Greenpeace began in 1971 when a small crew of environmentally concerned people sailed out of Vancouver to protest U.S. testing of nuclear weapons off the west coast of Alaska. By drawing international attention to the problem, Greenpeace was substantially successful in its mission, and it went on to become one of the world's premier environmental organizations.

Greenpeace became famous in its early years for using daredevil tactics to raise public awareness of things like nuclear testing and irresponsible whaling practices, but today it has a broad range of programs and uses more sophisticated methods of campaigning. Among some of the major issues Greenpeace has fought are

• clear-cutting Canada's old-growth forests

• overfishing on both Canada's east and west coasts

• the production and use of chemicals toxic to human beings and to plant and animal species

• the greenhouse effect and the threat of global warming

• the threat posed by the growing use of nuclear energy

• the threat of genetically engineered foods

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is an organization dedicated to "saving life on Earth, through the conservation of nature and ecological processes." The World Wildlife Fund Canada pursues its goals with methods like these:

One thing the World Wildlife Fund has done to draw attention to environmental concerns is to give governments an annual "report card" on their environmental records.

Going Further

Check out the the World Wildlife Fund Canada website.