Wearing the Spirit
A friend in Aomori, Japan, writes:
Photo:Greenpeace/Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert
May I present the legendary Greenpeace T-Shirt collector, a writer with Greenpeace International - Steve Erwood.When Greenpeace’s Aomori Communications Centre in Japan put out a call for campaign T-Shirts for an exhibition, everyone told us to speak to Steve. A prolific collector, Steve and his partner, Greenpeace activist Eric Heijselaar sent us a care package of historical Greenpeace shirts so large, it could constitute an entire exhibition by itself.
“It probably wasn't a conscious decision to start a t-shirt collection,” said Steve. But once you’ve volunteered for Greenpeace and joined a few actions, it’s easy to end up with a few in the closet. T-shirts help get the message across and help to get people on board with Greenpeace's campaigns”
There are so many personal and special moments behind each T-shirt. The favourite for Eric came from the famous Brent Spar action in 1995, when activists occupied the giant Brent Spar oil storage facility in the North Sea. At the time, Shell Oil and the UK Government had wanted to simply dump the obsolete platform into the sea, along with all of the toxic chemicals, oil and rubbish it contained.
'Eric was one of the last activists to occupy the Brent Spar before Shell reversed its decision. He and his fellow activist Al Baker had to jump onto the platform from a helicopter hovering 5 metres above it. They stayed on the Spar for the next few days, while it was being towed and battered by high-pressure water hoses. So for Eric, this really was a case of 'I occupied the Brent Spar, and all I got was this t-shirt...'And when Eric celebrated his 30-year-old birthday, so did Greenpeace. “I gave him a '30 years old' Greenpeace T-shirt produced by GP USA,” said Steve.
When friends around the office realised that Steve and Eric were frequently wearing their GP T's, they started keeping an eye out for new shirts. "That was when the collection really took off. Now, I have colleagues around the Greenpeace world who regularly send me t-shirts for the collection."
That said, not all of the shirts in their collection were gifts, as at least one was bought.
“I did buy one T-shirt on eBay - the one commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Rainbow Warrior sinking in New Zealand, with the motto 'You Can't Sink A Rainbow'. The Rainbow Warrior has always held a special significance for me, as the day of the bombing - 10 July, 1985, was also the day of my sixteenth birthday. Greenpeace and its work really came to my attention that day. It's been almost preordained that one day I would end up working for Greenpeace.”
There are some favourites that Steve wears regularly. “The Solar Generation T-shirts have a great design. There is also a great Greek T-shirt that shows the planet as a fried egg commenting on climate change. Walking around with a fried egg on your chest always gets you noticed!”Steve did think of organising a private T-Shirt exhibition before.
“I was organising a special farewell party for Climate Campaigner and former International Executive Director of Greenpeace, Steve Sawyer. We set up a ‘wall’ of Greenpeace T-shirts not only to commemorate Steve Sawyer's contribution to GP, but all of the organisation’s achievements and history. For various reasons, we never actually managed to organise the t-shirt wall in time, so it was really nice to have another opportunity to put the t-shirt collection to this use.”
He hopes the exhibition in Japan will support the Tokyo 2 court process and the Aomori Communications Centre. Greenpeace activists Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki are currently on trial in Aomori for intercepting a box of embezzled whale meat, with the aim of exposing a long-standing culture of embezzlement within the government-sponsored whaling program.“We hope the T-shirts will impress, entertain and delight visitors to the exhibition. But most importantly, we hope that they will help to illustrate the many things that Greenpeace works on and the many things it has achieved. And it does so with a sense of style and fun!”
This is not a t-shirt. It's a campaign to change the world. Buy it. Wear it. Tell your friendsRead more, and take action.
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