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Name: Helen
Position on Board: First Mate
Nationality: Dual nationality - France & USA
History with Greenpeace: I started with Greenpeace
knocking on doors in Boston, telling people about the work
of the organisation and asking for money to help our campaigns.
That was in 1982. I never once thought at the time that
this would turn into a long-term involvement. But in the
spring of 1983 six of us piled into a cramped car and drove
to the Nevada desert to stop a nuclear bomb from exploding.
Four people hiked into Ground Zero on the test site while
my team blocked the workers from coming into the nuclear
testing facility, distributed leaflets and explained to
them what we were doing. The campaign stopped the bomb from
exploding for two days. Never once in my life did I think
it in my power to stop a nuclear weapon from detonating.
Of course it was not I alone, but an incredible team of
people who acheived this accomplishment. Seeing how the
campaign channeled the whirlwind of media, international
attention and action that followed opened my eyes to the
power of direct action.
Since that day my journey as an environmental activist
has taken me to the jungles of the Amazon river, the arctic
ice of the Beaufort Sea, and the forests at the southern
tip of Patagonia. My eyes have been continuously opened
to the breathtaking beauty of our planet and to its fragility.
After stopping the nuclear bomb from exploding, I decided
to stick with this crazy, talented and inspired group who
think they can stop global warming, toxic dumping, and save
the oceans and ancient forests of the world. It's been a
lot of fun and hard work. I love the ships and seeing people
from all walks of life come together. There is a role for
everybody and that's how I see it in the big picture.
Favorite Forest or Best Tree Experience: When I
was four we had a huge elm tree in front of our house that
seemed thousands of years old. It probably was only several
hundred years old, but it was clearly old and wise and it
filled our imagination and humored our play. The woods of
New England have a special place in my heart. And I will
never forget hearing the wolves howling at night while winter
camping in Quebec. Everytime I am in a forest it's as though
I can feel the life of the earth and know that we are but
a small part of it. What makes me so mad is when companies
clearcut a forest and replace it with monocultures of a
single species of tree, evenly spaced and growing in lines
like crosses in a military cemetery. These "managed"
trees lack life and diversity and cannot provide a home
for all the animals who need a rich and diverse forest to
live. Let's value the treasure of ancient and wild forests
we have left and take action to save them!
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