Greenpeace

Greenpeace was founded in 1971 in Vancouver, British Columbia, by a group of Canadian and American anti-war activists, environmentalists and members of the counterculture. Seeking to disrupt a U.S. nuclear test on Amchitka, one of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, the group attempted to sail a fishing trawler into the area. Although the mission failed to reach the test site  or prevent the detonation, news coverage of the voyage ignited public outcry, forcing the U.S. to abandon its Amchitka program. 

From its inception, Greenpeace sought to choreograph and document its protest actions to create what co-founder Bob Hunter called the “mindbomb”: an image so striking that it sends a collective shock across the world, transforming public opinion. It was the pre-internet analog to “going viral.” The organization created an historic mindbomb in 1975, when it sent activists in inflatable Zodiacs to confront Soviet whaling ships off the coast of California, capturing iconic images of the boats heroically thrusting themselves into the path of Soviet harpoons to protect the whales. Media coverage of the incident (with photographs and film provided by Greenpeace) swept the world, inspiring a surge of compassion for the whales and effectively launching the modern environmental movement.

In the years that followed, Greenpeace broadened its conservation platform with dramatic non-violent actions to prevent the commercial slaughter of seal pups in Canada,  and to expose the dumping of radioactive waste by several European countries in the North Atlantic. The organization grew rapidly, building its active membership and spawning affiliate chapters in the U.S. and the U.K. In 1979, it formed Greenpeace International as an umbrella organization to coordinate activists around the world in their efforts to catalyze public concern for an array of environmental issues.

Today, the Greenpeace network includes 25 national and/or regional organizations with a presence in over 55 countries. Its operations are entirely funded by foundation grants and the generous contributions of three million individual supporters. As the organization continues to adapt its strategies to contend with an ever-evolving digital media landscape, it maintains its stalwart commitment to non-violent direct action. As Greenpeace historian Rex Wexler explains in a blog post on the organization’s website: “Moral integrity…has a chance to win when wielded with peacefulness. When practiced with compassion and love, direct action gains strength beyond the measure of money and violence.”

Contributor: Erin Brown