50 years ago this week, the world agreed to set aside Antarctica as a place of "peace and science," ignoring national territorial claims and declaring the continent the common heritage of humanity. It was, as a species, one of our finest moments.

Then, in the mid 80s, the oil and gas and minerals companies decided that the "common heritage" bit meant it was theirs to exploit. Greenpeace and a handful of other groups launched a campaign to block that -- a campaign nobody thought we could win. A campaign that some of us thought, at best, would move the goal posts, but which would in the end fall victim to politically expedient compromise, short-term interests, and the unassailable power of intransigent governments and corporate greed. World Park Antarctica? Dream on, greenies.

Instead, against all odds, we won. With some smart political lobbying, public pressure, a clever use of coalition divide-and-conquer tactics, an Antarctic base from which we bore witness as only Greenpeace could, and direct non-violent action, we kept the oil companies out of Antarctica.

The story of that campaign, told in the video below, is a story of persistence, impossible ambitions, and what makes us take action in the face of seemingly unwinnable odds. There's inspiration in that for all of us as we look forward to the task at hand: tackling climate change at the climate meeting starting in a few days in Copenhagen...

Appropriately, the narrator, Kelly Rigg, who ran our Antarctic campaign in the 80s, is today a strategic advisor to the TckTckTck climate coalition.