All language subtitles for How To Change The World (2015)_en

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[indistinct chattering]

Mr. Schlesinger has
an announcement.

We will hand out
copies momentarily

so you won't have to write
down what he said.

He'll take questions afterwards.

The Atomic Energy Commission
is now planning to proceed

with the Cannikin test.

We have now received
the requisite authority

to go ahead,
including detonation.

♪

On the windswept island
of Amchitka,

final preparations
for the test go on.

Filling the 6,000-foot
deep hole with sand.

The five megaton nuclear bomb
rests at the bottom.

Since childhood,
when I started making

science fiction comics
in my school scribblers,

I loved to draw.

♪

But by the time I got
a place at art school,

Uncle Sam and Comrade Ivan
were pointing

56,000 nuclear warheads
at each other

and boys my age
were coming back

in body bags from Vietnam.

♪

The American dream
was turning into

a planetary nightmare.

AEC scientists say
they are not worried.

The blast will set off
a large earthquake

or a tidal wave.

♪

Drawing comics didn't
seem to be enough.

So I burned my college
acceptance letter

on the steps
of my high school,

and set off
to change the world.

♪

Young people demonstrated
their opposition

to the nuclear blast
by closing

the main highway crossings
at the U.S./Canadian border

between Seattle
and Vancouver.

No more Amchitkas!

No more Amchitkas!

No more Amchitkas!

I don't think this
particular demonstration

can necessarily stop it,
but, it reflects

a level of awareness
that wasn't here,

say, five years ago.

[typewriter clicking]

By the fall of 1971,

I am a columnist
for The Vancouver Sun

and had volunteered
to chronicle a voyage

into a bomb.

♪

The protest ship,
the Greenpeace,

is heading for Amchitka,
hoping to anchor offshore

and stop the test.

The boat is one more factor
for Richard Nixon

to have to consider,

the possibility of some
international incident

involving Canadians.

Until that fateful journey,
nothing has seemed

so absolutely essential
to write about.

♪

But heading into the bomb,

there is only
this antique wooden tub

between us
and the icy seas.

♪

Suddenly,
I am very frightened.

Ten, nine, eight, seven,
six, five, four,

three, two, one.

[rumbling]

[typewriter clicking]

[sounds of the street]

Ninety percent of history
is being in the right place

at the right time.

In Vancouver in 1971, we have
the biggest concentration

of tree-huggers,
draft dodgers,

shit-disturbing unionists,
radical students,

garbage dump stoppers,
freeway fighters,

pot smokers, vegetarians,
nudists, Buddhists,

fish preservationists,
and back-to-the-landers

on the planet.

♪

And we are all haunted
by the specter

of a dead world.

♪

These are the people
who will shape

the next ten years
of my life.

♪ Well, now deep in my heart

♪ Baby, I know that you care

♪ Deep in my heart, babe,
the feelin' is there ♪

♪ 'Cause I got somethin'
money can't buy ♪

♪ I got somethin'
that you oughta try ♪

♪ I got love, love,
I said, love, sweet love ♪

♪ I got love, baby

♪

The idea was simple,
send a boat to bear witness

in the Quaker tradition

of going to the scene
of the crime.

Patrick Moore
has just finished

his PhD in Ecology.

He's a bit
psychedelic-looking

for a scientist.

But when he speaks,
it sounds like he knows

what he's talking about.

Well, the committee's position
is that it's opposed

to all testing
of all nuclear weapons

anywhere in the world
by any country.

♪ Now deep in my heart, baby,
I know that you care ♪

Paul Watson is
a 19 year old sailor,

who gets bored easily.

Take a picture of you guys
taking a picture.

He has North Vietnamese flags
stitched to his Army jacket,

wears Red Power buttons,
Black Power buttons,

and just about any kind of
anti-establishment button

that can be imagined.

No, that's Bob's
interpretation of it.

I don't recall wearing
all these patches.

The thing is is that everybody
has their own view

of what went down
and I was considered

probably a little more
radical than the others.

♪ Yeah

♪ Well, I can tell
by your smile

what you wanna do ♪

Change happens where
things are mixed up,

and things were mixed up
in Vancouver.

There was this ex-patriot
American community,

there was
a Buddhist community,

there were fishermen,

and there was this
talk about ecology.

Rex Weyler is
the Texan photographer

who fled the Vietnam draft
and has been chased

by the FBI up to Vancouver.

Bob Hunter was writing
in The Vancouver Sun.

He was talking about ecology
and peace and social change

and the consciousness
revolution.

And it really was the best
journalism in Vancouver.

But he was more than just
being a writer.

Bob saw himself
as helping to bring about

a cultural revolution.

It's just such madness
that it's almost

a logical area to attack
because two different kinds

of madness have
come together there.

There's the Cold War madness

and there's the
"Let's pollute,

it doesn't matter,
the main thing

is to make a buck."

Conservationists are making
a last ditch attempt

to stop the Amchitka
nuclear test.

Donations have been received
and are continuing

to come in from all over
British Columbia,

and from many parts of the
northwestern United States.

Bob just realized that
if you wanna do a protest,

you have to make a story
that's going to travel well,

an event that would impact
millions of people

in every corner of the world.

♪

♪

The plan is a good one.

Ours is a Canadian vessel
so the Americans

cannot seize it
in international waters

without committing
an act of piracy.

I think we oughta really
mind fuck each other

on this trip.

[laughing]

[chatter]

The fathers of this adventure
are Jim Bohlen, Irving Stowe,

and Ben Metcalfe,

veterans of
the peace movement

who've recruited a younger
generation of eco freaks,

myself included.

♪

The youngest of us all,
Bill Darnell,

has accidentally given
the boat its new name.

At the end of the meetings,
Irving would always say,

"Peace," and flash
the peace sign,

and I said, "We should
make that a green peace."

♪

By putting those two
things together,

Bill symbolized the union
of the peace movement

with the environmental
movement,

and that was a new idea.

That is, in a way,
what gave Greenpeace

its power from the start.

It has been no easy task
to find someone willing

to sail out to the Bering Sea
as winter approaches

and park their vessel

uninsured next to
a nuclear explosion.

But chance has led us
to John Cormack.

Well, yeah, okay,
we'll get into action,

'cause I know this guy's
ready to go--

Should I take my hat off,
and my glasses off,

and smile for ya?

John did it for money.

And he had that
sense of adventure.

Yeah, we're going
to check into that.

He had the nickname
"Hard Luck Cormack,"

and his boat
was in some disrepair.

I just looked at it and said,
"Bob, we are all gonna die."

[water crashing]

[wind howling]

It is really rolling.

Some of the boys,
they feel pretty sick.

Apart from Captain Cormack,
between us we have almost

no practical experience
with the sea.

Gravity drags our stomachs
into pulpy collision

with our lungs.

The cold grey boil
of the waves

wagging over our heads.

This trip is going to be
at least 100 times as heavy

as I thought.

[waves crashing]

This little 99-ton
halibut boat

has stayed on
her keel so far,

but the fall
and winter storms

up here are fantastic.

Winds of 120 miles an hour
are not unusual.

Last night, the whole--

We realized that we can send
a 20-second voice clip

from the ship over
the telephone system

and it'll appear on the radio
in Australia, New Zealand,

and other places.

That verified that this
was a real global story.

Back on land, Rod Marining,
the self-styled non-leader

of the Northern Lunatic
Fringe of Yippie,

stokes the fires
of public opinion.

Hey, you know
what it's all about?

It's putting on a good show.

People in Alaska,
down the Pacific coast,

Canada and Japan
have protested.

The people fear earthquakes,
damage to wildlife--

The theory of
electronic communication

was just being developed
at that time.

You know, the fax
hadn't been invented yet.

Bob coined
the term "mind bomb"

for what today we would
call "going viral,"

where an idea gets into
the electronic media

and just spreads like ripples
on the water instantly.

♪

Image is everything.

The boat is an icon.

A mind bomb sailing across
an electronic sea

into the front rooms
of the masses.

Blast Nixon,
not Amchitka.

Blast Nixon,
not Amchitka.

10,000 students showed up
in downtown Vancouver

in front of
the American Consulate.

You know, for us on the boat,
that was really a huge lift.

That gave us a real sense
of accomplishment.

Power to the people!

Power to the people!

The Nixon administration
said today

that the five megaton
nuclear explosion

planned for Amchitka Island
in the Aleutians

will not be set off
before October 27th.

It wouldn't say just when
it will take place

and the President is still
making up his mind on that.

[waves crashing]

Like a seesaw, the battle
swings back and forth.

But it is possible
that the test has been delayed

just to shake us off.

[splashing]

We knew we shouldn't just
take off and go to Amchitka,

and be there a month early
in what could be

terrible hurricane weather.

So, John decided that we
would go into Akutan Harbor.

[indistinct chattering]

Reaching Akutan is a relief.

An Alaskan fishing village
with a small Aleut community,

and an abandoned
whaling station.

John told us we weren't
supposed to go ashore,

but, we went ashore.

[water lapping]

[whale vocalizing]

In the remains
of the whaling station

huge bones thrust out
of the moss like thickets.

[whale moaning]

We are intent
on trying to prevent

a nuclear holocaust,

but for this other race
of giant creatures,

the holocaust
has already come.

♪

As though we've been given
a glimpse of our own future.

[birds chirping]

We walk up into the hills
where it's kind of rocky

and other-worldly.

I think a few people
were a bit

on the psychedelic side.

♪

We all sort of lay
face down in this moss

and immersed ourself
in nature.

And we started to talk.

As Dr. Patrick gives us

the ultimate lecture
in ecology,

in a leaping flash we all
connect with the idea

that all life is interwoven.

The whales, the moss...us.

We are all one.

A flower is your brother.

♪

You know, we just sort of
felt our power.

Whether we were doing this
as a team of men, warriors.

♪

There on Akutan Island,
we bonded in a way

that I'd never really
experienced before.

♪

The next day though,
there in the distance

was a U.S. Coast Guard ship
steamin' straight for us.

♪

The U.S. Navy was
monitoring our voyage.

♪

This commander
gets out and says,

"Where's your captain?"
and he goes up

and talks to John Cormack.

District Director of Customs
asked Coast Guard

to notify
Master Phyllis Cormack

that he has incurred penalty
with the U.S. Customs

for failure to report
on the Tariff Act of 1930.

We're all subject to fines
because we hadn't

cleared Customs.

We entered the
U.S. illegally.

As the captain was up
reading the Riot Act to John,

the three crewmembers
in the boat handed up to us

this crumpled up
piece of paper.

Listen, you guys.

From the crew.

Due to the situation
we are in,

we, the crew of the Confidence,
feel that what you are doing

is for the good
of all mankind.

If our hands weren't tied
by these military bonds,

we would be in the same
position you are in

if it were at all possible.

Good luck, we are
behind you 100 percent.

Hey, that's really great!

[laughing]

We only just started out,
we heard about it, man.

It's far out,
I dig it, man.

[laughing]

It just completely
blew our minds.

Wow.

Signed by 16 members
of the crew.

I think everybody
except the captain.

If vessel does not make
formal entry to Custom

before he departs Akutan,
then he will be in violation--

Up in the wheelhouse,
the commander told us

that we had to go back
to U.S. Customs,

which wasn't any further
out the Aleutian chain

towards Amchitka,

it was the
opposite direction.

And they had us.

The Coast Guard says it has
disciplined an officer

and 17 enlisted men
for supporting a protest

against the planned
nuclear test

on Amchitka Island
in the Aleutians.

The men were all on
the Cutter Confidence

when its skipper boarded
the Canadian yacht,

the Greenpeace,
which was sailing

in the Aleutians
to protest the big test.

We retreat to clear
Customs at Sand Point.

The battle isn't lost
but Amchitka is now

a thousand miles away
and slipping out of reach.

And in the Bering Sea,
ice packs are congealing

and winter is on the wind.

No, I wouldn't sail across
the Gulf of Georgia

in that boat,
you guys are crazy.

Don't let 'em bullshit you,
you know.

We could've gone back
out into international waters

and headed straight
for Amchitka.

We're liable to die
if we do that.

Even huge steel boats
get broken in half up there

in the winter
in the Bering Sea.

I'm just trying to clarify it.

And Metcalfe was arguing
we'd accomplished our purpose,

we'd got it
into the mainstream media,

Trudeau was calling Nixon.

But Bob really wanted
to go on.

And I was in that same camp.

Here's another case in point
that's coming up right now.

I am sick and goddamn
well-tired of this fight

that's going on
between you and you.

I think Bob would've gone
off the boat,

got on the island,
run directly for ground zero,

and gone down the hole
to where the bomb was

if he could've.

He wasn't afraid at all,
of anything, Bob,

he was fearless.

This has gone on
just too far,

there's too many
snide remarks

and backhand statements
in the whole business

and I just don't like it
one goddamn bit.

Bob lived his ideas.

If we're gonna
change the world,

are we gonna risk something?

If it's at all possible,
let's do it.

After seven days of arguing
and not being able to

come to any kind
of a consensus,

Bob just pinned this piece
of paper on his undershirt

one day that just said
"Fuck off," you know like,

don't talk to me, you know,
I've had it, I'm done.

We all were and I think
that's kind of when

Jim Bohlen stepped in
and said,

"Look, we're going back."

♪

Bob felt abject failure.

He was angry, he was sad,
he was beside himself

that we weren't continuing.

It broke his heart.

♪

It's sickening for me
to realize that a revolution

can go no faster or further
than people themselves

who are supposedly
saving the world

through our moral example.

But in reality,
we spent most of our time

at each other's throats.

Egos clashing, turning
resistance into psychodrama.

♪

When we were almost back
to Vancouver,

they announced
November the 4th

was the day for the bomb.

♪

This afternoon on hearing that
the Atomic Energy Commission

will proceed with
the Amchitka test

crewmembers said that,
"President Nixon has clearly

circumvented all
legal procedure

in sanctioning the blast."

♪

On Amchitka, the last
workers are hustled away

from the test site
into a concrete bunker

twenty miles away.

And the Chair of
the Atomic Energy Commission

plans a family picnic.

I will be on the island
during the test.

I did bring along two
of the girls and my wife.

And I think that that should
indicate the high degree

of confidence that we have
in the safety of that test.

♪

As a neighbor to a person
who was doing something

potentially dangerous,
I might call the cops.

Uh, yes, well there
are no cops to call.

♪

Ten, nine, eight, seven,
six, five, four,

three, two, one, zero.

[indistinct transmission]

[rumbling]

[intense rumbling]

[crumbling]

[wind howling]

[beeping]

And that was it,
seven minutes and three seconds

after Cannikin was detonated
on Amchitka,

the first readout
in Vancouver.

The seismic readings
translated into an earthquake

registering 7.0
on the Richter scale.

We all came home feeling
like we'd failed.

[clapping]

But, we sort of were
treated like heroes

which was a little bit
disconcerting, like,

"No, no, we didn't
actually do it,

you got the wrong guys,"
you know.

[clapping]

Many of the Coast Guard
people we talked to,

apart from the officers,
were completely on our side.

-Were they?
-Oh yeah...

As it turns out,
my post-trip despair

is utterly mistaken.

Political pressure generated
by our voyage succeeds

beyond anybody's
wildest dreams.

Five months later,
the nuclear testing program

at Amchitka was
quietly cancelled.

In the next year and a half,

they'll clean up
most of this debris.

After that,
Amchitka will become

what it once was,
a wildlife refuge.

And deep down beneath it,

a cavern full of
trapped radiation

that will endure for
perhaps 20,000 years.

♪

There was definitely
an unfinished feeling

after Amchitka.

It was gnawing away
at the back of our minds

that humanity could do
tremendous harm to this world

even without war.

The name on the sail
of our little boat

has earned some
media capital.

And I suggest
we reinvent ourself

as The Greenpeace Foundation.

Bob felt that there needed
to be an ecology movement

on the same scale
as the civil rights movement,

the women's movement,
the peace movement.

How do you take hold
of the global mind,

as it were?

Because the globe
in the '70s,

was not thinking
globally at all.

It was the question
of where do you start

with such a huge
number of problems?

Where do you start?

It only slowly dawned on
Hunter that he probably

should be giving
direction here.

He was struggling
with the question

of whether he was
still a journalist

writing about this movement

or whether he was an activist
leading this movement.

♪

And then, of course,
Paul Spong came along.

Paul Spong is a young
psychologist who landed a job

studying a whale named Skana
at the Vancouver Aquarium.

He's just been fired
for stating publicly

that the whale wants
to be free,

which has made him a bit
of a legend among eco freaks.

Are you sure about that?

This is a kind of
a surprise to the people

of Vancouver and district.

We didn't know that we were
going to get a whale

and all of a sudden
we have one.

I devised an experiment
to try to understand

what her vision was like.

[whale squealing]

Once she got it,

she was very,
very consistent.

She would perform
at 90 percent or above

day after day after day.

And then on one day,
from one trial to the next,

she reversed her behavior.

♪

She kept on doing it,
but she always got

the answer wrong.

Kind of ruined my experiment.

Paul knew the whale
was playing with him.

But now he was the subject,

and the whale was doing
its research on him.

It was really the first time
that I started to think about,

"Who is this whale?"

[dinging]

Dr. Spong, you are,
at the moment,

protesting the captivity
of Skana the whale

in its present environment.

It's a very dull environment.

It's plain concrete walls,
nothing from the ocean in it.

Not a seashell in it.

Not a seashell.

During the last 50 years,
it has been estimated

that two million whales
had been slaughtered.

[gunshot]

An 80-foot whale
weighing 100 tons

can be converted into easily
replaceable ingredients

for industrial lubricants,
margarine, cat food,

and cosmetics.

Paul learned about
what was going on

in the whale world outside.

He wanted to do
something about it

so he came to us.

♪

I was actually aware of Bob,
listening to the stories

about the Amchitka voyage.

This method of direct,
non-violent confrontation

was a method that
actually could succeed

at making change.

I invited Bob to come down
and visit Skana.

At one point,
she opened her jaws wide

with a clear
invitation to him

to put his head inside.

And he did that.

♪

She takes my whole head
in her jaws and holds me

like a crystal goblet
in a vice.

♪

I can feel her teeth making
the slightest indentation

at the back of my neck.

Terror explodes in my chest.

She could snap my head
like an eggshell,

but chooses not to.

♪

[gunshot]

Suddenly, I get it.

She's shown me exactly
where my courage ends

and my fear begins.

[bubbling]

Then, as though satisfied,
she lets go...

and sinks away.

I think everything
that he was struggling with

coalesced and he realized
at that moment

what he had to do.

♪

This is my farewell column.

I have quit The Vancouver Sun.

Not in anger.
Not under pressure.

Not for any good reason

except that, to me,
it seems clear

that the time has come
to commit myself fully

to what has loosely
been called

the environmental movement.

I've cut my hair,
trimmed my beard,

and somewhere along the line,
I lost my headband.

There used to be 4.5 million
whales on this planet.

What we've done is
we've removed 90 percent

of the whales already.

Like there are already
about five species

they're not allowed
to hunt any longer

because they have reached
a point called

"commercial extinction."

If there is intelligent life
on this planet,

it ain't necessarily us.

I remember being at a meeting
and supporting the efforts

to stop the French testing
in the atmosphere.

Everybody's very earnest
and intense.

And then Hunter said,

"Well, here's what
we're gonna do.

We're gonna save the whales."

I thought he was just nuts.

Saving whales?

Whales?

I was not in favor.

What has that got
to do with anything?

It horrified the rest
of the group.

I didn't see it.

I didn't think
I wanted to go

in that direction with it.

That's kind of
a regret for me.

I think it's one of
the things about Bob Hunter

was he was spontaneous
enough to recognize

the power and the integrity
of a new idea and go with it.

[indistinct chattering]

Bob always recognized
that you can change the world

through a camera
much easier than with a gun,

and much more effectively.

The concept was complete
from the outset.

We have to get between
the whales and the harpooner.

That's the image
we have to get.

It was completely premeditated.

Well, I thought it
was a great idea

and we could probably
intercept them using Zodiacs,

which I was familiar with

because I was
in the Coast Guard.

And everybody else worried
about the risk,

but, I figure, you know,

that was the whole
point of it.

Harpooning a whale
is not really a story,

but people risking
their lives to protect

the lives of a whale,
that's a story.

♪

The announcement that
Greenpeace intends to rescue

the last of the great whales

has released
a frightening energy.

Some kind of psychic tom-tom
is at work in the jungles

of the collective unconscious.

And it's brought people
in droves.

You wanna grab hold
of the line

and take it up the mast,
you guys?

Sure, yeah, where is it?

My newfound love, Bobbi,
becomes the driving energy

that fuses the parts
of this kaleidoscope together.

It was a magic time.

We needed money and then
money would happen.

We needed people,
the right person

would come along.

I took over the treasury.

And the treasury at that time
consisted of a little,

tiny lockbox
with about $50 in it

and a couple
of receipts, and--

and we moved from there.

♪

We have a fine,
if unconventional,

blend of human talents.

For every mystic,
we have at least one mechanic.

It wasn't really
a lot of people,

but, boy, did we do
a lot of things.

♪

Day and night,
we would be making lists

of hundreds of things
that we had to do.

♪

We really had fun
with each other.

We laughed and joked
and pushed and--

to the point that we had
a whole other language

going on amongst ourselves.

♪ I'm so tired of crying
but I'm out

on the road again ♪

♪ I'm on the road again

Why don't I let you just talk
to Walrus, here he is.

Just hold down
on that button.

Walrus is
an archaeology graduate

who looks like
a frontier cowboy.

Hi Walrus--I mean,
hello, Rut.

Paul Watson called me
and said,

"Hey, Walrus,
come on out here.

We're trying to set this
whale thing up."

I thought, "Well,
you need a cook,

I'll just take that on."

No one ever has found out
why he's changed his name

from David Garrick
to Walrus Oakenbough.

As I was exploring the topic
of magic mushrooms

and different
psychedelic plants,

I didn't want
to use my real name.

Just for logistical purposes.

♪ And my dear mother left me--

When we hoped for
a film crew,

cameraman Ron Precious
arrived with 20,000 feet

of Kodachrome.

♪ And my dear mother--

The crew welcomed me
as the cameraman

and Fred Easton
was my sound man

as well as
the second camera.

We were all there
for the same reason,

to get powerful,
iconic images that would,

you know, resonate
with everyone.

♪

And when we wanted another
Zodiac inflatable,

Carlie Trueman turned up
with one of her own.

Twenty-three years old

and an experienced
scuba diver.

Definitely more a mechanic
than a mystic.

Absolutely true.

Okay, here we go.

I mean, this was
a motley group of people

if there ever was one.

And I looked at them all
and I thought,

"What the hell am I getting
involved with?"

[indistinct conversations]

-Maybe turn a little bit.
-Turn a little bit.

Like the fashion--

A mad costume designer
has wrought a uniform for me

out of green
and navy blue corduroy,

with huge pirate style cuffs

featuring enough
officer stripes

to rank me as the commander
of some psychedelic NATO.

Hang on a sec, hang on a sec.

[indistinct chattering]

[chuckling]

But the idea of leading
anything troubles me.

I've always hated leaders.

My father deserted my mother
when I was still young

and it's close
to nauseating to realize

I'd become group
father myself.

He wasn't
an organizational man,

but Bob embodied
what I think of

as real true leadership.

He was visionary,
he could look into the future

and imagine things
that didn't yet exist,

and he could inspire

and empower people
to contribute.

Groovy, man.

This was
a glorious revolution,

this just wasn't about us
going out and saving whales.

We were talking about
a new way of being

in the world.

♪

One of the languages
we're learning

to speak here is whale.

That's whale language.

Creatures of light,
monsters of the deep.

Aquatic acrobats.

The biggest brains
on the planet.

Is there any way we can
bridge this species gap

and actually communicate
with the whale?

♪

We believe that music
was the way

to communicate with them.

[saxophone wailing]

I was at work one day
in San Francisco,

having lunch,
reading about Watergate.

My co-worker turned
on the radio,

and it was a talk show

but the voices
were not human,

they were whales.

So I fired off a letter.

All of a sudden I got
this letter from Bob Hunter.

"Your letter arrived just
in time, it's a miracle.

We needed a synthesizer
player and there you were."

Now everybody's got
a synthesizer these days

but in those days, in 1975,

I've never seen
anything like this.

And Will could make
these unworldly sounds.

[synthesizer trilling]

♪

John aggressively
wanted to get rid of me

as soon as he could.

I'd never been on a boat,
I wasn't a sailor,

I didn't know how to do
lines or anything.

You know, boat lines.

Is there anybody there
who's into hitting

that Greenpeace flag?

We groped towards mastery
of the skills that we need

for the voyage.

Yeah, we should have
flags on it, this is theatre.

Pardon me, this is reality.

[motor running]

Learning to handle
the Zodiacs,

we were transformed
from flower children

into a sea-going gang
of ecological bikers.

♪

We have psyched ourselves
into a sense of simmering,

sparkling power.

The plan is to put these
in the water

and run along with
the chaser boat

when it's actually hunting
a whale,

so they can't get
a shot at it.

Expecting any violence
on the part of the whalers?

Um...we've been wondering
about that all winter.

[whistling and cheering]

♪

On April 27th,
the 80-foot ocean-going trawler,

Phyllis Cormack, set sail from
Vancouver, British Columbia,

on a two-fold mission.

Number one,
search out

and document Russian
whaling operations

in the North Pacific...

By the time we got
on the boat,

we were stunned ourselves.

♪

There were thousands
of people there, thousands.

♪

That great feeling
when everything

has finally come
to fruition

and the show is on.

♪

But then here we are,
taking off

into the middle
of the Pacific Ocean,

and we have no idea
how to find the whalers.

We have no idea
how long it's gonna take us,

or where we're actually
even going.

So, then there was that.

One, two, three, four,
2,000...

That makes it about 2,500 miles
to the Hawaiian islands

from here.

Does that sound
about right?

Anybody know how far
Hawaii is?

We had some vague idea
as to about where

the whaling fleet was,
but we didn't know.

We did know that there was
a lot of information

about where whales
were killed

in the Bureau of International
Whaling Statistics,

in Norway,
in a town called Sandefjord.

♪

Paul managed to talk his way
in there as a scientist.

He wasa scientist,
but he didn't mention

the part about Greenpeace.

I told the director
I wanted to find out

where we might do research
with sperm whales.

♪

I spent several hours there
looking through stacks

of log books,
piled row after row after row.

And in the end,
he got his secretary to help.

Paul's espionage gave us
the positions

of the Soviet factory
whaling fleets

going back 10 or 15 years,

and there they were every year

at the same place
off California.

It's this area here,

which had the most whales in it.

So, June, July,
and August.

The timing of the Russian hunt

happens to coincide
with the annual meeting

of the International
Whaling Commission,

which determines how many whales
can be killed worldwide.

It has as many whales
in that one little area taken

as there is in a combination
of the whole works

around the island.

If we confront the whalers
in that five-day window

at the end of June,

our mind bomb will have
the maximum effect.

So, we just should be out
somewhere around in there

as much as possible in June.

The problem was,
is that it was early April

and we had all of May
and half of June

to keep the story alive.

It's not a normal
kind of battle,

it's a new kind of battle.

You know,
by going out there

and concentrating
people's attention

through the media
and communications system,

in a way,
what you do is you bring

everybody onto the boat.

You know,
and at a rough calculation,

I'd say there's probably
about 14 million people

on this boat
at the moment.

Bob looked at
our little world

as kind of making
a movie.

We were creating
the story line.

He had an arc;
he knew where it needed to go.

♪

We were like characters.

What do we need to do

and who can best
fill the role?

♪

Great movie, yeah.

♪

There was the front,
the screen of the movie,

what you saw,
and then there was the back,

what was behind it all.

The hidden reality
of what was actually going on.

♪

You're not taking anything now,
are you?

No.

No.

Don't waste your film.

I wouldn't say Bob
was directing us,

but he was certainly aware
of what things were cinematic

or film-worthy.

♪

Truth:
24 frames per second.

He liked to exaggerate
the extreme to make us appear

as the unwitting fools,
so that the people

with real power
would not take us seriously.

♪

We were like the Trojan Horse.

Really,
it was all a design

to achieve the ending
he was after.

But heroes often fail.

May had come and gone,
it's now June.

We headed to
the Mendocino Ridge

to look for them.

There's just a big,
gray ocean around here

and some gray clouds,
and a lot of birds.

But we haven't seen
any whales yet.

♪

The days were ticking off,
but the Mendocino Ridge

is a long stretch of ocean.

Well, what do you think?

I think we chased them off
the whaling grounds.

Well, I'd like to know
what we've done.

I don't know.

Have we got a positive
identification on it?

No.

Except that we know
that they're in this area,

so...
I don't know,

why don't we go back
to where we were last night?

Yeah.

And try again.

♪

Hello, can you hear me?

Over.

Not getting through
to you, Bob.

Just talk to us, over.

♪

Negative.

Why doesn't he just tell me
the goddamn...

The ship was floundering at sea,
we had no money.

Some of the rice
was full of diesel,

and people were hungry
onboard the boat.

I don't understand, Rod.

It was like finding
a needle in a haystack.

♪

-George?
-Yeah.

There's some Russians
caught talking here.

Can you eavesdrop?

The radio crackles
with ghostly Russian voices

which seem to come
from everywhere at once.

[speaking Russian]

Our Czechoslovakian engineer,
George Korotva,

tries to get a fix
on their position.

Well, they must be way down
there at least 150-200 miles.

[speaking Russian]

We sat on the radio
for hours and hours

and hours.

And so,
you got an idea,

they are there somewhere.

Cormack said to Hunter,
"We have two days of fuel left."

The question was,
were we gonna run

for San Francisco
without an encounter

with the whalers,
or were we gonna stay out

and try
and find them?

And, of course,
that has huge consequences

for Cormack.

If he has to have a tow--
I mean,

this is big bucks
that we're talking for John.

Hunter, Pat Moore,
and David Garrick come by,

and they have got
The I Ching,

and they have got
the coins,

the three coins.

♪

I have no idea
what the The I Chingis,

I've never heard
of this book,

I've never seen it.

But, of course, it's a book
of divination, right?

The Chinese word,
which means "approach,"

has a range of meanings.

I thought, I have joined
a ship of fools.

The ancient explanations
in the book of changes give,

as its first meaning,
"becoming great."

♪

Hunter throws one
that says "success,"

it furthers one
to cross the great waters.

There are four hexagrams
out of the 64 that have that,

and it just means
"good fortune,"

supreme good fortune.

He's thrilled.

He thinks that we should go
and keep chasing whales,

right?

Pat Moore threw it
and he gets a second one

of the four hexagrams.

David throws it
and he gets a third one.

I'm saying, "What the hell
are you guys doing?

What,
you're gonna consult

some kind of oracle
for this decision?"

And they said,
"You throw them."

And I went,
"Oh yeah, right.

You guys,
this is BS."

And I threw them
and I got the fourth one.

And we went out,
and the next day,

we found the Russians.

Woohoo!

Vostok is just over
five miles ahead of us.

Yeah.

Rex, count those boats again,
will ya?

-What?
-Count those boats--

-There's nine.
-There's nine boats.

One, two, three, four, five,
over there.

There's one by
the Vostok,

and there's three
over here.

There's nine chasers
altogether.

Yeah, well, Bob,
what's the plan?

The problem is,
a boat that size

can do about 20 knots.

We can only do 10, so they're
starting to pull away.

So, we'll put
the Zodiacs out

and run over and have
a damn good look at it.

See whether they're
our boys or not.

If they are,
we'll try to hang in with them

as long as we can.

I think we better hurry--
they're way up

on the horizon now.

Yeah.

Okay, say he does 15,
the Zodiac does 20.

I need five miles
ahead already

and the crew
aren't out on deck

in their Zodiacs...

They're on their way now.

Two miles.

John has just spotted
two flags in the water.

♪

They're dead ahead of us,
I can see it, too.

It's a sperm!

It's definitely a sperm.

Let's get closer to it.

Yeah, here is--
it's definitely a dead whale.

Just bleeding
all over the place.

That sure doesn't look
the right size.

They're too small, Bob.

They're babies.

That's a goddamn baby whale,
for Christ's sake.

It's only about--
how long is that?

Is that its tale there for sure?

Twenty feet,
at the most.

Twenty feet at the most.

I think we should even
measure that one, Bob.

We thought they were out there
killing adult whales.

We find out they're basically
wiping out the whole pod,

kids and all.

George,
this is a film thing,

so let's get a Zodiac
and circle around this whale

and get some shots.

Yeah, he's getting
a reading now.

I think we hadn't
quite thought through

the mechanistic side
of whaling.

The fact you could
blow the carcass

and stick a radial
directional finder onto it

and just leave it
and come back later.

And it was just heart-wrenching.

It brings tears right now,
that little whale.

Okay, that's good,
get in there

before some sharks chew on it
or something.

Watch for sharks!

I was very much appalled
by what I saw.

Here we are,
out here,

they're killing
these beautifully intelligent,

socially-complex
sentient beings,

and for what?

♪

I actually got on
to the whale

to measure it.

And found it was
illegally taken--

it was an undersized whale.

What do you say, Paul?

How long do you think it is?

What?

How long?

About 18 feet.

That was certainly
a turning point in my life.

Just how warm
the body was,

how hot the blood was
that was coming out

of the wound.

The whale's eye was open
and it just struck me

in a flash that
we're insane,

ecologically insane.

♪

From that moment on,
I never looked upon myself

anymore as working for people
but more working for whales

and other creatures
that live in the oceans.

♪

♪

June 27th,
one mile from the Vostok.

Closing in.

The Russian boats
are all in motion,

I think with the Vostok
at the center.

And everybody
is in their wetsuits.

We've worked out who's
going to be in what Zodiacs.

♪

We're just heading
alongside it now

and we're going to circle
around behind

on the other side.

That chaser boat
is tucking in

right behind it.

♪

Blood pouring out.

♪

Hell of a mess.

Just a hell of a mess.

♪

There's a whole crowd
on the stern of the Vostok.

Fucking pigs!

Hey, listen now, no--
let's not get into

overt aggression
with them yet.

Look at that
fucking thing move.

The guys up on top
are all in uniforms

with Russian hats.

What do you call
those hats, George?

Papakha.

Papakha?

Papakha.

The Dalniy Vostok is literally
a slaughterhouse on water.

It was highly mechanized
killing.

This was a factory.

And that was when it got
very, very, very real.

Okay, Zodiac launching crew.

Zodiac launching crew!

♪

Come on,
quick, quick, quick.

And there they go folks,
they're off.

They're off.

♪

The idea had been
that Fred Easton would film

with his Bolex 16 mm
and I would take photographs

from a distance
from the side,

so we could get
the whaling ship

and the protestors
in the shot.

I climbed to
the crosstrees,

and I sit with a pair
of binoculars

on the spreader bars,
and I keep track

of where all the boats are.

When Hunter got on the Zodiac,
I saw his cassette player

sitting there
on the hatch cover,

I just grabbed the thing
and I went up the mast

and I started recording
the confrontation.

There's a large herd
of sperm whales

off our starboard bow.

We're all going that way.

♪

The other two backup Zodiacs
have been on the bow

of the chaser boat,
and it's been unable

to fire on any sperms,
even though there's plenty

of them around here.

Sperm whales are blowing
hard and fast,

seems they're tired
and they can't dive

very much at all.

Every time the whale moved,
we tried to steer the boat

in order to block it.

And that worked
for about 20 minutes or so.

The harpoon man appears
very frustrated

through the binoculars.

He doesn't even
seem to be at his post.

The skipper of the kill boat
comes down the walkway

to the gun deck.

These two men argue.

He puts up his hands like this
and bends to his gun,

and we know
that he's gonna shoot.

George Korotva
and Bob Hunter

are in the Zodiac
in front of the chase boat bow,

by only a distance
of about 50 feet,

and the film crew Zodiacs
are on each side.

Fred Easton had a problem
with his camera--

all the bouncing
and jostling in the Zodiac

had frayed the battery
connection--

intermittent, going on and off,
on and off.

Here's the big moment
and I didn't even know

if this camera
was going to function.

It was going zigzag,
zigzag.

Occasionally, [unintelligible].

And the sea,
he was following back and forth.

♪

The harpooner then
looked at us

and then the captain
looked at us

and he smiled.

Then went like this
across his throat.

And I always joked that,
you know,

the reason we were in
that position

is because we had read
a lot of Gandhi at the time.

And it suddenly occurred to us
that Gandhi wasn't going

to work for us anymore.

♪

They just shot
the harpoon.

I don't know
if they hit.

I don't see any blood.

They're coming around
to port slowly.

They've cut their engines.

Sound of that harpoon
was frightening.

It was like a giant cannon.

He had a clear shot
right over the Zodiac

to the whale,
and it went over

Hunter's head
maybe 15 feet.

Well, I turned around
and then I saw...

The cable snapped.

I peeled off
and get the hell

out of there.

George is calling in
the other Zodiacs.

There's steam rising
from the blood.

There's still blow--
the whale's not dead yet.

It's still blowing,
but it's not going anywhere.

They'll shoot
a female whale

and then when the bull whale
comes to help the female,

they'll shoot the bull whale.

Hunter's yelling
at all the Zodiacs

to come in immediately.

There's a bull over there
that's mad as hell,

freaking out.

Go, help,
go get the rope!

There's the other one,
over there.

♪

Did you get that, Rod?

Thoroughly shaken,
we haul ourselves

back on deck
on a wave of revulsion,

rage, and exultation.

We count eight
surviving whales in the pod,

fleeing steadily
to the horizon.

A few hours later,
the last Russian vessel

disappears from our radar,

heading in
the opposite direction.

You got it on tape?

No, unfortunately,
I didn't bring

my tape recorder.

You're stupid--
how dumb can ya be?

We're back onboard, going over
what had just happened,

Hunter was asking,
"Did you get it?

Did you get the shot?"

We have that big moment
when the harpoon shot fired.

With film,
that's the problem,

you don't know
until you develop the film,

whether, in fact,
you captured the image.

New paragraph.

Riding upward on a wave,
we found the harpoon gun

aimed directly at us. Period.

Okay.

New sentence.

As we fell with the wave,
we heard a deafening bang.

Okay.

Bob's talking to our friends
in San Francisco, saying,

"Make sure you tell the media
that we're coming in."

And our friend
in San Francisco just laughed,

he says,
"Oh, don't worry about that.

Everybody knows about it,
everybody's talking about it,

everybody will be there."

The 80-foot ecology ship,
Phyllis Cormack,

steamed into San Francisco Bay
today

after its weekend encounter

with nine Russian
whaling vessels...

♪

Could you explain the incident
when the Russians fired

the harpoon over your head?

Chasing right behind us,
say, 500 feet behind us,

right dead on our stern,
going much faster

than we were...

We were mobbed by the media.

What have American authorities
said about your chasing

these Russian whalers?

We've got no response
from the authorities.

Suddenly,
we became celebrities.

Could become
an international incident.

I think it has become an
international incident already--

Both Fred and I
are immediately escorted

to CBS station's headquarters
to have the footage developed.

♪

We start hand winding the film
through a Moviscop,

it's about a four-inch screen.

Fred pans the camera
to the right

and he comes upon
a Zodiac.

Pans it a little further
to the right,

and there are the whales.

And as he panned back,
the harpoon entered the frame.

We got the shot.

Fred got the shot.

And that was the moment
that launched

the modern
environmental movement.

A Canadian ecology organization
claims a boat it operates

chased a nine ship
Russian whaling fleet

for 250 miles off
the California coast

this weekend
in order the save the whale.

A lot of ecologists
are worried about whales,

and one group has gone
to war with the Russians.

Thirteen people
on an 80-foot boat

have taken on a whole
Russian whaling fleet

in the Pacific Ocean.

"And God created great whales,"
from that rolling passage

in the book of Genesis.

Right down to the present day,

the world's largest mammal
has created awe,

terror,
and reverence.

Members of the Cormack's crew
sailed a small rubber boat

into the path
of a Russian whaler.

The Greenpeace managed
to save eight whales

by using this tactic.

But finally,
the Russian harpooner,

whale in his sights, fired.

The harpoon flashing
only 15 feet

above the heads
of the Greenpeace crew,

and moments later,
a dying whale

thrashes in the water.

♪

We had really expected
that they would not shoot

if there were
human beings in the way,

and they did.

He actualized a dream.

If you don't think
of these things,

nothing's gonna happen.

To think of it,
go out and do it,

that's remarkable.

In the meantime,
evidence obtained

during this last mission
will be submitted

to the International
Whaling Commission,

and the United Nations,
with a plea

that something be done
to curb the wholesale slaughter

of the world's largest mammal.

What Bob said we could do,
we did.

And now,
looking at this,

oh boy,
this is something.

That footage proved out
the mind bomb theory

that you could do
a dramatic action

and actually connect
viscerally with people

in their own minds.

That galvanized
the United States,

it really did.

I mean, the whole place

just became whale conscious.

And pretty soon,
we had volunteers.

They wanted to set up
Greenpeace offices

all the way
down the coast.

It really was
on a trajectory skyward.

[chatter]

You can get fucked up
pretty fast

if you start thinking
the money's the deal.

Are we running?

Okay.

Bob, it seems like
just a few days ago--

for me,
at least--

that I was talking
with you at Jericho

and you were headed
out to sea.

What does it seem
like to you, Bob?

It was either two hours ago
or 10,000 years.

I think not only
did the moment

of confronting the whalers
change the world,

in the sense
that it helped

launch an environmental
movement,

it changed all of us
individually,

and it changed
the organization.

Fear success because
success can poison

the essence of what it was
you were trying to do.

♪

[cheering and applause]

♪

By the time
we get back to Vancouver,

our lives
have irrevocably changed

without us realizing it.

♪

The North Pacific odyssey
cost over $120,000,

three times
the original estimates.

But as one crewman
told me,

as long as they're
butchering whales,

Greenpeace won't rest.

Everything worked out well.

Almost no return.

The weakest link was
always going to be ourselves.

The threat of our own egos
getting in the way

of what we were
trying to do,

our personal relationships
with each other.

And I think if you look
at the history

of social change
movements,

that's always
the weakest link.

♪ Why can't we live
in harmony? ♪♪

Despite global fame,
our little group

is now $40,000 in debt.

Our bank tells us
that we have to learn

the arcane arts
of cash flow

and bookkeeping,
which we know nothing about.

I really don't have
much to say.

Thank goodness.

The chief advocate
of fiscal responsibility

is one of the worst
flipped-out mystics of all.

Namely, myself.

And we're gonna try
and save them all

by next year.

There's no reason
why we can't.

[applause]

Hunter would refer often
to a question

he asked of Allen Ginsberg once,
"How do you deal with power?"

And Ginsberg advised him,
"Let go of it

before it freezes
in your hands."

♪

We've got offices
being set up

in about 20 different places,

ranging from France,
through the United States.

There's one being
set up in Japan.

So, it's a growth situation.

Still coming in?

Oh yes, Bob.

Bob said, "Let 1,000 Greenpeace
offices blossom."

Why not?

It was just like
Johnny Appleseed.

There'd be a little bit
of Greenpeace here,

and a little bit
of Greenpeace there.

Do it.

Just set up
and we'll stay in touch

and we'll make a movement.

When there are visions involved,

and dreams,
and ideals,

and ethics,
and changed values,

that all basically implies
a revolution.

And when you get
down to it,

that's what
we're talking about.

Bob thought it was fine
for Greenpeace groups

to just start up
all over the world,

without any control,
and basically,

to take our name
and our deeds

and exploits,
and raise money themselves,

and not have
to give any to us.

We didn't own
the environmental movement.

Our goal was not
to start an organization

and make the organization
famous.

Our goal was to make
ecology famous,

make nature famous,
make whales and seals famous,

that's what we wanted to do.

Money is raised
by any means possible--

sales of t-shirts,
bumper stickers,

buttons,
and lottery tickets.

Walk-a-thons,
cycle-a-thons,

swim-a-thons,
telethons.

And Greenpeace memberships,

10 dollars for an individual.

As soon as you had
different cities saying,

"We're leaping
on this bandwagon

and we're calling
ourselves 'Greenpeace,'"

at that point,
there is a necessity

for some kind
of organizational structure.

And the people that
organize structures like that,

are not the same
kind of people that say,

"Well, I don't know,
let's just put a little boat

in front of a whaler
and take a picture of it."

They think
completely differently.

The winter is full
of ambition.

We're already planning
the next whale voyage

when Walrus and Paul
have an idea to interfere

with the annual
Newfoundland seal hunt.

Paul Watson,
freelance writer,

ex-sailor,
a longtime dedicated member

of the Greenpeace foundation.

He and his companions
are in bizarre rehearsal

for their next
grand adventure.

It's the blackest mark
on the whole Canadian

national identity.

I mean,
people all over the world

know about Canada's
seal slaughter.

We just didn't have
the resources

and people
and energy to do

two major campaigns.

Bob and everybody said,
"Well, you know,

we haven't got
the funding for that."

I said,
"Well, that's okay,

I've raised the money
independently."

So then they sort of reluctantly
let me go ahead with it.

We'll be applying some dye
to the coats of the seals.

They kill the baby seals
because they want the white fur.

Well, they won't
be getting white fur,

they'll be getting
green and white fur.

One of the problems
was that this was Paul's idea

and he was happy to create
a confrontation.

♪ I'm going up the country

♪ Baby,
don't you want to go ♪♪

Paul wanted Hunter
to come along,

he didn't want Patrick
to come along.

Bob brought Patrick.

Pat Moore
and Paul Watson clashed,

and they clashed continuously.

Well, I didn't take
to Pat Moore at all.

I thought he was a bit
of a pompous ass,

really,
you know?

He had his private school
education

and looked down
on everybody else

who didn't have
that background.

Paul is a bit
of a know-it-all.

That's, to me,
that's a problem.

♪

It was not good
for everybody.

It just began
a downward spiral

in the relationship
between those two.

♪

The battle lines are drawn again
between conservationists

and Canadian
government officials.

Up till then,
we'd been perceived

as the little David
going out against

the vast Russian whaling fleet,

or against nuclear tests.

But now we were coming
after the little Newfoundland

seal hunters.

This is a new situation for us
and for Canada,

because we're attacking
our own culture.

The more coverage we had,
the more political it became.

It was gonna be a battle

like we've never experienced
before.

Local fishermen,
many of them out of work,

angry that anyone
would consider the welfare

of seals above their own.

Blocking the entrance
to St. Anthony

is as mean looking a gang
as any of us has ever seen.

They surrounded us,
and tried to roll us over

and all that kind of stuff,
unsuccessfully.

They had a noose
in this pickup truck,

and they're just
pointing at it

and us behind it.

"We're gonna string
you guys up."

Nice way to enter
a Canadian town, eh?

The people in New York
or the people down--

little old ladies
in the running shoes,

who just have their compassion
and concern for the seal,

and not realize that
in this part of the world,

there's a whole way of life
that's threatened by the...

Bob being Bob, he found out
who the leaders were

and went and tried
to make a deal with them.

The reception we got
in St. Anthony's

didn't surprise me.

I was raised in the maritime,

so I knew they were
gonna be angry.

What surprised me was,
Bob and Pat and others

backing down.

There are 900 species
on the endangered list

and Greenpeace is concerned
with all of them.

But one of the species
that's on the endangered list

is the Newfoundland fisherman,

and we're concerned
with him, too.

He's such
a convincing speaker.

He managed to convince them
to allow us to enter the town

and then meet that evening
in the high school

and plead our case,
basically.

I'd like to place a resolution
before this meeting tonight,

that these people
be given until tomorrow morning

to place themselves
back on their bus,

remove themselves
from St. Anthony

and the province
of Newfoundland.

[applause]

Well, I'm 67 years of age
and we have suffered our life.

And it's high time
we stop this right now.

To rescue our campaign,
we must persuade this room

to allow us onto
the ice floes.

There's nothing
to be gained

from pitting ourselves
against the local landsmen,

when most of the cull
is done by commercial

and Norwegian fleets.

As any general knows,
if you drive a wedge

between your opponents,
you are that much closer

to winning the battle.

I would like to call upon
Mr. Hunter,

if you will respond.

Thank you.

[booing and jeers]

The reason we're here is not
to harass Newfoundlanders,

and not to try and tell you
to change your life,

and not to take food
out of your mouths.

We're here primarily
because there is a Norwegian

fleet operating,
and they're out there

doing something that they did
off the coast of Russia

over a decade ago,
so that finally the Russian

landsmen had nothing
to hunt any longer.

They chased--
the Russians chased

the Norwegians
out at that point,

but by that point,
it was too damn late.

I think he had a strong
sense of empathy,

and he would flow
with the situation.

We had a common saying
back in those days that,

you know,
let the guru

be the situation,
or the situation is the guru.

I have stated
that we did not realize

that it would interfere
with your livelihood.

Now that we understand that,
we are prepared not to do it.

[applause]

The deal that he made
was that they would

hand over the dye.

We take that to be
a firm commitment

that you definitely
will not use the paint,

or that you are going
to look further into it.

No, you can take that
as a firm commitment

that we will not use it
and we will bring

the dye down to Roy tomorrow.

[applause]

Bob unilaterally
decided to give it up,

and Paul and I weren't
going to give it up.

But he announced it
to everybody

that we would give it up.

So that,
that was not a good thing to do.

The campaign
to save the seals

and the rescuers decide
not to spray them green.

Hello again.

And there are new developments
in the campaign

by animal lovers in Canada
to save thousands

of young seals
from the hunters.

The Greenpeacers
are coming across

lots of problems.

Here's the dye.

We spent months
digging that stuff up together,

so maybe keep it
as a souvenir.

To Paul,
I've sold out to the sealers,

and I'm basically
a traitor.

But this is the only way
I can see

to reverse the tide
that's moving against us,

and continue our protests
out on the ice.

You know,
in retrospect,

I think it was fair
to say that Bob

was just trying
to be strategic.

It's politics.

Bullshit--you know,
if you're gonna take a stand,

you have to take
a stand,

and you can't retreat,
you can't back down,

and you can't compromise.

♪

The Greenpeace Foundation
has every intention

of carrying on with
its opposition to the hunt.

Paul and myself
and Walrus were starting

to critically look at Bob
and say, look at, you know,

he's not an omnipotent god
that we thought he was.

He's got his frailties
and we have to counter that.

♪

It's so easy for people
to be critical,

but what that allowed
them to do

was to be out
on the seal floes,

and the campaign
was able to carry on.

♪

[wind howling]

♪

The Canadian government
made it illegal

for us to keep
the helicopters

within three
nautical miles

of any seal
on the ice.

We had to go at least
three miles across ice

to get to a seal
on foot.

A very dangerous
thing to do.

♪

[seals grunting]

♪

♪

♪

It's a brutal
thing to witness.

To go after
a baby seal

and club it
and then drag it

by the hakapik,

dug into its brain area,

it's gut-wrenching.

Take that off,
take that one off.

It's not respectful
of the natural world.

♪

Sadly, we kept our word
that we didn't have

any spare dye
to use out there.

♪

And I think we succeeded

in getting our message out

just as well
as we would have

if we'd sprayed them
with green dye.

Bearing witness
is a powerful concept.

Making it clear
that you are--

you are watching it happen.

Oh, bearing witness.

You know, you don't
walk down the street

and see a woman
being raped

and stand there
and take pictures.

Bearing witness to me
is cowardice.

It's a non-intervention.

I never understood it.

We should not be
submissive to these people

who are destroying
the planet.

We should be aggressive.

We should stand up
and stand tall,

and get in their face.

Goddamn disgusting mess.

Then when you're
out of jobs, you know,

the guys that are making
all the money out of this,

they'll just go and
invest it in real estate

and you'll be out of jobs.

We're trying to help
you, too, you know?

Making a living, boy,
[unintelligible].

Yeah, but you're gonna
be out of a living

in five years
if you don't stop here.

♪

It's my bright idea
to stand in front of the ship

that collects
the seal skins.

Look out, the boat's moving!

I'm in the grip
of this insane fantasy

that I can hold it back
by sheer force of will.

Blocking the boat.

The moment I do...

Paul Watson joins me.

♪

The ice is cracking
under our feet.

I turn to Bob
and I said, uh,

"Okay, when the ice breaks,

I'll jump this way,
you jump that way."

He said,
"I ain't moving."

♪

I said,
"Oh, shit, Bob.

If you don't move,
I can't move."

♪

They ran at us
a couple of times,

and they stopped.

♪

When you're under fire,

you don't have time
for debating.

You just have to act.

And people put aside
differences quickly.

♪

You know, I felt
so incapable

of doing anything
to stop it.

I could--
we could only do

what we did.

And, uh, you know...

we did our best.

♪

That was a dramatic image.

It certainly got
a lot of coverage.

But Bob had taken away
my major tactic,

and I just wanted
to be free

to handle my campaigns
without being

or interfered with.

♪

♪

It got bigger
and bigger and bigger.

And the bigger it got...

the harder it was
to keep cohesion together.

By 1976, we were feeling
a tremendous amount

of strain and pressure.

And in the meantime,
we wanted to pull off

another whale campaign.

Now with a bigger boat.

It was a lot
more expensive,

and we went through
a lot more fuel.

The Greenpeace VII,
153-foot minesweeper

capable of going
all the way to Tokyo.

It's gonna leave
from out here,

and then when we
go out on that boat,

everybody goes out
on that boat with us,

and this is something
that they can't stop now

'cause we're not just
a bunch of hippies

paddling around
in a row boat

in English Bay any longer.

[cheering]

Suddenly we found ourselves

struggling with
competing opinions

about how the organization
was gonna be pulled together.

We can put it up
a little more if you want.

People wanting credit.

People wanting to be
a big shot,

or people wanting
to be in charge.

Holding the end
of the rope.

Yes!

♪

You don't need that.

♪

Pat Moore sort of
saw himself

as somebody who
was second in command,

so to speak.

And Paul Watson also
saw himself

as sort of
second in command.

This is ironic because
the last thing

Bob wanted to be
was first in command.

Those boats are gonna
stay in that position.

Good enough!

Man, we could've hired
a psychologist

to come in and say,
"Guess what?

You're gonna be fighting
each other for a while."

"Guess what? You're gonna
have hurt feelings."

This isn't an individual game,

and it isn't
an ego game.

It's, uh--we do,
in fact, represent

a powerful force
that is trying

to hold this planet
together.

Bob was trying
to preserve

the tribe,
the family spirit

of what we had,

and he was slowly
watching it turn into

this kind of Shakespearean
tragedy.

And so, he took
to wearing this brush

that we used to clean
the latrine.

And he had assigned
himself the role

of latrine officer.

He would keep it
in grand order,

and he'd proudly
walk around,

and people were going,
"What is with Hunter?"

You can still see the Zodiac
in front of you, can you? Over.

Can still see
the Zodiac--

I mean, it was sort of
an internal mind bomb.

Bob, in his own way,

modeling modesty
in the face of this,

sort of, unrelenting ego.

♪

I felt like he's
giving this

everything he has.

♪

But I think he felt
a little bit alone.

♪

Because he was
so stressed,

he was prescribed
valium to calm him down.

♪

Kind of a daily
combination

of valiums,
and nicotine,

and alcohol,
and pot.

And so, he was making
bad decisions.

We've got to make
some decisions here

that I do not want
to communicate

back to Vancouver.

I think at that point
we became a little

sideline to
the Cold War.

A toy for the CIA.

♪

Suddenly we had somebody

inside the United States
government

feeding us information
regarding the position

of the Russian
whaling fleet.

♪

And accepting fuel
from somebody who has

a close association with the
US Central Intelligence Agency.

♪

Now, of course,
they were doing that

because they loved
the fact that we were

harassing the Russians.

♪

So, suddenly we're
seeing all these

strange bedfellows.

We got a coordinate
that had gone all the way

to Washington, come back
to Vancouver, to here,

and it is an old
Greenpeace slogan

that used to appear
on the walls.

I know you heard this
a hundreds times, Bobbi,

wherever you are,
but it used to be,

"With enemies like this,
who needs friends?"

We couldn't get
the coordinates

for the Japanese fleet,

but we could get
the coordinates

on the Russian fleet
because that was

in the interest of the
United States Government,

to embarrass the Russians.

The whole fleet is
apparently now moving west.

When that got out,
that caused a huge dissention

on the crew.

♪

You know, I really
didn't wanna become

a strong-arm
for psychological war

on behalf of
the American government.

Paul Watson blamed
Pat Moore and Bob Hunter

for not being
more aggressive

in going after
the Japanese.

So, that's--
we're adopting

a fine ancient
strategy

of hanging loose until
the last possible second.

We just barely
made it to Hawaii

and things started
breaking apart.

Paul left.

Paul Watson
left the boat.

Uh, if you're on standby,

that makes things
a lot easier.

Many times,
I was on his right shoulder

and Bobbi was on
his left shoulder

because Bob was
completely wrecked.

♪

He was moody
and he was causing problems.

Come on, let's go, guys.

Let's go!

The new members
of the crew

kind of rebelled
against Bob's authority

on the boat.

I would call it
a full-on mutiny.

The crew was just saying,

"You guys have--
you've lost us completely."

Bob's become
a babbling idiot,

we don't have
any confidence

that you guys are--
are making the right decisions.

♪

I brewed darkly over
my failings as a leader.

The greater our influence,

the messier and more
obstinately human

things become.

Everyone involved,
being flawed human beings

after all...

Thank God for the valium.

♪

We speak for the 70 countries

that have begged you
to stop whaling!

There are not many
whales left.

These whales belong to all
the people of the Earth,

not just those proud
and mighty

and successful nations
like yours,

which have the machinery
to be able to kill them.

They also belong to me,

they belong to my children,

they belong to
the children of Africa,

South America,
of North America,

and of Europe.

Our confrontations
with the Russians succeed

because they, too,
have become aware

of the power of images.

Whenever we appear,

they shut their
whole operation down.

We stayed in front
a couple of times,

they started up,
and each time they start up,

we get back in front of them
and they stop,

and right now they're stopped.

Stopped.

But to what end?

Eventually we will
have to go home.

I have borne witness
to the point of nausea,

yet nothing in the world
has really changed.

Maybe we should buy
some explosives

and sink the bastards.

♪

♪

♪ There's only one
cause of action ♪♪

On the second seal hunt,

I didn't invite Bob
or Pat on the campaign.

Since Bob had interfered
the year before,

I, uh, didn't want him
interfering again.

[applause]

I think Bob felt
just frustrated

that he couldn't
be there

because it became
a kind of media circus.

We have to talk about what
happened today with the...

Paul Watson was
the name of your friend,

and isthe name
of your friend and colleague

who was injured
on the floes.

He handcuffed himself
to one of the cables

that is attached
to the pile of seal pelts.

♪

They dragged him across the ice,
into the water,

smashed him against
the side of the boat

with him sort of hanging
by one arm,

and they dunked him
four times,

which is, of course,
Arctic temperature water

in the North Atlantic.

Take him to the hospital.

And get our helicopters
permission

to land here
right away.

I can't, I have no contact

with your helicopters.

Well, go on
and get a contact.

Say,
"Yes, I'll do something!"

Those guys tried
to kill me!

I have no authority.

I don't care if you
have no authority.

Do something,
what the hell are you...

Okay, let's put him
in the...

♪

Four of our other people
had to go in to rescue him.

He's now onboard
one of the icebreakers

with a broken arm,
back damage,

and suffering
from exposure.

♪

[screaming]

♪

I was flown back,
and I remember

getting out of
the helicopter

and this woman came
and started

hugging and kissing me,

and I didn't know
who that was.

And, uh, and I left
and I said to Bob Cummings,

I said,
"Who the hell's that?"

And he said,
"Oh, that's Brigitte Bardot."

Brigitte Bardot
turned the pages

in our favor
so dramatically

that it was never
turned back.

You know,
the Canadian government

hated her for it,
but she's sort of like me,

she doesn't give a damn.

♪

Are you willing to die
for a seal?

If I die for a seal,
I die for a seal,

but I don't think
I'm going to have

to die for a seal.

I don't think it will
come to that.

That was when
you discovered

just how male dominated
Greenpeace was,

because guys were absolutely
smitten with Brigitte Bardot.

♪

Bob wanted
to take a break,

and so he designated me
to go as the representative

of the organization
while Paul Watson

was the leader
of the campaign.

♪

Patrick was there as
vice president of Greenpeace

to watch-dog me.

At one point,
Pat Moore said

he was going out to the ice
with Brigitte Bardot,

and I said,
"No, you're not."

I said, "I don't have
room for you,

because I need
every seat

for somebody
with a camera.

And what am I gonna
do with you?"

Paul had invited
80 European journalists

and only had
two helicopters.

And he said,
"Well, let me just

put it this way...

if we're not
in that helicopter,

you're out the door."

I said, "Well, let me
put it this way...

you're not getting
in the helicopter."

They think
had Bob been there,

he was always the glue,
the mediator,

he was always
the person who could

bring calm
and sanity to the group,

and he wasn't there
to do that.

Officials from
the Department of Fisheries

have been closely
monitoring the activities

of the Greenpeace Foundation.

The officials also have
exhibits against

the foundation
which could be used

for possible charges.

The exhibits include
the handcuffs

used by one member
to attach himself to a ship.

And he did it
without telling anybody

he was going to do it.

He was part of a team,

and all of a sudden
he's gone off

like a loose canon.

It wasn't part
of the plan.

And that was, like,
the fourth or fifth

or sixth time
that he had behaved

in that way towards
the rest of us.

Pat saw this as
an opportunity

to kick Paul out
of the organization.

♪

He was condemned
by others in Greenpeace

for destroying property.

Well, give me a break.

[laughs]

I was never one
to condemn

some material
rearrangement

of molecules of something...

even though it might be called
"property destruction."

No one doubts Paul's
courage for a moment.

But he seems possessed
by too powerful a drive.

We all feel we've
got trapped in a web

no one wants
to see develop.

There is nothing to do
but bring down the axe,

even if it means
bringing it down

on the neck
of our brother.

And by an 11 to 1 vote,

him being the one,

that was decided.

I think everybody
understood

that that would be
better for everybody.

Bob felt excruciatingly torn

over letting
Paul go.

That's the last thing
he really wanted to do.

But it was only
as a result

of putting those
two young lions

together on one hill.

And I say to
the Greenpeace Foundation

that when they undertook
saving the seals

that they did not do
their homework properly.

Do the members of Greenpeace
get paid anything?

How many contributors
do you have?

How much money did you
take in in dues last year?

Do you think that
at 34 you could be doing

better things
with your life?

[overlapping questions]

He needed a break,
really needed a break.

Uh, here's Bob Hunter
from Greenpeace.

Well, basically,
as far as I can see,

it's all over.

It's just a 200 year
mop-up operation now.

[audience cheering]

Yeah!

Is there a point
simply in life

where everything
you believe

turns inside out?

You begin to doubt
it all.

What is leadership?

Tricking other people into

your own hallucinations.

Can I start again?

[mumbling]

♪

He lost heart.

♪

He looked at me and said,

"It's time."

And that was it,

and then he put
his resignation in.

♪

In the middle
of the spring of '77,

Bob handed the reigns
over to me.

♪

Within a year,
the conflicts that arose

because of that
had virtually torn

the organization apart.

The challenge
that we faced

was the proliferation
of Greenpeace offices

that had no cohesive
management.

By the time I took
over from Bob

in early '77,

the horses were well
out of the barn.

You could never have
50 Greenpeace groups

all operating
simultaneously

and wanting to be
independent and anarchistic.

Pat always thought
that he knew

exactly what was right
and what was

the best way
to do things,

and he was somewhat
dictatorial.

All the organizations outside
of Vancouver revolted.

We were $150,000
or more in debt,

and San Francisco office,

which we had created,

was now making
10 times as much money

as we were able to raise,

yet they didn't want
to pay our debt.

It has to be
eventually resolved

who is the ultimate
authority

over the name "Greenpeace."

It started in Vancouver,
we're in charge,

all these outfits
out here,

they're supposed
to send money to us,

and we'll call the shots.

Well...
that wasn't gonna work.

This was a social movement.

It wasn't a corporation
where the new president

suddenly lays down
the law

and everybody goes
along with him.

Next thing we know,
Pat Moore started a lawsuit

against our group
in San Francisco.

We're willing to go
through with it,

and we're willing
to be candid with people

about the fact that even in
the environmental movement

there are corporate
takeover bids and rip-offs,

and people who are
trying to steal our name,

and all the rest of it
going on.

That didn't go over
well with--with hippies.

It wasn't an easy time
for Eileen and I.

San Francisco, in turn,

sent a bailiff
to our house

with a personal
lawsuit against us

for a million dollars
for defamation.

♪

Uh, we lost a lot
of friends

during that time
because they didn't think

what we were doing
was right.

♪

It was enough to make
you lose a fair amount

of hair off
the front of your head,

as you may notice.

Ding, ding, ding, ding.

Da-dum, da-dum,
da-da, da-da.

♪

♪ I finally

broke into the prison ♪

We moved away
soon after

into the countryside.

♪ I found my place

in the chain ♪

We started a family.

Every time anyone
would be speaking

about Greenpeace,
I would, you know,

that was it,
I said,

"No 'G' word
in this house."

♪ ...rainbow

I was tired of it all.

♪ All the brave
young men ♪

I think Bob was

discouraged
and heartbroken.

We didn't object
to the fact

that Greenpeace had to be
organized and managed,

but organizing
and managing

should not become
the purpose,

that the purpose
was still

a cultural revolution.

♪

And Bob felt betrayed
by Patrick,

that this deeper
ecological purpose

was in danger
of being lost.

♪ I fought
in the old

revolution ♪

I realize I've committed
the paramount sin

of quitting my
earthly duty.

The hole of guilt
has opened in my soul.

It's either time for someone
to escort me away,

or for one last push
for unity.

How can we save
the planet

if we cannot
save ourselves?

♪

♪ I can't pretend ♪

Bob got back involved

to pull the organization
together.

I said to Bob,
you know,

"You said you were leaving,
you're out of it,

you haven't been part of this.

So, why--
why would you, uh...

try to dictate
what's going to happen?"

Bob decided that,
really, the best thing to do

was for Greenpeace
to get out of the hands

of the local grassroots,

and move into
the international arena.

He decided to find
a new leader, essentially.

The most obvious choice
was David McTaggart.

David McTaggart, who was
the head of Greenpeace Europe,

had got every other
Greenpeace office

in the world to be
against us.

I was perceived
as the enemy

by all the rest
at this time, though.

Uh, all those in favor
of these two flowers

continuing their voyage
along the river of life...

I describe Bob
as my best friend

and my best enemy.

I mean, he fought dirty,

uh, but he was
a worthy opponent.

[laughing]

♪

It was not pleasant
for any of us,

displacing Patrick,
'cause we were still friends.

♪

But we couldn't let him stay on
in that leadership role.

♪

McTaggart and Rod Marining
and Bob Hunter

and a few others
met in my basement

in Kitsilano,

and we planned
the founding

of Greenpeace International
1979.

McTaggart came up
with a plan,

and Bob conferred it.

If we internationalize
Greenpeace

so that Vancouver
is no longer considered

to be the center
of it all,

but one of an equal
number--

Australia, United States,

New Zealand,
Amsterdam,

London, they're all
gonna be separate

and equally powerful,

then we'll give
Patrick Vancouver,

and then all
the lawyers involved

with suits against
each other

would drop
their lawsuits.

Patrick was invited
to receive Canada

and give up the world.

[laughs]

I gladly signed
that agreement.

At that moment,
when we created

Greenpeace International,

we made something bigger
out of a bunch

of disparate fragments that
had fallen apart, basically.

You know, we had
a saying in Greenpeace,

"You can't get off
the boat."

Which was just to mean
that you don't wanna--

once you're in it,
and you're enjoying it,

and you're succeeding,
you don't wanna stop.

And, indeed,
it's--it's not easy

to get off that boat.

♪

♪

Trying to cling on
to power

is a fundamental mistake.

It's something we learned
from The I Ching,

It's such a hard
lesson to learn.

Suddenly, Greenpeace
was raising millions

of dollars worldwide
by this time.

And we just
gave it away.

♪

He did it.

No matter how big
a movement grows,

its blueprint
is found in its seed.

I think of Greenpeace
from the very beginning

as a natural phenomenon.

All of us were involved
because we had to be.

We were part
of a reflex

summoned to action
by the earth itself.

♪

I think Greenpeace
is a real force in the world,

and that it accomplishes
great things.

Uh, but save the planet,

you know,
that's their--

that's the aim here.

Yay!

The International
Whaling Commission

has imposed at least
a partial ban

on factory ship whaling.

In 1982, a 10 year
moratorium

on commercial whaling
was finally put together.

As far as we're
concerned,

it's the conservation
event of the decade

in that at least
7,000 whales

have been saved
per year,

because that's
approximately

what they were
killing each year.

The important part
of that period

was the realization
that a small group

of individuals
can make an impact,

and that they could do it
without many resources.

I believe that Greenpeace
was more powerful

when it had nothing
than it is today

with its hundreds
of millions of dollars.

I'm very proud
of Greenpeace.

The real ecology
movement is a long,

multigenerational
phenomenon.

It's really a lesson
that nature's

going to teach humanity,

and we're just
trying to help it along.

♪

We made a difference,
you know?

Uh, it doesn't mean
you can stop.

[laughs]

Emily!

It's too early
in the morning,

I don't want
to go to school.

Sorry, sweetheart.

When I grew up,
my father moved away

from traditional
activism

into his media,
journalism role.

In many ways,
he really struggled

making this new life
with my family.

Anybody who thinks
that the warming trend

is just a theory
and not a fact

need look no further
than these mountains

of salt piling up
which are all the salt

that was not used on
the roads in Metro last year

because there was virtually
no winter.

He really knew that
this would become

the defining issue
of our time,

and it would surpass, really,
all environmental issues,

because they were
all interconnected

to this one issue
of climate change.

I think he found
himself again.

He found his role again

that he could be
that leader again

in society.

Planet Earth.

I say love it or leave it.

I'm Bob Hunter
covering ecology.

He felt like he could
actually use media, again,

as his tool for change.

Hey, Skipper!

Permission to
come aboard!

Permission granted, Bob.

The most exciting
things after Greenpeace

was being with
Paul Watson,

and the most meaningful.

I just wonder what keeps
the fire in your belly.

Anger, you gotta
keep anger.

Yeah.

Bob would go out with
Paul's new organization,

the Sea Shepherd Society.

They were both
action junkies.

It's 10 after 9.

The nearest drifter boat
is just off

to our starboard here,
we're closing in.

Okay, here we go.

Sea Shepherd was set up

as an anti-poaching
organization.

[loud bang]

In 1979, when I hunted down
and rammed

the pirate whaler Sierra,

I was brought before
the port captain

and accused
of, um, negligence.

I said, "Well, there wasn't
anything negligent about it.

I mean, we hit
the ship exactly

where we intended
to hit it."

People support Paul
just like they cheer

for Rambo in the movies.

It's the same
kind of thing.

He is trying to create
a real-life action figure image,

which he's done
very successfully.

And I see him
as a real-life hero

in many aspects.

I was with Greenpeace
for 15 years

and helped create it.

It has turned into something
I'm regretful about.

♪

Hi, are you guys media?

Help yourself to any
of this literature here.

You can't become

such an anti-Greenpeace
person

and still command
any level of--

of love and respect,
you know?

Greenpeace is back
in the dark ages somewhere

against genetic science
being used to make

our food and medicine better.

But they can--
if they wanna keep

that position, fine.

Patrick was able to turn
his former position

into a moneymaking endeavor,

representing first
the salmon farmers,

and then miners
and loggers,

and the nuclear industry.

So he became a PR
organization

defending all of
the enemies of Greenpeace.

Bob felt quite
betrayed by that

and coined the term
"eco Judas."

You do concede
that human-induced

carbon emissions
have contributed

to global warming
in the second half

of the 20th century?

No, I do not.

We do not have proof
that we are the cause

of warming.

It isn't warming
much anyways,

so even if CO2
is a greenhouse gas,

it's not having
anywhere near the effect

that people thought
it would...

This whole
anti-globalization,

anti-capitalism,
anti-business,

uh, orientation of
the environmental movement

is extremely destructive.

Our next witness
is Dr. Patrick Moore.

Please proceed with
your statement.

In 1971, as a PhD student
in ecology,

I joined an activist
group in a church basement

in Vancouver, Canada.

We became Greenpeace.

After 15 years
in the top committee,

I had to leave
as Greenpeace began

to adopt policies
that I could not accept

from my scientific
perspective.

There is no reason
to believe

that a warmer climate
would be anything

but beneficial
for humans

and the majority
of other species.

Please see exhibit three.

I don't consider Patrick
an active ecologist.

Patrick Moore is
a public relations specialist

selling his affiliation
to Greenpeace

to his corporate clients.

We live in different
worlds now.

♪

By the time I realized
that I wanted to be

an environmentalist
myself,

my father shared
the news with me

that he had
terminal cancer.

Um, and only about
a year and a half left.

In that time,
I wanted to be

as close to my father
as possible,

but he told me
he wanted me to go

on my first campaign
with Sea Shepherd

rather than just
be by his side,

and so I did.

And it changed my life.

I shared the stories
of every little thing,

every sea sickness event,

every arrest, uh,

at one point I was
taken hostage.

I shared everything
with him

in writing
and in emails,

and our
correspondence together.

And I could tell
it just gave him

maybe one of those
last little highs in life.

You know, Bob and I
could never speak

about his death,

and I can't now,
but um...

Bob was a real
global person

and what I wanted
to do to honor him

was to take him
to all four corners

of the planet.

♪

He had never been able
to go to Antarctica.

He really wanted to,
and fight on that front.

For Paul, it was
his way to get to say

goodbye to his brother.

I always thought of it
as my dad's last campaign,

and it was my--
one of my first campaigns.

And it was kind of
completing

both of our missions.

♪

♪

What--what I wouldn't
give just for one more day,

you know, just one--

you know if you
could just have Bob back

and go to the pub.

♪

I realized something
I had forgotten,

something I learned
at the height of the '60s,

that my separate existence
is an illusion.

Ecology is flow.

You and I are most definitely
part of the flow.

Everything we do
affects the flow.

And everything the flow does
affects us.

♪

It doesn't really matter
what I read or think or write.

Don't judge me
by my words,

which are many,

but by my actions,
which are few.

Because if we wait for the meek
to inherit the earth,

there won't be
anything left to inherit.

♪

♪

♪ They paved paradise,

put up a parking lot ♪

♪

♪ With a pink hotel,
a boutique,

and a swingin' hot spot ♪

♪ Don't it always
seem to go

that you don't know what
you've got till it's gone ♪

♪ They paved paradise,

put up a parking lot ♪

♪ Shoo

♪ Bop, bop, bop, bop

♪ Shoo

♪ Bop, bop, bop, bop

♪ They took
all the trees,

put 'em in
a tree museum ♪

♪

♪ And they charged the people
a dollar and a half

just to see 'em ♪

♪ Don't it always
seem to go

that you don't know what
you've got till it's gone ♪

♪ They paved paradise,

put up a parking lot ♪

♪ Shoo

♪ Bop, bop, bop, bop

♪ Shoo

♪ Bop, bop, bop, bop

♪ Hey, farmer, farmer,

put away the DDT now ♪

♪

♪ Give me spots
on my apples

but leave me
the birds and the bees ♪

♪ Please

♪ Don't it always
seem to go

that you don't know what
you've got till it's gone ♪

♪ They paved paradise,

put up a parking lot ♪

♪ Shoo

♪ Bop, bop, bop, bop

♪ Shoo

♪ Bop, bop, bop, bop

♪ Late last night,

I heard the screen door slam ♪

♪

♪ And the big
yellow taxi

took away my old man ♪

♪

♪ Don't it always
seem to go

that you don't know what
you've got till it's gone ♪

♪ They paved paradise,

put up a parking lot ♪

♪ Shoo

♪ Bop, bop, bop, bop

♪ I said, don't it
always seem to go

that you don't know what
you've got till it's gone ♪

♪ They paved paradise,

put up a parking lot ♪

♪ Shoo

♪ Bop, bop, bop, bop

♪ They paved paradise,

put up a parking lot ♪

♪ Shoo

♪ Bop, bop, bop, bop

♪ They paved paradise,

put up a parking lot ♪♪

[giggling]

♪