This diverse society creates many differences, such as, regional, racial, or economic differences, which gives rise to different interests and views on public issues. There are many different interest groups in the United States today that form for different reasons. One specific interest group in the U.S. today is Greenpeace. Like any other interest group, Greenpeace is a way to link the people to government giving them a chance to get their views heard when elections are not going on. What makes Greenpeace an interest group is that it has significant shared attitudes, interests or attributes. They have an awareness on what is being shared, and a they also have minimum frequency of interaction with a formal structure and stable pattern of interaction. .
Greenpeace is the leading independent campaigning organization that uses non-violent direct action and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and to promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future. Greenpeace began in 1971, when a small but determined group of activists boarded an aging 80-foot boat, slowly making their way through the cold North Pacific waters off Alaska. Their mission was to "bear witness" to the destructive nuclear weapons testing planned for Amchitka Island. Little did they know they had just created what was to become the largest environmental movement in the world.
With all the multiple issues this organization has to deal with, it has one specific goal: to ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its diversity. Today, this organization specifically focuses on six major efforts. First, they are there to save ancient forests. More than eighty percent of the world's ancient forests have been destroyed, and the forests that remain are threatened by companies looking for short-term profit. Also, global warming, caused by the burning of oil, coal, and gas, threatens to devastate the world's natural climate system.
