Greenpeace/Signed Articles/Eduzendium
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| Greenpeace Organization | |
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| Website | www.greenpeace.org |
| Ownership type | Public |
| Founded | 1971, by No One Founder |
| Headquarters | 702 H Street, NW D.C. , Washington United States |
| Industry | Environmentalist |
| Product/Service | Preserving the Environment |
A brief overview of your Greenpeace (be sure to put its name in bold in the first sentence) and the scope of the article goes here.[1]
The following list of sections should serve as a loose guideline for developing the body of your article. The works cited in references 2-5 are all fake; their purpose is to serve as a formatting model for your own citations.
History
One of the biggest historical moments in Greenpeace, and many other environmental organizations, is the Chernobyl explosion. 2009 marks the 23rd anniversary of the largest civil nuclear disaster ever! Serious contamination spread over 150,000 square kilometers in Byelorussia, Ukraine and Russia. Radioactive clouds deposited radiation thousands of kilometers away. Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated and millions more were left to live in these contaminated areas, which were dangerous to their health and lives. Many years after an historical moment that mark the lives of many, we as a nation are still careless to the health of our evironment. Pollution, toxic waste, and nuclear waste continue to contaminate our atmosphere daily. Now as a nation, we strive to preserve what is left of our ecosystem.
Greenpeace is a organization dedicated to promoting and bringing awareness to the endangerments that cause problems to mother earth and all that dwells within it. Amchitka was the last refuge for 3000 endangered sea otters, and the home to bald eagles, peregrine falcons and other wildlife. Their mission was to "bear witness" to U.S. underground nuclear testing at Amchitka, a tiny island off the West Coast of Alaska, which is the world most earthquake prone regions. Although the sail to Amchitka was intercepted, it spiked a worldwide interest. People wanted to know more about what was going on in the world, and became more and more interested in the saftey of wildlife. Although the U.S. carried out there mission and detonated the bomb on the coast, the message was loud and clear, because nuclear testing ended that same year and the island was later declared a bird sanctuary.
Founding of Greenpeace
There is no one founder to the Greenpeace organization. A small group of inspired, committed citizens came together in 1971 to help create Greenpeace. Not knowing that they would become known as the founders of the Greenpeace organization, these determined activists set out on a mission to protest U.S. nuclear testing off the coast of Alaska, after setting sail on an old boat from Canada. Willing to place themselves in harms way, despite being intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard, these brave activist sailed into history by bringing worldwide attention to the dangers of nuclear testing. This was just the beginning, by bring attention to the dangers of nuclear waste in Alaska, they also brought attention to some of the other issues that threaten our. Thus, providing information on ways to help decrease and possibly eliminate these issues, and make our planet a better and safer place for everyone and everything in it.
Greenpeace is an international organization that continues to grow today. Although there are many people around the world that try to bring attention to the dangers we face in everyday society, dangers that can prevented, Greenpeace definitely gives light to the most prominent issues our planet faces. One voice can make a difference and history surely proves that. Greenpeace priorities global environmental champains and has many supporters all over the world.
Current objectives and activities
Greenpeace organization is one that prides on a healthy and safe environment. From a political aspect, there is a lack of recognition, which enables this organization to have the resources needed to get the message out. Since it is not a threat that the government feels is priority, people tend not to pay as much attention to the real threats of our planet and the past, present and future effects it will have in our lives. Although the government is not as involved as they should be, there have been recent efforts to bring awareness to global destuction. The House has recently passed a bill called the "Cap and Trade" bill, which is set in place to cut carbon emissions and also increase the use of renewable energies. Greenpeace is a involved and supports this bill.
"Cap and Trade" beings awareness to one of the greatest challenges of out time, climate control. The threat of climate disruption stems from a simple fact, which is, we treat out atomosphere as a free dumping ground for pollutants, and nuclear waste. And as a result,there has been increasing concentrations of climatewarming gases, an overloading of carbon in the atmosphere, along with other maladies of out energy system such as oil addition and the volatile prices that come with it.
A 'cap' is a legal limit on the quantity of greenhouse gases our economy can emit each year.
A 'trade' means that, by law, companies may swap among themselves the permission to emit greenhouse gases.
The cap-and-trade system is a test and proven system, that worked cheaply and efficiently to reduce acid rain pollution in the United States in the 1990s. It is cost effective, economically sound and it is a prudent, long-term investment that will not only benefit the earth now, but in the future as well as we cap and trade slowly and responsibly.
Along with the "Cap and Trade" bill, Greenpeace also supports some other efforts made by the government to help mend the destruction caused by a irresponsible society, such as the Kerry, Boxer Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, which senator John Kerry, Chairman for the Foreign Relations Committee, and Barbara Boxer, Chairman of the Environment and Public Works, introduced to create clean energy jobs, reduce pollution, and protect American security by enhancing domestic energy production and combating global climate change.
Organizational structure
Global warming is the planets' most important environmental crisis of this time. The planet is reeling from record-smashing temperatures and violent storms to long term droughts and unstoppable fires. Super powerful hurricans now hitting the United States are the "smoking gun" of global warming. Global warming is becoming more and more obvious and dangerous every year. People dying of heat stokes and being hospitialized because of burns from the severe heat waves.
There are 3/4 of the worlds original forests that have been cut, most of that in the past century. 95% of the original forests of the United States are gone. Only 5% of native forest still stands in the continential United States because of national and international deforestation and logging. If you go on a plane and look down at the United State geographical configuration you will see that our most prominent areas of forestry is gone. Not only does it eliminate the trees but it leave thousands of wildlife homeless. Our oceans are being polluted with nuclear waste, toxics, oil spills and personal dumping grounds for corporate businesses.
Greenpeace's mission is to bring awareness to such issues by trying to become more active in the political process and with political leaders on the world stage, by exposing corporate polluters and conduction protest about these issues.
Achievements
There have been many accomplishment made by Greenpeace since its founding 1971. Some of their most recent achievements include:
Congress Announces Ban on Toxic Chemicals July 30, 2008
-In this article, Greenpeace is excited about their victory for the children of the United States when Congress bans certain chemicals from being used when producing toys. Now this was a major accomplishment that did not only effect Greenpeace, but mothers like myself that have small children and who are always concerned about there saftey. Over 8,000 Greenpeace activists took action and wrote their members of Congress on this issue in ensuring a victorious achievement to the organization. President Bush signed into law national product-saftey legislation that will ban toxic chemicals like phthalates from major toy productors in the U.S. Because children suck and chew on these toys, phthalates are easily released from vinyl products like water form a sponge, causing a variety of health hazards ranging from deformation of reproductive organs to damage to kidneys. These victories are the less of many victories of Greenpeace. This organization has progressed and accomplished many goals since there founding in 1971.
Major Supermarkets Pull Unsustainable Seafood July 30, 2008
-Victory for oceans! Stop and Shop and Giant Food- are going to stop selling shark, orange roughly and Chilean sea bass until their populations bounce back from overfishing. Just a few months before this decision, Greenpeace released a supermarket ranking reports on 20 of the top U.S. supermarket retailers to improve their seafood purchasing practices and stop selling destructively and overfished seafood. A lot of times.
Reports: Japanese goverment gives in, slashes whale quotas November 2008
-In this article, Greenpeace challenges whaling in the Southern Ocean. In victory, Japan's biggest newspaper report there will be a 20% reduction in the number of whales targeted in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary hunt this year. This is the first reduction since 1987, more that 21 years ago. In the report, it speaks about the lack of demand for whale meat. Later in the article it speaks on the 4,629 tons of unsold whale meat. Taxpayers money are going toward whale hunting. It cost to kill whale, and many of these taxpayers are unaware of this. In the reports, it shows that fewer and fewer Japanese are eating whale. So many whale are caught in overfishing for petty competition.
New Kimberly-Clark policy is a victory for Ancient Forest August 05, 2009
-Greenpeace was among countless activist that asked Kimberly-Clark to help save the Boreal forest since 2004, when the Kleenex, Scott, and Cottonelle has announced a new policy that places it among the industy leaders in sustainability, bringing the Kleercut campaign to a successful completion. The target is to use responsible sources such as recycled fibers or Forest Stewardship Council--the policy ensures that they will eliminate any fiber that is not (FSC) certified. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
Public perception and controversies
Greenpeace is a very well respected organization. But, just like any other environmental organizations, they have those who support many of there viewpoints and those who oppose them. Along with any issue that will affect other people, someone will always find a way to justify there actions to make themselves look better. Some of these people include corporate businesses that Greenpeace activist expose and controversal issues such as global warming, in which most people have an opposing viewpoint about.
References
Works Cited
Ausubel, Kenny. “What is the Extent of Environmental Problems?” Conserving the Environment. Ed. Douglas Dupler. Farmington Hills: Greenhaven Press, 2006. 21-35. Print.
Brown, Lester. “Is There an Environmental Crisis.” The Environment. Ed. Laura K. Egendorf. New Haven: Greenhaven Press, 2005. 18-53. Print.
“Greenpeace Organization.” Greenpeace. N.p., Oct. 2009. Web. 4 Dec. 2009. <http://www.greenpeace.org>.
Kaufman, Leslie. “Disillusioned Environmentalists Turn on Obama as Compromiser.” New York Times [New York] 11 July 2009: 1-2. PDF file.
US EPA. “Cap and Trade.” Environmental Protection Agency. N.p., Nov. 2009. Web. 3 Dec. 2009.
- ↑ See the "Writing an Encyclopedia Article" handout for more details.