How to Change the World (film)
2015 film by Jerry Rothwell
How to Change the World is a 2015 documentary film directed and written by Jerry Rothwell (Deep Water). It documents how the founding members of Greenpeace created the green movement.
Synopsis
In 1971, a small group of activists sailed from Vancouver, Canada in a fishing boat to try to stop Richard Nixon's nuclear bomb tests in Amchitka, Alaska. Their actions caught the attention of the public and this eventually led to a worldwide green movement and pioneered the foundation of Greenpeace.
The film centers on activist Robert Hunter and his part in the creation of Greenpeace, which is structured by the five rules of engagement from Hunter's writings.
Cast
Barry Pepper as the voice of Bob Hunter, serving as narrator
Bill Darnel
David Garrick
Bobbi Hunter
Emily Hunter
Will Jackson
George Korotva
Myron McDonald
Rod Marining
Patrick Moore
Ron Precious
Paul Spong
Carlie Truman
Paul Watson
Rex Weyler
Release and marketing
The documentary first premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, winning the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Editing and the Candescent Award. A first trailer was released on July 30, 2015.
On September 9, 2015, Picturehouse screened the documentary in 120 U.K. and 70 U.S. cinemas, (presented with Fathom Events stateside), followed by a satellite Q&A with Rothwell, fashion designer and Greenpeace supporter Vivienne Westwood and daughter of the first president of Greenpeace, Emily Hunter.
Reception
The film received positive reviews. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 86% approval rating, with a rating average of 8/10.
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Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q20873793. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2015 and 1971.
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This entry incorporates text from “How to Change the World (film)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.