Greenpeace International is one of the most renowned environmental organizations in the world. Their campaigns aim to change governmental policies about pollution and biodiversity (Luxon & Wong, 2017). Although Greenpeace lacked structure until 1975, its increased global popularity and financial support helped it become a successful non-governmental organization (Zelko, 2019). This organization is based in Amsterdam and has multiple offices with more than 20 million supporters worldwide (Luxon & Wong, 2017). The primary mission of Greenpeace is to stop nuclear tests, promote non-violence, prevent pollution, and protect biodiversity on the planet (Greenpeace, 2019). This organization manages multiple major and minor campaigns that strive to solve global environmental issues such as climate change, ocean pollution, and toxic air pollution (Luxon & Wong, 2017). The three most prominent movements organized by Greenpeace International were banning nuclear testing, whale protection, and the Southeast Asian campaigns.
The first and most famous campaign initiated by the founders of this organization was opposition to nuclear tests. Greenpeace members used to sail to Amchitka island to organize protests against nuclear power, which became the premise for the official registration of this group as a non-governmental environmental organization (Zelko, 2019). Indeed, the first official campaign by Greenpeace Foundation was directed against nuclear testing conducted by France (Zelko, 2019). The outcomes of their actions were the announcement of the closure of atomic air tests by the French government (Greenpeace, n.d.). The second popular campaign was the save-the-whales movement that started in 1975 (Zelko, 2019). I consider the Greenpeace whale campaign to be the essential step for humanity toward preserving biodiversity because intense commercial whale hunting in the twentieth century could cause these species extinction. Although this problem still exists, Greenpeace’s actions elicited a robust public response (Zelko, 2019). Third, Greenpeace International’s Southeast Asian campaign achieved the reduction of oceanic pollution by the rapidly growing industries in this region (Greenpeace, 2019). These three accomplishments are the most memorable and influential deeds of this organization.
To sum up, Greenpeace International is one of the most influential environmental organizations developed from a small unstructured group of people with a big idea into a movement with multiple offices and supporters worldwide. The mission of this organization is to stop environmental pollution and maintain biodiversity on the planet. The three most prominent Greenpeace campaigns, in my opinion, were banning French nuclear tests, minimizing water pollution near the Southeast Asian region, and the whale protection movement.
References
Greenpeace. (n.d.). France ends atmospheric nuclear tests.
Greenpeace. (2019). Greenpeace International annual report 2019.
Luxon, E. M., & Wong, W. H. (2017). Agenda-setting in Greenpeace and Amnesty: The limits of centralisation in international NGOs. Global Society, 31(4), 479–509.
Zelko, F. (2019). From social movement to environmental behemoth: How Greenpeace got big. In J. Clapperton & L. Piper (Eds.), Activism on the ground (pp. 289-313). University of Calgary Press.
Intimate Partner Violence In The Modern United States
Intimate partner violence is historically known as domestic violence, describing physical, mental, and sexual assault. Domestic violence is a consequence of long-term societal, health, or economic challenges passed on to victims of assault. All individuals are at risk of assault from their partner, although women are more likely to suffer from it than men. The government has enacted penalties and laws to help minimize acts of violence in relationships.
Domestic violence is acknowledged as a social challenge affecting intimate partners worldwide, including in the United States. Several organizations and laws have been formed to abolish and protect companions suffering from violence, for instance, the Violence Against Women Act (Edwards et al., 2017). Intimate partner violence is culturally accepted in the United States as individuals suffer silently in fear of seeking justice against their violent partners due to manipulation from them. Victims of domestic abuse justify the acts of assault by defending their partners when acts of violence should never be justifiable (“Overview of Intimate Partner Violence,” 2007).
Society has taken steps to prevent and eradicate cases of assault among spouses by developing consequences for individuals displaying acts of violence (Miller-Perrin et al., 2020). Strict laws enacted by the government, for example, the one that implies serving a jail sentence for up to 4 years for the felony of domestic violence, indicate that violence is unacceptable in the United States.
In conclusion, domestic violence in the United States is culturally unacceptable as the consequences of assault are immense due to the government’s penalties. Laws and institutions set up include the Violence Against Women Act and jail terms. However, domestic violence victims justify acts of assault, and most partners still suffer silently. Thus, reporting cases are low, preventing appropriate actions against such violent acts.
References
Edwards, K. M., Neal, A. M., & Rodenhizer-Stämpfli, K. A. (2017). Domestic violence prevention. In B. Teasdale & M. Bradley (Eds.), Preventing crime and violence: Advances in prevention science (pp. 215-227). Springer.
Miller-Perrin, C. L., Perrin, R. D., & Renzetti, C. M. (2020). Violence and maltreatment in intimate relationships. Sage Publications.
Overview of intimate partner violence. (2007). National Institute of Justice. Web.
Group Development: Working In A Team
Every person in the world has been a member of a group at some point in their lives. It could have been at school, at work, or at other social events and issues. Teams are bound to have people with conflicting personalities and talents, which can potentially lead to conflict at some point in a team development process. The most challenging group in my entire life was at work since the people there had various interests, hobbies, conflicting personalities, and all had to work in one room, thinking about similar issues.
Forming was difficult, but not as challenging, since I did not possess the knowledge about every employee; everyone was friendly and tried to appear better than their actual personality. There have been uncertainty and lack of orientation since I had little knowledge of people there and struggled to determine who was in charge. Storming was the most challenging for me, as I have no liking for conflicts, which emerged during this phase. Personalities started to shine, which was strange at first, but I soon accommodated to the current.
Norming and Performing were the best parts of working in a group since everyone worked on the same task and relationships appeared harmonic. Although at the time I was not too fond of individual personalities, I was entirely accommodated to their workflow and communicated with ease. The part of the equal hardness was the Adjourning part, where people started to leave the collective. Some left due to the other job opportunities; some – were terminated or reassigned, including a few of my best friends. However, if I knew of the stages before entering that position, I would undoubtedly be less assertive at the Storming stage since my assertiveness sometimes became aggressive, which was unnecessary in that particular group environment (Woodcock, 2018). Moreover, I would help the group work through their conflicts to achieve the Performing stage quicker and improve the overall performance.
Reference
Woodcock, M. (2018). Team development manual. Routledge.