[Sent in by Tracy by email.]
I’ve never wanted to be a celebrity, always loved my anonymity, so being welcomed to Sagar Island by 12,000 people was a bit overwhelming.
We sailed from Kolkata at three in the morning so by noon we were well down the Hugli and approaching the Bay of Bengal. The "meeting", as it was described to us, to welcome the Rainbow Warrior to Sagar Island was due to start in the early afternoon and the Warrior was still a few hours away so we launched two inflatable boats to take us to the northern tip of the island and we would go the rest of the way by jeep to beat the ship to the Sagar Ganges beach.
Driving to the meeting point we got a good look at the interior of the island. It was so green – rice paddy fields and trees all along the road with mud and thatch houses blending into the environment. There are also clusters of houses occasionally punctuated by shops and markets making up the villages of the island.
In all there are about 200,000 people living on this small island, and more people coming as they are forced off other nearby islands that are being engulfed by the sea.
When we arrived our jeep drove right up to the stage which I immediately thought was a bit odd, but then I saw some familiar faces and Shomo one of our climate campaigners said we had to go to the stage right away. He said quickly, or there will be a riot.
They had been waiting for us – thousands of students from all over the island and local people waiting to see us. We were told that we had to send the leader from the Rainbow Warrior up to the microphone to say a few things – we all looked at each other in horror. The captain was still on board to sail the ship here. So we forced Lesley, our medic from New Zealand, to the front of the stage to speak. She protested a bit but then the Minister for this area put his arm around her and coerced her to the microphone – the whole crowd cheered.
It was more like a rock concert than a political rally. Lesley thanked everyone for being there and the honour of having us. She said the Rainbow Warrior will be sailing to Bali from the next Kyoto meeting and we’ll take their message to stop climate change and save the Sundarbans with us.
Next the Minister gave a very animated speech – I’ve never seen a politician hold a large group of children for so long, they were riveted. He talked about the importance of the Saundarbans. Altogether about a million people live in this part of west Bengal, but it is also a sensitive and diverse area of mangrove forests with deer, crocodiles, birds, and infamously, the Royal Bengali tigers.
The area is being described like a canary in the coal mine. Being low lying floodplains it is extremely vulnerable to climate change and sea-level rise and Sagar Island could be under water by as soon as 2020. Here the people are already living under the threat of climate change with some people having to move every one or two years because of the advancing sea water.
The Minister said that while people in developing countries have not caused climate change they will be the first feel the impacts and that we must tell the leaders in Bali that they have to act to stop climate change and save the Saundarbans. And that globally we must work together to help the people who are made homeless and feel the brunt of climate change. The communities here are already taking local action, they get their energy from wind and solar power, but the rest of the world also has to take action.
While a local man was singing about the environment, about the fact that we must unite together and fight climate change, one of the other officials on stage leaned over to me and pointed to the distance – “Is that your ship?” I could make out the three masts of the Rainbow Warrior just coming around the point.
It was amazing what happened then, you could see the news spread through the crowd. One by one the audience of thousands sprung up looking to the horizon. It would have been impossible for anyone to hold them to their seats then – they flocked down to the beach to get a closer look at the ship.
I snuck off the stage and head to the beach with my camera. At first I thought that my small group of followers was a coincidence, but then it grew to about a hundred and I stopped. They all stopped. I laughed at them and they laughed with me, but I really wasn’t thinking it was so funny, I felt extremely self-conscious having so many people following me. But after all the ship was still a mile off shore, I was right there.
A small boy put a piece of paper and pen in front of me and asked me to sign it. I was taken aback and said of course. Next thing I knew I was surround by a group a couple hundred strong now all thrusting their postcards of the Rainbow Warrior at me to sign. I was trying to sign as many as I could but I was getting claustrophobic, they were actually pushing each other to get to me. I struggled through the crowd and walked quickly back to the stage where the rest of the team was mobbed around the jeep signing autographs.
We were whisked off to catch the launch boat that would take us back to the ship. I don’t imagine I’ll ever sign another autograph, but I really don’t mind.
It was dark by the time we made it to the pilot’s station to catch the launch, the Minister had just left to visit the ship without us – but we’re the stars! So we decided it was too dangerous to send for one of our inflatables with the tide coming in and hidden sandbars everywhere. We were taken back for some local food, the crowds has dispersed, and dropped off at our VIP bungalow which is reserved for visiting officials. Perhaps this is the one part of celebrity life I could get used to.
Tracy
Comments (1)
Hi there, have you seen the Saltaire world heritage site? eco warriors/eco worriors, its a green site and doing its bit to save the world (or our corner) the plastic bag debate and the carbon foot print articles, are two more pieces broken down to a level that every body can understand. keep up the good work you big boys and remember that there are little boys and girls behind you all the way, (in our own way)
Posted by Mr Peter James Bottomley | October 18, 2007 2:02 AM
Posted on October 18, 2007 02:02