This cool protest photo just in from our ship, the Arctic Sunrise, currently off the coast near the boarder of France and Italy. Photographer is Paul Hilton. From our press release:

Activists in inflatable boats escorted the Panamanian-flagged Hyundai Supreme from the Strait, highlighting the ongoing threat posed by shipments of hazardous cargo. The Hyundai Supreme was carrying around 560 tonnes of dangerous substances. Activists carried a banner reading "stop dangerous cargo".

The Bonifacio Strait, lying between Corsica and Sardinia, is an area of high marine biodiversity. Although the French and Italian governments agreed in 1993 to protect the area and ban their own vessels from carrying dangerous substances through Bonifacio, this has not resulted in any real protection for the area. Every year, around 3,000 cargo ships – including French and Italian vessels - cross the Bonifacio Strait, and approximately ten percent of these carry dangerous substances.

Our ship, the Arctic Sunrise in the Mediterranean documenting threats to the sea and promoting marine reserves. It's part of our master plan (yes, we have master plans) for a global network of fully protected marine reserves covering 40% the oceans.

Posted by Andrew at 6:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Our ship the Arctic Sunrise is in the Mediterranean, in Italian waters. Recently our activists from the ship have been busy highlighting the threat to the Bonifacio Strait from the shipping of dangerous cargo. This part of the Mediterranean Sea lies within the Ligurian Cetacean Sanctuary. Yesterday activists scaled a castle that sits on the edge of the Bonafacio Strait - and unfurled a banner demanding the protection of this vulnerable marine area which is subjected to shipping activities including the transport of hazardous cargo.

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Posted by Lisa at 6:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A legal action taken by Greenpeace Italy against the authorisation for an offshore liquid natural gas terminal (LNG), inside a cetacean sanctuary, was successful yesterday. Our request to withdraw the authorisation has been accepted and plans for the first industrial marine area within a marine protected area have failed!

The sanctuary is in the Ligurian Sea, which contains one of the highest concentrations of whales and dolphins in the Mediterranean. As many as eight cetacean species live there including the impressive fin whale.

But this sea is severely affected by human impacts, including pollution, heavy vessel traffic and intense fishing activities. So the last thing cetaceans need here is an LNG terminal.

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Posted by Lisa at 5:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Excellent piece in the CJR about reporting on climate change. They argue that the nature of the story is changing from being a debate about whether it's happening to a debate about the solutions...

The era of “equal time” for skeptics who argue that global warming is just a result of natural variation and not human intervention seems to be largely over—except on talk radio, cable, and local television. Last year, a meteorologist at CBS’s Chicago station did a special report entitled “The Truth about Global Warming.” It featured local scientists discussing the hazards of global warming in one segment, well-known national skeptics in another, and ended with a cop-out: “What is the truth about global warming?…It depends on who you talk to.” Not helpful, and not good reporting.

About time!!! All the major scientific institutions have said for years that we know enough to act. Good to see CJR reinforce this message. CJR also has a list of useful climate change websites for reporters covering the beat.

As the CJR points out, the reporting job's going to get harder not easier. The economic and political complexities are actually less straight forward than the science. Hopefully, reporters won't fall into the same "depends who you talk to" trap with false solutions like nuclear and carbon capture sequestration.

What do we think are the real answers? Check out our blueprint for an energy revolution.

Posted by Andrew at 5:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You might have already watched our ForestLove video, as part of our campaign to ask the EU Commission to forbid the import of illegally logged timber in the EU.

We hoped from the start that this video would be featured in as many places as possible, since it's key to getting our message out and our campaign working. What we certainly never thought of was to be featured on Fox News, in the O'Reilly Factor of all places.

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Posted by Juliette at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Air quality levels in Beijing are still far from World Health Organization standards. From ABS-CBN news:

Beijing's air quality is still falling well short of international guidelines, despite desperate efforts to clean the Olympic host city's skies before the Games, a report by Greenpeace said Monday.

However, the city has met many of its commitments on environmental issues and will leave an important legacy for Beijing after the August Games, the organisation said in a report.

"Beijing's current air quality still faces major challenges presented by the country's booming economy and the rapid increase in car ownership," said the report, released on a day when thick haze shrouded the city centre.

"Although Beijing has undertaken factory upgrades to improve air quality in the city, more could have been done to move the city towards clean production methods."

More info on the green Olympics page of Greenpeace China's website.

Also see the BBC report "Lingering Pollution Worries in China". (They did their own tests.)

Posted by Andrew at 4:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Well, well. Heres something that just turned up - Canadian rockstar Bryan Adams was on BBC 1 Breakfast TV last month (23rd June), wearing a "Release Junichi and Toru" T-shirt - calling for the release of the two Japanese Greenpeace activists who were held for 23 days without charge for uncovering a whale meat smuggling scandal in Japan. Who would have expected that? Having watched the YouTube video below, Bryan has a sharp sense of humour too.

Read more about Junichi and Toru and the whale meat scandal »

Watch the video...

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Posted by Dave at 3:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Posted by Dave at 2:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)

Why did the chickens invade McDonalds? To save the Amazon rainforest. Today is the second anniversary of the moratorium on buying soya from newly deforested areas in the Amazon, or from farms using indentured or forced labourers. Last month, there was even more reason to celebrate when the moratorium was extended by another year.

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Posted by Jo at 4:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I've just been reading an interesting article in Tuesday's English-language Japan Times. Journalist Bharti Legros eats some whale meat at a restaurant in Shibuya, Tokyo, but then explores the different aspects of the whaling issue - including quotes from our own Junichi (one of the Tokyo 2, recently detained for uncovering a whale meat scandal) and Wakao, both from the Greenpeace Japan office.

I'd like to have seen the print version; Frode, our Nordic campaigner currently visiting Tokyo, says

"Sadly, the online version [of the Japan Times article] does not cover the views from the street, where six people are asked if they eat whale and how often. One has it a few times a year but is not particularly excited about it. Four are definitely not whale meat lovers. The only pro-whaling voice is the only non-Japanese asked, a grad student from the US..."

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Posted by Dave at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)

I posted about the Great Global Warming Swindle before, but just saw this article from the Sydney Morning Herald titled "Climate program swindled viewers". The Swindle was shown on Australian Broadcasting Corporation (different ABC from the one in the US).

This bit captures the issue perfectly:

The ABC's Science Show presenter, Robyn Williams, said the claims in Swindle were "obviously flawed for many reasons" but not to screen it would have been censorship. "I'm in favour of free speech but in this area the waters have been completely muddied by propagandists, so I thought the way we did it in the end was reasonable," said Williams, who participated in the discussion after the show.

The program was widely criticised by Australian climatologists when it was aired. Among many other errors, it was pointed out that graphs purporting to show temperature rises being affected by sunspots excluded contradictory evidence.

So they knew The Swindle was inaccurate (to put it politely), and aired the program anyway.

I'm also in favor of free speech, but am I obligated to let someone use my blog (for example) to repeat things I know are not true? I don't think so. They are welcome to spread their bullshit somewhere else, but not on around here. I've got an obligation to be truthful and honest with my audience. I violate that if I give someone space to spread false information.

In fairness, ABC did a good job of framing the show, before and after. Watch their interview with The Swindle's director here. Unfortunately, this still works for the climate change deniers. As long as they can keep the idea that there is still legitimate debate on global warming, they can delay the energy revolution we need.

See also...

New Scientist, "Climate change: who is swindling who?".

Longer post about the Great Global Warming Swindle.

Posted by Andrew at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The UK regulator Ofcom issued findings today rightfully criticizing, "The Great Global Warming Swindle". The Swindle was supposed to be climate change deniers answer to An Inconvenient Truth. Here's the watchdog's main findings:

From the BBC:

The regulator backed Sir David's complaint of unfair treatment, judging that his views were misrepresented and that he was not given the right to reply.

Ofcom also found in favour of Carl Wunsch, an oceanographer interviewed for the programme, who said he had been misled as to its intent.

Dr Wunsch, from the Massachussetts Institute of Technology, said he believed he was being asked to take part in a programme that would "discuss in a balanced way the complicated elements of understanding of climate change", but "what we now have is an out-and-out propaganda piece, in which there is not even a gesture toward balance".

The Broadcasting Code requires Channel 4 to show "due impartiality" on "matters of major political and industrial controversy and major matters relating to current public policy".

The last segment of the programme, dealing with the politics of climate change, broke this obligation, Ofcom judged, and did not reflect a range of views, as required under the code.

However, the regulator said it did not believe, given the nature of the programme, that this led to the audience being "materially misled so as to cause harm or offence" - the standard that Ofcom says complaints have to reach.

Ofcom's logic is that "the link between human activity and global warming... became settled before March 2007".

This being so, it says, disputing the scientific link between human activity and climate change does not meet the Broadcasting Code's definition of "controversial".

Eh? What's that last one? I thought the whole point was to be "controversial". Let's have a closer look at that Ofcom ruling...

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Posted by Andrew at 8:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

A while back we launched a competition on Flickr, asking folks to create images that would urge the CEO of Canon Japan to voice his opposition against whaling. After receiving many inspirational entries including lots of whale watching photographs - we finally chose the winners!

1st

-- from Commerciante Di Maiali - (?)

2nd

-- from Brianfit - (?)

3rd

-- from shappell - (?)

Thanks to everyone who entered. The 3 winners will soon receive their prizes. So far Mr. Matarai has not taken a stand for the whales yet so we're maintaining the pressure on him while working on other aspects of the campaign - exposing the scandalous embezzlement of whale meat and misuse of tax payers' money along with getting our activists out of jail in Japan.

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

Last time I checked coal was definitely still, in the words of top climate scientist James Henson, "the single greatest threat facing our planet." So something was most definitely amiss when UK energy company E.ON, who plan to build the first coal fired power plant in the UK in over 30 years, took it upon themselves to sponsor a climate change conference. Yes, I'm serious.

Luckily there are plenty of others also find something very wrong with the equation. A load of Greenwash Guerillas went to tell E.ON just where to go today at the Guardian Climate Change Summit in Central London.

The clean up campaign comes just two weeks before a week long Camp for Climate Action will be held on the Kingsnorth site, where the proposed new coal plant is planned. Here's more from one of the Guerilla's posted to the Greenpeace UK site.

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Posted by Jo at 11:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We've just learned that the longliner (Ho Tsai Fa 18) - which we recently confronted in the Pacific Commons not once but twice - has run aground on the reef in Bali under suspicious circumstances!

The Sydney Morning Herald reports:

"AN ILLEGAL fishing ship whose captain is rumoured to have been murdered has thrown plans for the World Surfing Championship in Bali into chaos by running aground on the island's best surf break.

Mystery surrounds the arrival of the Taiwanese vessel Ho Tsai Fa No. 18 off Padang Padang beach. Locals woke on Saturday to see the 30-metre-long vessel foundering on a reef, and reaped a barbecue bonanza by emptying its holds of tuna and shark.

Police are still trying to find the boat's Indonesian crew and its Taiwanese captain, Tsai Wen-chen. Taiwanese authorities had requested Indonesia's assistance to locate the boat several weeks ago after it failed to return from a fishing trip off Papua.

Three weeks ago it was spotted by another Taiwanese vessel but sped away when approached, prompting concern it had been taken over by a mutinous crew.

Fishery officials said the Ho Tsai Fa's monitoring system had been turned off since May 13, and it had refused to answer radio messages. Several Balinese said the ship's dozen Indonesian crewmen had thrown their captain overboard and tried to return home, but had lost control of the vessel approaching Bali and fled after it foundered."
...

"Central Java's coast guard chief, Sutrisna, said a search was under way for the crew members. He would not comment on allegations the captain had been murdered. "We have just found the ship - we cannot say or conclude anything till we investigate further," Commissioner Sutrisna said."

Image © Greenpeace/Paul Hilton

Posted by Lisa at 10:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Last week we called out Apple on the lack of any environmental info on the new iPhone 3G. Pre-launch publicity and specs for the new MacBook Air and iMac included info on how Apple was making progress on eliminating the worst toxic chemicals by the end of 2008. There was none of this for the iPhone, but last night we noticed a late addition to the iPhone tech specs:

iPhone 3G embodies Apple's continuing environmental progress. It is designed with the following features to reduce environmental impact:

- PVC-free handset
- PVC-free headphones
- PVC-free USB cable
- Bromine-free printed circuit boards
- Mercury-free LCD display
- Majority of packaging made from post-consumer recycled fiberboard and biobased materials
- Power adapter outperforms strictest global energy efficiency standards

So how does this compare to what we found when we tested the first iPhone, how does it measure up against other phones from competitors and what does Apple have to do to meet it's commitment to stop using toxic PVC plastic and brominated flame retardants?

Read more »

Posted by tomD at 9:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

After 26 days in custody, Junichi and Toru are out on bail.I'm relieved they finally get to go home to be with their families.

Still, justice will not be done until a proper investigation of the whale meat scandal happens. The unanswered question remains, "Why did the Japanese prosecutor suddenly drop his investigation into the stolen whale meat allegations, despite Greenpeace directly handing him the solid and compelling evidence?"

More info in our press release.

Posted by Andrew at 7:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

We've been pressuring the consumer electronics company Philips to improve its regressive position on recycling recently. Yesterday they got back to us with a few tiny improvements.

Philips stands out as the only major company that says that recycling is the responsibility of the public and governments. Philips gets zero on all e-waste criteria in our Guide to Greener Electronics and gets a penalty point on top of that for double standards. Philips current position is what has helped create the huge volumes of toxic e-waste dumped in developing countries.

Clearly the electronics companies need to change. Some like Dell are taking action by launching free global takeback schemes to encourage recycling. Until now Philips has not only been sticking to its regressive policy while competitors change but also been lobbying in the US and Europe to ensure it does not have to take any individual responsibility for the products they sell at the end of life.

After our last action at the Philips HQ in Amsterdam they promised us to improve their policy. Now they have responded.

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Posted by tomD at 5:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Amnesty International has sent a letter to the prime minister of Japan expressing "deep concern" about the detention of Junichi and Toru. From the Amnesty press release:

“We are also concerned that their detention, the charges against them, and the police raids on Greenpeace’s office and the homes of five of its staff are aimed at intimidating both activists and non-governmental organizations.

“We ask the Japanese prime minister to make a clear statement assuring human rights defenders, including environmental activists such as Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki and organizations such as Greenpeace, that their right to engage in peaceful activities without intimidation or harassment will be respected by the state, including the justice system.”

Posted by Andrew at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was standing at the bow of the Rainbow Warrior filming. I could hear my heart beating. The first daylight made its way through the clouds and the nose of a tug boat was only meters away from my lens. We will hit it, I thought.

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Posted by Mareike at 8:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Members of Busan KFEM (a Korean enviro group) held a press conference and protest at the Japanese embassy in support of the Tokyo Two. Nice one!

More protests around the world. | Send your own letter of protest.

Posted by Andrew at 1:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The New Scientist also ran a story last Friday about the Tokyo Two. Headline and first paragraphs:

Whalers found innocent, Greenpeace activists are charged with theft

In May we ran a story entitled "The beginning of the end for Japanese whaling?". We spoke too soon.

At the time, a public prosecutor in Japan had announced he was investigating claims that workers on whaling ships were embezzling whale meat and selling it to restaurant owners. The investigation was prompted by an undercover investigation carried out by Greenpeace, which said the activities were a misuse of public funds as the meat was a by-product of publicly funded research.

On 20 June, two Greenpeace activists involved in the undercover investigation were arrested and held without charge. Today, they were charged with theft and trespass.

The story goes on to ask a very good question: "Why?"

Posted by Andrew at 11:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Brendan DeMelle do a regular feature called "Unearthed: News of the Week the Mainstream Media Forgot to Report". The Tokyo Two made it into last week's edition. They noted:

Instead of investigating the crew or bureaucrats in charge of the program, Tokyo police raided Greenpeace Japan's office, seizing computers, documents and cell phones, and arrested the two activists. The pair were held for three weeks without charge before learning they are accused of theft and trespass, and face likely convictions under Japan's strict laws.

Posted by Andrew at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

French state nuclear company Areva sponsored a nice ring of EU stars for the Eiffel Tower - probably to kiss up to President Sarkozy (who also serves as a kind of "nuclear power salesman in chief"). Some Greenpeace France activists decided it would be nice to complete the picture with a nuclear hazard symbol.

From the International Herald Tribune:

About 15 environmental activists climbed the Eiffel Tower on Sunday to unfurl a banner protesting against France's nuclear energy policies, on the day when it hosts a major summit of heads of state.

Campaign group Greenpeace said the banner showing the nuclear logo was placed in the middle of a circle of stars representing the European Union displayed on the tower to mark France's six-month term as EU president.

"Since he was elected, President Nicolas Sarkozy has done everything he could to sell nuclear energy," said Frederic Marillier of the French section of Greenpeace in a statement.

"At the U.N., as head of the European council, or just recently at the G8, he has behaved like a travelling salesman for Areva and has used political platforms to promote French nuclear power," Marillier said, referring to the French nuclear energy producer Areva.

More on the Greenpeace website, and a Guardian article about last weeks nuclear spill (in case you missed it).

[ photo copyright Greenpeace/Xavier Pardessus ]

Posted by Andrew at 4:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Junichi and Toru, our two activists who exposed the Japanese whale meat scandal and have been held in detention for the last three weeks, have been charged with theft and trespass. This is despite pressure from more than 30 international organisations, including Amnesty International, the Lawyers Network for Human Rights Observation, International Fund for Animal Welfare, InArticle 19, Transparency International, Oceana, Ubuntu, and Oxfam, and almost a quarter of a million emails to Prime Minister Fukuda.

For now, they're still in custody - stay tuned for updates on this.

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Posted by Dave at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Whale watching brings in far more money than whaling. Not surprisingly, a lot of Icelanders have begun to question why their government keeps giving permits to kill 40 or so whales each year - when it's obviously going to hurt their tourism industry. There's also been incidents of whalers hunting in designated whale watching areas.

Lately, the crew of one whale watching boat has been foiling the hunters. From the Iceland Review:

The crew of whale watching boat Elding 2 disturbed the crew of whale hunting boat Njördur KO7 while they were hunting for minkes yesterday morning. This is the second time that the whale watchers have prevented hunters from whaling.

According to ruv.is, the crew of Elding 2 follows whale hunting boats and position their boat in such a way that the whale hunters cannot possibly complete their work. The whale watchers have not caused any danger, though.

You can support whale conservation minded Icelanders by signing the Iceland pledge. And if you want to do more, follow this guy's example, and tell Icelander's why you won't be visiting till their country stops whaling for good.

Posted by Andrew at 5:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

In the, "too true to be funny" department...

President George Bush signed off with a defiant farewell over his refusal to accept global climate change targets at his last G8 summit.

As he prepared to fly out from Japan, he told his fellow leaders: "Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter."

President Bush made the private joke in the summit's closing session, senior sources said yesterday. His remarks were taken as a two-fingered salute from the President from Texas who is wedded to the oil industry. He had given some ground at the summit by saying he would "seriously consider" a 50 per cent cut in carbon emissions by 2050.

As of posting, 193 days, 19 hours, 22 minutes until Bush finally stops leading my country. Woot!

Posted by Andrew at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I cannot describe my feeling other than I am absolutely overwhelmed.
The Rainbow Warrior sailed to the province of Prachuab Kiri Khan (PKK), home to one of the strongest community oppositions against coal in Thailand. A fleet of over 30 fishing boats full of people wearing the movement’s green T-shirts greeted the Rainbow Warrior on its arrival. A fantastic welcome followed and you could literally feel what a symbol of hope the ship is. Over 1000 people had gathered from all over the province. These communities have a fantastic track record of success regarding shelving plans to construct coal fired power stations along their stunning coast.

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Posted by Mareike at 5:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Daniel Mittler about to leave the G8 Summit in Toyako, Japan

There are a lot empty water bottles and even more coffee cups lying around the International Media Centre at the G8. The rooms are slowly emptying out and the faces of those remaining are drained and tired. As I am sure is mine. The last three days were wasted days for addressing the global crises we face. But at least we managed to counter the predictable, positive spin leaders put on the pathetic statements they put out here. For one (of gladly many) good media stories on the united NGO reaction against the G8 climate deal click here. Our Home, the Planet needs action. All it got here, was 8 leaders' signatures who failed to do what is needed ...

Posted by Daniel at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Bush's Major Economies Meeting is now over. And it was, surprise, surprise, a complete waste of time. You can find the statement here. And here is our reaction: “President Bush’s Major Economies Meeting has been a useless diversion from real action on climate change all along; the meaningless statement released today proves that for all to see. As low-lying island states are drowning, Bush’s MEM emits even more hot air. Because of the G8’s abject failure to commit to anything meaningful, there could be no move forward. On the issues that matter – such as 2020 emission reduction targets for industrialised countries – the statement is deathly silent.

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Posted by Daniel at 11:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The weather has improved a bit since the constant rain on Monday. But the sun didn't shine on the world's leaders here. And they didn't deserve that either. The G8 has failed. But they did give a lot of security guards work. Loads of security guards! For some - working for a security firm called Rising Sun - the work was even fun, I think. They got to move around on Segways (see picture). Frankly, those of us who had to run around on foot between the many far flung buildings the International Media Centre was made up of - we were quite jealous! The security guards also got a lot of media, who were impressed by the fast, clean and efficient vehicles. At least for the security...

Posted by Daniel at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

With the familiar hype, the latest "revolutionary" iPhone 3G is released by Apple this Friday. In all the promises of faster, better, cheaper, there's not a peep about it being any greener than the first iPhone.

Well there is a rumour that the iPhone will be partly packaged in potato starch trays instead of plastic. Aside from that rather dull, and un-revolutionary (Motorola already uses them) potato titbit there's no info yet on how green the actual phone will be. The first generation iPhone contained toxic chemicals that competitors like Nokia and Sony Ericsson have already removed from their new phones.

Update 15 July: Apple posts iPhone 3G 'Environmental Status Report'

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Posted by tomD at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It's the last day of the G8 - and hopefully the last day of Bush's Major Emitters/ Economies meetings. Today, countries representing 80 percent of global emissions will be holding talks. They will not make progress - because the G8 refused to move forward yesterday. The developing countries like South Africa, China and India are willing to move. But they expect the developed world, which is mainly responsible for climate change, to do their fair share - which they spectacularly failed to do yesterday. - The people who will not be here today, though, are those most affected by climate change. That is outrageous. That is immoral. It is one of the main reasons why Bush's Major Economies Meeting, like Bush, needs to be history. - As the MEM gets underway, the Republic of Maldives therefore issued the following urgent plea. Powerful words, that remind us of what is at stake:

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Posted by Daniel at 2:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The G8 climate statement is out (see here). The leaders will spin this as a good step forward. Sadly, it is not. Here is our reaction: “The G8 have failed the world again. While the Arctic is melting, the G8 are postponing action. Instead of climate protection, the world got nothing but flowery words. If this is a step forward, we will never prevent climate chaos in time. The 2050 vision will be a nightmare, unless the world ends its fossil fuel addiction and starts an energy revolution based on renewable energies and energy efficiency – now! But an oil man from Texas has again prevented the decisive action the world needs. Instead of creating solutions, the G8 are continuing to fuel the problem. The World Bank Climate Investment Funds that the G8 has
announced do not exclude coal – the world’s most polluting energy source. The World Bank Funds are a step in the wrong direction. The only good news from this summit is that it is Bush’s last.”

Posted by Daniel at 8:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

If you look at the G8 agenda, most of it is about food. There is a working lunch, a working dinner, another working lunch. And then there is the photo call. And then - that's it. How appropriate, then, that they have been talking about the global food crisis while munching away at their Japanese specialities. Sadly, what they have been saying has not made much sense. Bush, Berlusconi and others have been pushing for genetically engineered food as the solution to the food crisis. They have all pretended the liberalizing trade will lower food prices, which it will not. All it will do is drive poor farmers, especially in the developing world off their land. There has been some talk about how unsustainable biofuels are part of the problem - but no decision to, say, stop clearing land for biofuels. To add insult to injury, there is a lot of really overpackaged food all over the media centre. Another way to solve the food crisis? One overpackaged water melon piece at a time? These summits do sure make your head spin! You keep calm, though, and find out here why biodiversity and ecological farming is the real solution to the food crisis!

Posted by Daniel at 3:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Update from Daniel at the G8:

The G8 leaders have been hiding from the people they claim to represent in ever more remote places in recent years. But the summit here at Toyako, Hokkaido, takes the idea of "hiding far, far away" to perfection. Even the media centre is kilometres away from where Bush, Fukuda, Merkel and Co. are meeting. Toyako - and the area around it - is said to be beautiful. It is difficult to judge right now, I have to say, as it is raining cats and dogs. The mountains, said to be magical, are hardly even visible. The mist is not romantic, but really just low-lying rain clouds. As this is a ski area, that has received less and less snow fall in recent years, I guess the weather is fitting. This is what it will be like in Toyako - and other ski areas - even in winter. Unless our leaders act. Will they?

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Posted by Andrew at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Although this song reminds me of dreamy hippies, here in Southern Thailand it is reality.

The Rainbow Warrior has arrived in Thailand and was greeted by traditional Thai dancers. My heart beat faster when the ship came into port. I still think it is such an amazing sight and a symbol of hope. Slowly it made its way into the berth (actually slowly because we figured out when low tide came, that the berth is not deep enough and the Rainbow Warrior is sitting in the mud, rather than floating.)

In the afternoon the University of Songhkla gave a workshop about small scale, home made wind turbines as a tool for poverty alleviation for communities.

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Posted by Mareike at 6:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Please stand by. Our team will be posting updates here straight from the G8.

Posted by Andrew at 6:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We're still working to build a coalition of companies which are determined to reform the palm oil industry so no more forest is lost due to the expansion of their plantations in South East Asia and with Unilever's help we're in contact with other major players in the palm oil trade. However, some are less keen than others to co-operate and need some persuading.

One such company is Ferrero, makers of Nutella and of course Ferrero Rocher. It is another large user of palm oil and one that has already been the focus of attention for our Italian office. They analysed the ingredients of Nutella and it contained 31 per cent vegetable oil, and much of that is palm oil.

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Posted by Jamie at 4:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Our activist friends Junichi and Toru are still behind bars. It's been 13 days since they were arrested after exposing a whale meat smuggling scandal. Yeah, feel free to read that sentence again if you need to. It's as crazy as it sounded the first time.

The Greenpeace Japan staff are hugely thankful to everyone who's supported Junichi and Toru. Over 200,000 of you have already written to Japan's prime minister calling for the release of their co-workers. On the walls you can see photos of protests at Japan embassies around the world supporting.

Help us get to our goal of a quarter million emails. Write to free Junichi and Toru. Help bring justice in Japan!

Posted by Andrew at 8:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)