Greenpeace is one of the world's most renowned environmental organizations, and is the result of more than 50 years of headline grabbing protest tactics.
The activist is facing a whaling ship on the high seas. They hang flags Eiffel Tower. They occupy oil rigs. The (fictional) activist sails with Greenpeace on an episode of “Seinfeld” in hopes of capturing Elaine's mind.
Today, the very existence of Greenpeace is under threat. The lawsuit seeks at least $300 million in damages. Greenpeace says such court losses could force American offices to be closed. It is expected that in the next few days, the ju-decision will pass that verdict.
The lawsuit revolves around Greenpeace's role in a decade-old protest against a pipeline near North Dakota's Standing Rocksoo Reservation. Energy Transfer, the owner of the pipeline, says Greenpeace led a “spread and malicious promotional campaign” that allowed illegal attacks on the project and sacrificed the company's money.
Greenpeace says it only plays a mild and peaceful role in Indigenously-led protests, saying the true purpose of the lawsuit is to limit it to its illusions of expensive court battles not only in organizations but across the United States.
This lawsuit comes at a time of great challenge to the entire environmental movement. Climate change makes storms, floods and wildfires more frequent and more dangerous. The Trump administration has begun historic efforts to overturn decades of environmental protection. Many of the most important achievements of the movement over the past half century are at risk.
And in recent years the potential costs of protests have already increased.
The International Center for Nonprofit Law has tracked a wave of proposed legislation since 2017 that tightens penalties for protesters. Many have been inspired by demonstrations of the pipeline at the heart of the Greenpeace incident (the Dakota Access Pipeline) and the Black Life Matter movement that became prominent after George Floyd was murdered in 2020 by Minnesota police officers. More recently, the Trump administration has moved to deport international students who protested the war in Gaza.
Sushma Raman, interim executive director of Greenpeace USA, calls the trial “a key test of the future of the first amendment” in North Dakota.
Energy Transfer, one of the nation's largest pipeline companies, says the lawsuit goes beyond illegal activities rather than free speech. “It's about them not following the law,” the company said in a statement.
Founded in Vancouver in 1971, Greenpeace was a huge success early on, with what was called “branding,” with a catchy name and Daredevil stunt. But it also faces major challenges: civil wars, failures, legal battles, and questions about how to expand its base and remain relevant when it becomes an institution.
The bigger environmental movement has grown, but is struggling to attract attention with an increasingly fractured media landscape, pivoting on the issue of climate change.
“What they named was the ability to carry out famous actions that required media spectacles, especially incredible tactical organizations,” he said, a history professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa University, “Make it Green Peace! The rise of countercultural environmentalism.” As eyeball competition grew and there was an epic image, authentic or not, it was “ineffective” over time.
Greenpeace was founded as a derivative of the Sierra Club, based on ecology and anti-warism principles. But pulling away bold stunts to pursue these principles, although also serving as a global network of professionals, has always been a delicate balance act.
After fighting for friction and organizational control in the late 1970s, Greenpeace International was founded as headquartered in the Netherlands and coordinated the activities of independent Greenpeace offices around the world, including Greenpeace USA.
The activities of that American branch are at the heart of the lawsuit. Greenpeace International says its role was limited to signing one open letter. Greenpeace International is also opposed to energy transfer in the Netherlands and is seeking to recover legal costs under European law.
At Greenpeace's Washington office, energy transfer cases contribute to the group's highest level of turbulence.
In early 2023, the organization called Ebony Twilly Martin the sole executive director, calling Twilly Martin the first black woman and the sole director of the US environmental nonprofit. However, she left the role just 16 months later. Two people familiar with the issue said it was part of a disagreement about whether they would agree to a settlement with energy transfer.
Born in the turbulent 60's
Greenpeace was born from moments of terror and tumultuous change in the Vietnam War, the nuclear arms race, acid rain and smog inclusive city. Early member Rex Weiler (77) documented the history of his 2004 book, “Greenpeace: How Ecologists, Journalists and Foresightful Groups Changed the World.”
In Vancouver, Weyler met Vancouver Sun columnist Bob Hunter, as well as Dorothy and Irving Stowe. They met like-minded people who saw the need for an ecosystem movement to adopt nonviolent direct action following the example of the Indian Mohandas K. Gandhi and the US civil rights movement.
They will soon become derivatives of the Sierra Club, a more traditional environmental group, after differences of opinion over protest tactics.
Their first campaign was a mission to block US nuclear weapons testing on Amchitka, an Alaska volcanic island. Ideas that this group came to mind within the Sierra Club – To sail the boat to stop the bomb – The headquarters of the Sierra Club in San Francisco had not approved the plan, but was reported in the Vancouver Sun.
“The Sierra Club wasn't interesting when we saw this story because they said, “Many of our members are just perfect for trees and don't care about nuclear disarmament.” “If the Sierra Club agreed to do this, Greenpeace probably wouldn't have been established.”
The name Greenpeace came up during a planning meeting. When Irving Stowe said “peace” at the end of the rally, another activist, Bill Darnell, asserted that “make it green peace.”
“Green Peas” were displayed on the fishing boats they used. Irving Stowe raised funds for the trip with concerts by Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and Phil Ox.
The boat set sailed in September 1971. The Coast Guard intercepted it, and the ship did not reach Amchitka. However, the stunts attracted considerable public attention. This has since been the core part of the group's strategy.
The era of “saving whales”
Greenpeace's next campaign is perhaps the best known one. It's about saving the whales.
The idea came from Paul Spon, who studied orca whales, claiming that highly intelligent creatures are being chased into extinction. It led to a dramatic, massively documented sailing expedition to confront Soviet whaling ships.
Since 1986, a global moratorium on commercial whaling has been introduced. Greenpeace and other groups that addressed the issue claim it as a big victory.
The group also sought to stop the sealed hunting in northern Canada. This is a controversial move that alienated many residents, including indigenous communities. Greenpeace Canada apologised to Inuit people for the impact of the 2014 campaign, saying the organization is not opposed to small-scale self-sufficiency hunting.
The ship's Rainbow Warriors were added to the fleet in 1978. The ship was bombed by agents of the French spy agency DGSE in 1985, protesting French nuclear tests in the Pacific when Fernando Pereira, a photographer, sparked international rage.
France later apologized and was ordered to pay Greenpeace $8 million in damages, reaching another settlement with Pereira's family.
The new Rainbow Warrior is currently one of three green peas containers. This month he sailed in the Marshall Islands to “enhance the call for nuclear and climate justice” and said it to support research into the impacts of past nuclear weapon testing.
Growing pain
By the 1990s, environmentalism that caught Greenpeace's attention captured the imagination of a new generation of people, such as Valentina Stackle, 39, who learned of the exploit as a European girl. She worked with Greenpeace USA from 2019 to 2023.
“The idea of ​​Greenpeace was to save whales and hanging from bridges and stuff was really magical,” she said. “And on the best days, Greenpeace really looked like that. Of course there are also slower days that are too sparkly.”
One of the concerns was fundraising. Greenpeace USA is funded primarily by individual contributions and may fluctuate. Tax submissions show that revenues have been stable in recent years.
The group's priorities have shifted to climate and shifted to ways of incorporating what is known as “environmental justice.” This is the fact that pollution and other environmental risks often disproportionately affect poor people and minority areas. Historically, primarily white and male-dominated organizations have had to tackle ways to collaborate more and more with a variety of other groups. And it had to take into account the historic tensions with Indigenous communities about its whaling, sealing campaigns and other failures.
One of these mistakes occurred in Peru in 2014. This rioted when it caused a stir in Greenpeace's action, which damaged ancient artificial patterns etched into the desert. Greenpeace German activists have entered restricted areas to issue messages of protest on renewable energy. The Peruvian Minister of Culture called it an act of “foulfillment” that “we made a joint selection of the identity of our heritage.”
The episode apologised, and the episode urged Greenpeace USA to adopt a formal policy on interactions with Indigenous communities, according to campaign director Rolfsker. In short, Greenpeace was not involved in Indigenous-led struggles unless specifically asked to do so.
That policy occurred during this month's North Dakota trial. Greenpeace only offered support in the Dakota Access Pipeline protests after being asked by Indigenous leaders to do so, claiming it did not seek a major role in the demonstrations.
On Monday, in the courtroom in the small city of Mandan, the ju-de-speakers are expected to begin hearing the closing arguments, and then consider the fate of Greenpeace.
