Rex Weyler
Encyclopedia
Rex Weyler is an American / Canadian author, journalist and ecologist. He has worked as a writer, editor, and publisher at newspapers and magazines, and occasionally as a commentator on Canadian television. In the 1970s, Weyler served as a director of the original Greenpeace
Foundation, and as campaign photographer and publisher of the Greenpeace Chronicles. He was a cofounder of Greenpeace International in 1979.
Weyler is the author of books on native rights (Blood of the Land), Greenpeace history (Greenpeace: The Inside Story) and religious commentary (The Jesus Sayings: A Quest for His Authentic Message). In the 1990s, he coauthored a U.S. patent for music tuning software and co-founded Justonic Tuning Inc. with his partner Bill Gannon, to develop and market the product. He works as a freelance journalist, appearing in print, broadcast, and on the Internet.
Weyler attended Herbert Hoover Elementary School in Tulsa, Oklahoma; Rosco C. Hill Middle School in Denver, Colorado; and Robert E. Lee High School (Midland, Texas). He attended high school with future first lady Laura Welch Bush and future US Army General Tommy Franks. (See Tell Laura I Love Her for a memoir of Midland, Texas, c. 1963-66.) Weyler graduated from Lee High School in 1966.
Weyler studied theoretical physics, mathematics, engineering, and history at Occidental College
in Los Angeles, California.
In 1969, Weyler and 41 fellow students were suspended for a semester from Occidental College for staging a sit-in opposing U.S. military recruiters on the campus. The 42 students were charged with “disrupting the normal operating procedures of the college,” and convicted by an administration-teacher-student discipline body. Weyler never returned to university, but traveled internationally and published his first book in 1969 with photographer David Totheroh, I Took a Walk Today, a pacifist discourse with photographs from a winter in California’s Yosemite Valley.
Thirty-six years later, on April 5, 2005, the Urban Environmental Policy Center on the Occidental College campus awarded Weyler and Dennis Zane, a fellow student organizer, the Alumni Community Action Award for their lifetime achievements in peace, ecology, and social justice.
Family: Rex Weyler has three siblings. He married Glenn Jonathans in Nijmegen, Netherlands in 1971 and immigrated to Canada in 1972. Weyler and Jonathans divorced in 1980. Weyler married Lisa Gibbons in 1991. They now live in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. Lisa Gibbons is an artist and special-needs youth educator. Weyler and Gibbons have 3 sons and are also foster parents, active in the BC Federation of Foster Parents.
Weyler appears regularly online in The Tyee
. He has appeared on CBC
, BBC
, Air America Radio
, and other radio networks with commentary on ecology and current events. His stories and photographs have appeared in the Utne Reader
, New York Times, National Geographic, The Liberal
, and other journals.
Between 1973 and 1982, Weyler served as a director of the original Greenpeace Foundation, campaign photographer and reporter, and as editor of the Greenpeace Chronicles magazine. He was a co-founder of Greenpeace International in 1979.
In 1975, Weyler sailed on the first Greenpeace whale campaign. His photographs and news accounts of the early campaigns appeared in National Geographic, Smithsonian, New York Times Magazine, and other publications worldwide. His photographs recorded early whale and seal campaigns of Greenpeace.
He is the author of a history of the first decade of Greenpeace, Greenpeace: The Inside Story (Raincoast, Rodale, 2004).
Since leaving Greenpeace in 1982, Weyler has remained active in environmental and peace issues. In 1991, he helped draft dioxin emission levels for pulp mills in British Columbia. In 2006, he served as Program Coordinator for World Peace Forum 2006.
Weyler is featured in the documentary, Greenpeace: Making a Stand, a history of Greenpeace, including a dramatic modern campaign in Argentina that preserved the forest homeland of the Wichi Indians, threatened by industrial soy plantations.
See Founders of Greenpeace, a list of Characters in the Greenpeace history, and the Chronology of the founding of Greenpeace.
Rex Weyler has made contributions to: The Power of the People, ed. Robert Cooney and Helen Michalowski (New Society Publishers, 1987); Beyond Hypnosis by Dr. Lee Pulos (Omega Press, San Francisco, 1990); Shorelines (Kingfisher Press, B.C., 1995); Witness, Twenty-five Years on the Environmental Front Line (Andre Deutsch, London, 1996); Greenpeace: Changing the World, ed. Conny Boettger, Fouad Hamdan (Rasch & Röhring, 2001); The Book of Letters: 150 Years of Private Canadian Correspondence, by Paul and Audrey Grescoe (Macfarlane Walter & Ross, 2002).
Sharkwater
, feature documentary by Rob Stewart, 2007; Rex Weyler appears as an environmental expert.
American Warriors, produced by Alison Maclean, Tomboy Productions, 2005; Weyler appears as an author of native American history, featuring his book Blood of the Land.
Icons of the Green Movement -- Greenpeace Co-Founder Rex Weyler, Petra Kelly's Legacy, Ralph Nader & Matt Gonzalez ; produced by Justice Vision and Democracy University, 2005.
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
Foundation, and as campaign photographer and publisher of the Greenpeace Chronicles. He was a cofounder of Greenpeace International in 1979.
Weyler is the author of books on native rights (Blood of the Land), Greenpeace history (Greenpeace: The Inside Story) and religious commentary (The Jesus Sayings: A Quest for His Authentic Message). In the 1990s, he coauthored a U.S. patent for music tuning software and co-founded Justonic Tuning Inc. with his partner Bill Gannon, to develop and market the product. He works as a freelance journalist, appearing in print, broadcast, and on the Internet.
Life and education
Weyler was born in Denver, Colorado, September 10, 1947, to Jack Richardson Weyler, a petroleum geologist, and Joanne (Goodwin) Weyler, both from Santa Barbara, California.Weyler attended Herbert Hoover Elementary School in Tulsa, Oklahoma; Rosco C. Hill Middle School in Denver, Colorado; and Robert E. Lee High School (Midland, Texas). He attended high school with future first lady Laura Welch Bush and future US Army General Tommy Franks. (See Tell Laura I Love Her for a memoir of Midland, Texas, c. 1963-66.) Weyler graduated from Lee High School in 1966.
Weyler studied theoretical physics, mathematics, engineering, and history at Occidental College
Occidental College
Occidental College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1887, Occidental College, or "Oxy" as it is called by students and alumni, is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges on the West Coast...
in Los Angeles, California.
In 1969, Weyler and 41 fellow students were suspended for a semester from Occidental College for staging a sit-in opposing U.S. military recruiters on the campus. The 42 students were charged with “disrupting the normal operating procedures of the college,” and convicted by an administration-teacher-student discipline body. Weyler never returned to university, but traveled internationally and published his first book in 1969 with photographer David Totheroh, I Took a Walk Today, a pacifist discourse with photographs from a winter in California’s Yosemite Valley.
Thirty-six years later, on April 5, 2005, the Urban Environmental Policy Center on the Occidental College campus awarded Weyler and Dennis Zane, a fellow student organizer, the Alumni Community Action Award for their lifetime achievements in peace, ecology, and social justice.
Family: Rex Weyler has three siblings. He married Glenn Jonathans in Nijmegen, Netherlands in 1971 and immigrated to Canada in 1972. Weyler and Jonathans divorced in 1980. Weyler married Lisa Gibbons in 1991. They now live in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. Lisa Gibbons is an artist and special-needs youth educator. Weyler and Gibbons have 3 sons and are also foster parents, active in the BC Federation of Foster Parents.
Journalism
- 1973 with the North Shore News in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, first as a photographer and reporter and later as Editor and Associate Publisher.
- 1975 and 1980, Weyler co-founded and served as publisher and editor of the original Greenpeace Chronicles newspaper. It was one of the first international environmental publications, with stories by writers Robert HunterRobert Hunter (journalist)Robert Lorne Hunter was a Canadian environmentalist, journalist, author and politician. A member of the Don't Make a Wave Committee in 1969 with Dorothy and Irving Stowe, Marie and Jim Bohlen, and Ben and Dorothy Metcalfe...
, Paul WatsonPaul WatsonPaul Watson is a Canadian animal rights and environmental activist, who founded and is president of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a direct action group devoted to marine conservation....
, John LillyJohn LillyJohn Lilly may refer to:* John C. Lilly , American physician, psychoanalyst and writer* John Lilly , former Chief Executive Officer of the Mozilla Corporation...
, Kitty Tucker, Ben MetcalfeBen MetcalfeBennett Metcalfe was a Canadian journalist and first chairman of Greenpeace, founded 1971.Ben Metcalfe was born in Winnipeg. Later he moved to the United Kingdom and at the age of 16 joined the Royal Air Force. He was posted in India and North Africa. After World War II he worked as journalist in...
, and David GarrickDavid GarrickDavid Garrick was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of theatrical practice throughout the 18th century and was a pupil and friend of Dr Samuel Johnson...
, and art and cartoons by cartoonists Ralph SteadmanRalph SteadmanRalph Steadman is a British cartoonist and caricaturist who is perhaps best known for his work with American author Hunter S. Thompson.-Personal life:Steadman was born in Wallasey, Cheshire, and brought up in Towyn, North Wales...
and Ron CobbRon CobbRon Cobb is an American cartoonist, artist, writer, film designer, and film director.By the age of 18, with no formal training in graphic illustration, Cobb was working as an animation "inbetweener" artist for Disney Studios in Burbank, California. He progressed to becoming a breakdown artist on...
.
- 1979 and 1982, Weyler served variously as publisher and writer for the Boston-based New Age JournalNew Age JournalNew Age Journal, or New Age: The Journal for Holistic Living was an American periodical prominent in the late 20th century, and defining itself as covering topics related to the period's "New Age"; it has been succeeded, in turn, by Body & Soul, and under new ownership by Body + Soul.It was founded...
. He was prominent among the editors and writers of Rick Fields's popular ZenZenZen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...
-oriented self-help book Chop Wood, Carry Water: Finding Spiritual Fulfillment in Everyday Life (Tarcher, 1984).
- 1998, Weyler and Joel Solomon formed a company to purchase and publish Shared Vision Magazine in Vancouver, B.C. Weyler served as publisher and editor until 2001. They sold the magazine in 2002 to Dragonfly Media. Weyler maintained his monthly column in Shared Vision until 2004 and serves as Editor-at-Large.
- 2007, Weyler founded the Institute for Citizen Journalism to broaden input to international media.
Weyler appears regularly online in The Tyee
The Tyee
The Tyee is an independent Canadian online web magazine, which focuses on coverage of news and media issues in British Columbia.The Tyee was launched in November 2003 by David Beers, a journalist who had previously been associated with the Vancouver Sun...
. He has appeared on CBC
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
, BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, Air America Radio
Air America Radio
Air America was an American radio network specializing in progressive talk programming...
, and other radio networks with commentary on ecology and current events. His stories and photographs have appeared in the Utne Reader
Utne Reader
Utne Reader is an American bimonthly magazine. The magazine collects and reprints articles on politics, culture, and the environment from generally alternative media sources, including journals, newsletters, weeklies, zines, music and DVDs...
, New York Times, National Geographic, The Liberal
The Liberal
The Liberal is a UK-based online magazine "dedicated to promoting liberalism around the world". The publication explores liberal attitudes to a range of cultural issues, and encourages a dialogue between liberal politics and the liberal arts...
, and other journals.
Greenpeace
In 1975, Weyler sailed on the first Greenpeace whale campaign. His photographs and news accounts of the early campaigns appeared in National Geographic, Smithsonian, New York Times Magazine, and other publications worldwide. His photographs recorded early whale and seal campaigns of Greenpeace.
He is the author of a history of the first decade of Greenpeace, Greenpeace: The Inside Story (Raincoast, Rodale, 2004).
Since leaving Greenpeace in 1982, Weyler has remained active in environmental and peace issues. In 1991, he helped draft dioxin emission levels for pulp mills in British Columbia. In 2006, he served as Program Coordinator for World Peace Forum 2006.
Weyler is featured in the documentary, Greenpeace: Making a Stand, a history of Greenpeace, including a dramatic modern campaign in Argentina that preserved the forest homeland of the Wichi Indians, threatened by industrial soy plantations.
See Founders of Greenpeace, a list of Characters in the Greenpeace history, and the Chronology of the founding of Greenpeace.
Books by Rex Weyler
- Weyler, Rex (2008) The Jesus Sayings: A Quest for His Authentic Message (House of Anansi PressHouse of Anansi PressHouse of Anansi Press is a Canadian publishing company, founded in 1967 by writers Dennis Lee and Dave Godfrey. The company specializes in finding and developing new Canadian writers of literary fiction, poetry, and non-fiction....
, 2008): a book about Jesus' message and his mission. - Weyler, Rex (2004) Greenpeace: The Inside Story (Raincoast Books, Rodale, 2004): the history of the founding of Greenpeace in Vancouver, Canada, and the first decade of the organization. [Also: Greenpeace: An Insider’s Account (UK); and Greenpeace: How a Group of Ecologists, Journalists, and Visionaries Changed the World (US).] Finalist, Shaughnessy-Cohen Award for Political Writing, 2004.
- Weyler, Rex with Bill Gannon (1995) The Story of Harmony (Justonic Tuning Inc., 1995): The history of music technology, from Chinese bamboo to computer software, particularly the history of pure harmonic music, tempered keyboards, and computer solutions to the problem of pure, just intonation of harmony.
- Weyler, Rex (1986) Song of the Whale (Doubleday, 1986): The whale research of Dr. Paul SpongPaul SpongDr. Paul Spong is a neuroscientist and cetologist from New Zealand. He has spent more than 30 years researching orcas in British Columbia, and is credited with increasing public awareness of whaling, through his involvement with Greenpeace....
, and the Greenpeace campaign to stop international whaling - Weyler, Rex with Rick Fields, Peggy Taylor, Rick Ingrasci (1984) Chop Wood, Carry Water: Finding Spiritual Fulfillment in Everyday Life (Tarcher); a book about the world’s spiritual traditions applied to modern life.
- Weyler, Rex (1982) Blood of the Land (Everest House, 1982; New Society Publishers, 1992): A history of the American Indian MovementAmerican Indian MovementThe American Indian Movement is a Native American activist organization in the United States, founded in 1968 in Minneapolis, Minnesota by urban Native Americans. The national AIM agenda focuses on spirituality, leadership, and sovereignty...
and the Leonard PeltierLeonard PeltierLeonard Peltier is a Native American activist and member of the American Indian Movement . In 1977 he was convicted and sentenced to two consecutive terms of life imprisonment for first degree murder in the shooting of two Federal Bureau of Investigation agents during a 1975 conflict on the Pine...
case. - Weyler, Rex with Robert HunterRobert Hunter (journalist)Robert Lorne Hunter was a Canadian environmentalist, journalist, author and politician. A member of the Don't Make a Wave Committee in 1969 with Dorothy and Irving Stowe, Marie and Jim Bohlen, and Ben and Dorothy Metcalfe...
(1978) To Save a Whale, photographs and commentary from the early Greenpeace whale campaigns (Chronicle Books). - Weyler, Rex with Daphne MarlattDaphne MarlattDaphne Marlatt, née Buckle, CM , is a Canadian poet who lives in Vancouver, British Columbia....
and Robert Minden (1975) Steveston Recollected, photographs and oral history of Japanese Community in British Columbia (UBC, Provincial Archives, out of print). - Weyler, Rex with David Totheroh (1969), I Took a Walk Today, anti-war commentary and nature photographs (1969, out of print)
Rex Weyler has made contributions to: The Power of the People, ed. Robert Cooney and Helen Michalowski (New Society Publishers, 1987); Beyond Hypnosis by Dr. Lee Pulos (Omega Press, San Francisco, 1990); Shorelines (Kingfisher Press, B.C., 1995); Witness, Twenty-five Years on the Environmental Front Line (Andre Deutsch, London, 1996); Greenpeace: Changing the World, ed. Conny Boettger, Fouad Hamdan (Rasch & Röhring, 2001); The Book of Letters: 150 Years of Private Canadian Correspondence, by Paul and Audrey Grescoe (Macfarlane Walter & Ross, 2002).
Selected articles and essays
- Green Spin: Are We Gaining Ground or Blowing Smoke (2006)–Critique of the “green consumer, and environmental hype.
- Somalia: Free Market Wasteland (2004)–who is dumping toxic waste off the coast of Somalia?
- Delivering ‘Framed’ John Graham (2007)–US attempts to extradite Canadian Tuchone native
- Holy Blood, with Fries (2006)–Mary Magdalene gets skewered by Popes, Nazis, and a pop fiction writer.
- The No-Conspiracy Theory (2003)–Assassinations, plots, and larceny on the world stage
- Why Are We Still Hunting Seals? (2005)–Critique of Canadian Harp seal hunt
- Greenpeace Gets a Name (2004)–The 1970 founding of Greenpeace in Vancouver
- Bob Hunter 1941–2005: A Unique Genius (2005)–memoir of Greenpeace co-founder Robert L. Hunter.
- How To Change The World (2007), Vancouver Sun, citizen action leads social movements
- Ordinary Courage (2007)–Weyler’s Earth-Day Sermon, Unitarian Church, Vancouver
- Tell Laura I Love Her (2004)–Life in Midland, Texas in the 1960s, and a reunion decades later
- Freedom: Baba Olatunji, 1927 - 2003 (2003)
- Weyler articles, essays on The Tyee
- Weyler essays reprinted on rexweyler.com
Film appearances
Greenpeace: Making a Stand (2006) television documentary adaptation of Weyler’s book, Greenpeace: the Inside Story, following on a campaign in Argentina. Omni Films, Leigh Badgley producer; premiere on Global television, Canada, 2006.Sharkwater
Sharkwater
Sharkwater is a 2007 Canadian documentary film written and directed by Rob Stewart, who also narrates it. In the film, Stewart seeks to deflate current attitudes about sharks, and exposes how the voracious shark-hunting industry is driving them to extinction.Filmed in high definition video,...
, feature documentary by Rob Stewart, 2007; Rex Weyler appears as an environmental expert.
American Warriors, produced by Alison Maclean, Tomboy Productions, 2005; Weyler appears as an author of native American history, featuring his book Blood of the Land.
Icons of the Green Movement -- Greenpeace Co-Founder Rex Weyler, Petra Kelly's Legacy, Ralph Nader & Matt Gonzalez ; produced by Justice Vision and Democracy University, 2005.
Awards and honours
- Finalist, Shaughnessy-Cohen Award for Political Writing; 2004.
- Publishers Weekly, “Best Books of 2004,” Greenpeace: The Inside Story.
- Finalist, Hubert Evans Award for Non-Fiction, BC Book Awards, 2004.
- Alumni Community Action Award, Urban Environmental Policy Center, Los Angeles, April 2005.
Additional reading
- Vancouver Observer, text of Rex Weyler’s Earth Day speech, “Ordinary Courage”
- Who Killed Anna Mae? (2005)–on John Graham Defense Committee site, original from the Vancouver Sun; Indian movement, FBI, informants, and murder charges.
- The World According To Rex Weyler, Interview, The Independent (London), Oct 5, 2004
- Rex Weyler Interview, Gauntlet, University of Calgary, 2004
- Pieces of Green, Matt Nippert, New Zealand Listener, November 20, 2004
- Pirates vs. Patriots, Conscious Choice (2004)–US targets environmental groups for special prosecution, forestry activists charged with “sailor mongering.”
- Greenpeace International, “Movements, Memes, and Mindbombs,” (2004)–Weyler discusses Saul Alinsky, Gandhi, protest tactics, and media strategies.
- Waves of Compassion, Utne Reader (2003)–Greenpeace history, the founders and early campaigns
- Weyler on Intentblog– postings on the Deepak Chopra blog site
- “Due Process,” Excerpt, Blood of the Land, at FreePeltier.org
- “State of Siege,” Excerpt, Blood of the Land, at FreePeltier.org
- “Who Goes There,” Excerpt, Greenpeace: The Inside Story