#amchitka

The W71 was lowered 6,150 feet (1,870 m) down a 90-inch-diameter (2.3 m) borehole into a man-made cavern 52 feet (16 m) in diameter. A 264-foot-long (80 m) instrumentation system monitored the detonation. The full yield test was conducted at 11:00am local time November 6, 1971 and resulted in a vertical ground motion of more than 15 feet (4.6 m) at a distance of 2,000 feet (610 m) from the borehole, equivalent to an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 on the Richter scale. A 1-mile-wide (1.6 km) and 40-foot-deep (12 m) crater formed two days later.

American troops and equipment landing on Amchitka Island (1942 – 45).

Joni Mitchell at the benefit concert that launched Greenpeace - Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, B.C., October 16, 1970 © George Kropinski.

A great documentary on Environmental Activism for this Earth Day. It chronicles the beginnings of Greenpeace, to their fight to end whale hunting - which caught the attention of the world. It features the trip to the Amchitka Islands, which launched Greenpeace and of which Joni Mitchell performed a benefit concert.

50 years ago today Joni Mitchell performed at a benefit concert that would fund a trip to the Amchitka Islands to protest the government’s testing of a hydrogen bomb.

James Taylor “You Can Close Your Eyes” Greenpeace benefit concert, October 16, 1970.

Joni Mitchell backstage with Elliot Roberts, James Taylor, and others, 50 years ago today at the concert that launched Greenpeace, October 16, 1970.