By Kate Monson

I think I could make a good guess that of the 26,000 customers and over 3,000 generators that make up the Good Energy community, not many have run away with the circus and fled Somali pirates, installed solar panels on a rock in the North Atlantic and seen half a house float past them in the Pacific.

I spoke to electrician Dave Caister to put some flesh on these already very tantalising bones. He and his wife Karen have been Good Energy customers for almost a decade and Dave has just expanded an 875w solar PV system on their roof to a 3kW system which is “ticking along very nicely.” Dave’s love affair with solar is explored in Part II of this blog; it’s his ‘electrifying’ – pardon the pun – adventures that take centre stage here.

After spending two and a half years as a VSO volunteer electrical instructor in Kenya, Dave headed to Australia where he spent time working as a fundraiser for Greenpeace. But it wasn’t long before Dave was taking a much more active role in the NGO’s direct actions. “The MV Greenpeace was laid up in Fremantle between campaigns and we used to go down and help out on board,” Dave says. “When the chief engineer found out I was a spark I joined the crew and spent the next three months bouncing around in the Southern Ocean and Ross Sea in Antarctica chasing the Japanese whaling fleet.”

That was 20 years ago. “When I started I was single and going all around the world, getting on TV and having a grand old time. As you get a bit older you want to be a bit more settled.” In his new “settled” state Dave still does at least one three-month trip a year with Greenpeace – “I normally try to go around winter time because it’s quieter here workwise and there’s a fair chance I’ll be on a boat in the Pacific!” – works at numerous music festivals (yes, Glastonbury is one of them), tours with Cirque Du Soleil and runs his own electrician and PV installer business – DJ Caister electrician.

And if you’re wondering about the proverbial long-suffering partner…Karen used to work for Greenpeace UK and the couple met in a giant shipping container blocking the main entrance to Sellafield during the NGO's action in 1996 so she’s no stranger to the lengths people will take in the name of protecting the environment.

Dave’s Greenpeace trips have seen him support local fishermen in Ecuador in their fight against the Chinese mafia’s destructive shrimp farming practices; work with the locals to protect Borneo’s rainforests; install solar panels on Rockall to power an occupation protesting against oil exploration, and make a quick exit when a group of 12 Somali pirates started to surround the Rainbow Warrior wearing balaclavas and armed with AK 47s. After hearing stories like these I was glad to hear that the majority of the ship’s crews are all highly trained professional sailors or engineers.

When I spoke to Dave he had just returned from his most recent trip – the Rainbow Warrior II’s last before starting its new life-saving role as a medical ship for the Bangladeshi charity Friendship – which left him drifting in international waters just off the coast of Japan.

“The original plan was to head down to Singapore and Mauritius, but two days before I arrived the tsunami hit. Greenpeace already had people in on the ground doing radiation sampling and we wanted to try and get to the plant by sea and do some more but the Japanese government really didn’t want us there. At that point we didn’t know if the plant was just going to go into melt down so we kept our distance. The Warrior only does 7.5 knots on a good day so there was no chance of a quick escape had things gone tits up!"

“We were forced to stay in international waters 12 miles out to sea but even there we were seeing huge pieces of people’s homes drift past. Fridges, half a house one day; people’s lives were just floating past. It was very sad and strange. One day a group of Japanese fishermen approached the boat and gave us some fish to test for radiation. After the history of the whaling issue, for Japanese fishermen to actually approach Greenpeace was a real sea change in relations. I think Greenpeace is seen in a different light in Japan after Fukushima. By simply being there we forced the hand of the government and very shortly after they started their own radiation sampling which is fantastic.”

Dave has been contacted by Friendship this week and is due to fly to Chittagong to volunteer with other Greenpeace engineers in the conversion of the Rainbow Warrior next month.

Friendship is always looking for assistance, please go to www.friendship-bd.org.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of Dave Caister and not Greenpeace.

Photo by Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert.

Look out for Part II next week.