Greenpeace, international organization dedicated to preserving endangered species of animals, preventing environmental abuses, and heightening environmental awareness through direct confrontations with polluting corporations and governmental authorities. Greenpeace was founded in 1971 in British Columbia to oppose U.S. nuclear testing at Amchitka Island in Alaska. The loose-knit organization quickly attracted support from ecologically minded individuals and began undertaking campaigns seeking, among other goals, the protection of endangered whales and seals from hunting, the cessation of the dumping of toxic chemical and radioactive wastes at sea, and the end of nuclear-weapons testing. The primary tactic of Greenpeace has been such “direct, nonviolent actions” as steering small inflatable craft between the harpoon guns of whalers and their cetacean prey and the plugging of industrial pipes discharging toxic wastes into the oceans and the atmosphere. Such dangerous and dramatic actions brought Greenpeace wide media exposure and helped mobilize public opinion against environmentally destructive practices. Greenpeace also actively sought favorable rulings from national and international regulatory bodies on the control of environmental abuses, sometimes with considerable success. The organization has a small staff and relies largely on voluntary staffing and funding.
On July 10, 1985, the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior, which was due to sail to Moruroa Atoll to protest French atmospheric nuclear-weapons tests there, was sunk by two bomb explosions while berthed in Auckland Harbour, New Zealand. Subsequent revelations that French intelligence agents had planted the bombs caused a major international scandal and led to the resignation of France’s minister of defense and the dismissal of the head of its intelligence service.
On March 19, 2025, Greenpeace was found liable in a massive civil suit filed in North Dakota by Energy Transfer Partners, an oil and gas company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The company sued Greenpeace for $300 million in damages, and the jury in the case awarded it more than $660 million. Energy Transfer Partners alleged that Greenpeace had encouraged criminal behavior among members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and other protesters during their demonstrations against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016–17, in part by defaming the company through a calculated “misinformation campaign.” Greenpeace was thus responsible for delaying construction of the pipeline and for damaging the company’s reputation, according to the lawsuit. Greenpeace contended that it had not been advocating violence and was being unfairly punished merely for exercising its right to free speech. According to Greenpeace, the jury’s verdict, if not overturned upon appeal, would likely put an end to the operation of its American affiliate, Greenpeace USA.