BBC's Hiroshima won an Emmy award for its re-enactment of the first use of a nuclear weapon. The difficulty: While CGI can make Orc armies and talking toys seem lifelike, they can also make real events seem like Hollywood fictions. This is gruelling, but when I stand it up against the emotional experience of reading John Hershey's account, this is more a testament to the history of cinema than to the event itself. Still, in whatever form, this is a story that we all need to remember.

Posted by brianfit at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A while ago I had a bit of a rant called "Do energy companies think we're stupid?" Well here's the sequel, in all it's post-Christmas glory. Shell's new (?) corporate song, set to "We are the world..." has been emailed with much sniggering across the world. This unfortunate piece of corporate plasticity was no doubt born in some lost karaoke bar where it came into this world as the bastard lovechild of an unwitting Bob Geldof, a Dutch oil executive and a Kraftwerk cover band.

Once again, I am flabbergasted at the shallowness and cynicism of oil company communications. Lucy Kellaway, in the Financial Times, awarded this song the prestigious distinction of being 2006's "Company Song So Awful I Was Positive It Was a Spoof. " She says "It is a haunting mixture of pyschobabble, sentimentality and business jargon. Have a listen yourself. You won’t be disappointed." Check it out here, if you dare.

Read more »

Posted by Adele at 6:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

On Christmas Day the UK newspaper "The Independent" reported that an entire island is now submerged thanks to global warming.

"Rising seas, caused by global warming, have for the first time washed an inhabited island off the face of the Earth. The obliteration of Lohachara island, in India's part of the Sundarbans where the Ganges and the Brahmaputra rivers empty into the Bay of Bengal, marks the moment when one of the most apocalyptic predictions of environmentalists and climate scientists has started coming true."

Read more here

While India might be one of the world's greatest emitters of carbon dioxide - it hardly seems fair that people from that country are now suffering so much from climate change when Co2 emissions per capita in India are much lower than where I come from for example.

India - 1.19 metric tons per capita
United Kingdom - 9.4 metric tons per capita

Posted by Lisa at 4:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It's that "this year in review" time again. If you're a regular of this blog or this one, then you should enjoy this 3 minute recap video of Greenpeace's 2006 global ocean voyage: Defending Our Oceans.

If you're having one of those "I don't remember that in 2006?!" moments, then hop over to the Greenpeace oceans website and sign up for the Ocean Defenders email newsletter.

Posted by Eoin Dubsky at 9:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From the amount of money and effort the Government of Japan spends on trying to expand their whaling industry and resume commercial whaling you'd think there was an incredibly high demand for whale meat in Japan wouldn't you? However from this graph, created using information from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries of Japan, it's clear that they don't have a high demand since more and more whale meat is getting stockpiled.

© Greenpeace

Read more »

Posted by Lisa at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Greenpeace UK holds a funeral for the last Cod.

Europe's Fisheries Ministers are in denial about the Cod's impending death, and are likely to continue setting unrealistic quotas that mean the world's once most important food fish won't have a snowball's chance in a pizza oven of recovering. More from Greenpeace UK.

Posted by brianfit at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ok, here's a weird whale story for you all, with a season whiff about it, from the New York Times:

"In this season of strange presents from relatives, Dorothy Ferreira got a doozy the other day from her 82-year-old sister in Waterloo, Iowa. It was ugly. It weighed four pounds. There was no receipt in the box. Inside she found what looked like a gnarled, funky candle but could actually be a huge hunk of petrified whale vomit worth as much as $18,000."

"Ambergris begins as a waxlike substance secreted in the intestines of some sperm whales, perhaps to protect the whale from the hard, indigestible “beaks” of giant squid it feeds upon. The whales expel the blobs, dark and foul-smelling, to float the ocean. After much seasoning by waves, wind, salt and sun, they may wash up as solid, fragrant chunks." Please Let It Be Whale Vomit, Not Just Sea Junk »

"Raw ambergris fetches approximately US$10 per gram (as of 2006), with much higher prices possible for particularly high-quality samples.[1] In the United States, buying or selling ambergris- including ambergris that has washed ashore — is a violation of the Endangered Species Act of 1978." Wikipedia: Ambergris »

Defend the Whales »

Posted by Dave at 5:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Seppo.net »

I just got an this Christmas card via email from Finnish environmental cartoonist Seppo Leinonen writes: "The climate is changing. If it would be a normal winter, we had been skiing for about a month by now".

No snow in Finland? Who'd have thunk it? Apparently there's fears surrounding Santa's ability to take off when there's no snow...

Will Santa be able to take off? »
Europe's going green (that's due to lack of snow)

Conversely - check out Grist's How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic »

Greenpeace Finland

Posted by Dave at 4:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Syngenta Board of Directors

Greenpeace Switzerland is part of a coalition seeking 50,000 guilty verdicts indicting Syngenta for it's super-herbacide, Paraquat. According to Stop-Paraquat.net:

Paraquat is considered the most poisonous herbicide widely in use. As an example: 345 different herbicides are approved for use in Germany and paraquat alone is rated "highly toxic".

But Paraquat is marketed largely in the developing world, where adequate safety and protective measures simply don't exist.

Read more »

Posted by brianfit at 5:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Activists in Italy are occupying the chimney and roof of an Italian power plant situated in a World Heritage site which is being converted to coal. It's part of several backwards steps the Italian energy company, ENEL, is planning which will put more emphasis on coal and make it harder for Italy to meet their Kyoto committments. More here (in Italian).

Posted by brianfit at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Image courtesy of NASA.

Why should we care? From the NASA website:

Every day, more than 100 million tons of carbon dioxide are drawn from the atmosphere into the ocean by billions of microscopic ocean plants called phytoplankton during photosynthesis. In addition to playing a big role in removing greenhouses gases from the atmosphere, phytoplankton are the foundation of the ocean food chain.

...snip...

“Rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere play a big part in global warming,” said lead author Michael Behrenfeld of Oregon State University, Corvallis. “This study shows that as the climate warms, phytoplankton growth rates go down and along with them the amount of carbon dioxide these ocean plants consume. That allows carbon dioxide to accumulate more rapidly in the atmosphere, which would produce more warming.”

That is to say: more CO2 = warmer oceans = less productive phytoplankton = more CO2 and less food for marine life.

Posted by Andrew at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

On Saturday, together with volunteers, I visited the 2 Apple stores in Amsterdam to spread the Green Apple message to Dutch Mac fans.

Early on Saturday morning the Dutch Greenpeace office was busy with volunteers stickering 800 green organic apples with the GreenmyApple website address. The early turn out was impressive considering there was a party on the Arctic Sunrise docked in Amsterdam the night before!

Read more »

Posted by tomD at 4:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On the back of Brian's blogging about the "mugshot" Greenpeace ad campaign, here's an amazing Amnest International poster campaign from Switzerland. Each of the posters read "It's not happening here, but it's happening now" - but I'll shut up now, and let the pictures speak for themselves.

Read more »

Posted by Dave at 2:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From the BBC "Day in Pictures" series, this great AFP capture of the arrest of an activist in Indonesia. The caption at the BBC doesn't mention the subject of the action (forest policy), and the strength of the photo is beyond that specific. This has some iconic qualities. It says something about confrontation, determination, and non-violence. The eyes of the police are everywhere except to camera, though the faces of the two in front look to me to be entirely aware of the camera, while the third at the feet hasn't composed his face. The green the activist is wearing stands in opposition to the grey of the uniforms, and the only other patch of color in the shot is the single bit of nature visible in an otherwise black white and grey artificiallity: the leaves in the distance. The activist's gesture conveys a danger we don't see, but which the helmet far in the background and the third cop's expression also suggest. And that badge just dominates the foreground of the picture's motion. Beautifully composed, there's an unanswered question, an unfinished sentence here, which leaves the viewer with a decision about whose side they're on.

Posted by brianfit at 6:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Good to see that the pressure is mounting on Iceland:

American supermarket chain Whole Foods Market (WFM) has decided to stop marketing Icelandic products because of Iceland resuming commercial whaling.

Minister of Fisheries Einar K. Gudfinnsson told Fréttabladid that the supermarket’s decision is disappointing and said it is possible that other American companies will react the same way.

The minister received a letter from Kenneth J. Meyer CEO of WFM’s East Coast branch in November saying the company could not continue marketing Icelandic products as their clients were opposed to whaling.

Read More...

Posted by Lisa at 5:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This has got to be the coolest YouTube video I've seen in a while!

Posted by Lisa at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

[Pic of Branson © Grist. Sorry Grist, just borrowed it for your own good!]

Posted by Adele at 9:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

A few days ago we released the shiny new second edition of our Green Electronics Guide. Apple has dropped even further (both in the guide and in my esteem. Shame Apple, shame!)

And just when I need to put a new iPod on my Christmas list - yes friends, Mr Pink (beloved iPod mini) died today. He was only 2 years old. He had a good life, if a short one. He has even been a crew member on the Rainbow Warrior with me during the Come Back Whales campaign. But he cannot be replaced until Apple goes green. His body will be recycled next week if at all possible. Condolences can be sent via Greenpeace.

Posted by Adele at 5:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It's the same every year - each time Christmas comes around, your shelves become littered with cards featuring bedraggled robins and mawkish fireside scenes until they go into the recycling bin. But not this year, because we've cooked up something a little bit different.

It's an e-card, but not just any old e-card. With the help of Her Royal Highness Queen E (or at least, someone who looks very much like her), you can send friends and family alike the Queen's Alternative Christmas Speech, a customised message full of Christmas cheer that's eco-friendly in two ways. First, no trees will have been harmed in making it, and secondly Queen E has plenty of practical advice to impart that will help one and all have a greener Christmas. If you know someone who could improve their ways, this is the card for you.

For those not in the know, here in the UK (and, I believe, across the Commonwealth), our television screens are blessed each Christmas Day with a personal message from our Head of State. It's kind of like the US Presidential address but with more corgis and tweed, and receives a fair bit of lampooning.

So go on and do a forest a favour. She's waiting for you... The Queen's Alternative Christmas Speech »

Posted by Jamie at 3:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Ok, so we were asking for this. A YouTube user called thevolleyballman has decided to "spice up" up our 'Breathe' video. Thing is, this particular breather seems to be sleeping on their back...

The original 'Breathe' video »

Posted by Dave at 3:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

© Greenpeace/Luis Liwanag

The photo above shows activists hoisting a balloon with the message 'Stop Funding Climate Change' outside the Asian Development Bank Headquarters in Pasig City, which is east of the Philippine capital, Manila. We're demanding that ADB, Asia's largest institution lender, stop supporting fossil fuel and dirty energy projects that cause climate change and inflict harm to thousands of people and instead aggressively fund renewable energy initiatives in the region.The ADB is set to release its energy policy in the next few weeks.

Will the ADB finally stop funding climate change? »

Tell the Philippine Government you want 10% of the country’s energy to come from renewable sources such as the sun, wind and modern biomass power by 2010. 10 percent by 2010: Kaya natin ito!

Posted by Dave at 3:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

A seahorse tries to camouflage inside a big plastic bag.
© Danny Ocampo

I caught this on the BBC last night:

Microscopic particles of plastic could be poisoning the oceans, according to a British team of researchers.

They report that small plastic pellets called "mermaids' tears", which are the result of industry and domestic waste, have spread across the world's seas.

The scientists had previously found the debris on UK beaches and in European waters; now they have replicated the finding on four continents.

Scientists are worried that these fragments can get into the food chain.

Plastic rubbish, from drinks bottles and fishing nets to the ubiquitous carrier bag, ends up in the world's oceans.

Sturdy and durable plastic does not bio-degrade, it only breaks down physically, and so persists in the environment for possibly hundreds of years.

Echo's our work in the trash vortex.

Posted by Andrew at 9:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I had a nice big cup of laughing outloud this morning when Elaine at the desk next to me stumbled on this and read out the headline. UH-OH sez I to myself I sez, what faux pas have we actually committed and admitted to or not committed and admitted to or been accused of admitting to? I expected a morning of damage control, only to discover it's a new ad campaign from Greenpeace Canada.

Posted by brianfit at 9:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

© Greenpeace/Alex Hofford

Here's one of our activists - chained to heavy machinery - talking to a construction worker at the illegal construction site of the 'Puerto Los Cabos' coastal property development in Baja California Sur, Mexico. The construction of a planned 800 hectare marina and hotel complex will damage the surrounding wetlands from and are predicted to heavily impact the local fishing industry and marine environment.

More here on the Ocean Defenders weblog »

Posted by Dave at 8:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Intriguing report in from the folks at the Biogeochemical Dynamics lab at the University of Arizona.

It seems that the Southern Ocean might slow the rate of global warming by absorbing significantly more heat and carbon dioxide than previously thought. The Southern Hemisphere's westerly winds have slide southward in the last 30 years, and a new climate model suggests that these winds can will transfer heat and carbon dioxide from the surface waters surrounding Antarctica into the deeper, colder waters.

Lead researcher Joellen L. Russell was quoted as saying that "'We think it will slow global warming. It won't reverse or stop it, but it will slow the rate of increase.'"

She also said: "'But there are consequences... This isn't an unqualified good, even if more carbon dioxide and heat goes into the ocean.'"

"As the atmosphere warms, storing more heat in the ocean will cause sea levels to rise even faster as the warmed water expands, she said. Adding more CO2 to the oceans will change their chemistry, making the water more acidic and less habitable for some marine organisms."

There's lots more - too much to get into here. Check out Science Daily: Southern Ocean Could Slow Global Warming »

Posted by Dave at 7:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Spotted by Lisa - story of angry captive killer whale that kind of misses the obvious:

"Some days, killer whales just wake up on the wrong side of the pool. A 2 1/2-ton orca that dragged a trainer underwater during a show at SeaWorld may have been put out by a spat with another whale, grumpy because of the weather or just irritable from a stomach ache, according to marine mammal experts." Miami Herald: Orca returns to S.D. tank after attack »

... maybe the 5m-long whale, named Kasatka, got a little fed up with living in captivity?

According to one of the trainers,

"the animals perform as many as eight times a day, 365 days a year, 'so this, even though it can be expected because they are killer whales, it is definitely abnormal.'"

Hell, if I was performing at that kind of rate, I might be biting people too...

Defend the whales » (wild ones!)

Posted by Dave at 7:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Looks like phytoplankton, things that eat them and things that breathe are likely to suffer from climate change. According to recent NASA research published in the journal Nature, phytoplankton do not fare well when the water heats up even a few degrees.

From the ABC News article:

In a "sneak peak" revealing a grim side effect of future warmer seas, new NASA satellite data find that the vital base of the ocean food web shrinks when the world's seas get hotter.

And that discovery has scientists worried about how much food marine life will have as global warming progresses.

...snip...

Phytoplankton are the microscopic plant life that zooplankton and other marine animals eat, essentially the grain crop of the world's oceans.

Read more »

Posted by Andrew at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Elaine's been driving us all mad (well, at least since I arrived in Amsterdam yesterday) with her Christmas card plans. For me, it's a little early - am I a Scrooge to not really think about Christmas until about December 20th? Anyway, enjoy, and spread far and wide!

12 tips to a green holiday season »

Email to a Friend »

Posted by Dave at 6:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've just got back from the Apple store, minus one PowerBook G4 top case. They threw it away, since apparently it's impossible to recycle them here... weird, since I recycled about 100 beer cans made from exactly the same substance last week (and no, I did not drink them all myself before you rush to report me to AA).

I went into a polite diatribe about Apple's lack of recycling (and a cathartic side-rant about the failure of my much-loved pink iPod mini to function after just 2 years of less-than-industrial use). My Mac Man was very sympathetic, but I bet there's a poster of me under the counter now - "WARNING - Do not serve this woman!". Then again, looks like Apple will have to serve me, since they need all the European customers they can get: through my sympathetic Mac Man I learnt that Apple has had to withdraw certain products from the EU market (forgive me if you already knew this, but I didn't and had been scouring the shops in vain for an iSight webcam so I can Skype my mum!).

The inside word is that this has quite worried Apple despite their arrogant appearance. So it's pretty amazing that Steve Jobs can call our concerns "bullsh*t" when Apple has already been forced to withdraw products from the EU because they fail to meet EU standards on hazardous substances. Why aren't the alarm bells on their iCal applications going crazy??

Read more »

Posted by Adele at 3:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Yesterday, the Washington Post came out with a scathing editorial about Iceland, and how it harpooned a UN agreement which would have protected vast areas of sensitive marine habitat from unregulated bottom trawling:

A tiny country that still hunts whales scuttles an effort to save the ocean bottom.

Sunday, December 3, 2006; Page B06

IN A FORM of fishing known as bottom trawling, huge, weighted nets are dragged across the ocean floor, destroying corals and just about everything else in their path. In U.S. waters, the practice is tightly regulated -- and forbidden in certain environmentally sensitive areas. On much of the high seas, however, it's open season. Delicate ecosystems get ravaged with nobody paying attention. The Bush administration, along with several other governments, has been pushing for a moratorium on unregulated trawling on the high seas. Last month, thanks in large part to Iceland, it failed to get that measure.

...snip...

Because the arcane rules of high-seas fishing are largely defined by consensus, even small countries that are genuine moral outliers in world attitudes toward oceans can prevent agreement. The result in this case was a mushy resolution that fell far short of what the administration and environmental groups wanted, which in turn is ominous for efforts to protect marine life in international waters.

Read more »

Posted by Andrew at 1:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I came across an intriguing article today, in the September/October issue of Peter Barnes, co-founder and president of Working Assets.

I couldn't find a copy of it on Adbusters, but I found variations of the articles - see the links below. I also found a video on YouTube of Barne's discussing the very basics of the idea of Capitalism 3.0 - the idea that we we need introduce a whole new dimension to capitalism, if we're to have any chance in protecting our environment and the future of life on the planet.

I've only read the basic articles, but I think I'll be checking out all 216 pages his book, Capitalism 3.0 over the next week or so. It can be downloaded for free!

Barnes writes:

"I'm a businessman. I believe society should reward successful initiative with profit. At the same time, I know that profit-seeking activities have unhealthy side effects. They cause pollution, waste, inequality, anxiety, and no small amount of confusion about the purpose of life."

Read more »

Posted by Dave at 6:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Check this out - over the last few months, the Defending our Oceans team have been asking artists from around the world to become Ocean Defenders and show us how they've been influenced by our oceans.

Not involved yet? Now's yer chance. Go on, have a go...

art4oceans Art Wall »
Forum: Defending Our Oceans art4oceans Art Wall Project »
art4oceans gallery on DeviantART »
art4oceans Community Artists Gallery »

Posted by Dave at 6:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)