« May 2007 | Main | July 2007 »

June 29, 2007

New Greenpeace flag designed by supporter




Karen Guy holds up our old flag (top) and our new flag

Greenpeace has a new flag! We asked folks to submit their designs, made a selection, and then put the final contestents out to a vote at our discussion forum, Louder than Words.

It was a tough decision. As with our competition to name the ship "Esperanza," we were spoiled for choice -- our online activists are a creative bunch. (If you want to join this fun-loving bunch of ship-naming, flag-designing, campaign-winning, future-greening folks, sign up here.)

Congratulations to Danielle Brandt of Denmark for submitting the winning design! Danielle won a goody bag of Greenpeace gear and the 5 minutes of fame that being featured here on Making Waves, the Greenpeace blog, brings. But she describes the best reward as knowing that a piece of her work will be there on board the ships as they expose environmental crimes, confront the criminals, and drive the solutions we need for a green and peaceful world.


We asked Danielle to tell us a little bit about how she got with the flag design competition, and this is what she wrote:

Read more »


Yesmen launch new 'Exxon' fuel, Exxon rolls out the legal heavies

The Yesmen, corporate pranksters (with a conscience) par excellence, have done it again with their unique and often hilarious brand of identity correction - this time nailing climate criminal numero uno ExxonMobil. They sneaked in to an oil industry conference to announce ExxonMobil plans to turn billions of climate-change victims into a brand-new fuel called Vivoleum.

Now the Yesmen have claimed some notable scalps in the past including announcing the closure of the WTO and Dow's clean up of Bhopal. But Exxon immediately rolled out scary sounding legal notices (also nothing new for the Yesmen) but often internet providers get very scared by expensive corporate lawyers writing nasty letters. Despite the fact that the right of parody is legally protected, their provider immediately took down their site. Here's the Yesmen's newsletter - if you're interested in free speech on the internet, or happen to be a friendly hosting service these great folks need your help! And their film is really good watch too.

Read more »


June 25, 2007

Coal industry put on notice

The latest Platts International Coal Report ran a story about our work in Asia. Although I wouldn't call the article "favorable", it's always great to see an industry publication covering our work, and they did give fair comment to Greenpeace staff. Plus, you've got to love that headline:

Greenpeace leads steady attempt to banish coal into insignificance

Largely considered a hard-line, fringe group until more than a decade ago, global environmental advocacy group Greenpeace is now looming large over the coal industry, arguing that increasing coal usage is not a cheaper or a strategic option in the long-term even for developing countries in Asia as the fuel becomes increasingly regulated amid a climate change debate.


Read more »


Cool climate annimations

The winner was also really good (watch it here), but I like this one about elephants. (Can't go wrong with elephants I always say.) More climate animations here. Lots of good ones, though sadly lacking in the animated elephant department.


June 24, 2007

Greenpeace, history, and T-shirts

David McTaggart and Steve Sawyer, circa 1986

We had a big party Friday night to mark Steve Sawyer’s departure from Greenpeace after nearly 30 years of service to The Firm. We put an invitation out to the diaspora of Greenpeace staff that Steve has known over the years — and they are legion — and asked them to gather to celebrate not just Steve, but the organisation’s history — the two are sometimes difficult to distinguish. Steve was there at so many beginnings, so many transitions, so many crossroads. He was one of the major forces, second only to David McTaggart, who drove the organisation through its early years. And while McT, rest his soul, will probably always get the top-dog credit, the fact is that some of our most successful work would never have been begun, or would never have succeeded, without Steve’s hand on the wheel. And we could have had a few major disasters if Steve hadn’t known when it was time to take McT’s hand off the wheel.

I always thought of Steve as our Gandalf, our grey pilgrim, wise and cunning and wary — moving mysteriously, turning up at precisely the right time, inspiring and encouraging despairing members of the fellowship, always a step ahead of the enemy, and never one to suffer fools gladly.

Read more »


June 21, 2007

San Francisco goes for smart energy


From the Sacramento Bee:

The city plans eventually to have at least 51 percent of its electricity supplied by renewable sources of energy -- compared to about 13 percent for PG&E today. Those new sources could include a wind farm in Solano County, geothermal power from the desert, solar panels in the city's sunny southeast section and even wave power supplied by the Pacific Ocean.

A much more aggressive energy efficiency program would also play a role.

City officials and analysts believe that San Francisco can dramatically boost its use of renewable energy and still get its power for less than residents are paying now. One big reason: municipal bonds. The city can borrow money with low, tax-free interest rates not available to the private utilities.

That cheap money might be able to jumpstart renewable energy projects that otherwise would never get off the ground. Most such projects have high upfront costs and then fairly minimal costs to operate.

This is a plan Greenpeace, the Sierra Club and other groups have been pushing for a while. It's called "Community Choice Aggregation".


Air travel and climate change

climate_ticket_exchange.jpg

This one kind of slipped by me, but Greenpeace UK did a cool thing a couple days ago. The set up booths at airports and gave away free train tickets.

Over the past hour or so, impromptu ticket exchange booths have been appearing in airports across the UK.

Greenpeace volunteers (fetchingly dressed as stewards and stewardesses - pics here) have been offering BA passengers checking into domestic flights climate-friendly train tickets.

It's not just because we're generous souls - it's also because flying causes 10 times more damage to the climate than taking the train. And it's responsible for 13 per cent of the UK's impact on the climate (that's the government's own figures).


Read more »


June 20, 2007

Climate change refugees

Today is World Refugee day. A day to focus worldwide attention on the the estimated 40 million people world wide uprooted by violence and persecution. But there is also a new kind of refugee. The climate refugee. In the words of Antonio Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees:

Climate change and environmental damage lie behind increasingly frequent natural disasters with dramatic human consequences. Different models of the impact of climate change all present a worrying picture of human displacement. East Africa offers a stark example. All predictions are that desertification will expand steadily, making it difficult for people to earn a living and provoking further migration. All of this is happening in the absence of international capacity and determination to respond.

Read more »


June 19, 2007

Cod battered by Global Warming

Alison writes:

I thought you might be interested in reading and possibly linking to the following article on the effect of climate change on fisheries, published today in the Asbury Park Press.

Of note is the historic decision of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to prohibit any bottom-trawl commercial fishing off the far north of Alaska past the Bering Strait — at least until scientists figure out the effects of sea ice retreat and warming.

Climate change already affects ocean ecosystems and seafood production off the shores of North America, according to a new report on the long decline and now-stalled recovery of Atlantic cod and a decision by Alaska fisheries regulators to seal off America's farthest northern waters to fishing.

Warming in the Arctic may be one reason why cod are so slow to return to Atlantic waters, despite years of increased restrictions on fishing, says Brian Rothschild of the University of Massachusetts.

"Everyone has attributed the declines of cod, especially in Canada, to overfishing," said Rothschild, dean of the UMass School for Marine Science and Technology. [...]

Now, "fishermen think things are changing in the Atlantic," he added. "If this is part of a global climate change event, these things may not come back."

Read more or Take action: Help tackle global warming in 7 steps


June 15, 2007

Oil industry's new solution

The prankster Yes Men have hoaxed again. This time they spoke at a big oil industry exposition posing as representatives from the Natural Petroleum Council and ExxonMobil. Their proposed solution to reducing dependence on overseas oil and dealing with climate change - use dead bodies for fuel. [Note to self: Insert "Soylent Green is people" reference here.]

Read more »


MEPs show themselves to be a bit dim

The numbers are in and sadly they weren't quite what we were hoping for. Despite the huge amount of emails you sent to MEPs, asking them to support a ban on inefficient light bulbs across the EU (and thank you for that!), not enough signed up to adopt the declaration.

We needed 400 MEPs across Europe to put their names down to this bright idea to take it forward. Yet despite a frantic round of last-minute phone calls from our European campaigners to their MEPs, we only saw 197 signatures before the deadline.

It doesn't mean this is the end of the road - far from it. We'll still be lobbying the EU to push for energy efficiency legislation and working on national governments to pull their fingers out. And if you've joined the 7steps programme, you'll already know what else you can do for the energy [r]evolution. If you haven't, are you waiting for hell to freeze over? No, wait, that doesn't quite work...


ExxonMobile still hurt and "missunderstood" on climate change

The world's largest non-state oil company lashed out today saying it really is worried about climate change and just wants to help in its own way. From the Guardian article:

ExxonMobil criticised Greenpeace, the Kyoto treaty and the European carbon trading system yesterday but insisted it was not a "climate change denier" and said it wanted to play a constructive role in countering global warming.

Read more »


June 14, 2007

"We only get to play this game once"

Are there really people out there who still need convincing that we have to act on climate change?

Join the 7 step climate campaign. It’s a start.


(An extra + to this man for not making it a bloody boring power point presentation. Am I tired of those things...)


June 13, 2007

Thousands protest against nuclear power in Indonesia

This month thousands of people in Indonesia have been showing their opposition to nuclear power with a massive protest yesterday in the Kudus regency against government plans to build Indonesia's first new nuclear power plant in the nearby Jepara regency.

Earlier this month, Greenpeace joined thousands of Japara's residents, community leaders, artists and celebrities in in a protest against the same proposal.

The plans seem unfathomably crazy especially since Indonesia has plenty of opportunities for renewable energy. They will be using old and questionable technology to build the reactors that will require 4,000 litres of water per minute on the edge of a dormant volcano!

Let's hope President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono realises what a stupid plan this is and bins it in favour of a clean energy strategy that so many people are clearly calling out for.

Now as if the plans in Indonesia aren't worrying enough - check out what Thailand just announced today!


June 8, 2007

Thank you, Rachel Carson

©Greenpeace/Newman
©Greenpeace/Newman
I grew up without eagles.

I was a child of the 60s, and the place where I spent most of my youth was upstate New York in the United States.Largely agricultural, the area was heavily sprayed with pesticides. The marshes at the north end of Cayuga lake were sprayed with DDT. Because of this, as a child, I thought of eagles and herons as exotic species that featured in picture books, and lived far away. Not so. Eagles, herons, and a handful of other raptors and large bird species once ranged across upstate New York. But by the time I was a child, they were all gone.

It took a Zoologist named Rachel Carson to figure out why. Because before she wrote Silent Spring, there was nobody charged with noticing. There was no Environmental Protection Agency. There were no eco-activists. If the US Department of Agriculture wanted to cause widespread collateral damage to birds and aquatic wildlife in its relentless pursuit of eradicating perceived pests, who was to raise a hand in protest?

The book Rachel Carson wrote so profoundly awoke a complacent public, it changed the world. The EPA, Greenpeace, the Endangered Species Act, and the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts in the US are arguably all direct decedents of Silent Spring, along with bans on dozens of chemicals she targeted in her pages.But Silent Spring wasn't about chemicals.

What Carson exposed was more: a corporate, government, and social blindness to consequences, to linkedness, to the basics of balance and response in natural systems.

Read more »


"Recent CO2 rises exceed worst-case scenarios"

That chilling (irony intended) headline is from a New Scientist article someone just sent me (thanks Tom). From the story:

The world's recent carbon dioxide emissions are growing more rapidly than even the worst-case climate scenario used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, say researchers.

Read more »


G8 wrap: Waffle, reheated anyone?

Update from Daniel at the summit -

As G8 leaders are just sitting down for their last lunch, a special G8 menu has mysteriously appeared at the G8 media centre. They have served us nice cake and coffee here over the last few days. But the G8 leaders clearly were not content with sipping champagne behind the security fence and served up a different menu to the rest of the world. After a cocktail they sat down to "eight prawns grilled under a warm climate" and they finished off their meal with a "Not so Easy to Digestif". I wish our leaders put as much effort into saving our planet as some wonderful NGO colleagues put into this funny spoof!

The G8 did not deliver what they needed to. But I leave Heiligendamm more upbeat than I expected. Greenpeace did a wonderful and dramatic action, that - as one TV presenter today told me - "produced the best Greenpeace pictures in years". We raised the temperature on climate change and now have a real fighting chance to achieve progress at the next climate conference in Bali in December. The G8 failed the world, no question about it. But the G8 also felt the pressure from the real world - from all of you. We live to fight another day. Please help us build up the pressure further. You can start by joining our energy revolution
.


June 7, 2007

Stirring it up at the G8 - and seeing our message get through

g8actnow.jpg
[ © Axel Schmidt/DDP ]

Jo is our very busy press officer at the summit's media centre. Here's her first hand account from today.

From Jo:

It wasn't until I saw the footage on the super-sized screens in the media centre that I really realized what was happening. A full on police chase with Greenpeace RIBS (rigid inflatable boats). As I watched, a police boat rammed one of our inflatables, knocking activists into the water. Six of our people suffered severely heavy bruising, but fortunately no one was more seriously hurt.

I ran out to the balcony, overlooking the beach - where we were holding a press conference. What I found was a massive crowd of people, cameras and notebooks everywhere. I pushed my way to the front - and lo and behold, there were more Greenpeace boats, being chased by police right in front of us.

It was an amazing feeling seeing the boats go past, with a huge crowd watching a seriously great action. I lost Daniel and Tobias in a surge of media interviews, as I ran back in to get a press release ready.

Read more »


Greenpeace reaction to G8 climate deal

Here's the statement from our team at the summit:

Greenpeace condemned G8 leaders for failing to live up to their historic responsibility for climate change by not agreeing to keep mean temperature rise below 2 degrees compared to pre-industrial levels. The deal is "clearly not enough to prevent dangerous climate change" said Daniel Mittler, climate policy advisor of Greenpeace International.

Greenpeace welcomed that the G8 gave a political mandate for a start of serious negotiations for the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol to start at the climate negotiations in Bali in December.

The US isolation in refusing to accept binding emission cuts has become obvious at this meeting. "The Bush administration have agreed to "seriously consider" that the rest of the world is setting reduction targets, but is as far away as from agreeing to such targets themselves as ever" said Mittler.

Greenpeace reminded the G8 governments that they need to reduce their emissions by 80-90% by 2050 if the world is to avoid catastrophic climate change. "Governments failed to commit to what science tells us is necessary here. They must now urgently do so at the United Nations."


Into the exclusion zone at the G8

Update: Just found more footage and photos on der Spiegel.

Update 2: Just got good news, some severe bruising and one activist will have to stay in the hospital a bit longer - but no serious injuries. The boats and 19 people remain in police custody.


Climate change is a global emergency. Yet, despite the mountains of scientific evidence, that message apparently isn't getting through to our world leaders. Today, Blair seemed to cave to Bush on the idea of the G8 agreeing to specific carbon dioxide reduction targets. Without specific goals it's all talk, mutual backslapping and more procrastination - just what the Bush administration wants.

So this morning, 24 Greenpeace activists, using 11 speedboats took the message "G8: Act Now!" to the waters around the Heilingendamm summit. They entered the outer restricted area at 11am, informing the police as they did so. They came in from both east and west sides, entering into the inner restricted zone 10 minutes later.

Read more »


The story so far

Officially, it's only day two of the summit, but there's already been a tons of political drama. For those of you just coming to the story, Greenpeace UK has a good overview up on their site. Here's an excerpt:

So the sleeves are being rolled up on all sides for an intense bout of negotiation. What would success look like?

Well, it's all down to Merkel, and how far she's willing to push it. Leaving aside the possibility that Bush has a Damascene conversion and decides he wants to adopt ambitious, mandatory targets through the UN, the next best result will be for Merkel to ignore him, and focus on the seven other G8 countries that have ratified Kyoto.

If Bush keeps trying to sabotage the process, Merkel needs to keep pushing forward, without worrying about the US. If these seven countries can agree on mandatory and meaningful emissions reduction targets, working within the UN framework, then the G8 will have been a success.


Room for a Green View?

I'm always very excited when the Apple store goes offline and Apple is presenting its new products but on Tuesday I was even more since I was really curious to see what Apple would have offered after the Greener Apple statement. They disappointed me last May 15th when they updated the MacBook without adding anything relevant for the environment, but I was sure that this time Apple would not have failed to show that they really care to change their environmental policy.

At nearly 14.30 Apple Store went on line, I ran to the Apple site and at the front page I saw the new wonderful MacBook Pro. WOW. Have they launched the first toxic free laptop on the market? Are this new MacBook PVC free or BFRs free? Are they using the mercury free LED display?

Room for a Green View?

Read more »


June 6, 2007

Choose the right biofuel or the orang-utan gets it

Last month in the UK, we launched a campaign with several other organisations for rigorous controls on biofuels. Governments across the EU are trying to force fuel companies to supply more biofuels and so cut carbon dioxide emissions, but while biofuels could make a small contribution in the battle against climate change, they could in fact do more harm than good.

If rainforests are cut down to make way to grow 'green fuels', it will not only destroy homes for animals like orang-utans, it will also be catastrophic for the climate by releasing more greenhouse gases by destroying forests than we will save using biofuels. The link between deforestation has been well documented so clearing forests to grow biofuel crops makes absolutely no sense.

Anyway, the campaign launched with a cheeky press ad (here's a PDF version) warning of the perils of biofuels, which has now been made into a short, sharp shock of a film which is playing above. Enjoy.


Merkel and Bush

My favorite headline of the G8 so far, "Bush, Merkel vow to fight poverty, disagree on climate". This follows what was apparently a very nice lunch meeting between the two of them. From the article:

"But Bush made no reference to Merkel's demands that G8 leaders commit to cutting global greenhouse gas emissions to 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050 and limiting the worldwide temperature rise this century to 2 degrees Celsius.

Merkel, for her part, recognized that while the US and Germany agreed on combating poverty in Africa, there were other "areas here and there" which needed further discussion."

In perhaps not unrelated news, today German police boarded the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise - even though it was well outside the summit security zone. The police boarded without a search warrant and confined the 24 crew before seizing Greenpeace equipment including engines from inflatables, making the boats unusable, and the hull of a Greenpeace hot air balloon.

I wonder if, at any point during the lunch, Merkel and George "there ought to be limits to free speech" Bush touched on how far a government should go to ensure that leaders of the world's wealthiest nations can meet without the inconvenience of protest.

Greenpeace statement in response Merkel/Bush comments today.

From the BBC: Who are the G8 protesters?


Coral and Coal

jasreef.jpg
Jasper, Greenpeace South East Asia climate and energy campaigner, took time out from a coal industry conference in Bali to go coral diving.

Waking up early is always a pain, however, the prospect of going snorkelling in one of Bali’s best dive destinations is more than enough reason for me to drag myself out of bed at 5:00 a.m. Our destination is Menjangan Island, part of the Bali Barat National Park and Marine Reserve. Also known as ‘Deer Island’, it is home to one of Bali’s most popular scuba diving spots. Our mission is to bear witness to the amazing beauty of its coral reefs, which are threatened by massive bleaching due to sea temperature rise.

Following a bone-shaking 3-hour ride we arrive at the beach resort to catch the boat to Menjangan Island. With us is Professor Iyingketut Sudiarta of Warmadewa University in Denpasar, a marine biologist who has been studying Menjangan Island’s coral reefs. Our party boards two glass-bottomed boats, which afford us excellent, otherworldly views of the underwater world. We first head north east to check the area just outside the marine reserve. Our mood soon changes to one of depression and desolation as we find evidence of the appalling impacts this coral reef ecosystem has suffered. Professor Sudiarta tells us that reefs in the marine reserve suffered massive coral bleaching from the record high sea temperatures of the 1998 El Nino which hit 75-100% of the coral cover.

Read more »


Dell vs Apple: Eco-Rumble in the Electronic Jungle

jobs-dell.jpgGet the popcorn folks, it's the computer industry's heavyweight championship fight of the century.

Michael Dell led with an uppercut to the chin when he announced Dell's free worldwide recycling policy and challenged the industry to match it. Steve jobs staggered back to the ropes, dazed, then came back with a surprise left when he declared a phase-out of the worst toxic chemicals in the Apple product line (and a deadline to do so sooner than Dell's), along with a new commitment to eco-transparency. Yesterday, Dell shook it off and sucker-punched Jobs when he laid down his plans to become the greenest computer company in the world.

This is the kind of prize fight we love.

Read more »


June 5, 2007

Happy World Environment Day G8 leaders!

Yes, today is World Environment Day (the UN says so). Official theme is "melting ice". Coincidentally, the G8 summit in Germany starts tomorrow. We've got a team on the scene, and you can follow their work here. But this update isn't about Bush, Merkel or even Harper. It's about the melting glaciers of the Himalayas, and the nearly 1 billion people whose water supply could be affected.

Recently a Greenpeace expedition went to the Himalayas to document the retreat of these glaciers. There's a feature story here by a Chinese journalist who joined the expedition (along with an audio slideshow by the expedition photographer).

Or check out this mini-documentary (it's under five minutes)....

Read more »


June 4, 2007

Climate killers' conference

Ning.jpg Sureerut Taechusakul (Ning) is a community leader from Thailand’s Prachuap Khiri Khan (PKK) Province. Ning has been spearheading the fight against dirty coal plants in Thailand and is in Bali with a Greenpeace team, to be a thorn in the side of a huge gathering of the coal industry, the people responsible for fuelling climate change.

[photo: Ning in middle, in green © Greenpeace]

Bali plays a critical role this year as it hosts the most important climate negotiating process for Asian countries, the next stage of the Kyoto Treaty negotiations in December. Ironically Bali is also playing host to another gathering this time of the people responsible for fuelling climate change - Coal Trans 2007.

Ning has been campaigning against coal and for cleaner safer energy options for her country for years and led a successful campaign against two large-scale coal plants in PKK. Recently, however, the government has revived its plans to build a coal plant and Ning is again leading the community struggle against it. Theirs is a story of persistence, and relentless dedication to the campaign for a cleaner safer energy future even if they face great risks.

Read more »


June 3, 2007

Human banner

in-the-spirit-of-peaceful-non.jpg In total, more than 600 people formed this human banner in the city harbour of Rostock! It said, "G8: ACT NOW!" Underneath the human banner, a second banner read "Stop Global Warming."

[photo: © Greenpeace / Guenther Menn]

Read more »


June 2, 2007

Amish going solar

This one's via Treehugger: Many Amish are installing solar panels. I expect this will surprise a few readers since the Amish are better known by their disdain for most modern conveniences (or what we think of as conveniences anyway).

Here's a quote, from the Baltimore Sun article, that explains why most Amish find solar power a-ok:

Not all Amish people approve, but many do -- particularly if solar energy is used for business and home use is kept to a minimum. Solar electricity fits into the Amish self-sufficiency model. It is convenient, safe and, unlike some Amish-sanctioned alternatives, there are no noxious fumes or noise and no fuel costs.

"There's so much free sun and free air, and if we could harness it, we wouldn't need any more power plants," said Andrew Hertzler, an Amish farmer selling flowers and plants outside the local library here on a recent afternoon.



Snowmen and Elvis against global warming

Cheng reading speech. Update from Agnes: Several members of the Solar Generation, together with students from People and Planet, took part yesterday in a largely peaceful G8 demonstration in Rostock.

Carrying huge banners and inflatable snowmen, people marched from Schlutuper Kreuz to the Rostock City Harbour to call on G8 leaders to take action on climate change. Leaders from the Group of 8 countries are meeting in Heiligendamm next week to discuss issues like social justice, climate change, and trade liberalisation. There were a number of riots during the demonstration but these involved only a few protesters.

Cheng qian of Solar Generation China delivered a speech before 80.000 people!, urging the G8 to ACT NOW. The Solar Drums group, as well as volunteers from Greenpeace Germany, were also there to join the demonstration.

[photo: © Greenpeace / Salvatore Barbera (Giona)]

Read more »


June 1, 2007

Olkiluoto nuclear plant protest ends

Hanging in there. Today the three remaining activists made their way safely down the construction crane - ending their occupation of the Olkiluoto, Finland, nuclear plant construction site.

You can read a (2nd hand) update from one of the climbers on the Greenpeace UK blog or read our feature story for more info.

And here's the news from Kaisa (Greenpeace Finland):

The climbers came down because they saw they had achieved already a lot. They managed to raise wide discussions about the problems of nuclear in general, and the problems of this particular reactor. They were able to get attention to the other side of the story...

Read more »


How to get a green message direct to Steve?

When Apple CEO Steve Jobs made his "A Greener Apple" statement he acknowledged that Apple fans expected more from Apple. We wanted to send him a permanent memento and reminder of the great work many Apple fans had sent us via our Green my Apple website. But Steve is obviously a busy man - how to get a suitable memento to him in an appropriate manner?

Read more »


Get Making Waves via email

Enter your email address and get Making Waves straight to your inbox:


Delivered by FeedBurner »

Bookmark Us!

Add to any feedreader
canoncan150x220.jpg

Technorati & Stuff

Tech Details


Powered by
Movable Type 3.33