John Passacantando, Greenpeace Leader, Departing After 8 Years Of Fighting Bush

Grist: While we're hearing people talk about green stimulus and green economy and all of that, you still hear people argue that we can't afford it, that this is not the right time.

Passacantando: For people who say, "We can't afford to do it," I would just say, "Based on what math?" Because you could also have said that we couldn't afford what we've done in the last 10 years. We couldn't afford the population of automobiles on the road to be overly heavy and inefficient. We did it. We couldn't afford to lose 4,000 people and over 100,000 Iraqis to protect oil supplies to the U.S. to drive those overly heavy and inefficient automobiles. We couldn't afford to let the banks make really bad loans, and then package them up, disguise them, and sell them off around the world. We couldn't afford to do any of that, but we did it all, and we're paying for it now. But we don't want to do more of that. So now if you use real math, math that's rooted in ecology, maybe we could do something that we need and that we can afford.

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Comments

[JulieSA]

I used to give money to Greenpeace for the whales, but no more. Vandalism and piracy are against the law and dangerous. The attack on that coal ship endangered the ship and the port, and almost caused a blackout for the city. Greenpeace has gone totally nutso and lost all credibility.

[JulieSA]

My favorite Greenpeace story is the time they broke into the trading floor of a London stockmarket and tried to stop the trading. They got beaten up by the traders and tossed out. They should've known better then to mess with those guys.

[ObjectiveRealist]

What we spend on petroleum in a single year is enough to purchase a solar/wind infrastructure.

I cannot afford to pay every year what should be a one-time expense in my personal budget, and neither can anybody else.

I salute you, Mr. Passacantando.

[StopGlobalWarmingBeVegan]

I'm applying to greenpeace soon.

[bayside]

Thank you for your service John. We are in this together. When I heard Bush loved to blow up frogs with firecrackers ,I knew this was a man that we all need to be wary off and I was right. He has tried very hard to destroy everything we stand for, thanks to you and your team and likeminded people ,we stood up to people that think like that ..We the people are saying you cannot destroy whatever you want too for money or power....It is working..