Greenwar-Oregon’s campaign to save the whales
1977 - 1978
Frustrated by unabated slaughter of whales, activists in Bend, Oregon formed a radical version of Greenpeace.
They called it Greenwar-Oregon.
A simple flyer served as their first call to action.
Support for the movement encouraged the well-intentioned group to thrust full speed ahead with their naive plan to give whales a level playing field.
As international attention fed ambitions, demand for a public rally to demonstrate commitment to the whales’ plight grew inexorably.
Back page of above newsletter:
Arm the Whales rally
Drake Park in Bend, Oregon
December 1977
Whale lovers voice their hope that cetaceans achieve a fighting chance.
Greenwar’s float depicts baleen whale in full Whale Armament and Protection gear, as Buck D. Sistum flashes the clinched fin for solidarity. On the back of armored plating rests a mock nuclear torpedo whalers would never forget if they lived long enough to remember.
Greenwar’s Commander-in-Chief rallies supporters with the fantasy of mammalian arms parity.
Jacques-Yves Schwartz tells of his devotion to the bluenose dolphin who saved his life.
Unidentified Greenwarrior, Buck D. Sistum, and Millie Taunt prepare to take it to the streets, as golden hexagonal spirit guide appears to bless Buck’s frontal lobe.
Rally participants parade the armed whale float through Bend’s downtown as throngs of holiday shoppers gawk and cheer.
Suddenly, unexpectedly but inevitably, the misguided movement ceased to exist.
Their final newsletter tells the rest of the story:
Read their 14-page newsletter.
Scientists baffled by orcas ramming sailing boats near Spain and Portugal.
Forty-two years later, a pod of Orcas may have had enough of humans and our noisy boats violating their habitat.