Greenpeace

Greenpeace is an international environmental organization founded in Vancouver, British, Columbia, Canada in 1971. It is best known for its campaigns against whaling. In later years, the focus of the organization turned to other environmental issues, including bottom trawling, global warming, ancient forest destruction, nuclear power, and genetic engineering. Greenpeace has national and regional offices in 42 countries worldwide, all of which are affiliated to the Amsterdam-based Greenpeace International. The global organization receives its income through the individual contributions of an estimated 2.8 million financial supporters, as well as from grants from charitable foundations, but does not accept funding from governments or corporations. It is often the subject of criticism and ridicule for supposedly over-the-top protesting.

Mission statement
Greenpeace's official mission statement describes the organization and its aims thus:
 * Greenpeace is an independent, campaigning organization which uses peaceful direct action and creative communication to expose global environmental problems, and to force solutions for a green and peaceful future. Greenpeace's goal is to ensure the ability of the earth to nurture life in all its diversity.

Structure
Greenpeace is a global environmental organisation, consisting of Greenpeace International (Stichting Greenpeace Council) in Amsterdam, and 27 national and regional offices around the world, providing a presence in 41 countries. These national and regional offices are largely autonomous in carrying out jointly agreed global campaign strategies within the local context they operate in, and in seeking the necessary financial support from donors to fund this work. National and regional offices support a network of volunteer-run local groups. Local groups participate in campaigns in their area, and mobilise for larger protests and activities elsewhere. Millions of supporters who are not organised into local groups support Greenpeace by making financial donations and participating in campaigns as citizens and consumers.



National and regional offices
Greenpeace is present in the following countries and regions, as of March 2007:

Argentina, Australia-Pacific region (Australia, Fiji, Papua New-Guinea, Solomon Islands), Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greenpeace Nordic (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden), Greece, Greenpeace Central and Eastern Europe (Austria, Hungary, Slovak Republic, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia (no permanent campaign presence in the latter five states)) India, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Greenpeace Mediterranean (Israel, Cyprus, Lebanon, Malta, Tunisia, Turkey), Mexico, the Netherlands, Greenpeace Aotearoa New Zealand (New Zealand), Russia, South -East Asia (Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand), Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States.

Priorities and campaigns
Greenpeace runs campaigns and projects which fit into the "Issues" (as campaign areas are called within Greenpeace) categories below. Besides exposing what they claim to be problems problems such as over-fishing or supposed threat linked to nuclear energy such as harmful radiation and proliferation, Greenpeace campaigns for alternative solutions such as marine reserves and renewable energy.

The organisation currently addresses many environmental issues and claims a primary focus on efforts to stop global warming and the preservation of the world's oceans and ancient forests. In addition to conventional environmental organisation methods, such as lobbying businesses and politicians, and participating in international conferences, Greenpeace uses nonviolent direct action in many of its campaigns.

Greenpeace uses orchestrated and highly publicized direct action to attract attention to particular environmental problems and garner publicity to the organisation itself, which is dependent on public donations. For example, activists place themselves between the whaler's harpoon and their prey, or invade nuclear facilities dressed as barrels of radioactive waste. Other initiatives include the development of a fuel-efficient car, the SmILE.

Current priorities
Below is a list of what Greenpeace's claims to be its current priorities, as of March 2007:


 * Stopping what they claim t be catastrophic climate change (global warming), - GP Climate page,
 * Preserving the oceans (including stopping whaling and bottom trawling), - GP Oceans page
 * Saving ancient forests, - GP Forests page
 * Peace and nuclear disarmament, - GP Nuclear page
 * Promoting sustainable agriculture (and opposing GE), - GP GE page
 * Eliminating toxic chemicals (including from E-waste), many of which are carcinogens. - GP Toxics page