Friday Nudge: Learn about a different context from yours. Essay: Book Review of Mr. Mindbomb.
A book review of a biography of Greenpeace cofounder Bob Hunter, is unlocked for all readers. Enjoy!
Friends, I am back from my work with the World Council of Churches (WCC) on the Commission of the Churches on Climate Justice and Sustainable Development, and then a few days to explore Geneva and its environs. What an intense time it was!
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The Commission that I have been elected to, along with 29 others from around the world, is brand new. Out of our meetings, we have called for a Decade for Climate Justice, in line with the recent Decade for Climate Justice announced by the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC; yes, I am on their Climate Justice group too. I will attempt to keep it clear for you which is which 🙂). We have a lot of work ahead of us, partly because we are creating something new, but most especially because of the urgency and magnitude of the climate emergency. It is heartening and encouraging to be working with ecumenical colleagues from every region of the Earth, from diverse ecological, political, and religious contexts, and sharing similar convictions and concerns for the climate emergency.
Friday Nudge: Learn about a different context from yours
I am still digesting the work we have been called to do; as I do, I will share it with you. In the meantime, I invite you to join me in this work! I learned so much about different contexts and how the climate emergency impacts various communities worldwide. What I would like every one of my readers to do is research a geographical context different from your own and learn about how the consequences of the climate emergency are playing out in that region.
This is your Friday Nudge. Spend 10 minutes or more researching a place, near you or further away, that is distinctly different from your socio-politico-ecological context. Then, come back here and share a summary with this community! Either click the comment button, or reply by email, and I will add your comments (without your name) below. Note: I have unlocked the comments section so that everyone can respond.
How is the climate emergency impacting a region different from your own?
Learning about the various contexts, and the places in which the climate emergency impacts our planet can be discipleship.
Also, please enjoy this week’s essay, a book review that has been unlocked for all subscribers. Here it is!
Book Review: Mr. Mindbomb
Mr. Mindbomb: Eco-Hero and Greenpeace Co-founder Bob Hunter: A Life in Stories, ed. Bobbi Hunter (Rocky Mountain Books, 2023).
Mr. Mindbomb is the biography, told through the many voices of those who knew and loved him, of Canadian Bob Hunter, co-founder of the environmental organization Greenpeace, and internationally recognized environmental warrior. I wanted to read this book because I am drawn to the stories of people who have, through their convictions, taken radical action on behalf of the Earth community. Although Bob Hunter was not a practicing Christian, he had a deep sense of spirituality. I wanted to see what wisdom I could gain from the person who devoted his entire life to ecological causes, living out his beliefs in the world, wisdom that can guide us in this time of climate and ecological emergency.
From going out by boat to protest underground nuclear testing on the island of Amchitka in Alaska in 1971, to the first Greenpeace whale campaign in which he and others harassed whaling vessels in small inflatable boats, to staring down a sealing ship, on his knees on the ice, Bob Hunter took radical action on behalf of the natural world. Later, he used his brilliance as a writer and journalist to advocate, both strategically and consistently, on behalf of the planet. It was Bob who coined the term in the book title, “mindbomb,” to describe, in the decades before online media:
“Mindbomb: an image that sends a collective shock through the world and leads to action; the 1970s version of ‘going viral.’”[1]
That summary paragraph tells us information that is very easy to Google. What is it in Mr. Mindbomb that can offer us more than we can look up in a quick search? Biographies tell the story of a person in a chronological arc, from early life to recent times or death, if the person has passed away. The best biography explores the interiority of the person, not just what they did, but what they felt about what they did, how they saw the world, and how they acted in the world. In other words, a good biography helps us to get a glimpse into how the beliefs of the person cohered or did not cohere, with how they understood themselves and their impact upon the world.
Approaching this book with this in mind, the story at first appears a bit disjointed. We hear many different voices from Bob’s life, overlapping in time and with different writing styles, which creates a bit of discordance. In the first section on Bob’s emergence into journalism and activism, we hear from co-campaigners and friends Captain Paul Watson and Myron MacDonald. We read essays by Bob’s brother Donald and his daughter Justine, as well as from his second wife, Bobbi Hunter. We also read the words of Rod Marining, a young copywriter when Bob was hired at the Vancouver Sun who looked up to Bob and later joined him as a fellow activist.
Very soon, however, the discordance in the book levels out with the gifted ability of Bob’s wife Bobbi, who edits the book, to organize the stories into the narrative arc of Bob’s life, and to write compelling essays on the man she knew and loved that tie each section together.
In fact, the most helpful essays for getting inside the mind and heart of Bob are the ones written by his wife. Bobbi writes sensitively and openly about the person that only she knew best. Through her, we begin to get at more than just the eco-hero and greater-than-life stature of Bob Hunter. I am grateful for this, because while the book is intentionally meant to be a text honouring the life and work of Bob, and so is not exposé, historical record, or a book of confessions, it does tend to lean toward the simplifying admiration that we can fall prey to after someone has died.
However, with Bobbi’s essays, this weakness of the book is lessened. Read this example from the chapter called “Eco-Judas”:
“Bob’s erratic behaviour on the second Save the Whale campaign was largely due to his dependence on Valium, which had been prescribed to calm his anxiety. This negative energy was a product of not looking after his health and of being at the centre of all the decision making at Greenpeace during its formative years. Much later we learned that a side effect of that drug is rage. And rage he did.”[2]
This passage helps us to understand the convictions and measure of Bob Hunter, and give us greater insight and respect for who he was and what he did, than if such difficulties were left out of the story. A good biography gives a balanced exploration of the strengths and weaknesses of a person. Without Bobbi’s essays, which show her unconditional love for the man with whom she shared a life of vision and passion, family and home, Mr. Mindbomb would be an incomplete narrative of Bob’s life.
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What else do we learn in this book, particularly concerning how we can move to action on behalf of the Earth community? While not all of us can become famous like Bob Hunter, stare down sealing ships like him, or create viral mindbombs, there is more in his life that can be possible in ours.
A common thread throughout Mr. Mindbomb is the depth of Bob’s spirituality in his love for the Earth and others. Bob was strong and vulnerable in his love and passions; this led to moments of spiritual transformation in his life. Bobbi describes the initial trip that Bob took to Amchitka:
“The voyage to Amchitka was life changing for Bob. He set out on a mission, expecting an ending; he had no idea that the mission would last his lifetime. …On that initial voyage, Bob’s life changed forever. At the beginning of the expedition, he was in fearful awe of the destructive power of the [nuclear] bomb. Along the way, during the voyage, he came to feel an immense depth of anxiety and veneration for the power of the ocean.
…During the voyage, Bob found his foundational mother and father.”[3]
This led to Bob’s transformation in action, what in Christian terms we call discipleship. Bobbi says, “He set out as an angry soul, expecting disaster, and he came home slowly become aware that, in life, if you expect that best outcome, then that is what will be.”[4] He then spent the rest of his life living out this conviction in word and deed.
Bob was grounded in his love of the water, both sea and river, and had many spiritual experiences when in a boat. He was also grounded in his family and relationships with friends; this is a consistent theme described throughout the book. It was love that carried through the various career trajectories in his life. After he left Greenpeace, Bob became a freelance environmental advocate. Later, he returned to journalism, eventually joining CityTV in Toronto as “the world’s first ecology reporter,” brought on by his friend, Canadian media legend Moses Znaimer.[5]
I can remember watching Bob on CityTV in the 90s; an irascible grey-haired guy sharing the day’s headlines with delightful commentary in his bathrobe! Former CityTV employee and friend of Bob, Stephen Hurlbut describes him well, both on camera and off: “Hunter also communicated goodwill. He believed in signs and rainbows and a glass that is always half-full.”[6]
I could share more examples of who Bob was and how lived out his ecological convictions, but this is meant to simply be a review from which you can decide to read the book yourself! Bob lived a long life, born in 1941 and dying, of cancer, in 2005.
At the end of the day, a good biography teaches us not just about the person who is the subject of the biography, but something about ourselves. Who are we in the scheme of things? In relation to the person we are reading about, to what extent are we living lives of authenticity, love and flourishing? What can we take away from the biography that can help us better understand ourselves and our relationship to the world?
Because Mr. Mindbomb is about one of the most prominent environmental activists in Canada, these questions we ask ourselves must become ones of how we relate to the wider Earth community in which Bob lived and flourished, and in which we all live. What does the life of Bob Hunter teach us about who we are in the world? About the extent that we are living lives of authenticity, love and flourishing in the Earth community, and in light of the climate and ecological crisis? What can we take away from this biography to help us better understand ourselves and our relationship to the natural world?
My responses to these questions are not pertinent here, but I will say that this book encouraged those questions in me, and helped me discern my answers. I am confident that it can do the same for you. Read Mr. Mindbomb to learn about the man who founded Greenpeace and led the environmental movement in Canada. More importantly, read Mr. Mindbomb to learn more about who you are, and how you can continue the work of climate action and ecological healing that Bob heralded in many ways. I suspect that his wife Bobbi would agree with me when I say that that is what Bob would want you to take away from his story. Let me give the last word to Bobbi:
“The ecology movement today is tethered to many and varied roots, but one of the primary taproots of the movement is the life and teachings of Bob Hunter, an unassuming Canadian whose life story proves that, regardless of background or experience, any one person can do something HUGE in their own unique way to make a difference to the health of our planet.”[7]
Have you read Mr. Mindbomb, or are otherwise familiar with the life and work of Bob Hunter? Share your reflections here:
[1] Bobbi Hunter, ed. Mr. Mindbomb: Eco-Hero and Greenpeace Co-founder Bob Hunter: A Life in Stories (Rocky Mountain Books Ltd, 2023), v.
[2] Ibid., 102.
[3] Ibid., 37-38.
[4] Ibid., 39.
[5] Ibid., 135.
[6] Ibid., 143.
[7] Ibid., xvi.