Here’s a not-so-fun fact: I’ve been working on the forest campaign for about a month now, and I’ve heard a lot of people mention how many football fields of forest disappear every second/ hour/day. I don’t know about others, but I personally didn’t have the remotest idea of the actual size of a football field until I wrote this post. According to our resident football expert, Maarten, there isn’t even a standard size. So why do we keep talking about football fields? It helps visualize, since most people, unlike me, have a clue. According to FIFA , the average size of a football field is 7000m2. If a football field disappears every two seconds, it means that we lose every day at least 302 million square metres of forests. That’s a lot.

Here’s another not-so-fun fact: exactly a century ago today, a meteor flattened an area of forest of 2 billion square meters in Siberia. It is know as the Tunguska meteor (but to be perfectly honest, the exact nature of this object is still debated).

Compare those two sets of data. It takes less than a week (6.61 days to be precise) for humans to chop down 2 billion square meters of forests. So in a week, humans can cause more destruction than a ball of fire coming from outer space. In the space of a century, this makes deforestation 55219 times more dangerous than meteors.

Now, that’s visualization.

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

At last... IWC60, also known as the 60th International Whaling Commission meeting, is now over.

I started writing blog in the press room yesterday, while listening to the incredible (and often entertaining) rhetoric emanating from the pro-whaling nations, especially those whose votes have been "purchased" by Japan. The matter at stake today was a proposed expansion of Greenland's quota, to add 10 humpback whales to the quota of 200 minke, 19 fin and 2 bowhead whales already hunted annually. Alas, while Greenland's hunt supposedly falls under the definition of aboriginal subsistence whaling, it's becoming clear to Greenpeace - as well as other organisations like WSPA - that it's anything but; Greenland clearly doesn't need the whale meat it demands for local, subsistence use - much of it ends up in Greenland's supermarkets, for commercial sale, which means it's not fulfilling the IWC definition of "subsistence".

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Posted by Dave at 3:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

IWC Chairman William Hogarth opens the Whale Kingdom for the Greenpeace Ocean Defenders
© Greenpeace/Christian Varas Kallens.

This is my first blog from the International Whaling Commission - as I write, we're into the third day of the five-day meeting, at the Sheraton Hotel, in Santiago, Chile. Without trying to justify why it's taken me so long to write something, I would like to explain - despite the fact that not much has happened here so far, it's still been a pretty busy few days.

Most of the Greenpeace team arrived last week - our IWC stalwart John Frizell, Thilo on politics, Karen, the head of Oceans at Greenpeace, Leandra, our scientist, Milko, Latin American coordinator, Rob from Greenpeace Australia. Already here, of course, were the fantastic team from Greenpeace Chile, especially Sam, Melissa, Rodrigo, Luis and Sergio.

This was always going to be a weird IWC - after years of deadlock between the pro-whaling and pro-conservation counties, IWC60 (this one) was supposed have an atmosphere of respect, peacemaking and reconciliation. This boils down to a kind of polite standoff, where everyone more or less agrees not to attack one another. Until, of course, someone else attacks first...

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Posted by Dave at 9:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

What an end to our Quit Coal ship tour in the Philippines… After talking about the effects of Climate Change on the Philippines for several weeks, I experienced them first hand with “Frank” or internationally better known as Typhoon Fengshen. The Rainbow Warrior left just in time from the island of Boracay where we had launched the “Save the Climate, save Boracay” initiative with local resorts. Just hours later the typhoon struck the island.

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Posted by Mareike at 2:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

This is a rough translation of the final blog that Junichi Sato wrote before he was arrested in Tokyo for allegedly stealing a box of whale meat, itself stolen from the Japanese taxpayers, that he presented to police as evidence of widescale fraud in the whaling industry:

20 June 2008/06/23

Whale Meat Embezzlement News No.11: toward IWC and G8

It is sad but it seems like this is the last update of this blog for a while. Last night TV news reported that Aomori police would arrest us.

As I have been continuously saying publicly, I will keep supporting and helping the investigation of what we have done and of the embezzlement of whale meat by the Nisshin Maru’s crew.

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Posted by brianfit at 7:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Junichi Sato is not only a whale activist in Japan (and there ain't many people who can put THAT on their business card), he's also a blogger. And he's been arrested for the crime of exposing the truth.

AFP reported

"Sato, writing on his blog shortly before his arrest, appealed for a continued probe into the alleged whale meat embezzlement.

"I just want to appeal to the hearts of people involved in the whale embezzlement case: 'Do you think it's alright to remain silent?'" Sato wrote.

"If Japan wants to take the lead as an environmentally advanced country, please, conduct diplomacy that can turn international friction into cooperation."

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Posted by brianfit at 1:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Update: Take Action now to release our activists »

Breaking news - two Japanese Greenpeace activists, Junichi and Toru, have been arrested for exposing the stolen whale meat scandal which led to the ongoing investigation by the Tokyo Public Prosecutor of the government's Southern Ocean whale hunt.

They're being investigated for allegedly stealing a box of whale meat - yet they delivered the meat to the public prosecutor a month ago, as evidence of a systematic whale meat smuggling operation. The activists had tracked the box, along with many others like it, after it had been smuggled off the Nisshin Maru, following its return from the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. They then followed the shipment to a depot in Tokyo, where they intercepted one of four boxes destined for the same private address, in order to verify the contents, and establish the fraud being carried out against the taxpayer.

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Posted by Dave at 5:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)

Hello from Santiago, Chile, where the Greenpeace Whales team is gathering for this years International Whaling Commission meeting. There'll be more news in the coming days like an update on today's "Future of the IWC" discussion - but I I couldn't pass up the opportunity to pass up this little nugget appeared in various media. According to ABC's Shane McLeod, based in Tokyo, the Japanese Foreign Ministry has asked any Japanese people in Chile to avoid talking about whaling.

"The warning says Japanese people should not draw attention to themselves, they should avoid going to the five-star hotel [Sheraton] where the IWC meeting is being held, and to steer clear of anti-whaling rallies... The guidelines also warn against going out at night, and to refrain from talking carelessly about whaling in front of other people."

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Posted by Dave at 9:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

One of our supporters sent along the following memo which the National Fisheries Institute circulated in the US just before the launch of our Seafood Red List and our supermarket ranking guide, which had the audacity to evaluate the fish purchasing policies of US supermarkets and rank their attention to sustainability. (For those of you not in the US, we also created an international version of the Red List along with several national variations).

Clearly, the idea of ensuring the world has fish for tomorrow by protecting fish stocks today is dangerous anti-capitalist sedition:

GREENPEACE LAUNCHING SEAFOOD SUSTAIANBLTY [sic] CAMPAIGN

Who: Environmental Extremist Group Greenpeace
What: Sustainable Seafood Campaign Directed at Grocery Stores
When: Tuesday June 17th
Where: Nationwide (USA)

As many of you know, the eco-activists at Greenpeace have been planning a concerted effort to disrupt seafood sales in this country as part of a seafood sustainability campaign.

We have learned from press reports that Greenpeace plans to launch its efforts on Tuesday June 17th. Greenpeace has already contacted grocery stores nationwide and demanded that they remove almost half of all seafood from sale. As part of its campaign, we expect Greenpeace to release a list ranking retailers based on its own assessment of their seafood sustainability practices. We have already warned retailers to be prepared for acts of vandalism by Greenpeace agents in conjunction with this campaign.

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Posted by brianfit at 4:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sorry but my last entry didn’t show up on the website (internet doesn't always work on the ship). So I give you again an overview of the last days.

When the sun rose on Monday morning I climbed into one of the inflatables from the Rainbow Warrior and headed with mixed feelings towards the Climate Defenders Camp on the shore.
The day before had started off in a festive atmosphere. Anti-coal communities arrived in boats to support the camp as the road access had been blocked. Together we planted colourful wind socks around the camp with personal Quit Coal messages. We packed out our solar cookers and cooked noodles for everyone. It felt a little like having a picnic at a festival.

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Posted by Mareike at 10:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It is an interesting moment when you brainstorm for cool things to do on a campaign, just to notice two days later while doing a Google search that someone else did it. This happened to me yesterday, when I stumbled upon the new Google Earth disappearing forests layer, created by Google Earth genius David Tryse.
It showcases which primary forests around the world are depleted, as well as the data comparing what was there originally and what is left now. This layer has been created using some of our data, which we’re happy to boast about.
If you have Google Earth installed on your computer, you can download the layer here .

Posted by Juliette at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

One summer, after traveling to Greece and seeing a lot of ecological damage done in one of the most beautiful countries I had ever visited, I decided I had to do something to save the world. I turned to Greenpeace and soon became a moderator on the Greenpeace forum where I am know as Juliettelucie, or Mary Poppins. Since that wasn't enough, I have also volunteered at a local group in Italy for one year. Since that still wasn't enough, I snuck my way in Greenpeace International as the current Online Activist Intern.
I like traveling around the world equipped with a backpack and my computer. So far, I have lived in five countries, visited 14 and became fluent in three languages. I hope to make my list grow in future years.

Posted by Juliette at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Martijn, our IT unit head, just passed this on to me. Very cool animation of CO2 emissions. It's based on 2002 emissions - so slightly out of day. Gives a sense of where all that carbon dioxide is coming from though, and how urgently we need an energy revolution.

Posted by Andrew at 9:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You've heard of greenwash right? Well, look out for the "clean coal" media machine as they spend obscene amounts of money spent on advertising and PR in the run up to the US presidential election. The self-described "clean coal" industry is keen to invest in relationships with our elected officials. I doubt they'd want the reality of "clean coal" to become a campaign topic.

By now you might be wondering why I'm spreading around so many links to a supposed "clean coal" website. Well, I think I'm going to let you figure that one out for yourself. ;-)

Posted by Andrew at 8:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Two bits of good news for whales in mail bag today:

A report in Asahi Shinbum, Japan's second largest newspaper, prompts the question whether the Japanese Fisheries Agency's drive to revive commercial whaling is a nationalist political agenda or pork for a few bureaucrats -- as it certainly isn't profit. The companies that were involved in running whaling as a business say there just isn't enough demand to make it worthwhile, and even if the ban on commercial whaling were to be lifted, they wouldn't be interested.

For those of you who have been regularly checking in here at Making Waves, things are really moving in Japan -- we've never seen this kind of mainstream questioning of whaling in the press, and our exposure of the whale meat scandal which is still under investigation certainly hasn't hurt.

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Posted by brianfit at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Have you ever been surrounded by 20 people shouting at you in a language you don’t understand? Quite scary. Yesterday in the early hours of the evening the pro coal chief of the village next to our camp had organized his relatives to come to the camp and shout their pro coal messages. The atmosphere seemed tense.

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Posted by Mareike at 3:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Do you remember the movie “The day after tomorrow” ? When I watched it a shudder ran through me and I felt helpless with this dooms day atmosphere in relation to Climate Change. Entering the climate defenders camp this morning here in Iloilo, Philippines in the area of a proposed coal fired power plant, reveals a completely different picture; laughter, colourful flags and banners all around the site, happy but tired Greenpeace activists are working to improve the camp and an atmosphere of peace prevails.

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Posted by Mareike at 6:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Protesters have blocked a coal shipment to the Drax power plant - one of Europe’s worst for carbon emissions:

As a movement, we are serious. Although we conduct ourselves cheerfully, we don’t think this is a game. Although we can joke, we know why we act. Although we feel anxious and nervous about the consequences, we do it anyway, because it’s important. We are serious - serious about the problem, and serious about solving it.

As the site puts it - where else can you see a giant canary shovelling coal?

Posted by tomD at 4:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Photo © Greenpeace/Stachowske

You know those nights when you wake up in a cold sweat because you dreamt you were out in public in your pyjamas? Well for some Greenpeace volunteers and staff the nightmare became reality at the Bonn climate talks this week. Determined to give governments here a wake up call about the rate and extent of climate change to try and shake them out of their inertia, we strode out into the sunlight dressed in our nightclothes, lugging a giant replica alarm clock accompanied by a bugler playing ‘Reveille’

We decided to kiss goodbye to the last shreds of our dignity to highlight the real nightmare unfolding in the Hotel Maritim, venue for the latest round of climate negotiations.

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Posted by brianfit at 6:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Andrew previously blogged this protest against the planned US military radar installation in the Czech Republic: part of the "Son of Star Wars" missile defense system.

There's now an english language website here, including instructions for how to apply for citizenship.

UPDATE :

June: 9th June, 2008 - The newly established state Peaceland in the Brdy region has been attacked today by the Czech military police. All present activists were arrested and taken away. Even the climbers on the trees were taken down.

Ten vehicles full of military policemen arrived this afternoon to the borders of Peaceland, surrounded the State and then began to arrest the citizens who put up only a passive resistence and let themselves to be loaded in to the police cars. The policemen even confiscated a camera on which one activist was taking video of the attack. The police action had been apparently planned and even though the Greenpeace activists had information about the possible attack, they did not leave. More here...

Posted by brianfit at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

As we head towards the Great Barrier Reef on the Esperanza we're busy getting ready to come into port (Cairns). This is our last day at sea and I can't think of a better day to end our Pacific expedition on. It's World Ocean Day!

Everyone is exhausted and eager to get home but we're all very proud of what we have managed to achieve out here on the big blue. Over the past 9 weeks we've been confronting overfishing in the Western and Central Pacific and calling for marine reserves in the Pacific Commons together with a serious reduction in fishing outside these areas. We have confiscated a fish aggregation device, confronted Korean, Spanish, American and Chinese purse seiners, confiscated longlinging gear and freed marine life, escorted several fishing vessels out of the Pacific Commons, discovered and interrupted a transfer of fish at sea, uncovered illegal fishing vessels and documented many fishing activities in an area where much goes on unregulated and unknown.

We told each and every story to the rest of the world and especially pushed for exposure in the Pacific - encouraging all the Pacific island countries to stand together in solidarity against the distant fishing nations (Asia, Europe and the US) so that tuna stocks can be preserved for the future.

The concept of a "World Ocean Day" was first proposed in 1992 by the Government of Canada at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. It is an opportunity each year to celebrate our world's oceans and our personal connection to the sea.

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Posted by Lisa at 8:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Here's some video footage I took during one of our recent actions out here in the Pacific - when we found the world's largest tuna fishing vessel, the Albatun Tres. Helena, a deckhand and boat driver from Australia and Daniel a volunteer activist from Fiji and Kiribati talk about their experience that day. We made this video together in my cabin last night so that you can see what it's like to be part of a Greenpeace action at sea and bear witness to overfishing in the Pacific. Daniel has also written about his experience below.

Seeing the world's largest tuna fishing vessel – the Albatun Tres was the most horrific experience I have had since being on board the Esperanza.

For the first time ever - I got the opportunity to be part of the action team involved in a peaceful protest. It started off as a bit of a bumpy ride as the sea was quiet rough and I was literally bouncing up and down on the inflatable boat. I was surprised that I managed to get onto this small boat from Esperanza but I made it and off I went to bear witness to the reality of industrial tuna fishing.

What completely amazed me was the massive size of the ship, She is 115 metres in length and so wide and so big that we felt like ants next to a giant. I watched angrily as they hauled in tuna of various sizes as well as other fish caught in the net.

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Posted by Lisa at 5:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Why is so much whale meat ending up in people's houses? Last month, we cracked open the stolen whale meat scandal in Japan - we discovered that boxes of whale meat were smuggled off the Nisshin Maru and couriered to people's homes.

Now it's happening again - according to the export license for fin and minke whale meat shipped from Iceland and Norway, the final address was a private house in Tokyo. Now, we don't think that tonnes of meat have really been squeezed inside a small house. Instead, it seems to be sitting in limbo somewhere. We know that no import license has yet been granted, despite Icelandic claims that there's a market for the meat.

The would-be importer of the meat, Asian Trading Co. Ltd. uses the house's address, but the company has apparently dormant for the last four years, and only reactivated two weeks ago. According to the company register, the company's director and senior management staff resigned in June 2004, leaving the company inactive. The director re-registered the company on May 20th this year, as a "favour for a friend in Iceland", according to a spokesperson. This friend is evidently Iceland's Kristjan Loftsson, the exporter of the meat, and the only whaler left with capacity for large scale industrial whaling and the processing of large whales, such as fin whales.

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Posted by Dave at 6:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My name is Choi Jung and I am a 48 year old Korean. I live on a small island in Korea with my dog, Gom (means 'bear' in Korean). The island is my home town. I came back there in May 1999. The island means everything to me as my job, hobby and my love are all there. I have also been volunteering for an environmental organisation there, called KFEM (Korean Federation for Environmental Movement), since 2001.

My job in the office is focused on the ocean. All my friends know me as a man who loves the sea so much and it is the reason why I am here on Esperanza. But 70 days on a boat is not so short! I am really looking forward to going home now but I have enjoyed my time on board a lot.

Over the weekend we came across a Korean purse seiner in the Pacific Commons. I went over with some of our crew to talk with the captain of the fishing vessel. We handed him a letter about our campaign and I had a long discussion with him over the radio.

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Posted by Lisa at 1:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)