Doug Tompkins arrived in Australia on Sunday, after spending a month onboard one of the world’s most controversial conservation crusaders: the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society flagship Steve Irwin.

The ship docked in Hobart, Tasmania. From Hobart, Tompkins travelled north to Byron Shire, where he got off a plane, rode in a car a few hours, slept a few hours and woke up to give a rare public talk last night at the Mullumbimby Civic Hall. He planned to spend only three days in Australia.

A large and diverse crowd of at least 400 people packed the hall for the once-in-a-lifetime occasion, eager to hear what this extraordinary entrepreneur-turned-leading world environmentalist - viewed by many as the most influential environmentalist in the world - had to say.

Looking comfortable and casual in cotton, Tompkins was far from shy, which makes one wonder why he doesn’t speak publicly more often. "I don’t really have time for presentations," he says.

He kicks things off with a selection of his best photos he’d taken over the last 30 days onboard the Steve Irwin, as it plotted its course in hostile waters at the bottom of the world. The campaigners aim: to non-violently hunt down the Japanese whalers and stop them from engaging in illegal commercial whaling - activity they call 'research'. Supplementing the photos with stories and comments, he spoke sensibly and logically, with brutal honesty.

“I’ll let you decide if these people are really the eco-terrorists/pirates the media has made them out to be – you can look at these photos and make your own decision,” said Doug, clicking through photos of the smiling faces of the men and women, an all-volunteer crew, all hailing from 10 different countries; among them, the Society’s founder and ship Captain Paul Watson, and even American actress Darryl Hannah.

The audience watched intently as he clicked through breathtaking landscape photos across the icy waters of the Antarctic, not believing what they were witnessing: gorgeous iceberg formations, magnificent close-ups of whales and dolphins. “Some days, we’d see up to 50 or 60 whales a day,” Tompkins said.

Then came the action shots. The crowd gasped in awe at images of the ship as it battled chaotic seas, then broke into applause and wolf-whistles at shots of the Sea Shepherd intercepting the Japanese whaling ship, the Yushin Maru; shots of the crew holding on for dear life in freezing cold conditions as 12-15 metre waves swept across the deck; photos of the Japanese’s monster factory-style whaling ship and the Steve Irwin running it from east to west across the Southern Ocean; campaigners bombing the whalers with putric acid stink bombs; and great close-ups of the “fascist-looking” harpooners staring back into the camera, outfitted in full military gear complete with helmets!

“The Japanese carry guns… they once shot at and hit Paul (Watson, the Captain) and hit him in the chest, but because he was wearing a badge… the badge actually stopped the bullet from penetrating his skin, so he was very lucky.”

Next, Tompkins enlightens the crowd with his own remarkable story. He begins with a screening of his DVD, “The Next Economy”. It tells the story of how the passionate pro-localisation activist started out with a very successful business career as Founder of fashion labels North Face and Esprit de Corp. In 1990, he sold his shares in the companies, gaining more than $150 million for his share of Espirit.

Since then, Tompkins has used his wealth for good. He presides over four Foundations, all founded by himself and his wife, including the Foundation for Deep Ecology. He resides on a property in Argentina, which he and his wife, Kristine, have restored from an abandoned and overgrown plot into a sustainable and productive farm. To date, he and his wife have amassed 2 million acres of private land in order to conserve and protect some of Chile and Argentina’s most beautiful landscapes. In these National Parks, he employs over 200 local people, all engaging in what he calls “meaningful work” to conserve and restore ecological landscapes.

“Meaningful work is not like jobs you find in the cities, in an economy based on excess and waste…. It doesn’t contribute to soil degradation, the extinction of species or climate change - that’s what meaningful work is.”

Tompkins’ DVD tells of a shared vision by him and his wife: a vision of environmental conservation, rehabilitation and economically sustainable, locally-based agro-ecology. “We have species of every ecosystem around the world dying out – gone, forever. If we’re extincting species, we aren’t living in a sustainable world – and that’s what’s happening.” Tompkins believes measuring the number of extincting species is a measurement of how biologically sustainable our global economy is.

At the conclusion of the DVD, the crowd is on their feet: another standing ovation. Joined by Helena Norberg-Hodge, Founder of the International Society for Ecology and Culture (ISEC) and author of the highly acclaimed Ancient Futures, the pair opened up the floor for comments and questions and hands shot up.

Tompkins is a man who doesn’t say what is popular to say. He speaks confidently, from the heart - from an ecological perspective as opposed to a political one. Based on their questions and comments, the audience at the Mullum Civic Hall appeared to have positive feelings about his presentation, his opinions and his work.

Between Tompkins, Norberg Hodge and the audience, the next couple of hours were spent discussing a whole range of issues - greed and the insatiable need for growth in the modern industrial world; technological civilization and how it’s destroying nature and human life; the need for human beings to cooperate with the environment instead of working against it; the need for a transition from globalisation to ‘eco-localisation’; about his passion for reforestation and restoration. “It’s important that we still have pristine ecosystems in the world. My work with restoration is nearest and dearest to my heart – it is very satisfying,” said Tompkins.

He complemented the Mullumbimby community's efforts towards becoming one of Australia's newest a Transition Town: moving towards localisation; transitioning from a high carbon footprint economy to a low carbon footprint economy.

“We must care for the environment first…. what is good for the environment is good for us,” he said.

“High technology doesn’t provide solutions to the environmental crisis we are currently facing – it only deepens the problem. Instead of working against the world’s processes, we need to work with them.”

The message the audience took? The lessons we learned? People need to move away from high-power urban lifestyles and toward low-energy agricultural ones; to conserve out world rather than abuse it. We need to reject the global economy. 

“We need another economy, a new economy that is conservative and not wasteful. We need to teach children to share a planet that has a future that depends on biodiversity. We need to start looking for landscapes that need restoration – restoration is the work of the future.”

Helena adds: “Twenty years ago, ‘globalisation’ wasn’t even a word - now it’s in the dictionary.”

She says communities need to work together; to keep their economic circle tight. “In many parts of the world, just like in Mullumbimby, there is a movement towards local – people are concentrating on what they can fight for, not against, and this is very strong around food. We will slowly, but surely, bring the economy home rebuild community and heal our beleaguered Earth.”

“The most important thing we can do is not feel helpless and not self-blame,” adds Tompkins. “Remember, the global capitalist system as it is was created by humans, and if we can get ourselves into this catastrophic mess, we can get ourselves out.”

Posted: Tuesday January 20, 2009