Michael Bailey (environmentalist)

Michael Bailey
Michael Bailey
Born	1954 (age 69–70); Vancouver, British Columbia
Nationality	Canadian
Occupation(s)	Conservationist, public speaker and documentary producer
Years active	1975–present
Known for	Environmental activism
Website	http://planetviews.com/

Michael Bailey, described as "one of the foremost eco-warriors of our times"^[1] according to Rex Weyler, is a founding member of Greenpeace,^[2] along with Paul Watson, Patrick Moore, David McTaggart and others. He supervised the original Greenpeace flagship, Rainbow Warrior.^[3]

The Climate Summit

Presently serving as Operations Director for The Climate Summit, which uses interactive videoconferencing technologies provided by Cisco Systems Inc., Bailey conducts presentations and educates people on the growing issue of climate change and global warming.^{[citation needed]} He is an authorized presenter of The Climate Project founded by Al Gore, who trained Bailey in the art of presentations pertaining to climate issues, ocean acidification and greenhouse gas emissions.^{[citation needed]}

Anti-Whale Hunt Campaigning

As a conservationist and adventure program producer, he retains a special interest in Cetacea.^[4] Bailey joined Greenpeace in 1975 and volunteered to pilot a Zodiac inflatable boat in front of a Russian harpoon ship, resulting in iconic images of the whalers firing 90 mm harpoon cannons at activists that were to establish Greenpeace in the public consciousness.^[5] These actions earned him the nickname "Zodiac Mike" or "Generalissimo".^[6]^[7]

Bailey has played a major part in the raising of public opinion and government support against the whaling industry ^[8] and as an official observer at the International Whaling Commission.^{[citation needed]}

Kuwait Wildlife Campaign

Featured on the cover of a National Geographic magazine, Earthtrust was the first environmental organization to enter Kuwait after the 1991 Gulf War, with Michael Bailey and Rick Thorpe assessing the environmental damage cause by the burning in Kuwait oil fields of Kuwait.^{[citation needed]} They subsequently formed the Kuwait Environmental Information Center and deployed oil barriers to protect wetlands and took action resulting in the fires being extinguished more quickly. This was memorialized in the internationally broadcast Earthtrust documentary Hell on Earth and a five-part Canadian Broadcasting Corporation mini-series.^[9]

Food Campaigns

Bailey has also campaigned against food irradiation ^[10] and was a director of the Conservation Council of Hawai'i.^{[citation needed]}

Other accomplishments

In 2005, he was awarded the Anuenue Award by the Conservation Council of Hawaii for being the 'volunteer of the year' for his dedication to "creating a better world for wildlife and future generations" by documenting plastic pollution, campaigning to protect the Arctic from oil drilling and for working with indigenous peoples such as the Gwich'in and Inupiaq; including organizing the Arctic Film Festival.^{[citation needed]}

Filmography

Oil on Ice [1], International Documentary Association’s 2004 Pare Lorentz Award for Democratic Sensibility and Activist Spirit. A Sierra Club Production
‘Great Adventures’ 1999- 2005. Producer, on-camera Host about mountaineering expeditions to the Antarctica.
'Wild Rescues' for Animal Planet TV Series.
'Effective Microorganisms' weekly television series

Biography

The Greenpeace story by Michael Harold Brown, Prentice-Hall (University of Michigan) Canada, 1989
Men and Whales by Richard Ellis. Robert Hale, (University of Virginia) 1992

References

^ Souls in the Sea: Dolphins, Whales, and Human Destiny, by Scott Taylor, (Frog Books, 2003) ISBN 1-58394-071-5.
^ Greenpeace: How a Group of Journalists, Ecologists and Visionaries changed the World, by Rex Weyler (Rodale, 2004), page 580.
^ Greenpeace Foundation History
^ Balance Seas Report Archived 2010-06-17 at the Wayback Machine
^ Mystics and Mechanics, Peacework Magazine Archived 2008-12-26 at the Wayback Machine
^ Greenpeace: How a Group of Journalists, Ecologists and Visionaries changed the World, by Rex Weyler (Rodale, 2004), page 423,
^ Warriors of the Rainbow: a Chronicle of the Greenpeace Movement, by Robert Hunter (Henry Holt, 1979), page 404.
^ Whalesong: The Story of Hawaii and the Whales, by MacKinnon Simpson and Robert B. Goodman (Beyond Words, 1990), page ?
^ Canby, Thomas Y. After the Storm. National Geographic 180:2-32 Aug '91.
^ Is Zapping Food the Answer? by Cliff Rothman. Vegetarian Times, page 12, Dec 1997