Dorothy Stowe, Greenpeace founder dies

Vancouver, Jul 24: Dorothy Stowe, the Greenpeace founder has died at University of British Columbia hospital in Vancouver.

Dorothy was suffering from kidney disease, leukemia and diabetes and died at the age of 89.

Dorothy and her husband,Irving Stowe, founded the environmental movement, Greenpeace, in Vancouver in 1971 along with Jim Bohlen who died on Monday, Jul 5.

A Rhode Island native, Dorothy and her husband Irving Stowe, who died of cancer in 1974, moved to Vancouver in 1966 to escape 'atomic fallout from nuclear tests in Polynesia and avoid contributing to nuclear proliferation by paying taxes'.

The Stowe couple met Jim Bohlen and his wife Marie Bohlen in Vancouver and joined hands with them to plot protests against the American decision to test nuclear bombs on Amchitka Island, off the coast of Alaska in 1970.

Their protest group named 'Don't Make a Wave Committee' was soon to become the worldwide Greenpeace movement.

Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over 40 countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Greenpeace states its goal is to 'ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its diversity'.

OneIndia News