Green Peace movement started the tradition of ‘bearing witness’ in a non-violent manner to environmental exploitation. It was founded in 1971, and is working towards a green and peaceful future that follows sustainable development practices. Green Peace exposes global environmental problems and works to bring changes in government policies that threaten the natural world.
It all started in 1969, when US test-fired nuclear bomb in one of the world’s most earthquake prone regions. The activists couldn’t stop the incident, but they brought the issue of environmental exploitation into the limelight. It fought against the dumping of nuclear waste deep into ocean, because that affects the capacity of oceans to restore naturally. Though their first campaign was to ban all nuclear weapons testing, with time Green Peace started fight against all the activities that contributed to environmental degradation.
Green Peace researched about the impact of e-wastes recycling in India. In India, e-waste recycling is highly unregulated. It studied the consequences of unregulated e-waste recycling. The study observed that the hazardous chemicals used in electronic and electrical devices released into atmosphere while recycling. The ground water and air are contaminated in the areas where recycling of e-waste is done. This adversely effects the health of recycling workers and the surrounding communities. Green Peace is fighting for bringing a policy that assigns the responsibility of recycling of electronic and electrical products to the manufacturer. By this, safer recycling practices will become a norm and the use of hazardous substances in e-products will be eliminated.
The aim of molecular biology is to increase our understanding of nature and to provide new medical tools. But they claim that the introduction of genetic engineering is causing genetic pollution by releasing Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) into the nature. The environmental consequences of GMOs are not fully known yet. Green Peace is pressurizing the governments to address the threat of genetic engineering.
Green Peace is highlighting the urgent need to stop human caused climate change. They accuse international leading agencies such as World Bank, Asian Development Bank that they are financing huge power projects that cause adverse environmental impact. Green Peace movement emphasizes the need for increasing clean energy sector which uses renewable energy resources for power generation. They claim that burning of fossil fuels degraded environment to a great extent.
Development of nations could not ensure elimination of unemployment and sustainable development. With Green Peace protests, governments are working towards generating employment the help regeneration of environment. Increasing workforce in public transport, waste water treatment, renewable energy sector etc. can reduce the problem of unemployment as well as creates positive environmental impact, thus creating Green Jobs.
Before Green Peace, environmental activists used to protest against environmental degradation, but has no say in the policies. Because of Green Peace movement, now social and environmental activists have a say in government policies. Now more and more governments are integrating environmental protection into the mainstream of economic and political policies. The concept of Green jobs that help the regeneration of environment can be attributed to Green Peace movement.