Karen Topakian has been arrested more than 30 times. She has been on trial for her crimes, put on probation and forced to do community service.

But for the Cranston native, it was all worth it.

Topakian has dedicated her life to social and environmental causes, and her criminal record reflects a daring pursuit of justice. For that reason, she has been appointed Board Chair of Greenpeace, Inc.

“I have to say in many of those cases I’ve been fearless,” she said.

Greepeace is one of the largest environmental organizations in the country, and has chapters all over the world. It is made up of 500 leaders working in 23 U.S. cities, organizing direct action aimed at protecting the environment.

Topakian’s family has a history of activism. Both of her Armenian grandfathers fled Turkey to avoid serving in the Turkish military. Those stories of risking one’s life to adhere to principles stuck with Topakian.

While a student at Cranston High School West, she began to take an interest in social justice issues. She had learned about civil rights at Woodridge Congregational Church, but it was a class at West, Economics and Politics in the Community, that really piqued her interest.

“It was the beginning of social change movements and they brought it in the classroom,” she said.

Around the same time, her classmates became involved in protests against dumping in the Pawtuxet River. Topakian’s father got involved as well, which opened the door for further discussion.

“These kinds of events really opened my eyes to what was going on in my community,” Topakian said, recalling that Greenpeace made a rare visit to Rhode Island to fight the pollution. “It made me think, ‘Man, I want to do that. I want my life to be about making change at that kind of level.’”

After high school, Topakian went to Clark University. She returned to Rhode Island to work as a community organizer in South Providence. She would later work as the director of a Women’s Center at URI, manager of a family food co-op in Wakefield, and became a graduate student in filmmaking at URI.

Around the same time, Topakian began her career of nonviolent direct action against nuclear powered and armed submarines. In the early ’80s, she organized with the Berrigan brothers through the Plowshares Movement.

“This was at a time when, in the early ’80s, when President Reagan was working with leaders in Europe to place nuclear weapons in Europe on European soil,” she recalled. “There were huge demonstrations going on against it. That was the issue that galvanized it for me, was anti-nuclear weapons. It still is the one that I probably have the most passion for.”

“There are hundreds of activists who got their beginning, or their activist hearts inspired, by that issue,” she added.

Topakian continued her fight against nuclear weapons after moving to San Francisco, where she lives today, to get her masters in art. She also served as executive director of the Agape Foundation – Fund for Nonviolent Social Change.

It was on the west coast where she joined the Greenpeace movement in 1987. She joined the Nuclear Free Seas campaign, and simultaneously worked on the Pacific campaign until 1991.

At the time, more and more people were fighting for these causes.

“There are so many social justice issues that people are willing to risk arrest for,” she said. “I did nonviolent direct action and was arrested a number of times.”

Each year, to this day, Topakian and other activists engage in civil disobedience on the anniversary of the invasion of Iraq and the first atomic bomb. On one anniversary of Hiroshima, she and her colleagues poured blood on the steps of the Pentagon.

Nowadays, those types of protests are more difficult to stage.

“The climate has changed dramatically since Sept. 11 because the charges now, for some of the things I have done in the past, could now be considered a terrorist attack. The stakes are a lot higher,” Topakian explained.

That is not to say that the ranks of activists are not being refreshed. While Topakian believes the wars this country is fighting are not on the lips of Americans as they should be, she sees a very socially conscious movement in young people.

“The climate change issue now is one of those issues that is galvanizing young people the same way the anti-nuclear movement did for my generation,” she said. “There are college students who are working on anti-sweat shop issues and especially on environmental issues. They’re the generation that’s going to inherit these problems.”

Topakian says Greenpeace is on a growth trajectory, which is one of the things that motivates her to stay passionate about social and environmental justice.

“I find my passion and my ability to move forward from the people I work with,” she said. “It is hard work but that’s what gets your juices going and keeps you moving forward.”

Throughout her career, Topakian has worked with the Western States Legal Foundation and the Women’s AIDS Network. She co-chaired San Francisco’s Fundraising Day and served on the organizing committee for the Raising Change Social Justice Fundraising Conference.

At Greenpeace, she has served on the non-profit board and chaired the finance committee. Over the past eight years, she has become more and more involved in shaping the organization’s policy.

As chair, she will direct Greenpeace into the future.

“I am very excited. One of my goals is for us to be as strong and robust an organization as we can,” she said.