"Greenpeace Foundation".
By the late 1970s, spurred by the global reach of what Robert Hunter called "mind bombs", more than 20 groups across North America, Europe, New Zealand and Australia had adopted the name "Greenpeace". p> In 1979, however, the original Vancouver-based Greenpeace Foundation had encountered financial difficulties, and disputes between offices over fundraising and organisational direction split the global movement. David McTaggart lobbied the Canadian Greenpeace Foundation to accept a new structure which would bring the scattered Greenpeace offices under the auspices of a single global organisation, and on October 14, 1979, Greenpeace International came into existence. Greenpeace's transformation from a loose international network - united by style more than by focus - to a global organisation able to apply the full force of its resources to a small number of environmental issues deemed of global significance.
In 1978, Greenpeace launched the Rainbow Warrior , a 40-metre, former fishing trawler named for the Creek legend that inspired early activist Robert Hunter on the first voyage to Amchitka. Greenpeace purchased the Rainbow Warrior (Originally launched as the Sir William Hardy in 1955) at a cost of ВЈ 40,000, and volunteers restored and refitted her over a period of four months. p> The Rainbow Warrior would quickly become a mainstay of Greenpeace campaigns. Between 1978 to 1985, crew members also engaged in non-violent direct action against the ocean-dumping of toxic and radioactive waste, the Grey Seal hunt in the Orkneys and nuclear testing in the Pacific. p> Greenpeace's continued protest against nuclear testing at Moruroa atoll prompted the government of France to order the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior , in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1985. p> The Warrior had sailed from the North Pacific, where it assisted the evacuation of the inhabitants of Rongelap in the Marshall Islands, who continued to suffer health effects attributed to the fallout from American nuclear testing during the 1950s and 1960s.
The organization currently actively addresses many environmental issues, with primary focus on efforts to stop global warming and to preserve the biodiversity of the world's oceans and ancient forests. In addition to the more conventional environmental organization methods, such as lobbying politicians and attendance at international conferences, Greenpeace has a stated methodology of engaging in nonviolent direct action. p> Greenpeace uses direct action to attract attention to particular environmental causes, whether by placing themselves between the whaler's harpoon and their prey, or by invading nuclear facilities dressed as barrels of radioactive waste. p> Some of Greenpeace's most notable successes include the ending of atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons, a permanent moratorium on international c...
