We've moved house.

Please visit the Climate Rescue blog in it's new home.

This blog is archived. Looking forward to seeing you at the new location.

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Posted by Andrew at 11:29 AM | Permalink

Guest blogged by Joko Arif - Forest Campaigner, Greenpeace Indonesia

Vast, bald, deforested areas surround us, while in the background we can see the wall of surviving forest. Evidence of forest clearing is all around us so we have what we came for – but strangely we haven’t caught anyone red-handed today. There are no workers in sight. Our scouting team go ahead to track down the company in the act of destroying the forest while the rest of us stay behind to bake in the extreme heat. There’s not a single tree left, so there’s no shade. It’s noon on Friday April 23rd and we have found fresh evidence that palm oil supplier Sinar Mas is still in the process of destroying Indonesian rainforests.

Today, April 27th, Sinar Mas held its Annual General Meeting in Singapore and we presented the fresh evidence we collected over the weekend at a press conference just before the start of the AGM – but getting this new evidence was not easy.

We set out for Palangkaraya, the capital of Central Kalimantan in Indonesia on April 23rd to meet other NGO friends to exchange information and to gather more data on what PT Buana Adi Tama (PT BAT for short), a subsidiary of notorious forest and climate destroyer, Sinar Mas, has been up to in the area.

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Posted by Laura at 1:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

Good question. After dropping into Nestlé's Annual General Meeting on April 15th to deliver the message that the largest food and drink company in the world is still using palm oil and paper products from forest destruction - we got a response.

Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe painted a very reassuring picture of what Nestlé is doing (or not doing) to address the products in it's supply chains which come from destroyed forests. His statement has been prominently displayed on the Nestlé homepage since the AGM where our activists at the meeting - and all of you supporting the campaign online - ensured that palm oil was a main focus of the agenda.

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Posted by Laura at 9:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Or, "Really, who needs a Climate department in an Environment Ministry?"

A few weeks ago, I wondered what became of democracy when a utility company becomes powerful enough to force an Environment Minister to resign. Soon after that Minister resigned, a new one was appointed, essentially a puppet of CEZ, the Czech power company - she used to be their spokesperson. I was wondering how she would handle the obvious conflict of interest. Now, unfortunately, we have the answer. Ms Rut Bizkova made no mystery of where her allegiance lies this week with one of her first acts: terminating the entire Department of Climate and Air Protection, as well as a deputy Minister who was critical of the plans to expand the country's biggest coal power plant.

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Posted by Juliette at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

You sent over 200.000 e-mails to Nestlé and all we've gotten so far is a lot of repetitive statements from the largest food and drink company in the world. Yesterday we took the message directly to shareholders - and delivered it every way we possible could: via protesting orang-utans, banner drops from the ceiling, our own WiFi network, an official speech to the shareholders and a mobile Twitter wall.

A group of 30 protesting orang-utans arrived at the entrance to the AGM just as Nestlé shareholders were beginning to trickle into the coffee tent to take a break before the meeting began. The security guard couldn't quite get the gate closed fast enough to keep the orang-utans out - although he did put in a gallant effort (obviously he doesn't have a lot of experience dealing with animals).

Meanwhile inside the meeting itself - just as the Chairman of the Board began to talk about Nestlé's profits over the past year our activists dropped from the ceiling and unfurled two banners directly over shareholders heads (reaction of the shareholders was a mix of screams and confused clapping). We wanted to ensure that Nestlé's continuing use of palm oil - and pulp and paper products - coming from the destruction of Indonesia's rainforests and carbon-rich peatlands was front and center on the agenda.

Watch the orang-utans arrive - and our activists 'drop' in to the meeting:

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Posted by Laura at 9:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Recently, Argentinean president Cristina Kirchner decided to give the go ahead to build a coal power plant in Patagonia. Yes, a coal plant in the heart of PATAGONIA. Now I'm not sure about you, but the idea building a coal plant belching out CO2 and who knows what other toxic crap in the middle of the glaciers and water reserves of Argentina sounds like whatever comes after a bad idea to me.

Global warming is already a threat to the existence of the Andean glaciers. These glaciers are the main source of water for many communities in Argentina and the rest of South America. They are the most important water reserve for future generations of Argentinians and they are disappearing quickly. So, Greenpeace Argentina decided to take the President's trip to the U.S. as an opportunity to remind her that "A woman with long term political vision would not have endangered the glaciers and water reserves of Argentina." Check out the full ad and learn more about coal and the glaciers of Argentina.

peace.

Posted by Jess at 9:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Early on Sunday a fire destroyed part of the Climate Defenders Camp in Indonesia on Riau’s Kampar Peninsula. The flames were spotted by villagers across the Kampar river in Teluk Meranti in the early hours of the morning. Luckily the camp's caretaker was not there at the time and no one was injured.

The camp was built in October 2009 with local help in order to bring attention to the cost of forest destruction to the climate, local communities and biodiversity. In the run-up to the Copenhagen Climate Summit our activists staged several actions around the Climate Defenders Camp before passing it on to the community in November 2009.

An image of the camp as it was:

What the camp looks like after the fire:

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Posted by Laura at 12:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)