How To Change The World

Even the most righteous cause can sometimes fall victim to the frailties and flaws of the people championing it, as the documentary How To Change The World demonstrates. But it's to the film's credit that it doesn't shy away from the ego-driven strife that complicated the noble intentions of environmental-activism group Greenpeace. For the most part, though, this is a positive and engaging look at the origins and evolution of Greenpeace, which makes terrific use of archival footage that charts the organisation's growth from a band of Canadian "eco-freaks" to a worldwide movement with the aim of saving the planet.

At the core of it is the late Bob Hunter, a Vancouver journalist who headed a rag-tag collection of activists hell-bent on stopping plans by the Nixon administration to test a nuclear weapon on an island off the Alaska coast. That initiative soon blossomed into a variety of other objectives, most notably anti-whaling efforts that attracted global attention.While conflicting goals eventually led to rifts within Greenpeace, there's a sense of excitement and enjoyment in the group's early efforts that is well-captured in How To Change The World. It's a lively, intelligent tribute to Hunter and his cause, and a clarion call to anyone interested in the well-being of Mother Earth.