Founders and Founding Time of Greenpeace
Environmental historian Frank Zelko dates the formation of the "Don't Make a Wave Committee" to 1969 and according to Jim Bohlen the group adoped the name "Dont Make a Wave Committee" on 29 November 1969. According to the Greenpeace web site, The Don't Make a Wave Committee was established in 1970. Certificate of incorporation of The Don't Make a Wave Committee dates the incorporation to the fifth of October, 1970. Researcher Vanessa Timmer dates the official incorporation to 1971. Greenpeace itself calls the protest voyage of 1971 as "the beginning". According to Patrick Moore, who was an early member but has since distanced himself from Greenpeace, and Rex Weyler, the name of "The Don’t Make a Wave Committee" was officially changed to Greenpeace Foundation in 1972. Because of the early phases spanning several years, there are differing views on who can be called the founders of Greenpeace.
Vanessa Timmer has referred the early members as "an unlikely group of loosely organized protestors". Frank Zelko has commented that "unlike Friends of the Earth, for example, which sprung fully formed from the forehead of David Brower, Greenpeace developed in a more evolutionary manner. There was no single founder". Greenpeace itself says on it's web page that "there's a 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: name, idea, spirit and tactics can all be said to have separate lineages". Patrick Moore has said that "the truth is that Greenpeace was always a work in progress, not something definitively founded like a country or a company. Therefore there are a few shades of gray about who might lay claim to being a founder of Greenpeace." Early Greenpeace director Rex Weyler says on his homepage that the insiders of Greenpeace have debated about the founders since mid 1970's.
The current Greenpeace web site lists the founders of The Don't Make a Wave Committee as Dorothy and Irving Stowe, Marie and Jim Bohlen, Ben and Dorothy Metcalfe, and Robert Hunter. According to both Patrick Moore and an interview with Dorothy Stowe, Dorothy Metcalfe, Jim Bohlen and Robert Hunter, the founders of the The Don't Make a Wave Committee were Paul Cote, Irving and Dorothy Stowe and Jim and Marie Bohlen.
Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society maintains that he also was one of the founders of The Don't Make a Wave Committee and Greenpeace. Media sources concerning Watson report him being one of the founders of Greenpeace, with many articles reporting him being a founder in 1972. Patrick Moore has denied Watson being one of the founders of The Don't Make a Wave Committee, and Greenpeace in 1972. According to Moore the already campaiging organization was "simply changing the name" in 1972. Greenpeace has stated that Watson was an influental early member, but not one of the founders of Greenpeace. Watson has since criticized Greenpeace of rewriting their history.
Because Patrick Moore was among the crew of the first protest voyage and the beginning of the journey is often referred as the birthday of Greenpeace, Moore also considers himself one of the founders. Greenpeace used to list Moore among "founders and first members" of but has later stated that while Moore was a significant early member, he was not among the founders of Greenpeace in 1970.
Read more about this topic: Greenpeace, History, Origins
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