Greenpeace is an international organization dedicated to the protection of the environment. It is not allied with any political organizations and does not take any political sides; it is concerned only with the environment. Greenpeace is totally non-profit. It was formed in 1971 in Canada, by the renomenclation of the Don't Make A Wave Committee. Greenpeace seeks to alter the actions of environmental perpetrators by drawing attention to an abuse through their presence, whatever the risk. Greenpeace is non-violent.
Greenpeace is headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and is present in 43 offices in 30 countries. It also has two laboratories, and several boats, which it uses to campaign with. Its eight ships that are famous for irritating governments all over the world, most recently the French Government for interfering with thier nuclear tests.
Campaigns: Logging in the Solomon Islands
Logging companies are bribing government officials and have recently been connected with the murder of an important activist, Martin Apa. It is estimated that more than $2.2 million has been used to bribe, and that half the forest on the island of Pavuvu is gone. The indiginous people have fought a seven year-old civil war over the rights to the forest. They want to encourage "ecoforestry". Since 60% of revenue is from logging on the island, a loss of forest will spell economic collapse from deforestation.
Greenpeace is calling for a boycott of Solomon Island lumber unless certified ecological and is sponsoring a letter-writing campaign to the prime minister of the island plus others.
some pictures and info on these heinous acts
MVGreenpeace campaign
The Greenpeace ship MV Greenpeace made a voyage across the world, from Siberia to Brazil, to protest the destruction of the Brazilian rainforest. Greenpeace conducted public outreach and non-violent campaigns:
Flooded forests of the Amazon estuary--During the flood season, loggers float logs out the largest company is owned by Mitsubishi, which is also responsible for deforestation in Papua New Guinea, and there is an international boycott being organized against Mitsubishi. Virola is the tree logged, and reserves are almost out. When it is no longer profitable to log, the economy will bottom out.
Greenpeace has a set of principles for good forestry techniques.
Rainforest Action NetworkIts goals are to protect the rainforests through education (especially consumer education), grass-roots organizing, and non-violent direct action.
RAN was founded in 1985, to protect the rainforests and the human rights of those people living there. It conveined the first international rainforest conference of 35 other NGO's. It's first campaign was a successful effort to stop Burger King from buying beef grown on deforested land. RAN is composed of individual Rainforest Action Groups (RAGs), of which there are over 150 in North America. These guys have a nice web page.
RAN organizes demonstrations against businesses that buy material resulting from deforestation or causing deforestaion. Click here to see a list, especially the Mitsubishi demonstration.
They are currently running campaigns against Texaco (click here) and a wood reduction campaign (click on this blue lettering). This page has lots of information about hemp and treeless paper and construction materials. There is a difference between hemp that is smoked (herbal hemp) and industrial hemp. You can also read about a protest demonstration against mahogony furniture here. And there is more info where that came from.
RAN also has investigated the deforestation of Papua New Guinea, and here is an article revealing that investigation.
The RAN web page is interesting and filled with information and cool stuff. There is even a page or two for kids.
The Sierra Club was founded in 1892 to protect the western wilderness lands of the United States, specifically Yosemite National Park. It was founded by John Muir, a Scottish immigrant, and many prominent people from California and the University of California. An important part of the Sierra club was its emphasis on "kicking the house habit", or visiting and communing with nature. The club believes that education, conservation, and recreation are linked. The Sierra Club now has over 500,000 members in the United States and Canada, and in other parts of the world as well.
The Sierra Club traditionally was a locally-minded organization, and still works that way, but it has expanded rapidly into the international environmental arena. For example, it successfully lobbied the World Bank to drop a loan to Brazil for a 147-dam hydroelectric project in the Amazon Basin.
Sierra club mission & policies
The Sierra Club believes that the United States and Canada should actively support environmentally sound use of the tropical rainforests through strong policies and support. Economic incentives should be set up to encourage the private sector to not buy products produced at the expense of the rainforest. It encourages governments to set up large amounts of land as reserves and to study the land carefully before logging is allowed. It encourages governments to respect the human rights of the indiginous people living there. The Sierra Club also wants to draw attention to the rate of destruction of the temperate rainforests of North America.
For more on the Sierra Club's policies on various environmental issues, check this out.
The Sierra Club considers the Alaskan coastal rainforest, the great boreal forests of Canada, the northern forests of New England and the Adirondacks, the Hawaiian rainforest, and the forests of the western United States (the Rocky Mountains, the Sierra Nevadas, and the pacific northwest) all to be threatened by unsafe logging practices, and is running campaigns to curb destructive practices.
In addition, the Sierra Club participates in most international, multiple NGO boycotts, such as the recent Mitsubishi and Shell Oil boycotts.
Links