As we revealed in early April, McDonald's have been implicated in the clearance of the Amazon rainforest to grow soya for animal feed and, thanks to the thousands of emails and letters you sent, they're talking to us about how they can get out of the Amazon.

KFC, however, are a different story. Using a secret recipe of illegal deforestation, land clearing and slavery, KFC continue to buy chickens from their suppliers that have been fed on soya from the Amazon.
KFC = Klearing Forest for Chickens

Posted by Dave at 2:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Our ships Rainbow Warrior and Esperanza are both in the Mediterranean, to unite our efforts to highight the threats to tuna and other iconic species such as swordfish. Tuna is of course far more likely to be on your dinner plate than whale, but it may not be on your plate at all for long. Our new report reveals the backwards attitudes in the Mediterranean is threatening the very survival of not only tuna but also species of dolphin and whale.

Read more »

Posted by Dave at 1:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

According to research by American and Canadian scientists, polar bears in the Beaufort Sea are turning to cannibalism - due to a lack of ice, stopping them from reaching their normal food.

The study reviewed three examples of polar bears preying on each other from January to April 2004 north of Alaska and western Canada, including the first-ever reported killing of a female in a den shortly after it gave birth.

Polar bears kill each other for population regulation, dominance, and reproductive advantage, the study said. Killing for food seems to be less common, said the study's principal author, Steven Amstrup of the U.S. Geological Survey Alaska Science Center.

AOL news: Are Polar Bears Starting to Eat Each Other? »
Alaska Science Center »

Posted by Dave at 2:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting kicks off in St. Kitts, our ship, the Arctic Sunrise has been refused entry to the island nation. The AS was was due to arrive two days ago, ahead of the meeting, which opens on Friday. No official reason has been given to the us, despite repeated requests.

The Arctic Sunrise, which was one of two ships that confronted the Japanese whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean at the beginning of the year, was due to be part of our lobbying work at the meeting, - where control of the IWC could be seized by Japanese led pro-whaling countries.

Read more »

Posted by Dave at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

© Bernd Arnold/Greenpeace

June 13: Activists project ""CO2 Kills!" on the cooling tower of the coal energy plant Neurath, Grevenbroich, Germany.

Greenpeace warns against the devastating consequences of allowing coal power plants to continue functioning in Europe. Coal is currently used to produce electricity, but is the most polluting fossil fuel causing increasing damage to the climate. Governments across Europe are currently preparing their National Allocation Plans (NAPs) for trading in CO2 emissions over the five year period starting from 2008. The NAPs offer a huge opportunity for European countries to seriously address cutting their CO2 emissions, but currently Governments are allowing their coal industries to continue polluting for free instead of using the money saved from this round of free allocations to increase their investment in renewables.

Read more »

Posted by Dave at 9:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Greenpeace Forest Campaigner Sam Moko talks to Rimbunan Hijau security guards while attempting to deliver Rimbunan Hijau with the Golden Chainsaw Award.

True to form, Asia's biggest logging company, Rimbunan Hijau (RH), intimidated and detained six of our activists who attempted to present them with a ‘Golden Chainsaw’ award for forest destruction.
The activists were harassed inside RH’s Port Moresby compound and had to lock themselves into their vehicles for their own safety. A cameraman was assaulted while attempts were made to seize his film and his camera was broken.
More: Activists intimidated as logging company reacts violently to peaceful approach

Posted by Dave at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This week, the Oceans and Law of the Sea meeting is going on at the UN, which has kicked bottom trawling back into the news again...

scoop.co.nz: 10 football pitches of ocean floor devastated each 4 secs
As the kick-off to the football world cup approaches, Greenpeace has revealed the shocking fact that every four seconds, marine life in an area of ocean floor the size of ten football fields is wiped out by high seas bottom trawlers. Tomorrow has been designated World Oceans Day, but before it is over, a global fleet of around 300 high seas bottom trawlers will have dragged their heavy nets across an estimated 1,500 km2 of deep-seabed, destroying some of the most diverse, ancient and fragile ocean life on the planet.
RED CARD! Take Action: Oceans World Cup 2006 »

Deep Sea Conservation Coalition »
David Suzuki: Act now to save our oceans!
Wiki: David Suzuki »
David Suzuki On Bottom Trawling (Greenthinkers) »

Posted by Dave at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This report just in via Indymedia:

There is yet another controversy linked to the genetically modified Bt cotton plant and this time it is the alarming reports of sheep and goat taking ill, even dying after grazing on leftover Bt cotton fields. This is what farmers and shepherds in Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh are saying. The central government has reportedly ordered independent toxicology tests on Bt cotton leaves to ascertain the facts.

GE Cotton Kills Sheep and Goats in India

Posted by Dave at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When a jet flies round-trip from Los Angeles to New York, it leaves behind an estimated 1,600 pounds of carbon dioxide in the skies — and that's per passenger.

Consider electronics giant Hewlett-Packard Co. It figures its business travel activities generated an estimated 279,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions in 2005.
...snip....
Business travel is getting a once-over for its effect on the environment, and corporations are taking action, with some companies cutting back on travel and hotels changing sheets and towels only occasionally during a guest's stay.
More Companies Weighing Environmental Cost of Travel »

Read more »

Posted by Dave at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

And as we know, bottom trawling is the #1 threat!

MCBI scientists Lance Morgan, Fan Tsao, and John Guinotte released the first report documenting where deep sea corals are found in US waters, the activities that threaten these unique, long-lived habitats, and the current management strategies being used to protect them.

Marine Conservation Biology Institute: Status of Deep Sea Corals in US Waters »

Posted by Dave at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From Elaine on the Esperanza: "It's 5.40 am GST and if you are fast enough you might be able to catch a pretty special moment. We're meeting up with the Rainbow Warrior on its transit accross the Mediterranean."
Meeting the Warrior »

Gavin: The Rainbow Myth »

Posted by Dave at 1:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

© Philip Reynaers
Greenpeace activists enter the NATO site in Brussels, Belgium, and hold a banner reading "Nukes out of NATO" on the organisation’s symbol statue.

8 June 200,: Brussels, Belgium — Twenty-four Greenpeace activists from Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey and the UK were arrested after staging a protest at NATO’s Brussels Headquarters. Their demand: removal of the 480 US-owned and controlled nuclear weapons from Europe. The action occurred as NATO Defence Ministers are preparing for a high-level meeting on the future of NATO.
Read more: US Nukes in Europe: NATO HQ blocked by protest »

Read more »

Posted by Dave at 1:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"Today, the European Commission presented a Green Paper on a future maritime policy, which aims to integrate policies concerning all marine-related activities — shipping, industry, trade, tourism, energy, fisheries and marine research — in order to boost competitiveness and growth."

"WWF is concerned that integrating these policies based only on economic growth will jeopardise the protection or the marine environment and undermine the goal of sustainable development. "

“The EU needs to learn from the fisheries experience," said Carol Phua, a fisheries policy officer with WWF's European Policy Office in Brussels."
Read the rest of this story »

Posted by Dave at 1:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

© Greenpeace/Gavin Newman
Gavin, our photographer/cameraman on board the Esperanza, took this "Marine Reserves Now!" banner beside an octopus off the coast of Menorca. We're calling for a global network of marine reserves, covering 40% of the oceans, including 40% of the Mediterranean Sea.
Read the Ocean Defenders weblog »
Gavin: Some of my best friends are octupi »

Posted by Dave at 1:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

© Greenpeace/Gavin Newman
29 May 2006 - Balearic Islands , Mediterranean Sea. Greenpeace divers with underwater banner reading 'Where have all the tuna gone' in Balearic Islands, Spain - a breeding ground for the bluefin tuna.

Read the Ocean Defenders weblog »
Watch Ocean Defenders TV: Where have all the tuna gone?»

Posted by Dave at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)