HAPPY THESDAY!
Exactly one year ago we released our website, and our social media channels soon began to follow (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube).
Since then The Human Exploring Society has progressively increased its number of friends and followers who have not only supported our content but who have significantly livened up our conversations and offered to share their stories and experience with us willingly.
Week by week people have been showing an interest in collaborating with us, so our team has gradually grown in size, now including journalists, photographers, scientists, academics, thinkers, musicians from all over the planet. People of different ages and with various backgrounds have crossed their stories with ours and have helped to build THES.
In the past year, we've been involved with a range of projects with different missions, including having a very humble but powerful experience at COP26 in Glasgow, where we worked for two weeks as part of a collective climate justice movement; the COP26 Coalition. As part of this inspiring team of environment & development NGOs, trade unions, grassroots community campaigns, youth groups, indigenous representatives and migrant & racial justice networks, we were able to build power and challenge governments and corporations across the world with our counter-summit whilst educating and connecting anyone wishing to open their minds and hearts and end this Era of Injustice.
We've also been lucky enough to meet and interview some of our climate heroes and social revolutionaries such as Dale Vince, Jeremy Lent, Debora Kayembe, Richie Venton with the goal of sharing the stories of those working to rebuild a more just society.
So entering into our second year as THES, we will be exploring our mission through even more creative ways, with some exciting projects involving the wonderful people we have met and been lucky enough to work alongside during these past months. Just to give you a flavor of what to expect, our next projects include a narrative documentary about a key figure in the social and environmental justice movement, our first-ever online campaign, and a conversion project promoting low-impact living. All whilst striving to reach our audiences far and wide by working closely with our international volunteers to offer our content in as many languages as possible because language shouldn't be a barrier to climate action.
Of course, the challenge doesn't get any easier from here, but we feel ready for it. THES is a nonprofit media activism platform and its purpose is to deliver a place for activists of human rights and the environment who want to raise awareness about these topics, balancing the lack of data and corrupted information which is currently arriving from our mainstream media, in order to tell the truth and feel empowered to act on it.
Our message, to be clear, is not unbiased.
We are not impartial. We take part. Of the weakest and unheard ones.
Unfortunately, due to the current deep injustice we all witness in our lives, there's a need for Justice that requires not a cold and dry narrative of the events, but rather a passionate and proactive narrative about the problems and solutions and which prioritises the voices of those most affected.
With all of these current personal and worldwide troubles, it’s so easy to feel powerless, angry, upset, and overwhelmed, but please know this is normal and you're not alone. Emotions can run high when you are faced with such a monumental challenge, but they're only there to remind us that we care. And sometimes, even if it's just one minute a day, one hour a week, one day a month, whenever you suddenly feel an urge to be creative, you're full of energy and you're inspired, that's the moment to stand up and take action. Seize that moment and do what you can to address our global crises. Here at THES, we use the lenses of Journalism, the Arts, Business, and Science to offer an antidote to the anxiety of our times: Action.
Finally, we would just like to say thank you, reader, for your support and encouragement in our first year and we cannot wait for you to join us on this journey to find Another Way.
With Love,
Martha Stephens and Manlio Pertout
Founders of The Human Exploring Society