Over the past weekend, Greenpeace activists in New Zealand locked down a high seas bottom trawler stopping it leaving the New Zealand port of Nelson. [Watch the TV footage here] Two activists climbed the mast and made themselves inaccessible and another attached herself to the mooring lines while another team of activists locked metal braces and a large sculpture of a deep-sea coral to the vessel's stern with a banner reading "The Trawl's in your Court NZ" - A clear challenge to the New Zealand Government.

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Posted by Nick at 10:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We had a bit of a late spring-cleaning in the office today. It is amazing what you find lying around: Calendars from 2004, the name badge of someone who left years ago…

That's Mike in the photo. You might remember him most recently from this year's International Whaling Commission meeting (where he was arrested for basically being in the wrong place at the wrong time and not keeping his mouth shut).

Mike's favorite finds were an old Kwajalein atoll atlas, a cardboard mounted news article about a protest at the Koeberg nuclear power plant in South Africa (signed by all the activists who were arrested), a copy of the Baghdad Bulletin from when Mike was last there, and a set of nine 1.4 inch floppy disks with early Greenpeace email software.

Posted by Andrew at 5:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It was always going to be the *perfect* BoingBoing story: Greenpeace France publishes a Google Map showing locations of GE Crop fields. Farmers take Greenpeace to court. French Government orders map and webpage removed, despite the fact that the French Government is in fact obliged under EU law to make the locations of commercial GE sites public.

So the court order tells Greenpeace France to remove the map "from all websites it publishes." Well now, Greenpeace France doesn't publish the Greenpeace International website, does it?

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Posted by brianfit at 2:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This caught my eye on the Mother Jones Blog this morning:

It looks like an eco-nightmare is taking place on the beaches of Lebanon. Reports coming in say beaches are being clogged with oil because five out of six oil tanks at the electricity plant in Jiyeh were destroyed by Israeli bombs.

It sounds like a combined health, economic and environmental disaster. I checked up on it via Google news and found a story by the Lebanon Daily Star:

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Posted by Andrew at 2:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today a Greenpeace Philippines employee named David Andrade, his boat driver and his guide were illegally detained and searched by police while taking water samples downstream from a the Lafayette mining operation on Rapu Rapu island.

The Lafayette mine has only recently been allowed to resume operations after a spill. It's on a 30-day probationary period, and Andrade was investigating local reports of a recent fish kill.

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Posted by Andrew at 5:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Now why didn't we think of this????

Posted by brianfit at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

After a lot of pressure from Greenpeace supporters who sent e.mails and letters, McDonald's has decided not use to chickens that have been fed on soy grown in the deforested areas of the Amazon rainforest. Well this is really great news! Now don't get me wrong, I'm not the kind of environmentalist to go all soft on a corporation like McDonald's just because they did something good for a change. The factory farming industry is one big environmental crime and McDonald's isn't likely to start selling organic burgers anytime soon. So I'm not rushing into my nearest McDonald's to place my order (and that has nothing to do with the fact that it is over 650 miles away!).

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Posted by Lisa at 4:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

While the Defending Our Oceans and Defending the Mediterranean expeditions continue in warmer waters, Greenpeace USA is about half way through their own research expedition in the Bearing Sea (off the coast of Alaska). They are looking at how the intensive industrial fishing there is impacting the ecosystem and local fishermen alike.

In one hair raising post they talk about how the locals are being forced to go further and further out to fish - with dangerous results...

"We've been here for a few days now, getting to know the people and the place and sounding out what people think of an ecosystem management based fishery. So far it's clear that it's what people want. I met an old guy the other day who started the conversation by saying "I hope you guys make those draggers go 100 miles offshore." The locals are being forced to go farther and further to get fish while the big factory draggers pillage their traditional waters."

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Posted by Andrew at 6:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ahoy!

I'm Andrew, from Washington, DC (and surrounding areas). I've been working for Greenpeace for years in the mistaken belief that there would be free pizza. Sadly no, or at least not yet, but I have been lucky enough to see and do some amazing and really important things.

For the now, I am on contract in Amsterdam as part of the Defending Our Oceans expedition. Join me, and thousands of others, as part of team Ocean Defenders.

Posted by Andrew at 4:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Great article in the New York Times this week about the alarming decline in Mediterranean blue fin tuna populations. The Esperanza was there a few weeks ago. It's crew found a lot of fishing boats, but not a lot of fish. Recent reports released by Greenpeace and WWF recently both highlighted how bad things were in the Med. From the NY Times article:

"Many edible fish stocks in the Mediterranean and its extension, the Adriatic, have sharply declined in the past decade because of pollution and intensive fishing, including crayfish and John Dory, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. In Croatia, much of the fish eaten at seaside resorts is imported from as far away as the United States."

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Posted by Andrew at 5:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the UK, the annual Motor Show has just opened amidst sweltering summer heat that the Met Office reckons might be linked to climage change. So we've launched a slick new 'advert' targeting gas guzzling 4x4s for being one of the worst climate offenders.

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Posted by Dave at 3:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am a Bermudian and British trouble maker and I have been involved with Greenpeace since 2004.

Last year I planned and coordinated "The Great Whale Trail" for Greenpeace International having previously worked for the oceans campaign as an intern. I have also been a web editor in the office and on the ships.

I started off as a cyberactivist and won a competition to volunteer for Greenpeace in China.

When I am not working for Greenpeace I am volunteering for a local organisation in Bermuda that I set up with a group of like-minded folks and we've been successfully campaigning for sustainable development and the preservation of open spaces.

--Updated April 29th 2008 --

Posted by Lisa at 4:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Slade, on board the Esperanza, has posted a note from the crew about how much they are thinking of our colleagues in Lebanon and Israel. I am sure this is true for the crew on all of our ships, and Greenpeace staff worldwide.

I have met and worked with staff from both offices, and their safety has been on my mind as well.

Posted by Andrew at 5:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's a glimpse of some strange green futures that have flickered across the low-energy flat-panel LCD screens over at the Greenpeace Secret Mountain Zeitgeist Laboratories.

The Dutch advisory for the landscape asked designers to come up with new generation wind mills. 100 MW mountains, a cooperation between One Architecture, Ton Matton and NL architect, suggested that grouping up to 10 turbines into a kind of flower bouquet would add a nice touch to the landscape.

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Posted by brianfit at 9:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm pretty excited about the new Pirates of the Caribbean. It doesn't open here in Amsterdam for a few more days, but it's already got me thinking about the different types of pirates.

See, you've got your swashbuckling, maiden rescuing loveable rapscallion pirates - and then you've got real life. In real life, pirates are stealing fish as if it were gold from the sea. Officially it's what is known as Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, and it definitely doesn’t involve Johnny Depp.

This plunder of the fish stocks is serious business. It makes regulating and protecting fish stocks impossible, and takes fish away from legitimate fishermen. If only they at least sang hearty pirate songs, or at least owned a parrot... But sadly no.

There's more about pirate fishing on the Defending Our Oceans site.

And you can read about an encounter with real life "pirates of the Mediterranean" on the Rainbow Warrior crew weblog.

Posted by Andrew at 1:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Nuclear is getting a lot of bad press lately in the UK.

The Conservative party is insisting that nuclear power should be a last resort and an expert has advised an immediate shut down of UK reactors after a report was leaked revealing that many of them are unsafe! Many people support nuclear power because they believe that it is the only solution in the fight against global warming but those of us who aren't completely gullible know that's just a bunch of crap.

What the UK needs is a decentralised energy system. It may sound unrealistic or complicated but it's not. They are already doing it in Denmark and the Netherlands. Decentralised energy means that energy is created close to the location where it is used rather than being created in just a few large power stations far away, which are controlled by big corporations.

Did you know that two thirds of energy going into power stations is wasted mainly as heat, which is not utilised. Sounds ludicrous doesn't it? Find out more and watch a cool little movie.

Posted by Lisa at 8:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've been reading about light bulbs. 90% of the energy that goes to a lightbulb gets lost in heat. According to Amory Lovins, the average US home runs 30 lightbulbs five hours a day, and if all American homes replaced just 3 of these bulbs with long-lasting bulbs, Americans could save electricity equivalent to the output of 11 fossil-fuel-fired power plants. In turn they would eliminate about 23 million tons of CO2 emissions per year - and save about $1,800,000,000.

I've been playing with a graphic concept to try and make the link between a simple act like changing your light bulb and the impacts of climate change. This rough doesn't quite achieve what I'm looking for, but the idea is to extend the joke across a range of impacts.

Posted by brianfit at 7:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

"This really isn't what we came to see" was the reaction of Leontien Dieleman, a Dutch tourist who witnessed a whale killing on a Norwegian whale watch cruise.

The Captain of the whaling ship told reporters he "did not expect the hunters to go after their quarry so close to his vessel".

I suppose this might be the whaling industry's idea of "dual use" resource management. First you get money from folks who want to watch them, then you make money killing them. And you can share all that work spotting the pods and tracking their movements.

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Posted by brianfit at 6:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

A US judge has temporarily put a stop to US Navy plans to use high powered military sonar during planned multinational war games near Hawaii. From the Honolulu Advertiser:

A California federal judge yesterday blocked the use of high-power, midfrequency sonar during Rimpac 2006 exercises off Hawai'i, saying the court had received "convincing scientific evidence" that the undersea noise could harm marine life.

The ruling immediately affects the naval war games involving eight nations, which had been scheduled to begin using its sonar for submarine-hunting training as early as Thursday and to continue through July 28.

More info on the NRDC website.

Posted by Andrew at 4:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It's great to see that plans for Turkey's first nuclear power plant are facing opposition thanks to a bunch of middle aged women. Having suffered the effects of Chernobyl in this Black Sea region many people are against nuclear power while the Government is pushing plans for three nuclear power stations to come online by 2012. Many local fisherman in the northern city of Sinop where the plant is planned to be built, are now carrying anti-nuclear stickers and flags on their boats. They want to protect the nearby harbour, which is one of the richest fishing areas around. They are concerned that the cooling station will raise the temperature of the sea and have detrimental impacts on the fish. Outstandingly the "Mothers against Nuclear Power" have already got 25,000 signatures on their petition and even Sinop's Mayor is supporting them. Interestingly there is no mention of this opposition in the Turkish press!

Posted by Lisa at 2:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

© Eric Larsen/Greenpeace

This is Lonnie and Eric. On July 1st they became the first people ever to complete a summer trek to the North Pole.

Last year I worked with Eric on board the Arctic Sunrise, after their first (failed) attempt. He hid it pretty well, but it was obvious he was crushed. It takes an insane amount of effort, training and preparation to even attempt these things. Really good to see them make it this time.

I love this photo for the stuffed polar bear. These are guys who cut their tooth brush handles in half to save weight, and one of them hauled a stuffed bear over hundreds of miles of ice. But then the fate of the polar bear has been a big part of what keeps them going.

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Posted by Andrew at 4:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ban the Bulb

I am proud to declare that all of the light bulbs in my house are those weird looking compact flourescents things. Governments should act on this opportunity to conserve energy and decrease C02 production because environmentally aware people are not going to be able to do much by themselves. If you aren't already using energy saving bulbs you should be ashamed of yourself and go out NOW and buy some but if you are, then you could help the rest of the planet to make the switch by writing to your local MP, government ministers and leaders urging them to propose a ban or a tax on incandescent light bulbs that are costing the Earth.

I'll write my letters today and will post any responses.

Lisa

Posted by Lisa at 2:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)