A compelling documentary named ‘How to change the world’ which discusses the discovery and rise of Greenpeace organization was reviewed by Scott J Cooper. He reviewed it because Greenpeace is one of the earliest and today one of the most influential organizations to talk about environmental problems.
Scott J Copper is himself an environmentalist who talks about the impending danger of water shortage.
Climate change has never been more prevalent the world’s temperature has risen by 1 degree and the melting ice caps are an alarm that soon there will be a shortage of fresh water.
In the US the crisis is growing each passing day and it is the need of the hour to address these problems and find a solution.
What does the documentary talk about?
The documentary talks about the rise of Greenpeace in 1971. A small boat bearing the name Greenpeace set out from Alaska to eyewitness the nuclear blast and to attempt to stop it. However, the US government delayed the plans and they had to return but on their way back Greenpeace became larger then it was ever before.
The documentary is based on the view of one of the founders, ex-pat Bob Hunter who in an interview said that people do only two kinds of madness one being the cold war and the other being the attempt to pollute the earth without caring as long as they are making money.
The documentary then takes us to Bob’s colleagues who describe him as a determined person who was fearless.
The documentary director had access to some real footage of the initial days, meetings of the parties. It was because Hunter was a smart person who knew that every protest has a “mind bomb” which would help bring global consciousness about the issues they want to bring to light. Hence every occasion in the early days of the formation of Greenpeace has a picture or is filmed.
There is a film where the members of the organization are listening to Russian radio conversation sitting on the California beach. Following the information, they got they were able to catch a Russian Ship which killed a whole school of whales. The picture that Hunter captures of a harpoon that goes overhead of protestors and kills a whale becomes a “mind bomb”. The picture then catches the attention of media who talk about the issue frantically and it is flashed everywhere.
The Greenpeace then went on to protest against the seal hunt which is done by a fellow Newfoundland, California citizen. It is here that they learned that when you catch foreigners in an act of crime and expose them you are praised but when done of a citizen of the same place you live in things can get difficult.
The seal hunt confrontation breaks up the Greenpeace pack into pieces. They expand internationally but the main branch in Vancouver suffers as they get no funding from their fellows. This dispirited the ever fearless and lively Bob Hunter, at this time Pat Moore became the head of the organization.
Bob Hunter after being replaced became highly addicted to valium and alcohol. The documentary does not offer any more information about Hunter other than that he died in 2005.
The director only gives the information that after being dispersed for a long period Hunter did come back took the power back from Moore and took Greenpeace to the international level on which it deserved to be.
The documentary is an extraordinary story of a common man in an organization, his quest to save the environment, his determination through the struggles which lead to eventual success.
Greenpeace today has a presence in over 55 countries and the mission of the organization is to expose global environmental problems, protest about them in a non-violent manner, and find solutions to bring back greenery on earth.
