Paramotor Magazine, Issue 17
February / March 2010
Greenpeace is at the forefront of using paramotors for environmental activism. But it wants to get better at it, discovers Ed Ewing
Heath Hanson works for Greenpeace. Based out of Amsterdam he’s sailed ships down to Antarctica, organised climbers to scale power stations, targeted polluters and protested whaling. “My role is international actions and logistics coordinator,” he says. “I do all of the international coordination for our direct actions and acts of civil disobedience.”
He’s been in Amsterdam – Greenpeace’s global HQ – for just under a year. Before that he was in Washington DC for three years, the capital city of his home country. “It does require a relatively unique skillset,” he says of his job. “Most of my colleagues around the world are jack of all trades,” he says, although he does add, “one is a former chief engineer for a Russian nuclear submarine”.
He meanwhile, “Is a scuba instructor, I’m a ship’s captain, I’m an arc welder, I’m an engineer, and I have various chemical backgrounds.”
The newest string to his bow is paramotor enthusiast. Because although he doesn’t fly himself – he’s been up tandem – he is set to expand the use of them in Greenpeace activities around the world. “I know five Greenpeace offices around the world have them,” he says. “We have less than a dozen worldwide.”
He hopes that number will increase...
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