How far do you feel that activists such as Greenpeace should go?

Greenpeace

If it's an environmental issue, you can be sure that Greenpeace has an opinion on it, and they don't keep their opinions to themselves.

Greenpeace was founded in 1971. A small group of activists were appalled that the US was carrying out underground testing at Amchitka, an island off the West Coast of Alaska on a stretch of the earthquake-prone "ring of fire". The island was home to endangered sea otters, bald eagles, peregrine falcons and other wildlife. A small group of activists set sail in an old fishing boat from Vancouver, Canada, in the hope of preventing a test. They were intercepted, but it was a start.

Since then, Greenpeace has grown into an organisation with 2.8 million supporters worldwide, an international headquarters in the Netherlands and a very loud voice. Its members stage protests for maximum effect, with a variety of stunts to catch the public eye, including dumping dead dolphins outside the French Embassy in London in protest against French fishing practices and disrupting production at a "gas-guzzling" SUV plant. Sometimes what they do is illegal, such as trespass and not waiting to obtain required paperwork.

Sometimes their activities are downright dangerous, such as manoeuvring small inflatable boats at sea around ships whose activities they want to stop. But when someone died 20 years ago, the ship he was on was safely (they thought) in port. France objected to the organisation's objections to nuclear tests, and agents were sent to sink Greenpeace's flagship, the Rainbow Warrior, in New Zealand.

Since then, the group has achieved many aims. The nuclear tests at Amchitka have stopped and it has been declared a bird sanctuary. Its voice is heard by governments, and is often quoted in the press. It may share many environmental victories with other organisations, but its members certainly know how to apply pressure.

Its work includes campaigning against climate change, destruction of our seas and forests, genetic engineering, toxic chemicals, nuclear weapons and nuclear power. It also supports sustainable trade.

It also carries out research; for example, there is a Greenpeace Science Laboratory at Exeter University, UK. It monitors the environment, for example tracing the spread of genetically modified foods in China.

French pres ordered Greenpeace ship sabotaged-paper, Greenpeace Commemorates 1985 Ship Bombing

Twenty years ago the Greenpeace flagship the Rainbow Warrior was spearheading the campaign to stop French nuclear tests on the Mururoa Atoll in the Pacific. It was blown up by French agents in Auckland harbor, New Zealand, and photographer Fernando Pereira died. Rainbow Warrior II is visiting the New Zealand. Documents just published strongly suggest that the late French president Francois Mitterrand personally authorised the attack. France paid reparations to New Zealand. Since then Greenpeace has gone from strength to strength, with 2.8 million supporters worldwide.

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How far do you feel that activists such as Greenpeace should go?

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