History of Greenpeace Organization - Essay Example

? Greenpeace is an international non-government organization primarily geared at tackling the most pivotal environmental issues. The different thrusts of the organization include climate change, forests, oceans, agriculture, toxic pollution, nuclear, peace and disarmament. It is a multilateral movement that involves private individuals to donate or to help by volunteering and calls upon the government to respond to environmental woes that affect their nation as well as demand corporate responsibility from business actions or inactions that contribute to pollution. The campaigns to address these fundamental issues has garnered the organization its fair share of victories that is both incessant and remarkable considering the adversity of almost a David and Goliath proportion. Throughout the years, Greenpeace has continually fostered its rapport for trustworthiness and consistence. It has sprouted out from the plan of co-founder Irving Stowe to sail to the Arctic Ocean to protest a nuclear bomb testing. Dubbed the Greenpeace trip, 16,000 people gathered in a benefit concert to support the cause which ignited the continuing legacy of the project. The actions of the group can be described through their peaceful and inventive ways to voice out the concerns of many individuals for the benefit of all human beings. Since then, the revolution that was started by one campaign has materialized into a plethora that has spread across continents. Greenpeace International provides for the linkages among national or regional offices that are most visible in the local level fortified by the help and support of its international counterpart. There are five core values upheld by the organization that is composed of bearing witness, nonviolence, independence, has no permanent friends or foes and promoting solutions. Being established by Quakers, hippies and other groups as acknowledged by Greenpeace itself, the need to be on the site of environmental destruction first hand is incorporated as there is no place far enough for them to reach and no amount of time long enough to make them leave. The passive and non-aggressive stance is another attribute that they are known for. The demonstrations are usually unconventional but they are never violent. They credit this as the main reason why the group had always been accorded a great amount of respect even among the governments and companies that they fight against including the trust of the general public. The indispensability of financial independence is crucial in the impartiality of any organization. This is why Greenpeace has taken measures to ensure that there is no interest, whether political or economic, that would sway them from their mission by declining any contribution from such. They sustain trough personal contributions and grants from foundations. The possibility of any amicable settlement is not at a lost and this is even more imperative in a way that conjuring up solutions through peaceful settlements can be reached for the benefit of all those involved. Another noteworthy aspect of the Greenpeace projects is the inclusion of scientific studies and other works that are incorporated into the general solution process of all their advocacies. Greenpeace and Climate Change The most pressing and perhaps the primary crusade in the activities of Greenpeace is its battle against climate change. This is focused on energy [r]evolution, oil, cool IT, quit coal, climate impacts, arctic and solutions. All of these are parallel to each other and that the battle for one is not mutually exclusive of the other. In fact, they are all correlated in the effect that the campaign against climate change should inevitably need the concurrence of all. The organization is constantly updating its various national and regional branches on the campaigns that each of them are faced with. In the same way that many scholars coordinate with them to provide for updates on the latest studies that augment the level of awareness of people and how this helps in the campaigns against climate change. On the other hand, scientists are continuously hard at work to produce the best solutions to this problem which ultimately alternative power solutions and other devices that diminishes or eradicates pollutants. The Energy [R]evolution’s primary purpose is to eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels as our main source of energy. The organization maintains that there is no need for hazardous fuels such as coal and nuclear because renewable energy is evidently most useful and hassle-free of all the choices. The resources of mother Earth is respectively limited and such limits must be respected specifically in the emission of Ozone Depleting Substances like carbon dioxide that do more harm than good. Conversely, there must be recognition on the inequality of energy distribution considering that billions of people in the world are still left without power because of the expensive cost of the energy system that relies on fossil fuel that not everyone can afford. Projects are undertaken with the aim that by 2050 renewable energy like geothermal, wind and solar power will make for 95% of the world’s total energy system. This is only appropriate because not only is our current source of energy expensive, it is also a primary source of carbon emissions. In the next few decades, renewable energy sources are expected to be cheaper. Governments are called upon to consider this project as a means to help in the problem of climate change while providing for cost-efficient energy supplied to more people that promotes the economy. Oil spills is another undesirable effect that comes with the reliance on fossil fuel. Over the years, this has been an endemic concern that happens on an intermittent basis but it always does. This is essentially related to the green [r]evolution wherein the adverse effect of dependence on fossil fuel is also harmful to the oceans. Through the decades, Greenpeace has been there to call out the faults of oil companies and to push for them to take a more cautious approach in their transport of oil. Furthermore, every occurrence of an oil spill also gives rise for the organization to take a plan of action and make the companies answerable for the catastrophic effects that oil does to the waters. This is also a venue to require the governments to take stern steps to guarantee that the businesses responsible will go scot-free from what they owe to the environment and the people whose livelihoods are affected by reason of the oil spills. Cool IT is another innovative branch which implores on the field of Information Technology to provide for modern solutions to stop climate change. The current subsistence of the information age is a gateway to involve the IT sector in emission reduction to the year 2020. This is a different take on environmental crusade which concentrates on the massive energy consumption of internet data centres that are not often taken into consideration. There is an on-going atmosphere of secrecy in terms of the immense energy consumption of IT companies that the people remain unaware of. “This veil of secrecy makes it nearly impossible to measure the actual benefits of cloud technologies or understand the extent to which IT’s growing need for electricity is increasing the use of dirty energy” (Cook and Van Horn, p.4). Quit coal is a very much straightforward campaign that aims to do exactly what it says. The advocacy is to promote renewable energy and eventually dispense with dirty energy in favor of impeding climate change. This starts by calling on governments to stop allowing companies to build coal-powered factories that will ultimately spike carbon pollution further. This, as the Greenpeace sees it, “will undermine any international agreements to tackle climate change” (“Coal Greenpeace International,” par. 5). This subdivision of the organization pokes at the nonfeasance of companies in the full disclosure of data and the passive regularization implemented by governments. Climate impacts are practical analyses on the effects of climate change as it happens and devastates various regions of the world. The catastrophes that are linked to climate change are categorized into several issues such as the melting glaciers accountable for global warming, greenhouse gases, unpredictable weather, threatened natural systems, threats of extinctions and others. These are all probed in relation to how humans interact with the natural environment and how we must adapt to prevent it from worsening. These damaging effects equivalent to environmental hazards are measured in proportion to how it affects every country and region. The concern for the arctic which started the entire organization remains as one of its top priorities. Up to this day, expeditions are propelled toward the purpose of protecting the arctic. The melting of the ice caps is not only the existing problem. The current equally pressing issue are the excavations for intention of oil explorations. This makes it even more of a setback as it involves not only one but at least two imperative predicaments that troubles the current generation. This involves more specifically the projects of Cairn Energy as predominantly liable for its persistence in disputable oil drilling in the arctic which yielded no positive result and instead regress all efforts in its preservation which in fact also involved an oil spill. “The truth is that Cairn is a bad bet. It has spent hundreds of millions drilling in the fragile Arctic environment and come up dry yet again” (Ayliffe, par. 8). The timeliest of all climate change advocacies of Greenpeace is its commitment to solutions. This is achieved through a clear-cut proposal with set deadlines that the organization proposes. This campaign appeals to a multi-sectoral approach that enables the engagement of the public and private sectors of society. All the foregoing particular causes are insignificant in comparison to the necessity of finding out solutions and more essentially its implementation. Greenpeace perceives that it is through the employment of alternative energy through renewable resources that there could be real change. Companies are constantly compelled to clean their acts literally and figuratively. This is also with the demand from countries to be accountable and hold enterprises compliant and responsible for their proscribed acts. This is in consonance with the idea that all efforts are analogous to each other. The Greenpeace Ozone Campaign The campaign against the ozone layer depletion is among the first if not the most relevant of all environmental movements in history. The Montreal Protocol, the first international agreement of countries towards a concerted effort on elimination ozone depleting substances, also paved the way for the advent of what has now been known as global environmental non-governmental organizations or ENGOs which manifestly includes Greenpeace. They take an active participation in the Protocol as directly involved for its goals along with the signatory countries. In connection with this, Greenpeace launched the ‘Greenpeace Ozone Layer Protection Campaign.’ By the early 1990’s Greenpeace is present in more than 30 countries which made it accessible to confront environmental violators over other organizations. The campaign against ODS included public outreach to change perceptions and focused on government and corporation actions, policy advocacy to uphold the content of the Protocol, challenging corporations that produce or manufacture ODS and promoting market alternatives without CFCs. The campaigns consisted staging unconventional approaches such as posting enormous banners against violators. Reports were also instituted that pinpointed the companies that carry on with their use or manufacture of ODS. It staged what the organization called public confrontations against corporate producers. These protests became high profile because of their eccentricity which was unconventional at the time. It was also fearless concurrently bold by actually identifying the companies which included Du Pont, Hoechst, Elf Atochem and ICI etc. and went further by hanging banners and protests on their place of business (Mate, p.16). “The Greenpeace ozone campaign was vociferous in its criticism of the role that the multinational chemical companies played in causing and prolonging the ozone crisis. The organization was unequivocal in its opposition to the use of HCFCs and HFCs as replacements for CFCs. Market intervention campaigns were also launched with Greenfreeze as its most notable achievement. This was an uncompromising answer to the proposed CFC alternatives of the companies that suffered their criticisms. Through Greenpeace Germany and the experiments at Dortmund Institute in the same country, within a year a prototype of a non-fluorocarbon prototype for a hydrocarbon domestic refrigerator was produced. “The technology rapidly spread to other European countries, and soon Greenfreeze revolutionised the refrigerator industry world-wide” (Mate, p.18). The campaign also turned its eye on the corporate sponsors of the 2000 Olympics with their continued use of non-Greenfreeze refrigerators. The organization achieved victory when Coca Cola declared it will pull out HFC refrigerators by 2004 (ibid., p.20). Overall, it was an effective campaign that saw positive effects not only from companies but also prom public perception which solidified the reputation of Greenpeace. Its efforts saw results through persistence and uncompromising ethics. “The ozone campaign demonstrates that through intelligent and reliable research, strategic timing and well-targeted initiatives, creative public confrontations and outreach, effective market intervention and strategic collaborations, the organization is able to be a catalyst for positive change in the world” (Mate, p.23). The Greenpeace Evolution It is undeniable that Greenpeace has maintained its presence continue what it had started and build on its triumphs to be able to achieve more victories for the environment. Throughout the years it has never tarnished its reputation by remaining true to its core values and inherent passion of each and every member of the organization. The group has expanded literally on a global scale with a branch in almost every country. It has taken up diverse varieties of campaigns such as its famous vessels, “Rainbow Warrior,” “Arctic Sunrise” and “Esperanza.” The scope of its campaigns has also widened through the establishment of more divisions that specializes on each environmental concern further subdivided into more precise issues. This empowers the organization to tackle more concerns for specific actions instituted by its members. This translates to more successes that will benefit not the organization itself but more critically people who take advantage of the environment. The need for cleaner environment and to impede genuine issues becomes even more pressing and it will only worsen if there is no action that will be taken. Akin to the principles of Greenpeace, it takes multiple efforts that involve the nongovernment organizations like itself, the government, corporate accountability and every individual. The success of Greenpeace is due to the wholehearted participation of people that supports its cause. If the other sectors will be on the same page then there is no doubt that environmental problems will soon be a thing of the past and veritable changes will ensue. Bibliography Ayliffe, Ben. “As Sea-Ice Retreats, Still No Oil Found in the Arctic.” Greenpeace. 13 Sept. 2011. Web. 27 Oct. 2011. “Coal Greenpeace International.” Greenpeace. 2011. Web. 27 Oct. 2011. . Cook, Gary, and Jodie Van Horn. “How Dirty Is Your Data? A Look at the Energy Choices That Power Cloud Computing.” Greenpeace. Greenpeace International, Apr. 2011. Web. 26 Oct. 2011. Mate, John. “A Non-governmental Organization's Campaign to Save the Ozone Layer.” Greenpeace. 4 July 1992. Web. 27 Oct. 2011. “Our Core Values Greenpeace International.” Greenpeace. 29 Sept. 2006. Web. 27 Oct. 2011. . Read More