Steve Sawyer, 1956-2019

I first met Steve when he visited Greenpeace Communications at Canon Workshops, Docklands, London back in 1990 or thereabouts. He’d come over from Amsterdam in his role as Executive Director to sort out some sort of trouble in the office. I found him a bit lofty and remote. Later when I joined the Keizersgracht office in Amsterdam we met again, I was now Photo Editor and in charge of commissioning photographers for GPI campaigns. I know he was suspicious of my skills, coming from a commercial background and wary of who I would be making him work with especially on the new climate work in Alaska coming up. There was little communication between us even though we were one of the few more elder personnel. One day I happened to passing his desk and noticed a strange portrait acting as screen saver on his computer. I was wondering why it wasn’t the ‘RW’ in full sail like many of the other computer screens around the office. “Grace Slick” I exclaimed “lead singer of Jefferson Airplane”. “Wow” he said back and laughed, “No one else here knows that”! From then on, we both knew we were both ‘cool’ and worked together on many fabulous climate projects such as ‘North Star Ice Camp’, ‘Yellow River, Alaska and Moruroa documentation’ It was a pleasure and honour to work with Steve. He will be missed in many communities for he was a true Greenpeace legend.

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What a devastating loss. Campaigning in an African context is often pretty challenging, but I met Steve pretty early on in my career, and he provided nothing less than inspiration and confirmation that the change we seek is more than possible, it is nearly here. I’ll be forever grateful for his support and kindness, knowledge and advice. You are missed, Steve.

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Steve is loyal and fierce and brave and epic and that doesn’t change because he is sailing somewhere else now – he’ll still be a warrior and he’s still on our side. He lost many that he loved over the years and I like the idea that they are navigating together, drinking strong cups of PG tips. Kelly Layla and Sam 💙💙 You can’t sink a rainbow.

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This is really sad news. I had the pleasure of meeting Steve in India initially during various conferences where we discussed the FOWIND programme that he was involved in. My thoughts and condolences go to his family.

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Steve’s passing away news is one of my saddest and most devastating news. He was my hero mentor with whom my association started off in 2004 at my first Climate Meeting as a Greenpeacer. I for one will miss him dearly for a long time to come. My deepest condolences to Kelly and his family on this huge and irreplaceable loss.

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Steve’s gravitas was palpable. And I am moved by his passing. I wasn’t sure what to do when I heard he has gone, so I sat down at dinner with my high school aged sons and told them about him. About the all stuff he had done. We spoke of the Warrior and his work for the climate and how it was and still is … so fundamental. I said was a deep privilege to have worked alongside such a person. Then my boys segued to Greta Thunberg. And they spoke how she will soon sail to the UN, defying all odds and adhering to her strident principles. And it occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, Steve might have liked the way that conversation went. My love to you all from afar. Rest in peace Steve.

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I met Steve in a dreadful Flemish town during a Greenpeace climate campaigner meeting in 2000. His reputation preceded him. He was once Greenpeace’s international executive director, who was so humble and so utterly committed to fighting climate change that as soon as he quit as ED he became a climate campaigner. He had great soundbites (‘nuclear energy is the single most dangerous way devised by man to boil water!’). I worked with him for over a decade. He mentored me like he mentored countless others, and most of my knowledge of climate and energy campaigning and political work stems directly from him. He came with Kelly to my wedding to Christian, and during our honeymoon we visited their wonderful family in New Hampshire (or as I called it in order to amuse him, New Hamster). After he started working for GWEC, he spent many nights at our guest bedroom in Brussels and told us tales of his endless exotic and eventful travels. There is no denying the impact he had on the environmental movement and as one of the pioneers in the fight against climate change, at a time that so many other brilliant men and women were still oblivious to the threat. He was always kind to me, funny, knowledgeable, well-read and had the annoying habit of wanting to tell me things about people I had never met, asking me: ‘You must know so-and-so, right?’, making me feel guilty to admit that I didn’t. I visited him and Kelly in Amsterdam in June. He must have been so proud to have spent his life alongside such a formidable woman and to watch his children grow to become two of the most handsome and kind people you can meet. I wish he could have had more time. The only thing that gives me some comfort is knowing that he lived his life exactly the way he wanted to and found so much pleasure in reading Tolkien, sailing, playing that annoying solitaire game on his laptop. He is immensely respected and loved, and used his life to make this planet a better place. Thank you Steve.

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I feel I knew Steve much before I met him as his name popped up every now and then among the climate and energy folks, always linked to inspiring stories… Now, I have my own stories and memories and I know how much he will be missed. My condolences to his family and all who love him.

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As soon as I read of Steve’s departure from this Earth I was shattered and full of grief. I met Steve almost 30 years ago, when he was GPI Executive Director and me a volunteer for Greenpeace Italy. That task paved the way to my future as activist, for environment, peace and human rights, were I still am. I have always admired Steve, and that the chance to run into him again and frequently at the UN Climate negotiations. With his trolley, with his courage, he looked invincible. I loved Steve and always hoped in the deep of my heart to run into him, in his impeccable black suit and trolley. Was waiting for him to show up from a corner and here he came, and for me it was a comfort. I now read Brian’s obituary, as usual he could not find better words. A sensible, courageous and determined man. A warm hug to Kelly and to all those that had the luck of having him at their side more than I did.

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So sad to hear that Steve is no longer with us. I first met him in the late 90s on the climate change ‘circuit’ and I was lucky enough to reconnect a couple of years ago through our common agenda on renewables. It didn’t feel like almost 20 years had passed! I very much appreciated his deep knowledge & effective advocacy, as well as his sense of humour. RIP!

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I have known Steve since his first days at GWEC, at the time when I was also on my first years in wind, working in China for an Indian company and fighting for equal palying field for international turbine suppliers. Later we have met again in Brazil, and around the World, and Steve has always been generous with his support, and exchange of ideas. This is a great loss for the wind industry.

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Such a loss for the environmental movement, such loss as a friend, a confidante, someone you could turn to when in despair over the way the world was going, fierce but gentle, quirky yet comfortable in nearly every situation. I always banked on Steve being in the room when I attended international meetings, with advice and a story. I feel the loss even when we rarely met, yet Steve managed to be an important person in my life at various times through his gravitas and his ability to listen, I am grateful to have known him. My sincerest condolences to Kelly, Layla and Sam, I wish you peace in your hearts.

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We will miss our summer get togethers. After graduating together from ConVal High School in NH, I lost track of Steve for many years. Then rumor spread through our community that Steve had joined Greenpeace. I was always proud to tell anyone I could that my old friend had joined the team that was trying to save the world. I loosely followed Steve’s exploits through stories and news paper articles. We finally reconnected about 5 years ago and started up a yearly get together. The stories he told and his hopes for the future will stay with me forever. Thank you Steve, you did change the world for the better. Cheers

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I had the pleasure of knowing Steve at Haverford College. He was a thoughtful man then, and grew into a great leader in a great and ongoing cause afterwards. The world is a poorer place without him. May we carry on the great work that he did.

Please accept my humble but heartfelt condolences to his family.

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I met Steve for the first time early spring in 1980. The RW was in Cherbourg to await the arrival of either the Pacific Fisher or Swan with a shipment of spent nuclear fuel from Japan. I remember talking to Remi and Wilks about the ‘quiet American’. Soon we found out that he was American allright but not so quiet. Ernest, well-spoken and outspoken but most of all calm. Exactly what the European GP – dominated by angry young men – needed. Quickly accepted and respected, he became the driving force behind many GP initiatives and successes. It is a privilege to have known and stand with him.

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Many years ago I was working for the wind industry in Brussels. Coming back from lunch, a colleague passed me a message saying that somebody had called looking for me about the Wind Force 12 report and sounded upset. I was a bit puzzled, and when I read the name of the caller on a note I started laughing: “He wasn’t upset! It’s Steve!”. I called him back, told him about the exchange, and he burst into one of his contagious laughs. That’s how I will remember him in the years we worked together in Greenpeace, in EWEA and in GWEC: with his smile, his sense of humour, his sharp analytical mind, his dedication and selflessness. Happy sailing Steve, I want to think you are just in the room next door. 💚💚💚 Kelly, Layla and Sam.

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I wil remember you as a great leader of The organisation Greenpeace

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A friend from college, I always enjoyed seeing him every five years at reunion. Mostly though, as a fellow environmentalist, I was profoundly in his debt for the amazing and inspired work he did through the decades. The world is a much poorer place without him. My deepest condolences to his family and friends.

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Je suis entré en écologie à la suite de l’attentat contre le Rainbow Warrior, en 1985. Militant à Greenpeace France, j’ai suivi les conférences de Steve Sawyer. Bien avant les politiques, bien avant d’autres environnementalistes, il évoquait déjà la piètre gestion des déchets nucléaires (on les larguait en mer à l’époque !), la nécessaire protection de la couche d’ozone stratosphérique, l’indispensable préservation de l’Antarctique ou de la Méditerranée. Peu de temps après le sabordage du Rainbow, il a lancé l’organisation dans un nouveau combat, à l’issue vitale : la lutte contre les changements climatiques et leurs conséquences. Toutes ces campagnes, qui ont bousculé bien des certitudes, bien des habitudes, restent, malheureusement, d’actualité. Sawyer nous a ouvert de longs chemins que nous devons poursuivre. Ecologiste dans l’âme, Steve n’avait rien du khmer vert. Fan de blues et de SF, père de deux enfants, il avait dirigé l’évacuation des habitants de Rongelap, un atoll du Pacifique contaminé par les essais nucléaires américains. Après deux décennies à la tête de Greenpeace, Sawyer est parti diriger le conseil mondial de l’énergie éolienne (GWEC). Sous sa présidence, la puissance du parc mondial de turbines est passée de 74 à 539 GW. Une sacrée satisfaction pour cet homme affable qui savait convaincre en douceur. Merci de nous avoir ouvert toutes ces voies. Nous continuons, bien sûr, le combat. Amitiés à Rémi.

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It was great to have known you, Steve, with the various roles you played, a warm man, making the world for sure, a lot cooler, for ever

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Steve had a modest genius for Greenpeace. He could play almost every role – conductor of the orchestra, soloist, composer, promoter, roadie. He was a seafarer, a leader by example and in action, and also a researcher, analyst, writer, spokesperson, manager, organizer, who inspired inside and outside the organization. Not many people spanned the two sides of Greenpeace so successfully.

I’m told that when the second Rainbow Warrior went to Brazil for the 1992 ‘Earth Summit’ a man who had walked for days to get there and go on board was asked “why”/ His answer was “to touch magic”. Steve probably did more than anyone else to imbue the RW with that magic.

For anyone young or old who has now joined the movement of XR and the school strikes and wonders if anyone has really been doing anything to try and avert environmental disaster in all the wasted years, Steve’s back catalogue from solar panels in the 1970s through the nuclear campaigns of the Pacific and sinking of RW1 on into international climate politics and decades spent on promoting renewable energy in China, would make a great source book. Thank you Steve, and thank you Kelly. xx

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