PARIS (AFP) - Two senior executives at French state energy giant Electricite de France (EDF) have been charged on suspicion of spying on Greenpeace, a judicial official said Tuesday.

EDF security chiefs Pierre Francois and Pierre Durieux are charged with conspiring to hack into computer systems including at the environmental group, the official said, confirming a report on the Mediapart website.

A computer expert is also charged in the case along with Thierry Lorho, the head of private detective firm Kargus Consultant, and a third unnamed person, the official said.

Both executives deny knowingly hacking into a computer system, but the computer expert has admitted the charge, the judicial official said.
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More here from AFP

But it's a very old story. French nuclear success? Ha.

Nuclear power, nuclear weapons, police-state style security. They all hang together.

When will governments learn that when you spy on Greenpeace, when you try to shut us down, when you sink one of our ships, when you forget that we're made up of the combined voices of 3 million people worldwide, you only make us stronger. Because you prove our point:

This fragile Earth deserves a voice.
It deserves change.
It deserves action.

And if somebody doesn't snap at your heels, the Earth doesn't get what it deserves.

Join our 3 million online activists. We scare governments.

Posted by Brian at 9:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Quite a few of our climate folks have been on the UN Climate meeting circuit since before the Kyoto protocol was born. Not a few of them have been fairly jaded about the role the United States has played at these meetings in the past. So it's good to see some enthusiasm for the new administration's break from the "Crisis? What Crisis?" head-in-the-sand policies of the Bush era:

Here's and update from Cindy Baxter, at the Climate conference in Bonn:

It was quite something to watch a US delegate in the climate talks say that his entire delegation believed in the science of climate change. "The science is clear, and the threat is real."of leadership we want to see here in Bonn.

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Posted by Brian at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Another post and video from the Rainbow Warrior.

Norwegian Coral - Sula reef threatened by Oil Exploration from Greenpeace in Nordic on Vimeo.

We all know that environmental concerns tend to lose out when pitted against big commercial interests. But when it comes to Norwegian waters right now this thing really takes the cake!

Among the thousands of known cold water coral reefs in the Norwegian Sea is the worlds largest of these vulnerable bottom habitats called the Sula reef. Located just a few hours north of our current position on the Rainbow Warrior the Sula reef is wonderfully diverse and also one of the few protected coral reef areas in the Norwegian Sea. But this protection might be meaningless now that the oil industry has received a license to explore the area.

Read more »

Posted by Lisa at 2:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Several articles have appeared this week concerning a recent failed "ocean fertilization" experiment in the Southern Ocean - something which Greenpeace has opposed. Ocean fertilization, in case you were wondering, involves the addition of iron to the ocean oceans, where it is claimed to stimulate the marine food web, and to sequester carbon dioxide - in order to fight climate change.

Nature reported that "a controversial experiment which poured iron into the Southern Ocean has also poured cold water on the idea that such 'ocean fertilization' can mitigate against climate change.", while the BBC's Richard Black quoted Dr. Victor Smetacek as saying that "The Southern Ocean cannot sequester the amount of carbon dioxide that one had hoped".

But it got weird when Bloomberg published an article titled "Blue Whales May Get Boost From Fertilization Program" which made some bizarre statements along with quotes from Dr. Smetacek:

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Posted by Dave at 7:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

There's nothing like finding hidden gems. The amount of videos, photos, stories, blog entries and whatnot we deal with on a yearly basis is amazing. It's easy for simple things like the portrait of a Greenpeace Activist to be buried under piles of campaigns to push, cyberactions to take etc. Yet, yesterday, while uploading high quality videos on YouTube, Tulio in the video department found this one.

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

Here's another post from Frida, oceans campaigner on the Rainbow Warrior in Norway and a short video interview with a coral scientist about the reefs they are documenting there, why they are so threatened and what needs to be done to save them.

Norwegian Coral - Jan Helge Fosså, IMR Norway from Greenpeace in Nordic on Vimeo.

The deep sea is home to some of the coolest and unique marine creatures, from the strangest looking fish to the ancient cold water corals that we are currently on a mission to document.

These still largely untouched communities are typically thousands of years old and represent one of the planet's last remaining undiscovered realms. We humans are only beginning to discover and understand the deep ocean ecosystems, but at the same time we are destroying them at an unprecedented rate by industrial bottom trawlers that kill and maim almost all marine life in the path of their trawls.

Yesterday was the first day of the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) meeting in London. How the international waters are regulated is a complicated ordeal but the NEAFC is one of the most important bodies for governing the waters in these northern parts around Norway, Ireland and Great Britain. How this meeting plays out will decide much of the fate of some of the most precious marine environments we have. This is the last chance for NEAFC to save fragile deep sea habitats.

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Posted by Lisa at 4:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For all the Tokyo Two fans - this is a recent picture of Junichi of the Tokyo Two holding up a censored whaling document released by the Japanese government. As you can see, he's looking well, and is in this photograph showing off the extent of the censorship by by Japan's government in its desperation to cover up the whale meat scandal. The document is apparently a sales report of minke whale from the Japanese government's whaling programme in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. You'd wonder what they've got to hide, eh?

It's fast heading for a year now since I sat in a press briefing in Tokyo, Japan, while fellow Greenpeace activist Junichi Sato stood at the top of the room, showing a box of whale meat to the media that proved that a government-funded whaling operation was being embezzled by the crew of the whaling ships. It's been an intense 10 months since then - Junichi and fellow activist Toru Suzuki were arrested and held for 26 days without charge, the Greenpeace Japan office was raided by police, and the long wait for justice began.

Read more »

Posted by Dave at 7:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Greenpeace activists have turned to Beijing’s historic Yongding gate to call on the government for immediate action on climate change. Activists turned one of Beijing's ancient city gates into a gigantic countdown clock marking the time left till the UN climate summit in Copenhagen. Greenpeace is calling on Chinese President Hu Jintao to personally attend the Copenhagen Climate Summit and work with world leaders to come up with a binding treaty to fight climate change.

The action has started a buzz, with mentions popping up online shortly after the action started.

AP has an article with a small photo and quotes from our climate campaigner, Li Yan.

Greenpeace China is calling on Chinese President Hu Jintao to attend December's climate change conference in Copenhagen.

As the world's most populous developing nation and, by some estimates, its biggest producer of greenhouse gasses, China is obliged to take a major role in the talks, said climate change specialist Li Yan of Greenpeace's Chinese branch.

"Copenhagen is the best, maybe the last, chance to avoid catastrophe," Li said Monday at the launch of a clock counting down to the start of the Dec. 7-18 U.N. Climate Change Conference.
China says developed countries bear most of the responsibility for stemming climate change.
Li said surveys taken in Chinese cities show a willingness to absorb higher electricity prices to promote sustainable power generation.

Photo © Su Li/ Greenpeace

Posted by Jess at 7:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's another post from Frida, oceans campaigner on the Rainbow Warrior (see her previous post here).

Sometimes when you depend on someone it is easy to become very annoyed and disappointed with them, even when they are not really to blame for the thing that does not go exactly as planned. For me, one of those characters here on the ship is Lars. Lars (Launch and Retrieval System - L.A.R.S) is the hydraulic crane that launches and retrieves the so far unnamed drop camera rig we are using to document the cold water corals in the deep waters below us - here off the coast of Norway.

On Thursday night it all started off so well. We caught a lucky break and got a nice window of clear and relatively calm weather. We quickly devised a scheme in order to be able to work with the camera through the night, making sure we hade enough people to handle Lars, operate the camera controls and log the video material. Getting the people together was a fairly simple task, but as it turned out getting the cooperation from both Lars and the drop camera was another matter.

We did our first test drop of the camera during a beautiful sunset and got some great images from our 'training grounds' - mostly sandy bottom, fish and occasionally - corals. It was when we started to move to the more densely populated coral areas that our luck started to run out. First Lars developed an electrical short circuit that made it impossible for us to launch the camera for our first drop over the bigger coral structures. Annoying!

But, taking in to consideration that Lars is a very old mechanical beast and that he did come around after we lovingly re-wired and re-isolated his electrical components, I did manage to forgive him after a few hours. But the problems did not end with Lars.

Read more »

Posted by Lisa at 9:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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Posted by Jess at 5:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I hadn't heard before how badly the police behaved at the climate camp protest last August. At the time, it was reported as "police clash with protesters". The reality that has come out is that it was really police harassing protesters and local residents alike - without cause, without provocation.

The police questioned, searched and harassed anyone in the area - plus confiscating, apparently, anything they wanted to. Stuff like bike locks, spoons, umbrellas, chalk, toenail clippers, duct tape and felt tip pens.

My favorite is line in the video is a little kid saying, "They took my crayons because apparently they you can draw on banners and that you can, um, commit a crime with crayons". Good job coppers!

More:

Kingsnorth report reveals shocking police campaign of intimidation against protesters

Greenpeace UK climate camp updates

BBC: Protest policing complaint

Boing Boing: How British cops are criminalising peaceful protest

Posted by Andrew at 1:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We found this animation on Boing Boing and all of us here at the secret Greenpeace mountain laboratory fell out of our chairs with laughter.

If you're on Twitter like me you'll know that there's a whole heap of s#!t out there but despite all the noise it's a powerfully popular communications tool. I'm finding twitter more and more useful for engaging with people who can help make this world a better place.

Some folks like Jon Stewart might not be convinced (and we've got a few in our communications department!) but like it or not - twitter is here to stay. You might as well do something good with it.

Are you just twasting twime on twitter or are you using the twitterverse to make a difference in the real world?

Follow us on twitter but don't expect us to follow you back if you're only yapping about how much you love pickles or that you have a warm fluttery feeling in your chest!

Posted by Lisa at 11:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The campaign to stop TATA from wiping out an important habitat for Olive Ridley Turtles in India is growing. Over 1,000 blogs are campaigning for the survival of the olive ridleys, and Greenpeace activists are battling against all odds to try and save the precious little sea turtles.

We've blogged about this campaign before, but if you haven't heard of TATA, their little cars, or the enormous port they are building at Dhamra, watch this video and get involved today.

Posted by Eoin at 9:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (15)

Here is a post from Frida, one of our oceans campaigners, on the Rainbow Warrior - currently off the coast of Norway.

Did you know that there are thousands of beautiful and diverse coral reefs in the northern seas, outside of Scotland, Norway and the Bearing Sea? Most people are not aware that the cold and dark waters up here are teaming but that's because they haven't had the chance to look close enough. I am on the Rainbow Warrior to do just that. Specifically what we are looking for is a lovely named creature called Lophelia pertusa. It is this cold water coral that dominates the coral areas of the Northern deep sea. It lives at depths between 200 and 1000 meters. We are now documenting the presence and status of a reef in an area called Breisundsdypet.

View Larger Map

Read more »

Posted by Lisa at 5:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Last week Greenpeace launched a new version of the first of three 'Reasons to Believe' videos narrated by Susan Sarandon, to coincide with the launch of the Energy [R]evolution in the USA. The video got close to 2,000 views on YouTube within the first day! Then we hit a snag. In the film Susan mentions New Zealand as a shining example of greater energy efficiency, due to the government plan to phase out traditional (and supremely inefficient) lightbulbs in 2009. After we launched the video and it was enjoyed by almost 2,000 people we then discovered that New Zealand's new government, led by John Key, was no longer going through with this phasing out. These things happen, unfortunately. So, after some adjustment we are re-launching the launch! Please enjoy our new, improved, and more accurate 'Reasons to Believe: Lightbulbs' video. And just as a side note to John Key - when you do get back on track with phasing out traditional lightbulbs in New Zealand we're more than happy to go back to the original version of the video. We've got you covered. Enjoy:

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

I liked this. The "Using Mobile Phones for Good" panel at tech conference SXSW in Austin put the audience twitter stream live on the screen in the panel room. The panel was primarily about how UNICEF is partnering with Mobile Phone companies to help with their hunger programmes in Africa.



So I used this to ask the Mobile phone company representatives in the room to do good by lobbying for decarbonization of our energy supply, to stop future famines that will happen due to runaway climate change, unless they and other Electronics firms take the lead in challenging the oil & coal industries.

Posted by Brian at 11:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's always nice when people agree with you. We've maintained that nuclear power is a dangerous distraction to the real solutions to the climate crisis for a long time now. It's dirty, it's unsafe, it's a threat to world peace and it is terribly, terribly expensive.

Now, Al Gore, who's sometimes been on the other side of this argument has come round to our position. Because, as he notes, even if you assume problems with safety and waste can be overcome, it just doesn't make sense economically.

Over at our Nuclear Reaction weblog we've been chronicling the meltdown of the nuclear industry for a while now. Last year the number of nuclear reactors connected to the world's electricity grids fell by one. In January this year two more were removed, while the next reactor scheduled to go online is the Iranian build in Bushehr, a project which almost no-one outside Iran wants to see proceed.

Meanwhile China builds a wind turbine every two hours. What looks like the technology of the 21st century to you?

Posted by Martin at 1:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It's nice when occasionally big political institutions agree with you. Last week we launched our IT Climate Leadership Challenge, looking for IT leaders to raise their game on tackling climate change. Yesterday the EU Commission followed with a new proposal on IT and its role in tackling climate change:

Today the Commission announced its intention to set out concrete measures that will pave the way for ICT to contribute to energy efficiency gains and emission reductions. It will also call on the ICT sector to lead the way by setting itself concrete targets to become more energy efficient, by collectively agreeing a common approach to measuring energy performance and benchmarking progress.

The Commission also announced a new public consultation to establish a common base for commitments to and claims of improved energy efficiency. Only by identifying who does what within the set deadlines, that targets have a real chance of being achieved.

Unfortunately there's no mention in their press release about the need for the IT industry to push for a strong deal at the vital meeting on the Kyoto treaty in Copenhagen in Dec. Maybe that's because the EU is struggling it's self to show climate leadership right now.

What is promising is the fact that the EU Commission is calling on companies to set concrete targets for themselves, we've put numbers on that ask to IT companies:

Measure the company's absolute emissions and commit to cut them by at least 20 percent by 2012.

This EU consultation should also push companies to prioritise carbon reduction solutions they can provide and have done the right homework to prove that those solutions can reduce overall emissions across the economy, much like our ask to the industry:

Prioritise those technologies and product development lines that cut greenhouse emissions across the economy.

So the challenge is out there and not only from us. So which company will be the first to rise to it?

Posted by Tom at 1:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Stick a few bullheaded, single-minded, action-oriented Greenpeace oceans campaigners in a suit or a smart outfit, and send them into the hallowed halls of a cautious, diplomatic, slow-moving United Nations agency like the Food and Agricultural Organization in Rome. Mix them in with a bunch of scientists who know precisely the urgency of saving our oceans but can only watch helplessly as Fisheries Ministers struggle to find compromise between industry lobbyists who want no action and industry lobbyists who can tolerate a little. Add a few dozen genuinely dedicated individuals who hate watching the wheels of global action grinding slowly while the oceans are plundered by pirates who not only go unpunished, but are often rewarded with subsidies. It would be understandable if outbreaks of subversive behavior would happen.

In the case documented below by an anonymous tipster, it would appear that the public access computers provided outside the meeting rooms at the Food and Agricultural Organization -- charged with looking after our oceans and dealing with problems like pirate fishing -- have been converted into message boards for a simpler message, and a more direct form of action, than the delegates may be accustomed to.

Why look. That's Greenpeace taking action and actually *stopping* a pirate!

This guerilla wallpaper will doubtless be the subject of a resolution to strike a committee to investigate the offending image, and a strongly worded commitment on behalf of all parties to endeavour to make efforts to have instruments in place to, where possible, inter alia, consider measures to remove the Greenpeace wallpaper.

Posted by Brian at 4:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Greenpeace USA is launching a revolution today - an Energy [R]evolution, with the official release of Greenpeace USA's Energy Revolution scenario. The US Energy Revolution is part of a sustainable global energy outlook, with an original report which is 212 pages long, contributed to by scientists, engineers, academics, and developed with specialists from the Institute of Technical Thermodynamics at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR). You can download both the full 212 page report in all its glory, or a more time-friendly 16 page version here, OR I could sum it up for you right now.
Our reliance on dirty energy has helped to create the greatest threat we've ever faced: climate change. You may hear that a shift away from fossil fuels and nuclear is not possible, or not necessary, or not urgent - but it's not true. The Energy Revolution report is proof that a major change of direction in our energy consumption is possible, necessary, and urgent in order to avoid the worst consequences of what dirty energy has helped to create. You need to be part of the revolution. Here is one reason to believe:

Read more »

Posted by Laura at 1:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

As we feared - the EU finance ministers avoided making any kind of decision on climate funding after hundreds of us blockaded their meeting in Brussels yesterday. This pathetic outcome means it's now up to Heads of States and governments to step up and show us the money at the EU leaders meeting next week.

While the finance ministers recognised the need for rich countries to provide funding to developing nations - they did not propose any concrete public financial support for climate action and instead made an empty promise for private investments, which they can neither predict nor control.

To secure a global climate agreement at the upcoming UN climate negotiations in December, the EU and the rest of the wealthy countries must take responsibility and pay up. EU leaders must now do what their finance ministers failed to do and put enough money on the table to tackle the climate crisis.

We're continuing to push the EU to bail out the planet - and save the climate. If you sign up here - we'll let you know how you can help soon!

Posted by Lisa at 12:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's some video from the inspiring action today in Brussels. More than 340 activists were arrested and the activists were able to block the exits of the building for more than 2 hours. All of the activists have been released from jail and while some of the activists need to be hospitalized because of police brutality, there we no serious injuries. Thank you the activists that came from 20 different countries to take action and to all of you that followed the action and offered your support. Read more and see photos here.

Posted by Jess at 8:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I woke up at 6 o'clock this morning to save the climate - the kind of climate that you and I are so accustomed to - the kind of climate that sustains the diversity of life on this planet - the climate that is on the brink of total destablisation. And even though it was pouring with rain when I stepped outside - I didn't wish for sunshine or anything more than the meager 4 degrees Celsius in the surrounding atmosphere. This is Belgium after all and I was fully prepared with waterproofs and a brolly.

With a bright yellow Greenpeace emblazoned jacket stuffed into the bag on my back - I trudged along the streets of Brussels towards the EU Council Building with several other activists. We were going to lock the gates outside the building by placing solid metal D-locks around the gate and our necks. Meanwhile over three hundred other activists were going to block the front entrance of the building and all the other exits so that EU finance ministers couldn't leave until they had agreed to bail out the planet - and save the climate.

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Posted by Lisa at 2:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's a feed from Lisa (ecotist) on the ground, plus updates our team in Amsterdam are posting (people are calling in and we're putting the news on Twitter).

You can comment on the action by including #climateaction in your tweet.

Posted by Andrew at 12:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

More than 300 activists from 20 different countries are in Brussels this morning to take action and demand a financial commitment to tackling climate change. The activists have surrounded the building in Brussels where finance ministers are discussing funding for climate change.

The activists have sealed the entrances and are refusing to let the politicians leave until they committed to “Sav€ the Climate” and “Bail out the Planet”.

Read more »

Posted by Jess at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Good ideas just keep marching forth. Greenfreeze is Greenpeace's market proven, environmentally friendly, refrigeration technology, which we've been pushing as an alternative to fridges which run on climate-killing chemicals. Over the weekend, 15 years after Greenpeace proved "Greenfreeze" technology viable and drove a reluctant industry in a whole new direction, the first consumer Greenfreeze refrigerator has arrived in North America, via Mexico, thanks to Bosch, which brings the fridge from Europe, and Sears, which brings it from Bosch to the consumer.

This is a beautiful sneak attack on the North American market, thanks, ironically, to the North American Free Trade Agreement. Consumers in the US and Canada have not had the choice of Greenfreeze technology that most of the rest of the world has, thanks to the efforts of industry lobbyists to keep it out.

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Posted by Brian at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I love it when they guy goes, "Did I blow it?" after he guesses wrong about which toilet paper is recycled. It's a funny clip all the way through. Good job by Rolf Skar from Greenpeace USA. Fox news certainly isn't always the friendliest network for Greenpeace (and that's putting it mildly). But watch all the way to the end for a last minute twist. Pretty cool.

Posted by Andrew at 6:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

In this video interview, economist Nicholas Stern discusses the downturn and its effect on the climate change agenda.

If you're like me - and don't understand economics all that well - this video is actually an easy way to get a bit of a grip on how we can solve both the economic crisis and the climate crisis. OK so it's not the most inspirational video ever but it might help you in the next debate you end up having about this stuff with your mates down the pub! Also - it's nice to hear and see Mr. Stern after hearing so much about his famous review.

Posted by Lisa at 5:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

© Falk Heller/argum/Greenpeace

Greenpeace activists have been targeting European Finance Ministers this week, in advance of next Tuesday's EU meeting about a global green deal.

Well, it should be about Europe's financial commitments to help developing countries tackle climate change (read more about it here). But some European governments are uneasy (or even dead set against) taking the lead.

Danish activists today dropped a large banner at the Ministry of Finance calling for a commitment to pay Denmark's share (6 billion Dkr, 800,000 EUR per year) of a green recovery package for the planet.

Read more »

Posted by Eoin at 5:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Regular readers will know we follow Apple news closely because we want them to be an environmental leader in the electronics industry. Apple announced new products this week and took a step closer to meet their goal of removing toxic BFRs and PVC completely. New iMacs and Mac minis are BFR free and PVC free internally.

That seems to just leave Apple to get rid of the PVC in external power cords, a move which industry insiders tell us is coming soon. Infinite loop has a good analysis of the latest moves from Apple here:

"We have spent a tremendous amount of time and engineering effort and money in coming up with these kinds of solutions ahead of the rest of the industry," (David Moody, Apple VP of marketing).

On toxic chemicals elimination they are leading the industry, now it's time for Dell, HP, Lenovo and co to match Apple's effort and money they have put it to this since May 2007.

Posted by Tom at 4:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I'm just back from the massive IT trade fair CeBIT in Germany where we launched our latest push for greener electronics – now asking IT leaders to rise to the challenge of climate change.

Basically we are asking the executives of top IT firms to lobby key governments for a strong, planet-saving agreement at the December 2009 climate change summit in Copenhagen. We're inviting companies like Cisco, Fujitsu, Google, HP, IBM, Nokia and Microsoft to the challenge. Many of these companies are positioning themselves as being able to provide the solutions to significantly cut carbon emissions. If they are serious they need to support a strong Kyoto deal in Copenhagen that will provide the demand for their IT solutions.

Despite the media at CeBIT being very excited about Arnold Schwarzenegger's attendance (possibly hoping for a Terminator style quote), we managed to get good interesting in the launch of the challenge with coverage in The Register, Computer world and the Green IT report.

Now we have a few things we need help with:

Right now, today, Thursday, - vote up the story on Digg to bring extra attention
Help spread the word

In between interviews I also popped over to Cisco's blog that talks about all the great climate solutions they have to suggest they support the challenge. I got a "your comment appears to be spam and will be moderated". I heard that several other folks comments have also not appeared since Tuesday. So either Cisco's moderation is much slower then their routers, or invite on the page to "Join the Conversation" doesn't apply if you have something meaningful to say. Anyway I've added a trackback to this post - so if you reading Cisco – rising to the challenge is a better business move than trying to ignore it.

Cisco Update, 6th March: Cisco's Laura Ipsen, Senior VP, Global Policy and Government Affairs posted a response yesterday on Cisco's blog. I have a few questions which I'm following up with by email. Stay tuned.......

For those companies who might need a bit more prompting to back up their green words with real action, to paraphrase Arnie "we'll be back", in May with the first assessment of the real IT climate leaders.

Posted by Tom at 4:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

"This is what democracy looks like!" is one of the slogans I remember the protesters at the Washington DC coal action chanting yesterday.

The same day Austria's Environment Minister put it just as well, I think, when he told reporters how it felt to beat the European Commission over banning GMO crops: "We have completely prevailed. This is for me as if Austria won the European football championship."

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Posted by Eoin at 5:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

An estimated 2,500 activists made their voices heard at the Capitol Climate Action, the largest act of civil disobedience about global warming in American history. James Hansen, Vandana Shiva, Wendell Berry, Robert Kennedy, Jr. were all on hand to add their voices to the crowd of activists at the plant to demand action on climate change.

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Posted by Jess at 1:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Capitol Climate Action yesterday in Washington, DC concluded peacefully and with no arrests, despite being the largest incident of mass civil disobedience in the name of our climate. On the website they featured live streaming video, a twitter stream featuring posts direct from the action and live blogging. The above picture is my favourite from the Flickr stream so far - it shows people of all ages participating, and there is a great contrast between the red 'power' banners and the White House in the background. Along with a coalition of NGO supporters specially trained for the action other participants included Bill McKibben, Daryl Hannah, James Hansen and other prominent environmentalists and celebrities.

Also, if you look closely at the bottom right of the photograph you can see a man fiddling with his cellphone - probably posting to Twitter right at that moment. The online broadcasting of this event was really extensive, covering step by step, speech by speech, every moment.

Posted by Laura at 9:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you are anywhere near Washington, DC today and you want to be part of the what will likely be the largest demonstration on climate change, get yourself down to the capitol to be a part of the action.

Ninety organizations and thousands of people will be marching right down to the the Capitol Power Plant to demand that the administration confront the climate crisis and make a solutions a priority. The power plant is a 99-year-old facility that heats and cools the halls of Congress, still burns coal and accounts for one-third of the legislative branch’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Read more »

Posted by Jess at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)