Long-time evironmental activist and a close personal friend, Jeremy Paster died on November 23, 2007 after a long bout with prostate cancer. He was just 36.

I first met Jeremy in Los Angeles, working on a joint campaign with Action Resource Center (ARC), an organization he co-founded. Rainforest Relief and ARC worked together on two campaigns in California, San Diego and Long Beach.

Jeremy was also traveling to Thailand to deliver medicine and aid to Burmese refugees.

I next met Jeremy at a Ruckus Society Action Camp, where Jeremy was training rope climbing. By then, the Burma Humanitarian Mission was delivering aid yearly to the Burma-Thai border. Jeremy was literally risking his life to bring food and medicine to the refugees.

Jeremy worked for a while with Forest Action Network in British Columbia, Canada fighting the logging of old growth temperate rainforests there. In 2002 Jeremy came to Greenpeace, where I had been working since August of 2001, af first contracted to track mahogany imported into the US and then later to direct the markets component of the Forests campaign. Jeremy was hired into the Actions Team to focus on direct actions for the Forests campaign.

We worked together for the next few months, tracking ships from Brazil to the US. The choice was made to do an action in the port of Miami and Jeremy and I were part of the climb team as well as working on the banner, intended to be placed on a container ship containing illegal mahogany.

I'll never forget the evenings sitting over drinks at various bars along the Art Deco strip of Miami Beach, long talks about women, life, work, ideas. Jeremy was a kind and compassionate man who was easy to like. He spent his adult life working to help those in need and heal Mother Earth.

I encourage anyone who's interested to visit the blog Jeremy started in May of 2006, Jerumi's Journal.

Some of Jeremy's photos can be seen at Jeremypaster.com, where you can buy a print or donate to help cover Jeremy's medical bills.

— Tim Keating