Greenpeace USA

ESTABLISHED: 1971
EMPLOYEES: Not made available
MEMBERS: 1.6 million
PAC: None

Contact Information:
ADDRESS: 1436 U St. NW Washington, DC 20009
PHONE: (202) 462-1177
TOLL FREE: (800) 326-0959
FAX: (202) 462-4507
E-MAIL: info@wdc.greenpeace.org
URL: http://www.greenpeaceusa.org
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Kristen Engberg

WHAT IS ITS MISSION?

A nonprofit, nonviolent organization, Greenpeace USA's mission is to protect the global environment. It believes that determined individuals can alter the actions and purposes of even the most powerful by 'bearing witness' and drawing attention to an abuse of the environment through their unwavering presence at the scene, whatever the risk. Greenpeace USA focuses its efforts on four major areas of environmental protection: global warming, ancient forests, toxic substances, and the Earth's oceans.

HOW IS IT STRUCTURED?

Greenpeace USA is the U.S. branch of the Greenpeace International organization. Greenpeace International is headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and has branches in more than 25 countries around the world. Greenpeace USA is headquartered in Washington DC, with four regional offices for the northwest, northeast, Great Lakes and southwest areas. The Greenpeace USA board is responsible for coordinating the organization's activities in the United States. Board decisions and policy are overseen, reviewed and in some cases directed by the seven-member board of directors of Greenpeace International to which Greenpeace USA sends a trustee.

Greenpeace USA employs a wide variety of staff, including scientists, environmental activists, and media specialists. Greenpeace USA also has access to the research facilities of the international organization's two laboratories in the United Kingdom and Ukraine as well as Greenpeace Marine Services, an experienced seaborne group specializing in the identification of marine pollution, destruction and over-fishing, as well as peaceful, but obstructive demonstration.

Greenpeace USA welcomes anyone interested in supporting its interests to become a member. Members donate a minimum of $30 annually and receive such benefits as access to restricted portions of the organization's Web site as well as Greenpeace magazine.

PRIMARY FUNCTIONS

Greenpeace USA has two primary methods by which it works to achieve its goals: activism and information dissemination. Subscribing to no political agenda, Greenpeace USA endorses a broad environmental mandate. The organization stages protests and gives speeches in order to combate such environmental problems as global warming, nuclear weapons testing, and the destruction of old-growth forests. For instance, Greenpeace USA's defining moment was its sailing of a boat into a U.S. nuclear testing area in Alaska in 1971, causing the testing to be postponed. In addition to the staff's mobilization in environmental crisis situations, the group also encourages its members to act by sending letters and faxes to their local lawmakers in the hope that their voices will enable legal change.

Greenpeace USA also does a great deal of research which it furnishes to both the public and legislators. It attempts to expose various offenses to the environment by issuing reports on topics such as "Salmon and Climate Change," "Can Genetic Engineering Feed the World," and "The Chlorine Crisis: Time for a Global Phase-out." The organization employs multimedia experts that catalog various environmental situations through the medium of video and photography. Using press releases and its Press Alert Network, Greenpeace USA keeps all those interested up-to-date on the most recent events in environmental issues.

PROGRAMS

Greenpeace USA plays an active role in developing and supporting programs for both the United States and the international arena. These programs focus on both public education and activism. One such program is its Green Room, a Web site devoted to making learning about the problems of environmental waste more interactive. Visitors to the site, accessible at http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/green, are able to take an on-line quiz to test their knowledge about environmental toxins, send a virtual postcard, or visit the Kid's Clubhouse, a special portion of the site dedicated to children.

In addition to its standard membership program that requires the donation of at least $30 annually, Greenpeace USA has also introduced a new kind of membership program: FRONTLINE. A member of Greenpeace USA participating in the FRONTLINE program is responsible for donating at least $10 per month and in return gets the assurance that these donations are sustaining the organization's activities. In addition to the normal membership benefits such as a subscription to Greenpeace magazine, members of the FRONTLINE program also receive invitations to the group's special events and boat tours.

BUDGET INFORMATION

Greenpeace USA is a registered 501(c)4 nonprofit, tax-exempt organization funded almost entirely by the individual contributions of its members and supporters as well as by sales of merchandise. In 1995 membership contributions, grants and donations to Greenpeace USA, amounted to $15.9 million, while merchandising and interest receipts contributed a further $220,000, to bring the total to $16.14 million. Disbursements, which ran to a total of $17.16 million, were made for a variety of programs including biodiversity ($125,000), Toxics ($220,000) and Nuclear Disarmament ($194,000), as well as program-support financing of $8.9 million for media & communications and public information & outreach. Fundraising itself represented a charge of more than $5.1 million, while administrative costs totaled $2.45 million.

Grants, donations and accrued interest to Greenpeace USA's charitable foundation amounted to $7.28 million, while disbursements for programs, program support, and administration totaled $5.62 million.

The Greenpeace charitable foundation was also responsible for a grant of $3 million to Greenpeace International, where the funds are used to finance smaller Greenpeace offices unable to fully fund their own operations. Funds from the international body also help Greenpeace obtain the highest quality scientific information; operate a fleet of ships worldwide; and use the latest communications technology to get its message to the concerned public as quickly as possible.

HISTORY

Greenpeace was conceived in 1971 when members of the Don't Make A Wave Committee in Vancouver, Canada, renamed their organization Greenpeace the better to express their purpose of creating a green and peaceful world. The newly formed organization was brought into the international spotlight when 12 of its members sailed a small boat, Phyllis Cormack, into the U.S. atomic test zone off Amchitka in Alaska in 1971. Their plan was to "bear witness" to environmentally harmful activities and draw the attention of the global community.

Initially Greenpeace was primarily concerned with the dangers of nuclear weapons and the testing of these items. After the actions of the crew of the Phyllis Cormack in Alaska, the United States announced that it would end its nuclear tests in the Aleutian Islands "for political and other reasons." On the heels of that success, the Greenpeace sailed its ship, Vega, to the Polynesian Islands, a long-standing French nuclear testing site. While staging a protest, French paramilitary officers boarded Vega and attacked the crew. Greenpeace subsequently won in a trial over the incident; in 1974 the French government agreed to limit their underground nuclear testing.

Based on its successes with nuclear testing, Greenpeace opened its first offices in the United States in San Francisco, California and Portland, Oregon in 1975 and expanded their activities. The organization began working in earnest to stop the exploitation of various endangered animal species. Greenpeace activists went to great lengths to protect marine mammals from being hunted for their valuable pelts or oils, even going so far as to step in the way of the guns and harpoons of hunters. These actions paid off; seal hunting had bans placed on it worldwide and the International Whaling Committee (IWC) banned the hunting of sperm whales in 1981. An even greater victory occurred a year later when the IWC voted to end all commercial whaling by 1985.

However, 1985 was also a year of terrible tragedy for Greenpeace. Its ship, the Rainbow Warrior, was heading to a French nuclear test site when a bomb exploded, allegedly planted by French secret service agents. Noted Greenpeace photographer Fernando Pereira was killed. Four years later the organization christened the Rainbow Warrior II in memory of Pereira.

The 1990s was a period of great activity for Greenpeace as it focused its activism on a number of different areas. After almost a decade of attempts to protect the continent of Antarctica, it is turned into a world park in 1991 with the signing of the Madrid Protocol. Another success came three years later when 65 nations agreed to end the practice of exporting hazardous waste to developing nations at the Basel Convention in Switzerland. In 1996 one of Greenpeace's most long sought after objectives was achieved when the five nuclear powers, the United States, United Kingdom, Russia, China, and France, signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. The following year marked another huge success: the Kyoto Convention results in most of the industrialized countries of the world agreeing to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases.

CURRENT POLITICAL ISSUES

As both a national organization and a member of Greenpeace's International Coordinating Committee, Greenpeace USA plays a role in both domestic and international issues. One important campaigning issue has been the urgent need for reductions in the accumulation of toxic wastes. Countering what it refers to as one of the major myths of the industrial era, Greenpeace has insisted that there are no safe or acceptable levels of toxic pollution. Its advocacy of this cause has been given greater urgency by the realization that those who bear the burden of toxic poisoning—ethnic, poor, and rural communities, and children—are the least able to influence decisions about the use of toxic materials and pollution.

Greenpeace has also championed the cause of the silent with its crusades against deforestation and overfishing. Port blockades and other forms of peaceful civil disobedience, including two activists suspending themselves from a Seattle bridge to focus attention on the environmental damage caused by factory trawling, have helped turn the attention of the media, the people, and finally governments to the critical issues affecting the environment.

One of the most prominent examples of Greenpeace's coordinated, worldwide efforts has been its opposition to nuclear testing.

Case Study: Nuclear Testing

Since its inception in Canada in 1971, Greenpeace has opposed nuclear testing. Its first act of 'bearing witness' that year involved members chartering a boat to sail into the US nuclear testing grounds on Amchitka Island in Alaska. Such actions have continued, often risking member's lives in an effort to draw the world's attention to the risks inherent in nuclear bombs, the inevitable pollution following their testing, and the sensitivity with which governments regarded the issue.

Changes on the world political front, such as the collapse of the United Soviet Socialist Republic, combined with the vociferous anti-testing opposition of Greenpeace and similar organizations, seemed to encourage steady progress during the late 1980s and early 1990s. However in 1995 rumors that Israel, India, and Pakistan were developing nuclear weapons began to alter that perception. Then, in May of 1995, China held a nuclear test with France following suit in both September and October. Greenpeace joined the voices of many nations in protest against these actions that had reversed so much of the feelings of global good will. Against this backdrop of Greenpeace's activism and the worldwide outrage generated by the tests, Australia, one of the many non-nuclear countries affected by nuclear testing, presented a draft test-ban treaty to the United Nations. The Australian draft, known as the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, received the support of 158 countries with just three, India, Pakistan and North Korea, voting against.

The vote for the treaty was a triumphant success for Greenpeace USA activists but only a temporary respite. Many countries, including the United States, stalled in ratifying the new treaty. President Bill Clinton attempted to introduce the treaty to the Senate in September of 1997 but hearings were not held on whether or not it should be ratified. Another severe blow to any mood of optimism that may have developed following the introduction of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty came in May of 1998 when both India and Pakistan conducted a series of tests. Nations worldwide once again condemned the actions of India and Pakistan. Despite the ratification of the treaty by France and the United Kingdom, the United States has yet to do the same. Greenpeace USA continues to advocate the logic and necessity of all nations to sign the treaty, especially the United States.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

The work of Greenpeace has only just begun. Many of its most prominent and successful campaigns have started to make a mark on the public and political consciousness: increased public awareness of issues like toxic pollution, global warming, factory fishing and the dangers of nuclear testing and nuclear energy are a testament to the dedication of the more than 5 million Greenpeace activists worldwide, but the exploitation of the earth continues almost unabated.

With this in mind, Greenpeace will continue to champion the rights of the 200 million people around the world who depend on forests for their livelihood, food and medicine. It will defend the rights of the earth's children for whom global warming and the effects of fossil fuels are a forbidding inheritance. It will again press the US government and NASA to end their use of plutonium-based energy sources in spacecraft, and it will extend its advocacy of alternative energy sources like wind and solar power to replace the diminishing and polluting stocks of fossil fuels. It will also continue to extend and strengthen its representation in the East, where economic development and environmental pollution continue to go hand-in-hand and run apace. And with recent nuclear tests in India and Pakistan in mind, Greenpeace will put further pressure on the world's governments to make nuclear disarmament a top international priority.

GROUP RESOURCES

For current campaign issues and developments as well as membership details, access the Greenpeace USA Web site at http://www.greenpeaceusa.org. The site also includes press releases and background analysis on various issues of interest to Greenpeace. For international information and access to the Greenpeace Archive, check the Greenpeace International Web site at http://www.greenpeace.org. For more information on Greenpeace USA write Greenpeace USA, 1436 U St. NW, Washington, DC 20009 or call (202) 462-1177.

GROUP PUBLICATIONS

Greenpeace produces a magazine, Greenpeace, available to supporters making an annual donation of $30 or more. Its Web site also contains numerous research reports on such topics as toxins, oceans, forestry, energy, nuclear and Greenpeace fleet activities. On-line publications can be accessed at http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/media/publications.htm. For more information on how to obtain the organization's publications, write Greenpeace USA, 1436 U St. NW, Washington, DC 20009 or call (202) 462-1177.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Corder, Mike. "Greenpeace Works to Rebuild Interest: Environmental Group has Fallen victim to Its Success, Some Say." Dallas Morning News, 16 November 1997.

"French Commandos Seize Greenpeace Ship." Star Tribune, 10 July 1995.

Johnson, Rebecca. "The In-Comprehensive Test Ban." Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 21 November 1996.

Lemonick, Michael D. "Special Report: The Ragtag International Band Of Ecowarriors Known As Greenpeace." Time International, 7 November 1994.

Lewis, Paul. "World Forestry Talks in Split on Curbing Logging." New York Times, 22 February 1997.

Manning, Robert A. "Cold War Has Ended, Why Is Nuclear Arms Race Still Here?" Los Angeles Times, 7 July 1996.

Nicoll, Ruaridh. "Fight for the Final Frontier." Guardian, 19 November 1997.

North, Richard D. "Greenpeace, Please Grow Up!" Independent, 26 September 1996.

"Nuclear Test Ban Treaty." Earth Explorer, 1 February 1995.

Poole, Teresa. "Peking Survives Its Trial by Greenpeace." Independent, 13 June 1996.

Segal, David. "Greenpeace Says Toys Contain Toxic Substance." Washington Post, 14 November 1998.