page_title: Steve Sawyer
section_title: Rainbow Warrior
hierarchical_section_title: Steve Sawyer / Rainbow Warrior
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: Rainbow Warrior van aktiegroep Greenpeace voor vertrek naar Newfoundland in Amsterdamse haven Datum 2 maart 1981English: Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior in Amsterdam Harbour awaiting departure to Newfoundland, 2 March 1981
context_page_description: Stephen Gregory Sawyer was an American environmentalist and activist. He served as a leader of Greenpeace for nearly 30 years, including two decades as Executive Director. While on a mission to stop French nuclear testing in French Polynesia, he survived France's bombing of the Greenpeace boat Rainbow Warrior, which occurred on his 29th birthday.
  After leaving Greenpeace, he co-founded the Global Wind Energy Council in 2007 to promote wind power, and led the organization for ten years.
context_section_description: Sawyer led the refitting of Greenpeace's newly acquired boat Rainbow Warrior and joined its crew in 1980 to sail on protest voyages. In 1985, the Rainbow Warrior sailed to the Pacific Ocean on the dual mission to relocate residents of Rongelap Atoll in the Marshall Islands ("Operation Exodus"), and to stop French nuclear testing on Moruroa Atoll in French Polynesia.
  In the 1950s, the United States tested hydrogen bombs near Rongelap. The atoll's residents were evacuated in 1954 but returned after it was declared safe in 1957. They subsequently experienced a host of serious health issues, including birth defects, thyroid disorders and cancer, but the US government denied the link between radioactivity and the islanders' problems and refused to evacuate them again. In ten days, Sawyer led the Rainbow Warrior's a dozen crew members to move 300 residents of Rongelap to Mejato Island, about 100 miles (160 km) away, as well as over 100 tons of livestock and building materials. It was the first major humanitarian mission of Greenpeace, which had been generally engaged in protests, and a major challenge for the small crew of the Rainbow Warrior.
caption: Rainbow Warrior in 1981, Amsterdam
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