want
to do, I tell kids especially,

if that’s something – as the lady before
me was talking about their passion –

if that’s what their
passion’s about: do it!

And you know, everybody in your life

is going to tell you why you can’t do it.

Your parents are going to tell you
you're crazy,

your friends are going to say,
Why bother?

Everybody is going to tell you
why you can’t do it.

And you know what?

You’ll change the world if you do do it.

And the minute you stand up
to all these naysayers,

which there'll be, because they've
never really done anything themselves,

and they’re probably
more afraid of failure,

or success for that matter, than you are.

But as a kid, if you see a problem,

you just tell yourself,
you can do it.

And in my case, I came from
a little town, Eastham, Massachusetts

I came out to Hollywood,
I was a professional skier,

I got into the television business,

and I bumped into
Paul Watson and Bob Hunter.

Thirty years later,
BP Oil wants to be green.

Now, I don’t take full credit for it,

but I do know the people
who can take full credit for it.

And those are the people
who went out in front,

and weren’t afraid
of what was going to happen.

I hear all the time – I have
coffee at Mimosa Coffee Shop –

and I hear all the time people say,

"Gee, Peter just got back from Antarctica!

I wish I could do that!"

Well, six weeks before I left

they were sitting there
in the coffee shop telling me,

Gee, I wish I could go
to Antarctica, I don’t have time.

I come back six weeks later,
and they tell me,

"What did you do? Nothing".

As a matter of fact, the damn coffee
shop is about the same,

and probably still has
the same dirty cups in the trash.

But I went
and took six weeks of my time,

to do something that I believed in.

For whatever reason:
I did it for myself,

I did it for the whales, I can do it
for whatever number of reasons,

but the very fact is,
that I did it.

And it’s very funny that after 35 years

I ended up in that stupid
Whale Wars television show,

and now, all of a sudden, I’m invited
to places like this to speak.

(Laughter)

You know, I could be the
greatest scientist to the world,

but, hell, I wasn’t
on tv last night,

but I was on television
and I play a scientist on tv,

and I’ll tell you: Don’t kill whales.

(Laughter)

But it’s tv, so you don’t have
to get a lot of points across,

you just have to kind of
get the feeling, and I’m good at that.

Because I absolutely believe
in what I’m preaching,

and so I’ll make up
the facts all day long.

You know, let the other show
come up with the stuff that’s right.

Just these three weekends ago
I was supposed to talk here,

I forgot what the subject was going to be,

I was asked, and I said,

I’m doing something right
now that could be really cool.

Now, I don’t know if you people
are involved

in the environmental movement,
or what the thing is,

- I kind of, for whatever reason, am -

and Paul Watson, who’s on the lam
for Sea Shepherd now, for offenses,

asked me if I could put
Taiji, Japan, The Cove,

where they kill the dolphins cove,

if I could stream it live to the Internet.

Because for years they’ve only done
motion pictures on the thing,

it’s been on tv, you know -
[but] it hasn’t saved one dolphin.

But boy, they spend a ton
of money over there.

So we thought that maybe
we would try to do that.

So I said, Sure!

I saw a commercial where someone
is there with their cell phone,

and they took a picture
of a rock and roll star,

and thre it was on a bill board!

It was on tv, I’ve got
to be able to do that!

And you know, the funny thing is,

two weeks later, I did.

And we only told five people we tried it,

and the Japanese arrested 13 foreigners

in town and took their cell phones away.

The next time, when we got
the cell phones back to the kids,

and we actually told a few people

that we were going to run this live,

they arrested another 13 or 14,

and took their cell phones away
and broke them.

And then they spent a week
cyber-attacking me, because...

Just to this point,

no one had even seen it yet. Ok?

Ten people, maybe.

Now there is 10,000 people
a day tuning in,

to this thing called Easy Earth,

with the letters EasyEarth.tv ,

to watch Taiji live,

and the Japanese
are just beside themselves.

And no one can understand why.

Well, we live in Los Angeles
where people watch car chases,

for four hours a day.
Waiting for the car wreck.

What’s better [than] watching the Japanese

to see what’ll happen to these poor,

lovely vegan women when they come in

and kill a dolphin
in front of one of them? Ah!

My dad was in WW II,
he would have loved

to have a platoon
of those women with him

because they just turn vicious.

And so the people are watching it.

But the difference is,

they are changing their mind.

They don’t like to kill
dolphins on live tv.

(Laughter)

They don’t have a problem
killing dolphins

when you put it in a film,
for whatever reason,

but for some reasons, they
do not like it happening now.

And it got around.

And we now, we are doing it every day.

Still on my credit card, I’m thrilled.

Because with band, the more
you sell the more it costs you.

So now, what we figured we’d do
to really be a pain in the ass,

[was] we are going to put
Antarctica, this winter, on live.

So instead of Whale Wars
doing a fake TV show about it,

a year later,

you’re going to be able
to tune in Christmas Eve,

if you’re Japanese, and watch
the brave thing country does,

killing whales in a whale sanctuary,
on Christmas Eve.

And what I’m going to do then,

is put it up on a live video
screen in downtown Tokyo.

(Laughter)

And just wait for them
to take it down (Applause).

But all I’m saying, I’m saying this

because I’ve got to get going here,

I see someone waving in the background,

I must not talk too long.

But all I’m saying, the bottom line is,

anybody can do it.

I just happened to get lucky

because I am involved
in a film called:

Confessions of an Eco Terrorist,

so it is in my nature to do these things.

But I had enough contacts,

when someone suggested: Why not?

I didn’t say, because it’s impossible.

Everybody else said it was impossible.

It took me two weeks,
it was nearly impossible.

Now it’s kind of impossible
convincing my wife it was a good idea.

But that’s another story altogether.

But the thing is, it’s working

and it’s a different way of thinking.

And the kids out here
especially, or anybody,

if they have an idea
on how to get after something,

then I say: do it!
If it’s a real idea,

talk about it with your friends.

If they all think you’re crazy,

then you know it’s a good idea!

Find someone else
you can talk to about it,

And get out there, and do it.

It will change the world.

And not only will it change the world;

all of a sudden, they’ll be invited here,

to come talk in a place like this,

where you can’t see anybody out there

because the lights are in your eyes,

but you all seem very nice

and I think I’m at my time,

and I want to thank you for coming in.

Get out there and do
something positive.

Thank you!

(Applause)