The history of Greenpeace

For the better part of a century, Greenpeace has indeed changed the world. We are willing to go to the ends of the earth to safeguard our planet for generations to come.

Black and white photograph of the crew from the first Greenpeace voyage making peace sign gestures with their hands onboard the Phyllis Cormack (also called "Greenpeace"). They are standing in-front of a large flag with the word “GREENPEACE” on it and a peace sign underneath. Caption: The crew of the Phyllis Cormack (also called "Greenpeace") on-board the ship. Clockwise from top left: Hunter, Moore, Cummings, Metcalfe, Birmingham, Cormack, Darnell, Simmons, Bohlen, Thurston, Fineberg. This is a photographic record by Robert Keziere of the very first Greenpeace voyage, which departed Vancouver on the 15th September 1971. The aim of the trip was to halt nuclear tests in Amchitka Island by sailing into the restricted area. Crew on-board the ship, are the pioneers of the green movement who formed the original group that became Greenpeace.

How it all began

There’s an old joke that in any bar in Vancouver Canada you can sit down next to someone who claims to have founded Greenpeace. In fact, there was no single founder, and the name, idea, spirit, tactics, and internationalism of the organisation all can be said to have separate lineages.

Here are a few facts

Greenpeace Pioneers. © Greenpeace / Robert Keziere
Robert Hunter (left) and other members of the group who took part of the first Greenpeace voyage, which departed Vancouver on the 15th September 1971 to halt nuclear tests in Amchitka. © Greenpeace / Robert Keziere

In 1970, the Don’t Make A Wave Committee was established; its sole objective was to stop a second nuclear weapons test at Amchitka Island in the Aleutians. The committee’s founders were Dorothy and Irving Stowe, Marie and Jim Bohlen, Ben and Dorothy Metcalfe, and Bob Hunter. Its first directors were Stowe, Bohlen, and a student named Paul Cote.

Canadian ecologist Bill Darnell came up with a dynamic combination of words to bind together the group’s concern for the planet and opposition to nuclear arms.  In the words of Bob Hunter, “Somebody flashed two fingers as we were leaving the church basement and said ‘Peace!’ Bill said ‘Let’s make it a Green Peace’. And we all went Ommmmmmmm.” Jim Bohlen’s son Paul, having trouble making the two words fit on a button, linked them together into the committee’s new name: Greenpeace.

Lyle Thurston - Voyage Documentation (Vancouver to Amchitka: 1971). © Greenpeace / Robert Keziere
Lyle Thurston, ship doctor on-board the Phyllis Cormack (also called “Greenpeace”), stands on deck for a cigarette. This is a photographic record by Robert Keziere of the very first Greenpeace voyage, which departed Vancouver on the 15th September 1971. The aim of the trip was to halt nuclear tests in Amchitka Island by sailing into the restricted area. Crew on-board the ship, are the pioneers of the green movement who formed the original group that became Greenpeace. © Greenpeace / Robert Keziere
Phyllis Cormack - Voyage Documentation (Vancouver to Amchitka: 1971). © Greenpeace / Robert Keziere
Phyllis Cormack is seen here just off Akutan Island in Alaska, on its way to Amchitka. This is a photographic record by Robert Keziere of the very first Greenpeace voyage, which departed Vancouver on the 15th September 1971. The aim of the trip was to halt nuclear tests in Amchitka Island by sailing into the restricted area. Crew on-board the ship, are the pioneers of the green movement who formed the original group that became Greenpeace. © Greenpeace / Robert Keziere

Marie Bohlen was the first to suggest taking a ship up to Amchitka to oppose the U.S. plans. The group organised a boat, the Phyllis Cormack – renamed the Greenpeace, and set sail to Amchitka to “bear witness” (a Quaker tradition of silent protest) to the nuclear test.

On board the Greenpeace

Name
Captain John CormackThe boat’s owner
Jim BohlenGreenpeace
Bill DarnellGreenpeace
Patrick MooreGreenpeace
Dr Lyle ThurstonMedical Practitioner
Dave BirminghamEngineer
Terry SimmonsCultural Geographer
Richard FinebergPolitical Science Teacher
Robert HunterJournalist
Ben MetcalfeJournalist
Bob CummingsJournalist
Bob KezierePhotographer
Stowe, who suffered from sea-sickness, stayed on shore to coordinate political pressure. Cote stayed behind too, because he was about to represent Canada in an Olympic sailing race.

Bob Hunter would take the lessons of that first voyage forward and improvise upon them to the point that he, more than anyone else, invented Greenpeace’s brand of individual activism. Amchitka, it has turned out, was only the beginning of what would come to be a much bigger story.