“Mr. Mindbomb is a chronology of the significant events of Bob Hunter’s life, written chapter by chapter by those who knew him. Where one contributor leaves off, the next picks up, moving the reader through another moment in time, sharing some new insight. This is the real life and legacy of Bob Hunter: Canadian eco-hero, author of 14 books, winner of a Governor General’s Award, popular journalist, and recipient of a magical salute of gratitude from a pod of whales.”
“Getting my hands on a copy of Mr. Mindbomb, the true story of eco-hero and Greenpeace co-founder Bob Hunter, felt remarkably comforting, and somehow familiar.”
Getting my hands on a copy of Mr. Mindbomb, the true story of eco-hero and Greenpeace co-founder Bob Hunter, felt remarkably comforting, and somehow familiar. This is someone we Canadians of an age know, and believe we know well, the same way we know David Suzuki. And yet, much like that (other) environmental proponent, most of us don’t know him at all. Simply what he stood for, and stands for. The well-being of all of us.
“Part adventure thriller, part comedy, part documentary, and part provocation for individuals to stand up for the environment, it’s a rare look through the lens and perspective of those touched by Bob’s influence. By finding kindred spirits in the voices of each of the contributors, many of whom continue the work, it’s a powerful reminder that things don’t happen in a vacuum. Fifteen years after Bob’s much-too-early passing, Mr. Mindbomb is a reminder that any one person, fuelled by commitment and love, can find others who feel the same, and together they can do extraordinarily heroic deeds for the well-being of all.”
My comfort, no doubt, comes from knowing we can all make a difference. To save our eroding planet. This on the heals of my having spent a day splashing in tidepools with my baby niece. Wanting, needing to contribute. To help make things better.
My familiarity, however, was entirely personal, the subject of this collaborative biography, an anthology of contributions by those who knew Bob best, striking an intimate chord. Hunter was born in Winnipeg, in St. Boniface, same as my dad. One of a long line of Williams, just like my dad. Raised Presbyterian, again like my dad. So part of me felt I already knew this well-read, articulate man. Writer, philosopher, dreamer. Someone well-liked and respected. And who better to gather his stories from family and friends but his very best friend, his wife Bobbi.
“Bob Hunter was my husband. We both put our bodies in front of deadly whaling harpoons to protect whales and to bring attention to the slaughter of these incredible creatures. Together we opened the first and second Greenpeace offices. We gathered the friends who formed the core community of activists that boldly set out to alter the path of destruction being taken against the world’s whales and seals. We put up family finances to provide the footing for two of the largest environmental organizations in the world – Greenpeace and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Together we travelled for campaigns, for lectures and for support. We raised a family, we loved, and lived every day to the fullest. For over 30 years we walked the course of life together until Bob’s course ended.”
Never before have I read a biography so tidily knit together by way of stories shared by others. In this case, the people who grew up with Hunter, worked with him, fought alongside him, changing the world for the better. I have snippets of film footage engrained in my mind of the Hunters’ Greenpeace vessels bashing about in the sea, bobbing and weaving in front of the whalers’ harpoons. As a kid in front of the family TV it was terrifying, exhilarating, inspiring. I felt their anger, their hope, their determination.
A few decades later I visited two sites in New Zealand. The first being Auckland Harbour, where the French government bombed and sank the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior, killing a photographer and injuring others. Denials ensued. Yet it was revealed the operation was sanctioned by the French President. Hunter’s ship and her crew had been protesting South Pacific nuclear testing by France. The second site, a memorial for that same ship, is off New Zealand’s northeastern tip, final resting place of that first Rainbow Warrior, its replacement eventually paid for by France, with apologies. At both of those sites, once again I saw Bobbi and Bob, racing along stormy seas, thwarting the whalers’ harpoons. Literal. And metaphoric as well.
Mindbomb is a term that Bob coined, the analog version of going viral. In other words, turning things upside down, inside out, blowing our minds with potential and collaborative momentum. Making a difference. Starting small, starting now, and working with tireless passion to build something huge. An expanding snowball to combat a world overheating.
Canadian Green Party leader Elizabeth May pens the book’s Afterword. “[I]t was Bob’s climate work where we most closely conspired. His book 2030: Confronting Thermageddon in Our Lifetime was published in 2002, just as Canada was coming down to the wire to ratify Kyoto. In his reflections looking toward 2030, he framed the time in terms of his then youngest grandson, Dexter. Now we are uncomfortably close to 2030. How did Bob know with such certainty that 2030 was to be a do or die moment? A threshold to the point of no return?”
In memoriam, May continues, “Thankfully we still have Bob. I still hear his laugh. I can pick up his books, reread his warnings and remake his pledge to Dexter. Our house is on fire. And Greta Thunberg and other young activists are holding all of us to account.
“We need Bob. We need a mindbomb. We need an eco-warrior for our time.
“Time to reboot and demand that we, who love whales and love our forests and know how to love our friends, recommit to doing what it takes. Non-violently. Relentlessly.
“Kick ass to save the earth.”
Indeed. Whether for Bob or my dad, Dexter, my niece, or the people you love in your life, like the growth of that snowball, Mr. Mindbomb is precisely what the environmental doctor prescribed. A book that we need. And need now.
Bobbi Hunter was treasurer, co-founder, main fundraiser, office coordinator, strategist and constant facilitator for the Greenpeace Foundation from 1974 to 1978. She was married to Bob Hunter for 31 years and is the mother of his two children, Will and Emily Hunter, and stepmother to his daughter Justine. Since Bob’s untimely death, she has worked tirelessly to keep his legacy alive. Bobbi lives in Toronto, Ontario.
- Title: Mr. Mindbomb: A Life in Stories
- Edited by Bobbi Hunter
- Publisher: RMB | Rocky Mountain Books, 2023
- ISBN: 9781771606240
- Pages: 304
Bill Arnott is the bestselling author of A Season on Vancouver Island, theGone Viking travelogues, andA Perfect Day for a Walk: The History, Cultures, and Communities of Vancouver, on Foot(Arsenal Pulp Press, Fall 2024). Recipient of a Fellowship at London’s Royal Geographical Society for his expeditions, Bill’s a frequent presenter and contributor to magazines, universities, podcasts, TV and radio. When not trekking with a small pack and journal, Bill can be found on Canada’s west coast, where he lives near the sea on Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh land.
- Bill Arnotthttps://miramichireader.ca/author/billya/
- Bill Arnotthttps://miramichireader.ca/author/billya/
- Bill Arnotthttps://miramichireader.ca/author/billya/
- Bill Arnotthttps://miramichireader.ca/author/billya/
- Bill Arnotthttps://miramichireader.ca/author/billya/
- Bill Arnotthttps://miramichireader.ca/author/billya/
