A must-read for Green organizers
Greenpeace: How a group of ecologists, journalists, and visionaries changed the world
By Rex Weyler
Rodale Press, 2004
Review by Lisa Taylor
Green Party of California

	Greenpeace by Rex Weyler

While tabling to promote the Green Party, we often hear passersby exclaim, "I love Greenpeace." Pleased by their enthusiasm, we wonder, though, if they know the difference between Greenpeace and the Green Party. Of course, we're happy for the goodwill spillover from the worldwide green movement!

Greenpeace journalist and photographer Rex Weyler has written a fascinating tale of the coming of age of Greenpeace during the 1970s. An early member, he chronicles the group's transformation from ragtag hecklers into an organized global cultural phenomenon, going up against corporations and governments with the support of ordinary folks, writers, musicians, celebrities and visionaries.

While reading Greenpeace, I began to apply the perspective of a 35-year-old movement to our Green Party organizing. I was impressed by the early awareness and savvy of Greenpeace in media relations. These are important lessons as third parties, considering the barriers we face in the electoral system, are challenged in developing effective marketing and public relations strategies.

A mantra of Greenpeace was "Money follows energy." Green Party members might find it surprising and somewhat consoling that Greenpeace was perpetually broke throughout their famous risky missions to save whales and stop nuclear testing. Broke, that is, until they got a buzz going for the next campaign.

Weyler's uncompromising examination of the internal struggles and growth of an activist organization is very useful. Green Party activists will identify with the factions that developed in Greenpeace: the streetwise radicals, the entrepreneurs, the fragile mosaic of grassroots activists, and leadership attempts to keep them all together.

At more than 600 pages, you might not read the entire book straight through (though I did, and it kept me absorbed). At the very least, keep it on your shelf as an activist reference. Greenpeace is an engrossing story of high-seas activism, unlawful searches and seizures, espionage, false arrests, a few miracles, media manipulation and a snapshot of mid-20th-century politics.

And the issues still resonate today. As one Greenpeace member points out, "The sooner we get on with it, the better."

Lisa Taylor is the Volunteer Coordinator of the Los Angeles Greens.

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