Waves of Compassion

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Ben Metcalfe lives a reclusive life on Vancouver Island. He spends his days, he says, 'looking after my dogs, fishing, reading, and writing.' His advice to Greenpeace today is 'Be creative. Never argue the numbers. Do your homework, yes, but don't get drawn into debates that only benefit the perpetrators. Go after the owners of the companies. Make them visible. Find out who's profiting from the destruction of the earth and name them. Take their picture. Set up outside their house. Believe me, their own children will reform them faster than any deal you could cut. Remember, don't imitate what went before. An image only works once.'

Dr. Lyle Thurston is retired, lives in Vancouver, and spends time on Wickininish Island near the site of our first encounter with grey whales. 'It just seemed natural to us at the time,' recalls Thurston. 'We weren't trying to be pioneers. The earth needed a constituency and defenders.' Dr. Myron MacDonald lives in Vancouver and has a practice in North Vancouver. 'I'm involved in the medical battle against osteoporosis and I'm active in preventing this disorder globally.' Carlie Trueman is a British Columbia magistrate. Fred Easton practices law in Nelson, B.C. Michael Chechik and Ron Precious still make environmental films.

Mel Gregory runs an organization called the Jonah Project, monitoring whaling activity, fighting for the release of captive orcas, and experimenting with human/orca communication. Dr. Paul Spong continues the work with live orcas that he started thirty years go on Hanson Island. 'The best thing I can do for whales,' says Spong now, 'is to learn things about them that will take humans to a new level of relationship. We're still not there, and whales are up against the wall again. I was upset with Greenpeace for years because they abandoned whales while still making money off them. Nevertheless, the world needs Greenpeace and I'm encouraged by most of what I see.'

Hamish Bruce, the original Green Panther, left his law practice to homestead with his family on remote Murrelle Island in Northern British Columbia. Recently he's moved back to Vancouver and runs a nursery and gardening business. 'The vision came to pass,' he says. 'It doesn't matter who gets credit for it. There were a lot of people who contributed from day-one who never worried about getting credit.'

Linda Spong and Bill Gannon are married and live in Vancouver. Linda is a ceramics artist and has produced a commercial recording of orca sounds. Gannon helped McTaggart set up the financial systems for Greenpeace International, founded a music software company, and continues his private accounting practice.

Walrus Oakenbough , a.k.a. David Garrick, was an environmental consultant for Canadian Member of Parliament Jim Fulton and now works with First Nations to document cultural claims to forest lands. He produced a book on culturally modified cedar trees for the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, helping preserve thousands of acres of old growth forest from logging.

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