At 50, Greenpeace is an environmental success story — with a daunting future
CBC
Fifty years ago, an ad-hoc group of environmentalists gathered around living rooms and kitchen tables in Vancouver's Kitsilano neighbourhood with a shared goal of stopping the United States from testing nuclear weapons off the western coast of Alaska.
They decided to sail a leaky, 24-metre-long halibut fishing boat directly toward the blast zone as a form of protest.
The ship was ultimately forced back, but the move drew international attention. Nuclear testing in the area ended months later.
Today, the group with small beginnings in Vancouver has grown into one of the most recognizable environmental organizations in the world. Greenpeace has a presence in more than 55 countries, with nearly three million members globally.
It's no doubt a success story for an organization with such small beginnings, but experts and early members agree that the operation will need to keep reinventing itself if it hopes to have an impact on a climate crisis more urgent than ever.
WATCH | From the Archives: Excerpt from CBC documentary profiles 12-member crew that sailed out of Vancouver in 1971:
"There's both a sense of pride at Greenpeace and also definitely a sense that everything we've done is not enough," said Rex Weyler, who was the organization's director from 1973 to 1982.
Medical professionals say a 2021 report supported by Health Canada could have a major impact on how the medical system can better understand chronic pain and the best ways to diagnose it — something that has been considered a major weakness in health care up to this point.
In a quiet room in the University of New Brunswick's library, Ramona Nicholas gives a small laugh when asked what it's like to be part of an archeological project involving her ancestors.
A long-delayed project to build the largest telescope in the Northern Hemisphere atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii has been given new life, as Spain has offered new funding and a new location on the island of La Palma.
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