The Green Party is a small party of activists that has near no political power in the United States, but across the world, Green Parties have real political power. In countries such as Sweden, Austria, Germany and Australia the Green Party holds real power in their national parliaments.

The green movement, the movement that spurred all the Green parties across the world started in the late 1970’s/ the early 1980’s. It started as a revolt against the growing disregard for the climate, and achieved varying success across the world. Green parties achieved the most success in Europe, and Australia.

All green parties across the world hold dear four principles of environmentalism, nonviolence, social justice, and grassroots democracy. They are very liberal in all aspects, and they just keep growing in popularity around the world.

The Green Parties themselves first began in West Germany. They called themselves “Die Grünen”, which translates to “The Greens”. This is where the entire movement, ideology and parties, all got their names. The German Green party today is a merger between the West and East German Green parties called “Bündnis 90/ Die Grünen”,translating to “Alliance ‘90/ The Greens”. They are the 3rd most popular party in Germany, holding around 10% of the seats in the German Bundestag.

In neighboring Austria, the party has grown from getting 4.8 percent of the vote in 1990 to getting over 12 percent of the vote in 2013. This might sound like a small margin, but in most countries, being the 3rd or 4th most popular party gives you considerable power, and a good amount of seats in parliament.

The United States will probably not, at least anytime soon, end up joining the ranks of the nations with established and powerful green parties. But, we can look to other nations as examples of successful green politics in action.