Greenpeace is known around the world for its activism and education surrounding environmental and biodiversity issues. With a presence in more than forty countries across Europe, the Americas, Asia, and the Pacific, Greenpeace is undoubtedly a dominant force in the realm of environmental activism. This is the story of how Greenpeace came to be.

In September 1971, a small group of activists boarded a small fishing boat in Vancouver, Canada, and headed north towards a tiny island, Amchitka, west of Alaska in the Aleutian Islands, where the U.S. government was conducting underground nuclear tests. Among the people sardined in the fishing boat were Robert Hunter and Robert Keziere.

At that time, protesting against nuclear testing was not common, yet the US tests raised genuine concerns: Amchitka is not only the last refuge for a number of endangered wildlife, but is located in a geologically unstable region, one of the most earthquake-prone areas in the world. The threat of a nuclear-triggered earthquake or tsunami was real.

The boat, named the Greenpeace by the small group of men aboard, raced against time as it crashed through the Gulf of Alaska, braving the oncoming winter storms. Three weeks was all they had to reach Amchitka in an attempt to halt the nuclear test. Ultimately, the voyage--beset by bad weather, interpersonal tensions, and conflicts with US officials--was doomed. And yet the legacy of that journey lives on.

In this visceral memoir, based on a manuscript originally written over thirty years ago, Robert Hunter vividly depicts the peculiar odyssey that led to the formation of the most powerful environmental organization in the world.

Features forty b&w photographs, taken during the voyage by Robert Keziere.

Winner of the George Ryga Award for Social Awareness

Author and Greenpeace cofounder Robert Hunter, 63, passed away in Toronto on May 2, 2005.

Robert Hunter, named one of the ten eco-heroes of the 20th century by Time magazine, is a writer, broadcaster, and speaker on the issues of the environment and climate change. He won a Governor General's Award for his 1991 book Occupied Canada. Robert Hunter passed away in 2005 at the age of 63 years.

Robert Hunter's profile page

Robert Keziere is a Vancouver photographer. He took the magnificent photographs in this book over the better part of two weeks, photographing Augusta in the cabin that each year became her summer home. Robert Keziere’s photographs have been exhibited in Canada, the United States and Europe and are in several public and private collections, including the Canada Council Art Bank and the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography.

Robert Keziere's profile page

• Winner, George Ryga Award
• Short-listed, Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize

...Robert Hunter's The Greenpeace to Amchitka offers the gonzo goods. The story is essentially a Kerouac and Kesey-inspired riff on a '60's road trip, as interested in the antics of the Merry Pranksterish protagonists themselves as in the larger issues at hand. ...the innocent bravery that it depicts is still inspiring.
-Quill & Quire

Quill & Quire

Hunter's Homeric ode to confused and argumentative hippies on the high seas makes fresh and crazy reading. His style is positively feverish.
-The Globe & Mail

The Globe & Mail

The Greenpeace to Amchitkabrings alive the (mis)adventures and turmoil of an eccentric crew trying to make a difference.
-David Suzuki Foundation

David Suzuki Fnd.

The reader quickly develops a huge respect for the quality of Hunter's reportage, and for the raw guts of the folks who first set Greenpeace afloat...
-Vancouver Sun

Vancouver Sun