Victories

Another victory in Lapland

There's rejoicing in Finland, where we just notched up another victory protecting some of Europe's last old growth forests!

Just 2 months after a lawsuit against Finland's State forest service was settled by a deal which will protect the Nellim forest, we have reached a major victory on our other old-growth forest campaign. We’re pleased to announce that following intensive negotiations, Finnish State forest enterprise, Metsähallitus, has agreed to leave 35 000 hectares of boreal forests intact. It's a decision that significantly improves old-growth forest protection and will bring peace to the forests and its inhabitants.

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Posted by Anne-Marije at 4:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Apple first to eliminate toxic PVC

Apple has just posted on its website that its has cleared the last hurdle in eliminating toxic PVC plastic and is the first PC maker to completely eliminate hazardous brominated flame retardants and polyvinyl chloride plastic in its new iMac and Macbook.

Removing PVC from PC power cords was the last step in Apple’s industry leading position on toxics elimination. Apple was first with PCs virtually free of BFRs and PVC (except for the power cord) in March this year. While HP recently produced their first BFR/PVC free (except power cord) model, Apple has again moved further ahead of the competition

While removing the last use of PVC might not sound like a big deal it means Apple’s new products will be safer and easier to recycle and cause less pollution at the end of life. There were significant technical and safety certification barriers to finding PVC alternatives but Apple has now proved it is now possible and has completed the phase out, while reducing product price and boosting profits.

Apple’s PVC free power cords are only available in certain markets currently but should be available more widely when safety certification is obtained.

This lays down the gauntlet to other major PC makers such as Dell, HP, Lenovo and Acer to catch up with Apple again, and we’ll be keeping up our pressure on them to match Apple’s lead.

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Posted by Tom at 9:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Whaling vessel Oriental Bluebird de-flagged!

A Greenpeace inflatable boat tries to prevent Japanese whaling fleet's factory ship Nisshin Maru from refueling from the supply vessel Oriental Bluebird in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. © Greenpeace/Rezac

Some great news for the whales - and it was worth waiting for - the Oriental Bluebird - the Japanese-owned cargo and refuelling for the whaling fleet, has lost its Panamanian flag! You may recall that back on January 22nd, activists from the Esperanza blocked the whaling vessels Nisshin Maru and Oriental Bluebird from coming alongside in Southern Ocean waters. The ships planned to exchange fuel and whale meat - but activists Jetske and Heath put their tiny inflatable in between, to the frustration of the whalers.

It seems a long time ago since watched this from the bridge of the Esperanza, but now their blockade has come to fruition; following pressure from Greenpeace, and Panamanian organisations ASVEPA (Panama Green Association) and FSOCIAM (Environmental and Civil Society Forum, NGOs Coalition), the Oriental Bluebird de-flagged and fined, thanks to a legal ruling by Panamanian authorities.

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Posted by Dave at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Community power against coal

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)

Iceland to stop whaling!

Result! One country down, two to go. Norway and Japan are the only two countries left flying in the face of world opinion, after Iceland's fisheries minister, Einar K. Guofinnsson was quoted by Reuters as saying

"The whaling industry, like any other industry, has to obey the market. If there is no profitability there is no foundation for resuming with the killing of whales".

Guofinnsson said he won't issue a new quota until the "market conditions for whale meat improve" and permission to export whale products to Japan is secured. Presumably, the 5,000 tonnes of whalemeat currently sitting in Japan's coldrooms will need to get sold first.

I had a sense this might happen - while I was at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting in Anchorage this year, the newly elected Icelandic foreign minister, Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir, practically disowned her country's pro-whaling commissioner, saying "we are sacrificing greater interests for lesser ones in this issue". She was referring, of course, to Iceland losing tourism revenue for the sake of a ridiculous whale hunt.

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Posted by Dave at 6:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Trademark vs free speech victory

Last year, the government here in the Netherlands ran TV adds showing banners that read, "Disasters can’t be planned, preparations can. Think ahead".

But of course some disasters can be prevented by good planning. For example, if the Netherlands chooses clean energy instead of building nuclear power plants - then obviously there can't be any nuclear disasters. So we thought it was ironic that some in the same government also want nuclear power.

And of course, we're kind of big on banners ourselves. So we hung this one on Ministry of the Environment building. Then we got hauled into court.

Jasper (our Senior Legal Council) on the outcome of the case:

The Dutch State filed an injunction against Greenpeace Netherlands and Greenpeace International based on trademark and copyright infringement. We argued that it was a parody (copyright defence) and that the freedom of speech provided a valid reason to use the trademark.

On 22 December the Amsterdam Court fully honoured our defences, denied the injunction and ordered the State to pay Greenpeace EUR 18,000 in costs.

That the action by the State may have been politically motivated was evidenced by the fact that it only acquired the copyright in the logo from the designer after it had summoned Greenpeace to cease the campaign. The intellectual property argument was used in an attempt to stifle an undesirable Greenpeace campaign.

This judgement acknowledges the right to parody logos and use trademarks in our campaigns.

Three cheers for all the lawyers out there defending free speech!

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Posted by Andrew at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Cyberactivists help save Amazon Rainforest

After a lot of pressure from Greenpeace supporters who sent e.mails and letters, McDonald's has decided not use to chickens that have been fed on soy grown in the deforested areas of the Amazon rainforest. Well this is really great news! Now don't get me wrong, I'm not the kind of environmentalist to go all soft on a corporation like McDonald's just because they did something good for a change. The factory farming industry is one big environmental crime and McDonald's isn't likely to start selling organic burgers anytime soon. So I'm not rushing into my nearest McDonald's to place my order (and that has nothing to do with the fact that it is over 650 miles away!).

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Posted by Lisa at 4:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)