Pick an interest group that you'd consider joining & why.
If I had to choose only one interest group to join it would be Greenpeace. A decade ago this group wouldn’t have even made my top ten list, but now more than ever I believe we need to support the work Greenpeace is doing. Somewhat recent developments of the past few years such as hormone injected food, outbreaks of natural disasters (tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes, melting pack ice), the BP oil spill, and now another gas shortage, makes it evident that paying more attention to mother Earth needs to be a priority and a necessity in our everyday lives. Some people probably think of Greenpeace as the protesters in the boats that try to stop oil companies from drilling, or whale ships from poaching innocent whales, but Greenpeace is so much more than that. This organization was founded in 1971 by a group of environmental activists who wanted to protest the U.S. underground nuclear testing at Amchitka, a tiny island off the West Coast of Alaska, which is one of the world's most earthquake-prone regions. Amchitka was the last refuge for 3,000 endangered sea otters, and home to bald eagles, peregrine falcons, and other wildlife. Even though the protesters boat was intercepted before it got to Amchitka, the resulting media attention put enough pressure on the U.S. government to end nuclear testing on the island that same year (Greenpeace.org). They are opening our eyes to issues I never thought about, but should have been. So many of the topics Greenpeace has been trying to shine a light on are just now starting to make into the main stream media; such as the dangers of coal mines/plants. How many times over the past few years have there been stories from West Virginia to Chile about miners becoming trapped inside the depths of the earth because they dug too greedily to fuel our ever growing need for this natural resource (New York Times.com)? There are other issues that governments around the world are beginning to notice such as deforestation, the use/disposal of unsafe chemicals in our food and water, our dependence on dwindling natural resources such as coal, gas, and oil, and most importantly the effect global warming is having on our world. As the human population continues to expand reaching 7,000,000,000 in 2011, alone, we must find ways to sustain our food, air, water, and resource supplies, and not use them up in a couple of generations. This organization is not without its controversy, there have been some radicals that have taken activism too far, but even through their extreme measures, the core Greenpeace motto “Caring for the environment” still shines through. I would be proud to be a member of Greenpeace, and a crusader for the betterment of planet Earth and its inhabitants.
Works Cited
Greenpeace. “Our History”. Greenpeace.org 2012. Web. 28 Feb. 2012
The New York Times. Times Topics. “Mining Disasters” 6 Dec. 2011. Web. 2 Mar. 2012
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