George Armstrong Lecture 2000

Abstract

I am honored to accept the Ambulatory Pediatric Association's (APA's) George Armstrong Lecture Award 2000 on behalf of Greenpeace. We greatly appreciate your recognition of Greenpeace's global efforts to protect the earth and its children. Because of my campaign's work on toxic pollution, and the effects of chemicals on the health of children everywhere, Greenpeace asked me to accept this award and address you today. Greenpeace was founded almost 30 years ago when on September 15, 1971, a group of 12 Canadians and US citizens sailed the Phyllis Cormack, an 80-foot sailboat, to Amchitka, Alaska, to protest the testing of US nuclear weapons.1 That protest by a small group of people in the face of serious physical and legal threats set in motion 3 decades of activism, best known for people putting their lives on the line for what they believe. I have been arrested and jailed for protest against toxic waste incineration, but I didn't spend as many days in jail as my colleague here today, Niaz Dorry, who was named one of Time Magazine's 50 “heroes of the planet” (October 5, 1998) for her work in Gloucester, Massachusetts, to preserve our fisheries from overfishing by factory trawlers. Sometimes it is called “bearing witness” other times “speaking truth to power.” But it is always about nonviolent direct action in the tradition of Gandhi, King, and Chavez. Greenpeace uses creative means to expose conditions that threaten the earth like the potential extinction of whales or the threatened exploitation of Antarctica. Although Antarctica is now protected by an international treaty, countries such as Norway and Japan are attempting to resume the slaughter of whales. Continued vigilance is essential. Whatever the issue, no matter the odds, Greenpeace has pledged to defend the planet from the multitude of attacks on its well-being …