I Met Emily Hunter!!

*Jen, Bob, Emily and Paul Watsons brother Stephen*

Last week I attended Bob Timmons (Artist For The Oceans) third movie screening featuring the life of Sea Shepherd's Paul Watson. It was a great Bio Documentary featuring Paul's life and what he and his organization have been able to accomplish so far! Paul was great friends with fellow environmentalist (and Canadian!) Robert Hunter. These two friends were actually the original co-founders of Greenpeace International. As young men, these individuals were the first to bring awareness to the horrible Seal Hunt that still occurs each year on the East Coast of Canada (makes me sick!)

As a young girl, I always watched Robert Hunter on our local Toronto news - City Pulse. A few times a week he would talk about various environmental issues and why it was so important to save our planet. He campaigned against nuclear testing, whale hunting and eventually climate change. I will never forget one news report he did regarding Canadians and how much waste we produce. I must have only been about 11 years old but it is still so clear in my mind when he said (standing in the middle of a street downtown Toronto) that Canadians were not filthy pigs BUT filthy mammoths due to the amount of our mass consumption and how we throw everything away.

Unfortunately Robert was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1998 and passed away in May 2005 after a long fight. Thankfully his environmental passion is now carried on through his children. His daughter Emily is an active member with Sea Shepherd (she has been on many missions in the arctic and Galapagos Islands). She has also hosted an informative documentary on MTV Canada featuring the Alberta Tar Sands and is finishing up her studies at the University of Toronto for journalism. I was so honoured to meet Emily at the movie screening and share my stories with her. My Green Team students at work the next day were so excited and envious that I had the opportunity to meet her! They all look forward to her future documentaries that might be featured again on MTV Canada!

*Emily & I!*

xoxox

nicole