Environmentalist Paul Hawken told graduates there was invisible writing on the back of their diplomas that read: 'You are brilliant, and the earth is hiring.' He painted a picture of a planet in crisis, where every living system is declining and the rate of decline is accelerating, and declared that the earth needs a new operating system with the graduates as its programmers. But rather than deliver a doom-and-gloom lecture, Hawken reframed the crisis as an invitation. The earth's recruitment campaign came not through formal channels but through the beauty of everyday existence. He urged graduates to do what needs to be done and check whether it was impossible only after they're finished.