Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth (campaigning for the planet)
You’ve likely heard of both Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, two major worldwide campaigning charities. But who’s behind them, what’s their history and what do they actually do? Let’s find out!
Greenpeace (what it does and how to help)
Greenpeace is one of the world’s top environmental organisations, founded in 1971 in Canada, and now headquartered in Amsterdam (The Netherlands). It’s know for campaigning against climate change. But also campaigns against deforestation, over-fishing and nuclear threats.
It has over 3 million members and offices in over 55 countries, making it one of the world’s top environmental action groups. All due to a small group of activists, protesting against US nuclear testing on Amchitka Island.
These underwater tests sparked major protects, after they killed 2000 sea otters and thousands of fish. Even today radioactive Tritium has been detected in surface water. The island is now part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge (which Trump is due to open up for drilling of oil and gas).
Its main success in the UK was the ban on plastic microbeads, and of course it’s known for its campaigns against whaling in international waters.
It’s main campaigns include:
- Tax the super-rich for a greener England
- Campaigns against polluting companies
- Stop deep-sea mining
- Ban private jets
- Stop sewage polluting our rivers & seas
- Protect & restore England’s nature
Previous successes attributed to Greenpeace include:
- A major legal win on oil drilling
- A sandeel fishing ban, to protect puffins
- A seabed mining moratorium
- Historic UN ocean treaty
- A ban on disposable vapes
- A landmark Global Ocean Treaty
How to Help Support Greenpeace
Greenpeace Shop is the online clothing store, with profits supporting Greenpeace, which does such wonderful work to help our planet and all creatures.
There is such an easy to help one of England’s main environmental charities. Next time you’re stocking up on casual clothing (t-shirts, hoodies, beanies), just shop at their online stores. Everything is organic cotton, made with green energy and sent in zero waste packaging. It’s a no-brainer!
Like many charities, it pairs with Teemill (an Isle of Wight company) to print-on-demand illustrated t-shirts and sweatshirts, all printed on organic cotton, and sent in zero-waste packaging.
Organic cotton is much better for the planet (and fibres last longer, so works out more affordable long-term). Also better for people with eczema, you can even send clothing back at end of life, to be made into new items.
The range is for men, women and children and is available in a wide range of lovely illustrations, to celebrate and protect our natural world. If you like, you can add on a nice organic cotton grocery tote, to stop using plastic bags:
Friends of the Earth (what they do and how to help)
Friends of the Earth is one of the world’s largest grassroots environmental networks, founded around 1970 to campaign for environmental and social justice. It now operates in over 70 countries and has 5000 local groups that focus on climate justice, protecting biodiversity and opposing corporate unsustainable development.
It’s actually an offshoot from the US group Sierra Club, which does good work on the other side of the pond. This is much older (founded in the late 1800s) and helped to establish many of the USA’s National Parks (including Yosemite, home to North America’s tallest waterfall and 3000-year old sequoia trees).
It’s presently suing the government, after Trump has rolled back climate regulations.
Its co-founder John Muir was actually a Scottish-born naturalist (who came from a town around 30 miles from England’s border town of Berwick-upon-Tweed), known for his beautiful phrase:
When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.
The Sierra Club was founded to protect the local Nevada mountains (before his environmental campaigning, he was a self-taught inventor who created a ‘bed-flipping machine’ and a clock that could turn pages’.
He later became a prolific writer on nature, after a tool accident temporarily blinded him, after which he studied ‘the University of the Wilderness’. In later life, he even took President Theodore Roosevelt camping in Yosemite, to influence him to expand federal conservation efforts.
Likely he would now be turning in his grave as Trump brings back coal. As his campaigns managed to retire over 380 coal-fired power plants, to promote clean energy to reduce climate change.
Back in Europe, the UK campaigners got together with others in France and Sweden to found a major organisation that now has over 2 million members and supporters worldwide.
Its main campaigns right now include:
- Moving away from fossil fuels
- Removing sewage in our rivers & seas
- Campaigning for a fossil-free future
- Hold polluting business accountable
- Protecting forests and opposing legal logging in Brazil and Malaysia.
- Campaigning against GMOs and for nature restoration.
- Playing a role in the anti-nuclear movement
- Reducing the UK’s importation of illegal mahogany wood
Previous successes of Friends of the Earth:
- The closure of England’s last coal-fired power station
- Winning legal action to stop planned mine in Whitehaven (Cumbria)
- Stopped gas being stored in protected marine area
- Won court victory to stop oil drilling in Surrey
- Securing climate promises from 8 new Mayors
How to Support Friends of the Earth
Threads of the Earth is the online clothing shop, with profits supporting Friends of the Earth, which does such wonderful work to help our planet and all creatures.
It pairs with Teemill to print-on-demand illustrated t-shirts and sweatshirts, all printed on organic cotton, and sent in zero-waste packaging.
This is such an easy way to help one of England’s main environmental charities. Next time you’re stocking up on casual clothing (t-shirts, hoodies, beanies), just shop at their online stores.
Everything is organic cotton, made with green energy and sent in zero waste packaging. It’s a no-brainer!
The range is for men, women and children and is available in a wide range of lovely illustrations, to celebrate and protect our natural world.
If you like running or working out, you can even buy adorable organic cotton sweatshirts and joggers, with hedgerow wildlife and hedgehog emblems:
