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  • Hello. Just a note in passing. I first encountered Greenpeace as an organization way back at the start of the organization. I was living in Canada (my home and native land) and Greenpeace had just been created to protest the testing of a nuclear bomb or weapon on Amchitka Island off the west coast of Canada. I LOVED Greenpeace.

    Later, after I became involved in politics, causes and whatnot, we were trying to stop the government from building a uranium refinery in Warman, Saskatchewan. And in dropped Greenpeace. Only this time, I had to wonder "why?"  We, the citizens of Saskatchewan, had things in hand. We knew what we were doing. Why were these outsiders from elsewhere pushing their way into our issue?

    The answer was publicity. Greenpeace Inc. thought they smelled a good story developing here and its focus groups and publicity arm thought they could latch onto what we were doing in order to further their brand name and increase their donor base. Those of us on the ground doing the work, however, were a little miffed by this though. We were already there. We were doing the work. We didn't need Greenpeace Inc. telling us what to do. 

    And once the federal government decided not to open the uranium refinery in Warman (possibly a decision based as much on politics as it was on anything else),Greenpeace vanished. POOF! As fast as that. 

    So beware of inflated organizations run by publicity hungry organizations. And when you read BIG whatever in connection to anything to do with Greenpeace, think inflation more than anything else.

    • Hi Robert - Thanks for sharing your experience with GP. I have heard similar ones!

    • It seems that the new myth should have something about knowing when to step aside and when to help and support a good cause (redefined hierarchy and "minding one's own business"). We should be more like ants in ant colonies - accept that the community works properly only if it emerges as complex and adaptive enough (meaning that no single person can and needs to understand and be involved in all interactions) to be capable to deal with complex issues.

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