Greenpeace and those like the Sea Shepherds.

In 1971, a group of peaceful protesters officially organized and formed what is known as "Greenpeace", an organization put together in order to protect animals, and land and marine habitats and environments.

Their very statement on their website says it all:
"
Our core values are reflected in our environmental campaign work: We 'bear witness' to environmental destruction in a peaceful, non-violent manner. We use non-violent confrontation to raise the level and quality of public debate. In exposing threats to the environment and finding solutions we have no permanent allies or adversaries. We ensure our financial independence from political or commercial interests. We seek solutions to environmental dilemmas and promote open, informed debate about society's environmental choices. "

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/about/


Through peaceful protests, fundraising, campaigning, and various public events, Greenpeace manages to save thousands of animals, restoration of forest, other terrestrial, and marine habitats, and addressing problems as vast as global warming. They built themselves into an internationally recognized organization with offices worldwide.

Why do they do this? Because they care. They believe that while you need to care, you must act on it as well. But don't bomb, plot against people, declare war, or fight. Peacefully, logically, and rationally go out, gather supporters, and raise awareness. If you can do this then you can raise enough support to eventually change something.

While it is an ideal process, some people believe it takes too long to peacefully change the world. One example is Paul Watson, a former member and founder of Greenpeace, who left on his own to form an organization known as The Sea Shepherds.

http://www.seashepherd.org/whales/whale-wars.html

This group goes out to the Antarctic and directly fights whaling fleets with chemicals and other bombardments in order to achieve their goal of stopping over whaling and fishing in the southern Ocean. They believe this type of action is the only way to truly change outcomes and to protect these beings. While they now have a television series on Animal Planet, their true goal is to put an end to illegal whaling.

So, which is better? The peaceful protesting of activists world wide, or the small group of ragtag teammates who go out and aggressively defend the defenseless?

Both have their selling points and both get somethings done. While the Sea Shepherds are on the front battle lines, I believe that Greenpeace is the most successful in the long run. Unfortunately, the Sea shepherds have not seen  a  lot of progress on protecting these whales, while Greenpeace has seen a lot of progress in changing views, protecting species, and actively restoring numerous environments that were in extreme danger as well as raise vast support and awareness for numerous topics and issues.


Peaceful may be better for the long haul, but the aggressive is more entertaining for TV.

Kellen F.