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In 1976, Greenpeace mounted its first campaign against whaling. That year, 35,000 whales were slaughtered. Eighteen years and 23 major expeditions later, Greenpeace was able to celebrate the victory of the Antarctica Whale Sanctuary. Whale killing was down to less than two per cent of the figure when Greenpeace first took to sea. But still the Norwegian and Japanese fleets were defying world opinion... |
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Greenpeace must obviously remain vigilant on every environmental issue that it brings to the world's attention. The task becomes harder, not easier, and sometimes for paradoxical reasons. In much of Northern Europe, for instance, the Greenpeace agenda has been slowly adopted by local and central governments. This is gratifying, but Greenpeace cannot afford to become part of any established order of things - we must preserve our cutting edge as a campaigning organisation. The challenges are greater than ever, for the choices that confront us all are more difficult. To protest against the cruelty of driftnets or whaling is one thing; to agree to change your own lifestyle for environmental reasons is quite another. As Greenpeace approaches its twenty-fifth anniversary, it is conscious that it is moving into more difficult areas of campaigning and persuasion. Our need to spread the environmental message globally is critical. Our new frontiers are geographical and they are also campaign-based, as we move from issue to issue. Our lines of communication are more and more stretched. Yet our internationalism is surely a great strength, and our ability to bring together so many people from so many different countries is a distinctive Greenpeace contribution to the fight for the environment. This growth of ours has not made us smug - far from it. There is so much to do, so little time in which to do it. Greenpeace is flexing its muscles for the complex battles that lie ahead. Greenpeace now has a permanent presence in 'front-line' countries such as the Ukraine, Brazil and Fiji. For obvious reasons these offices are critical, but their location means that they will not be financially self-sufficient for quite some time. So, contributions from supporters in our established offices are funding much of our work in our new and developing offices. People are already seizing on to local issues. In Chile, there is a 'Women in fishery' campaign. In the Czech Republic, they are working on the Elbe River project. And last year the fledgling Tokyo office achieved a major media coup when it reported a Russian nuclear waste ship in the Sea of Japan. Greenpeace shares everything that it knows - scientific information, research, campaigning successes (and failures!), expertise on everything from fundraising to media relations, computer technology and mail-order trading. It is vital that we continue to share our experiences across national boundaries. We learn a lot from each other. More than four million people throughout the world are now regular Greenpeace supporters. The backing they give us is our lifeblood, for we continue to accept no funds from government or from industry. That independence is crucial to Greenpeace. It has given us the power to do what we have done already. It
must give us the power to extend ourselves over the next 25
years. For that quarter-century threatens to be a crucial one in
the whole long history of our planet.
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