OCR Text |
Show r Greenpeace' Serves As Prestigious "Action" Organization by Carrie Stults difficulties for a group that has made its reputation on moving fast, hitting hard and reducing complicated environmental issues to good guys versus bad guys. Dave Phillips, Earth Island Institute (a In Europe and several less developed tions or foundations. Nevertheless, it has countries, Greenpeace has great prestige more potential to be a contributing force to and access to government In international the than saving any organizations treaty negotiations, the groups influence planet that ever existed. can extend literally to writing the policy m. It has received major credit for saving positions of some governments. New ofthe great whales and recently played ja , fices have been opened in Norway, Chile, in continentrole whole a -; saving leading Greece, Ireland, Moscow, Kiev, Rio, Sao Antarctica. Last summer, all nations with : Paulo, Costa Rica and Japan since 1988. a claim to the resource-ric- h continent agreed t t Greenpeace was started in Vancouver, to a 50-yemoratorium on exploitation of British in 1970 by two U.S. ' ' families Columbia, oil and minerals there. and a Canadian law student. Itwas Greenpeace has a fleet of eight" ships, called the Dont Make a Wave Committee valued at more than $12 million deployed formed to protest the upcoming U.S. around the world. They carry satellite test at Amchitka Island, in the communications and one has twin helicop- - , Aleutian chain. The ship they sent to ters onboard. Another carries a state-o- fblockade the Amchitka test was named the-a- rt mobile lab. Greenpeace also has a Greenpeace By 1973 the Dont Make a environmental the of best databases couple ;Wave Committee legally became the in the world and unparalleled links the, , Greenpeace Foundation. jo - Greenpeaces expansion could cause Forum staff writer Greenpeace International is 20 years old and the largest and wealthiest environmental organization in the world. Ten years ago, about 100,000 people in the U.S. and Europe belonged to Greenpeace, donating a total of about $ 1 million annually. Both supporters and money have been growing rapidly ever since, doubling almost every year or two. Worldwide revenues last year were around $160 million, and the number of contributors neared 5 million. The U.S. office, Greenpeaces largest, has about 2.5 million of those contributors, with about $60 million in reve- nues last year. Worldwide, Greenpeace now has offices in 23 nations. Greenpeace, unlike most environmental groups, solicits no money from corpora San Francisco-base- d environmental group), I still admire said, Greenpeace. From a philosophical standpoint they are still activist, not conciliatory like most of the big environmental groups. But from an operational point of view, they definitely have gotten so big they have lost their edge. According to Rolling Stone magazine, many people within Greenpeace feel the organization has reached the point where it presently has so many actions going on around the globe that it is overwhelming the attention span of both the media and the ar -- s5s in s public. The only real Greenpeace credo, within broad limits such as nonviolence, seems to be Whatever Works, accordingtoGreen-peac- e Chairman of the Board David McTag-gar- t. In its early days, Greenpeace used actions to gain attention. With the resources it now commands, actions are not always necessary. Not many people understand how we really work, said McTaggart. We would always prefer not to do actions, because of the money and the risk. We try to get the situation clear in our own heads first, do the , Nature Conservancy Contributes To Saving Atmosphere ' by Blessing Ream So far, this program has helped protect 15 million acres of fain forest;" X But the rain forests are' a problem,, said Heyrend.We cant always buy their .land but ws'sie able to help by working together with their people. ICaddil6h!to:?W6rkihgPwith the rain foists! the conservancy owns a variety of ' land ranging from a .9 acre marsh in Connecticut where herons feed, to 90 percent of the 62,000 acres of Santa Cruz Island in California where several unique species , were threatened, including the Santa Cruz Island scrub jay. old Salt Lake City Nature ;The Conservancy offices jurisdiction includes both Utah and Nevada. It has recently been Forum staff writer ' Heyrend. When we ilea! with landowners we wayVmake certain they are willing to sell. We wont hassle" wfth' peopl whq , Before the sun sets tonight, 50 different species of plants and animals will become extinct, according to scientific studiesAnd tomorrow when the sun sets, anothe50 different species will be gone. The Nature Conservancy is a private, it organization. Its goal is to save plants, animals and their habitat before they become one of the extinct. The conservancy achieves this goal wi th the help of three branches. The science branch, also known as the Heritage Program, identifies land where rare species exist. The protection branch then acquires the involved in helping to save the wetlands in land through gift or purchase. western Nevada. V Once the land is acquired, the steward- .The wetlands are a wildlife reserve for sothe , many species of birds and fish. In 1987, ship branch manages it properly' flourish. species can continue to approximately 1,500 birds and 7 million ,fish died because of toxic waste and fun-meAccording to the director of develop-- f ' in Utah, Alyson Heyrendthe Nature neling off for irrigation. 1 in 195 by an Conservancy was founded According to Heyrend, the conservancy 9 amateur botanist for scientific and educa- ? "was not able to buy the land, but was able tional purposes. to buy the waterrights. So the problem has , t Since its beginning,' the conservancy f ' not been resolved, but it is improving, she : A has protected over 55 million acres nation- - ; ' said, wide. The conservancy owns and manages Some of the conservancy projects in more than 1,600 pre$ the J Utah include saving endangered, species throughout United States. Thisis the largest private such as the, bald eagle, the desert tortoise," ? in world sanctuaries of the nature tho Utah prairie dog, the Lahontan cut-- " system Until recently, the organization mainly throat trout and 28 species of plants and flowers. concentrated' on threatened land in the United States and Canada, but has since f, It will be able to help save these species expanded its programs to reach areas in , through private donations. Seventy-tw- o Indonesia, Melanesia, Micronesia and 17 percent of the funding comes from individ-countriin Latin America. A similar pro! ,, ual contributions, 16 percent from founda-tectio- n 1 group is also scheduled to open in Z tions and 12 percent from coiporations. Last year George S. and Dolores Dore Japan, said Heyrend. . ' Eccles gave the conservancy the largest The Nature Conservancy is involved in charitable award in Utah conservation hishelping to save the rain forests throughout Latin America with their Adoptan-Acr- e $450,000. Eighty-fiv- e tory percent of an can toward all funding goes buying land. program. A $30 donation protect " When it comes to buying land, the conacre of rain forest by enabling the conserservancy has a great track record because it vancy to work on the adopted acre with Latin American conservation groups. is very cooperative with the owners, said 1 arentintcrcsted.wedOTVdelawsuitsaldkj. we do very hole lobbying hi Congress lots of pcoplei from companies t0 presi. she ff non-prof- said.' Because of its quiet way of doing business with people, the conservancy is both ' successfulandnoh-controversia, s - - , - ic, reason for their economic troubles ' A Despite what some people think, it is possible to have economic growth and a . healthy environment at the same timc,shc ' said.'; According to Heyrend,1 the success of the conservancy stems from its solution-oriente- d ?4 goals, its belief in teamwork and its narrow focus on one definite mission! , Our goal is preserving the land and water that rare and threatened species need ! for survival; Weare not involved, with other environmentid groups because ihtsf'l one needs all of our attention. But, of course, our office does recycle, she said) There are 640,000 conservancv m6m-- : bers, 6,000 of those members arc from ' Utah and Nevada! ! ' -- Those who are interested in becoming a member should send their $25 ible contribution and a membership form to The Nature Conservancy, P.O. Box 11486, Salt Lake City, UT 84147. Mem- bership forms can be found in all of the Nature Conservancy magazines. ;! Magazines can tc picked up at the Salt Lake office, 559 E. South Temple. If you have any questions call the the office at tak-dcdu- es 4 scmi-democrat- ''.; 4 f B utbccausc it is an environmental movement, Heyrend said there Will' always, be, -- ! . l. :; nt : If nothing happens, then you go to the action. Greenpeace never had a master plan to handle its phenomenal growth. Its a struggle to be large and still act quickly, and be said McTaggart. Greenpeace needs to hang on to its ability to outrage and to inspire the environmental community. If it loses that, it is doubtful in the long run whether any amount of dollars or members could compensate, he said. critics who believe the conservancy is thor ar f dents of countries. - 531-099- 9. - ct- ' It is hardtto live in Utah without caring ; about the environment, said Heyrend ! Our unique environment is the home for many endangered species. The conservancy gives us the opportunity to make a difference by helping them survive. . - Tuesday, March 17, 1992-Forum-P- age 11 |