Greenpeace Responds

The short version is that Rick seems to believe that we should applaud Greenpeace's passive aggressive bullshit. Notice that he puts it off on Sea Shepherd and completely ignores the issue of their activist eating whale. This is why I hate hippies.

Dear Jeffery,


Thank you for your message and your passion to save the whales. Greenpeace applauds all efforts to bring an end to the commercial hunting of whales and we gladly cooperate with a wide variety of groups. We believe however that Sea Shepherds issues with Greenpeace merely serve to distract media and public attention away from the real issue - Japan's illegal and unethical whale hunt. This is exactly the kind of issue that the anti-environmental media and the Japanese government look for to divert attention from their activities. What is most sad is that Sea Shepherd are directing their supporters energy to attack Greenpeace - Greenpeace is not the problem, Japanese whaling is the problem.


In the meantime the Greenpeace ship Esperanza has been resolutely shadowing the Nisshin Maru factory ship. The Nisshin Maru has been trying to outrun and outmaneuver Greenpeace for over 9 days now. Without the Nisshin Maru the Japanese fleet cannot hunt as it is the only ship capable of processing the killed whales. So Greenpeace has in effect brought the hunt to and end for over a week. This without any damage to person or property.


Our differences with Sea Shepherd are more than just ideological. Greenpeace, by virtue of our founders principles together with 35 years of work and even through our name, is committed to peaceful direct action only which includes the respect for human life and sensitive property. Unfortunately Sea Shepherd cannot accept these requirements and therefore, with regret, Greenpeace is obliged to limit our cooperation. I can assure you that our marine division and campaigners reconsider this policy seriously whenever planning how to effectively end commercial whaling.


Bearing witness is a cornerstone of Greenpeace's founding principles and has played a significant role in our success on numerous campaigns. But bearing witness does not mean simply observing. Bearing witness means sharing what we have witnessed with as many people as we can. In the case of whales the images and first-hand accounts that Greenpeace has been able to share with world media, politicians and the general public have played a major role in bringing us to the point of a global whaling moratorium and Japan isolated in the international spotlight for it's current activities.


However, Greenpeace activists aboard our ship Esperanza will do far more than just bear witness. If the Japanese attempt to resume whaling our activists will, as always, deploy themselves to physically attempt to protect the whales. Please read some of the blog comments from a friend of mine who drove one of our boats during the 2005/2006 hunt. This is INCREDIBLY dangerous work that these volunteers do. I personally have spent countless hours repairing damage to boats that have been smashed by Japanese hunter ships and have been amazed that anyone would have the courage to continue to drive in those treacherous conditions, but they did and will do so again. Greenpeace will NOT however attempt in any way to damage the Japanese ships. Disabling or damaging a ship in sub-zero temperature waters filled with floating ice could have disastrous consequences both for the local eco-system as well as the lives of the ships crew. Furthermore we feel such an act will actually damage our campaign and increase public resistance in Japan, where Greenpeace Japan has had significant success in raising this issue.


Our thanks for your ongoing support.


For a greener future,
Rick Gentry