They are called eco-commandos, nature's soldiers, and even green mercenaries. Some people think they are the modern Davids who fight with powerful Goliaths. Greenpeace's philosophy of direct action and civil disobedience to promote awareness of environmental issues has become famous all over the world. The media love them because nobody can be indifferent to images of baby seals being killed by hunters, or images of brave people who stand up against soldiers and police officers to stop pollution in rivers or nuclear testing.

Greenpeace started off as a small organisation in 1971 but today it is a multinational with 4.5 million members, more than 1,000 employees and operations in about 30 countries. Their campaigns take the form of boycotts, shocking films, secret videotapes, litigation and loud demonstrations. Nowadays they are protesting against French nuclear testing in the Pacific Ocean, against the construction of an uranium enrichment plant in Clairbone (USA) and against some oil companies in Europe. Thanks to Greenpeace and other similar environmental organizations, companies and governments cannot do whatever they want any longer because they are afraid of the consequences. For instance, French President Chirac has lost much electoral support in his country and in Germany a well-known oil company has lost 30% of this year's profit because of the consumer boycotts promoted by Greenpeace.

However, now that the world has become conscious of environmental issues, many in Greenpeace feel that it is time to change. They are suggesting more docile approaches, such as working together with businessmen to produce more and better recycled plastic and educating companies on environment-friendly production methods. All in all, it is not about replacing their 1970's philosophy, but adapting it to a modern society that in the last 25 years has become more aware of how necessary it is to take care of what nature offers us.

PART ONE: READING COMPREHENSION

1. Answer the following questions without copying from the text.
1. What names do Greenpeace members receive?

2. Why are journalists highly interested in Greenpeace?

3. What are the two main points of Greenpeace's philosophy?

4. What types of actions does Greenpeace use in their campaigns?

5. What are the two new approaches that Greenpeace may start using in the near future?

6. Which of the following sentences (a, b, or c) summarizes the text best. (Write the sentence chosen.)

a) Greenpeace is an organization which works together with the media and which promotes actions against governments and companies in Europe that are not environmentally conscious.
b) Greenpeace is an organization which the media love because they are not indifferent to hunters, soldiers and police officers, and because they work together with businessmen and multinationals.
c) Greenpeace is an organization which has made use of direct action and civil disobedience to promote environmental awareness but which has started to think of less aggressive ways to change society.

  PART TWO: WRITING
Choose ONE. Write about either 1 or 2.
1. A new factory has just been set up in your town. The owners have offered many jobs to the villagers but you know that they have already started polluting the river and the land. Write a letter to the Mayor in your town (or to the President of the Generalitat) explaining the situation and asking him for a solution. Don’t use your real name.

2. A Greenpeace representative has come to your school to give a talk about her organization and about why it is important to take care of Nature. Write down her speech.

3. Vocabulary

Explain next words in English, write the phonetics and also an example: awareness, issue, hunter, brave, aware, powerful