Greenpeace Ship Makes Waves in San Pedro

With an event that was part children’s carnival, part boat party and part teach-in, Greenpeace’s flagship, the Rainbow Warrior, made its first visit to the L.A. area.

What the ship’s environmental activists staged Saturday afternoon on the San Pedro docks was something akin to a high-school fair taken over by student radicals.

This was an event sponsored by Greenpeace in which global warming, ozone depletion and rain forest destruction were as much a part of the party as the music and food. The idea was to hold a two-day event that was educational and entertaining. And if it raised a little money, that was OK too.

It was also a chance to show off the ship, which has been used in actions against drift-net fishing vessels and the dumping of radioactive waste. The Rainbow Warrior stopped here on its way to Mexico.

“You can’t always preach to people,” said Greenpeace regional trustee Peter Bahouth. “You need humor and entertainment to reach them on a gut level.”

The star attraction in reaching the children was rides around the harbor on one of the ship’s Zodiac-style inflatable speed boats--the kind that might be used for disrupting whale hunters.

“This is wonderful,” joked one jaded music industry veteran as he ferried his friend’s daughter aboard the ship. “We’re going to stand in a bobbing Zodiac and catch harpoons in our teeth.”

There was, in the words of one wag, a “Birkenstocks at sea” quality to the predominantly Westside yup-ish parents who spent most of the day chasing their kids around the Rainbow Warrior’s steep stairs and ladders. It’s only after a ship has been boarded by dozens of children does it become apparent how incredibly many places there are for them to climb.

On dry land at the docks, the favored kids attraction also involved climbing. A plastic wall had been erected where children could safely experience rock climbing. Ropes hung from pulleys were attached to their waists for safety’s sake. Parents stood by watching as children grasped at the footholds, slipped and then momentarily dangled.

“He does it over and over and over,” said one mother in a voice that was equally incredulous and bored as she watched her son.

On a more serious note, there were half a dozen tents with displays on various environmental subjects, including the rain forest, air pollution and solar energy.

Among featured subjects of the displays were ozone depletion and its impact on the environment, fighting which is one of Greenpeace’s priorities in 1992. This is what drew “Night Court’s” Richard Moll.

“It takes a lot to get me to stir my stumps,” said Moll. “But I feel I have a duty to speak out about this. This is something that puts me into survival mode. If for no other reason than I have no hair, I’m 6 feet, 8 inches (tall) and closer to the sun than most people. Those ultraviolet rays are going to be hitting me first.”

Among the other 500 invited guests joining Moll were Corey Feldman, Terri Nunn, Deborah Harry, Diane Ladd, screenwriter John Briley and Martin Sheen, who said he was there to support Greenpeace because “the reality is we only have one planet. And we have only one last chance to save it.”