Interest Groups

There are thousands of interest groups present in American political culture today. Whether they lean liberal or conservative, interest groups are a significant part of American politics as a whole.

You might ask, "what even is an interest group?" Well, Interest groups are a platform for a group people to represent shared political views and beliefs. Examples of some different interest groups are: the NRA, the American Federation of Teachers, and the National Farmers Union. Each of these interest groups hold different opinions and beliefs, but the people belonging to each interest group share common ideologies.

The interest group that I decided to research today is Greenpeace. Greenpeace is a prominent environmental organization founded in 1971 that aims to create a more environmentally conscious world. Its headquarters are located in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and has more than 15,000 volunteers worldwide. Below is a screenshot from Greenpeace's "What We Do" page, describing the reasoning and purpose behind their organization.

The purpose of this article is to emphasize their advocacy for environmental justice and policies that help the environment. Greenpeace shows this in the very first paragraph, saying, "We defend the natural world and promote peace by investigating, exposing, and confronting environmental abuse, [and] championing environmentally responsible solutions..." This statement makes their purpose and beliefs clear; they want to conserve the environment and "confronting" those who harm it. Through this quote, you can also assume that this interest group has liberal views and beliefs, as the conservation of the environment is a common belief among liberals. Greenpeace also includes criticism of Donald Trump, a conservative, and current president of the United States. This criticism is stated in the third paragraph, "The threat [Donald] Trump poses is nearly as enormous as climate change itself. He's trying to move this country backwards while the rest of the world is moving forward." This frames Donald Trump as someone hindering the environmental progress of not only his own country, but "the rest of the world". 

Global warming and climate change are most likely the prime influences on the perspective of this interest group. The effects of global warming and climate on the world are starting to become more and more apparent. Greenpeace is just one of many different groups who have noticed this, and have decided to take action towards conserving and protecting the environment.