A Greenpeace founder's life-long passion for environmental protection

These in-their-own-words pieces are told to Patricia Lane and co-edited with input from the interviewee for the purpose of brevity. 

Bill Darnell has been helping protect what we love since he helped found Greenpeace in 1970. 

Tell us about your early work at Greenpeace.

In my early 20s, I joined SPEC (Society Promoting Environmental Conservation) and Sierra Club B.C., both of which deepened my passion for environmental protection. I also joined the “Don’t Make a Wave Committee” to try to stop the United States testing nuclear weapons on Amchitka Island in Alaska because I was horrified at the potential for environmental and human destruction, including earthquakes and tsunamis. Our meetings always ended with one of our members, Irving Stowe, making the peace sign and saying “peace.” I suggested we make it a green peace and “Greenpeace” was born! 

Inspired by the Quaker model of “bearing witness,” we chartered a fishing boat, the “Phyllis Cormack,” to sail into the test zone and put our bodies in the way.  People across Canada and the United States demonstrated their support for us, and eventually the weapons testing was stopped. 

I became a carpenter, an active union member, and eventually turned to teaching in Vancouver, and then, the North Okanagan Shuswap. For 20 years, I combined my interests in human well-being and the environment in the classroom. For example, I had high school students build a solar oven so they could see how hot things could get with the greenhouse effect. 

Inspired by the Transition Town movement, I helped move the City of Vernon in that direction. A repair café showcased the expertise of neighbours as they kept clothes, bicycles and appliances out of the landfill and saved people money. The projects were small but caught the public imagination. At our urging and with our support and direction, the City of Vernon developed an award-winning climate action plan. My wife, Phyllis Beardsley, and I began talking about climate change at our church, and it became a place where climate activists could find support. 

Three years ago, we moved to a suite in our daughter’s home in Victoria B.C. to be close to our grandchildren. My focus here has been supporting our Oak Bay United Church congregation to see themselves as having assets they can contribute to the climate conversation. We make room for our shared fears, but have chosen a collective identity as “fierce agents of hope.” It can be lonely to be in leadership in the climate crisis, but we have created a community of care. We come together to let business and government decision-makers, some of whom are in our congregation, know we expect and support action. Our community shares stories of hopeful developments. We are intent on ensuring no one is alone in the next heat dome, floods are treated as community disasters, not something that happens to just one family, and we help each other plan for climate emergencies.

What makes your work hard?

There is widespread concern but many different perspectives. Some avoid confrontation, while others are willing to take risks and create disruption. Many can’t bring their attention to the changing climate. This makes it both difficult and interesting.  

What keeps you awake at night?

The destruction is accelerating. Sometimes, I feel disconnected and powerless. There’s a lot of loss ahead of us. A lot of lives, humans included, will suffer because of the greed of a few and the systems we’ve allowed to support them.

What gives you hope? 

I often felt alone as an activist, the only one concerned about the issue. I’ve grown to value relationships and worked to establish meaningful and lasting connections. I am grateful for my community at my church and the ongoing connections I have with my networks across the province. RRSPs and the government of the day are unstable. My community connections are my solid ground. 

Indigenous People's knowledge and wisdom, learned over thousands of years, can help remind us of our interdependence with nature. They teach us to tolerate uncertainty as we move toward a regenerative future.  

What do you see if we get this right? 

I see people living well in their place, part of circles of care. We live in well-connected communities, and although we own fewer things, they are ethically sourced, maintained, and repaired. We are rich in our relationships with each other and all our non-human relations.  We understand we are part of the land.

What would you like to say to young people? 

I’m sorry. We really messed things up. Individuals are not bad, but collectively, we’ve created or consented to a destructive system based on greed and exploitation. We are told to believe we can’t do things differently, but if we can connect to each other and the non-human world, we can live in harmony.

What about older readers?

Be bold. A lot of us have had a good life of relative privilege. We know what has happened and we can tell the truth. We have valuable experience. It feels hopeful to be active with others. 

This profile was developed in collaboration with the Elders Circle at Vancouver’s Society Promoting Environmental Conservation