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Why did we move?

This blog was running on MoveableType, which was fine. But it was off separate from our main website. Now that we've got a shiny new design (hope you like), and cool new tech for our main website it's nicer to have the blogs integrated.

On Friday The Guardian published an article by John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace UK, on the Deepwater Disaster and spelling out how BP has managed to pursue with their dirty work by pouring millions into Washington, mainly through third-party lobby groups such as the American Petroleum Institute.

Mark Floegel of Greenpeace Louisiana was interviewed by Le Parisien appreciating that about 400 living species, as well as migrating birds will be affected by the oil spill. François Chartier, Greenpeace France oceans campaigner, fears that companies search for oil even takes them as far as wanting to drill in the Arctic Ocean.

Reuters lists some possible impacts of the environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico on climate change legislation in the Senate, saying that it could pretty much go either way, it could bring some drilling protections or boost nuclear or renewable energy. Apparently as soon as the climate bill is pushed through, the immigration reforms are up next.

50,000 marching against mining

On Saturday in New Zealand, Auckland, actor-activists and Greenpeace ambassadors Lucy Lawless and Robyn Malcolm joined what is said to have been one of the biggest protests in the city for decades. People gathered from all over the country to oppose the government's plan to open protected conservation land for mining. The video footage shows thousands of people demonstrating against more mining. Have a look at Greenpeace New Zealand's website for more information and to take action.

Whales in distress become film

Universal Pictures has given the green light to the production of the film Whales. It will star John Krasinski (from the US adaptation of The Office) and Drew Barrymore as a Greenpeace activist, in the Ken Kwapis-directed fact-based film about the 1988 rescue of a trio of California gray whales that got trapped under the ice of the Arctic Circle.

Picture credit: © The United States Coast Guard, Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig Disaster, 04/22/2010, A Coast Guard MH-65C dolphin rescue helicopter and crew document the fire aboard the mobile offshore drilling unit Deepwater Horizon, while searching for survivors April 21, 2010. Multiple Coast Guard helicopters, planes and cutters responded to rescue the Deepwater Horizons 126 person crew.

And indeed, the clean energy revolution will require that IT delivers these tools. If we’re going to plug in our cars, we will need a way to monitor our electricity usage and juice them with renewables. Well, IT is building the smart grid and smart electricity metering to allow us to do just that.

And if you were constantly reminded how much energy you’re using when you turn on your lights or run your blow dryer, you would probably cut back your usage a bit, right? IT can help us make our buildings more efficient, so we use less energy to light and heat our homes, but it can also help us measure our individual impacts so that we make better choices about our energy consumption. But IT companies need to demonstrate the real-world contributions of their products and services in order to get credit on the Leaderboard.

In this evaluation, a handful of IT companies have provided examples of the solutions that they will offer to help solve the climate crisis. And to be sure that they are putting these products and services to good use, we have rated them on their ability to demonstrate metrics by which they plan to measure the positive climate and energy impacts of their solutions.

Cisco really shines in this area, scoring highest overall, largely for its specific cases studies of solutions and the associated means for measuring their contributions. Similarly, Ericsson, which is new to the Leaderboard, starts off well in second place for its climate solutions.

Most IT companies have also set greenhouse gas reduction targets for their own operations, which is ever more important as cloud computing becomes a primary way of communicating, sharing documents, posting photos, watching videos, and organizing our lives (i.e. the Google suite of web tools).

Our recent report, Make IT Green: Cloud Computing and its Contribution to Climate Change, details this growing problem. Companies that build data centers to run their cloud platforms will have a choice to make: either increase the demand for dirty energy by building data centers near cheap coal-fired power, or throw some weight behind the deployment of renewables and commit to using clean energy to fuel the cloud.

We know what the real leaders should do.

Real leaders will work hard to influence local, national, and international decision-makers on climate policies that slash emissions and enable widespread deployment of renewable energy and carbon-cutting technologies. While this sounds like a no brainer - given that advocating for favorable policies and incentives boosts both the climate and IT’s business model - companies are not displaying the degree of political activity we’d hope to see. And they better get going if they hope to beat the fossil fuel industry, which continues to throw its lobbying dollars behind maintaining the status quo.

Google scores top marks for advocacy, and a number of the IT companies turned out in Copenhagen, but we still need to hear some specific policy goals articulated by these corporations and witness proactive, vocal advocacy for climate and energy policies.

This will be an important year for the climate. In the U.S., debate will soon begin on an energy and climate bill that is expected to put a price on carbon pollution. And the year will end with international climate talks in Cancun, Mexico, where world leaders will once again attempt to negotiate a fair and binding deal to stop climate change.

We hope to see Leaderboard companies improve their scores in 2010 by actively participating in political advocacy and showing us what real climate advocacy leadership looks like.

Which companies would you expect to see stronger climate leadership from? What do you hope to see from the IT sector in 2010?

Check out some of today’s media coverage of the V3 Leaderboard launch:

New York Times: Climate Polices Earn Cisco Top Spot in Greenpeace IT Rankings
CNET: Greenpeace Lauds Cisco on Climate, Chides Google
Earth2Tech: Which IT Company is the Greenest of them All?
PCWorld: Cisco Tops Latest Greenpeace Rankings, Panasonic Last

Rivers of oil spreading over the ocean after the Deepwater Horizon Oil Platform Explosion

Five times more oil a day than previously believed is spreading into the Gulf of Mexico from a blown-out well of a sunken drilling rig, according to AP. A drilling rig leased by the oil company BP exploded and sank off the Louisiana coast last week in roughly 5,000ft of water after burning for two days. Now a new leak has been discovered in the pipes a mile below the ocean's surface. According to the article, BP is disputing these new alarming figures. "The US Coast Guard and National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) experts now estimate that 5,000 barrels a day of oil are spilling into the gulf - rather than the 1,000 previously estimated.". The news was discovered after test control 'burns" were undertaken to "burn off" the oil. No more fires were lit overnight, and President Obama has said the US Department of Defense will be available to help manage the spill.

The Waikato Times (New Zealand) reports that the 'burning tactic' came after "crews operating submersible robots failed to activate a shut-off device that would halt the flow of oil on the sea bottom 1.5km below." According to BP today a relief well will be drilled to relieve pressure from the blowout site, but this would take months to prove effective. A dome-like device is also been considered to cover oil rising to the surface by pumping it to container vessels, but again BP confirmed that this would take time.

Reuters have quoted GP in a 'factbox" about the potential environmental impacts of the spill, which includes a big threat for the Atlantic population of bluefin tuna, as their eggs float near the surface around this time of year. "We expect a spill like this could dramatically decrease the amount of bluefin tuna larvae that are surviving," said John Hocevar, the Oceans Campaign director for Greenpeace USA. Other animals which are in danger include species of bird and sea turtles.

Read more about the oil spill in our campaign blog from Greenpeace USA which includes a slideshow of the explosion.

President Obama has recently called for more offshore drilling as part of the US energy future but this growing disaster could have repercussions in the energy debate in the US.

Photo Credit: © Sean Gardner / Greenpeace

See link to the article in the New York Times, and an AP video report on Youtube.

An environmental holocaust

Most have heard about the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl (Ukraine) 24 years ago, but the second worst nuclear tragedy is not only buried in the past, away from the public eye, but it is also in use and continues to expand. The Belgian newspaper De Morgen explains why the secret factory at Mayak (Russia) should be in the frontline of public concern.
“In September 29, 1957 a tank exploded with thousands of tons of liquid high level radioactive waste. Nearly half a million people came into contact with radioactive substances, but only 10,000 of them were evacuated. 23,000 square kilometers of land was contaminated and still is.” The number of cancer cases rocketed, and children were born with abnormalities.

To watch just how terrible the consequences of this accident were watch the video here.

Only a few years ago the Russian government approved the dumping of radioactive waste in Mayak from abroad. The Mayak nuclear plant has processed 1540 tons of radioactive liquid from Germany, Finland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Czech Republic and is negotiating future contracts with Switzerland, Spain, Slovenia, Italy and Belgium. The report said European countries dumping waste in Russia are "deliberately" evading their responsibilities and "participate in an environmental holocaust without precedent."

Irony in the Arctic

While Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is in Norway for "energy talks" (Reuters), settling a dispute over territory that will open the way for oil and gas exploitation in the region, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is calling for action to "clean up" the arctic (there's a picture of him kneeling by a sick polar bear in Russia's far north). "The reduction of military cooperation after the collapse of the Soviet Union resulted in this scrapheap which we can observe," he said. Meanwhile, the disputed zone under negotiation with Norway is between the Shtokman gas discovery on the Russian side - a huge reservoir holding enough gas to meet global demand for a year - and two oil and gas fields on the Norwegian side. Norwegian state-owned energy company Statoil are helping Russian Gazprom (together with the French company Total) to develop the reserves, intended to supply gas to Europe and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to the US. Medvedev said "[t]he question here is to find the right date to begin the project stage for the construction."

• Flanders should contribute to the solution of the world food problem by developing GE crops
• Flanders will plead for larger support for the use of authorized GE crops in the EU
• EU-approved GE crops should get all chances on Flemish soil.

We focused our message on the fact that while MON810 has been banned by 6 EU member states because of environmental risks, while in Flanders it's the government itself who's sowing it. "Apparently in Flanders the interests of Monsanto have more weight than risks for the environment and public health", said Jonas Hulsens, Greenpeace Belgium Agriculture campaigner. "Instead of subsidising publicity-stunts for the biotech industry, the government should rather have a look at the conclusions of the IAASTD, and start investing in ecological farming methods that maintain the national resources our food production depends on, without adding new risks like GE crops do."

The links to our press release in Dutch and French.

A new initiative allows 1 million EU citizens to make official requests of the European Commission. Sign the petition, lets go to 1 million.

Picture credit: © Greenpeace / Philip Reynaers

In Stockholm Greenpeace activists have occupied the offices of state-owned energy company Vattenfall, blocking employees from entering, ahead of the annual general meeting (AGM). Drums painted with radioactive symbols block the doors, and there is a banner on the roof, calling for 100 percent renewable energy and condemning investments in coal and nuclear. The company's press officer said "[w]e agree with Greenpeace's concerns about climate change. We are today one of the players in Europe that invest the most in renewable energy. And we are pressing on, but it will take time." However, Louis Tillman of Greenpeace Sweden replied "[a]s Europe's fifth-largest electricity company, Vattenfall would be Sweden's most powerful tool in the fight against climate change. Maud Olofsson [the Minister for Trade] has had over three years to begin the necessary transformation. But instead of investing in energy technology, we risk now new nuclear reactors in Sweden and many more coal plants abroad." Thirty activists from Germany, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Poland and Sweden are involved in the action, and so far they have not been removed.

An ongoing protest in Turkey against nuclear energy has had continued coverage in national news, with more images, showing a rally with 6,000 people, together with Greenpeace, protesting the development of a nuclear power station at Sinop. The Greenpeace ship the Rainbow Warrior has been participating (watch the video), and will stay in the area to help with the campaign for two more days.

6,000 people in Turkey took part in a rally opposing the nuclear station. © Greenpeace

Norway and Russia to cooperate over Arctic exploitation

The New York Times reported late yesterday Russia and Norway have reached an accord over long-disputed territory in the Barents Sea, leading the way forward to talks of oil and natural gas exploitation in the region. While the country's are proud of their show of cooperation, concerns have been raised by environmental organizations about their eagerness to open the fragile region to mineral exploitation. Truls Gulowsen of Greenpeace in Norway said “[i]t just shows the greediness of Russia and Norway that the first thing they talked about is not global warming, which is what’s making this area suddenly accessible, but resource extraction. This part of the planet is extremely sensitive. It is often covered with ice and there is no technology to clean spilled oil and chemicals out of ice.”

BP opposed regulations on offshore oil drilling, before the Mexican Gulf spill

In the Gulf of Mexico, the ongoing oil spill disaster highlights the disproportionate environmental risk posed by new fossil fuel development (given the limited impact it will have on long-term energy security, and its contribution to the immediate threat of climate change). This latest disaster has even made the Governor of Louisiana rethink his recent support for offshore drilling in the US. International news continues to cover the spill, in response to which Mexico's ministries of energy and the environment and natural resources have not yet issued statements. Greenpeace Mexico has warned that the water pollution threatens marine fauna, waterfowl, beaches and wetlands in and off the coast of Tamaulipas. There are six species of whales in the area, and it is currently fishing season for bluefin tuna.

Interestingly, it turns out BP - the company responsible for the leak and criticised for its handling of the crisis - actually protested stricter safety rules proposed last year by the US agency that oversees offshore drilling. The British oil giant was one of several companies that wrote to the US Minerals Management Service September 2009 saying additional regulation of the oil industry was unnecessary. BP said in its letter that the current voluntary system of safety procedures was adequate. Asked about their efforts to contain the spill (which has proven difficult) a BP spokesman gave a somewhat hyperbolic reply that the company's approach was "to massively over-respond." In the last quarter, BP's profits more than doubled to $US6.1 billion ($6.6bn) from a year earlier, "on the back of higher oil prices and better operational performance", the Wall Street Journal reported.

US Climate legislation update

In the US, a coalition of 31 environmental groups (including Greenpeace) have written to the Senate calling on them "not to squander the great promise of bi-partisan action" over climate legislation. "This must be the year that the United States passes comprehensive climate and energy legislation into law in order to create jobs, strengthen our national security, and reduce carbon pollution. We can't afford to delay action any longer; we urge the Senate to take up a comprehensive energy and climate bill in June," the letter read. Phil Radford of Greenpeace US was quoted saying "it’s clear that polluter lobbyists have succeeded in hijacking this climate policy initiative and undermined the ambitious action necessary." The bill, which was due on Monday, was postponed indefinitely as legislators "scrambled to salvage ties with their only Republican ally".

New evidence released by Greenpeace: Sinar Mas clearing Indonesian rainforest

Oran-utan rainforest habitats are being destroyed for palm oil plantations, Indonesia © Greenpeace

Yesterday allegations made by Greenpeace that the palm oil giant Golden Agri-Resources (the parent company of Sinar Mas) was lying to shareholders about its environmental standards and clearing areas of rainforest, were reported in regional news as their AGM took place.The company responded in a classic effort to save face by rushing out a statement 30 minutes before the Greenpeace announcement, saying it had suspended a duty manager from the plantation under scrutiny. The company also said it was commissioning an "independent" investigation into the allegations. An AFP story covered in detail the claims that new evidence proves Sinar Mas' subsidiary PT-BAT is continuing deforestation in the habitat of endangered orangutans, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Bustar Maitar of Greenpeace was quoted saying "[t]hese cases show that Sinar Mas' commitments are meaningless and nothing but greenwash." Anglo-Dutch multinational Unilever and Switzerland's Nestle have already dropped the company as a direct supplier in response to protests by Greenpeace; and the US food company Cargill became the latest multinational in March to demand answers from Sinar Mas about its destructive practices. The story was covered in a video report by Al Jazeera on Youtube and across Australian news.

Polluting Baikal for some toilet rolls

In Russia, an action against the operations of a paper pulp factory that would pollute Lake Baikal has been staged by three environmental organizations including Greenpeace, in which 200 toilet rolls were sent to the office of Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg, AFP reported. "If the authorities are so desperate for this paper and want to destroy Baikal, we offer them the paper," the coalition said in a statement. A banner was also hung on the gates of the White House An official apparently accepted the toilet paper and promised to forward it to Vladimir Putin as soon as possible, although it would most likely be distributed among retirees, an AFP reporter said. Prime Minister Putin signed governmental decree No.1 on 13 January 2010 permitting toxic discharge into Lake Baikal, a World Heritage site since 1996. The lake is one of the world's most pristine and unique fresh water habitats, home to innumerable endemic species and supporting local communities. (Read more).

We arrived in Spain, the 'heart of GE in Europe' in the blaze of a Spanish sunset. It was nearing the end of the road for us, only 2 stops in Spain after two and a half weeks on the road. We were all tired but excited to have taken the bus so far and into a country where GE is so predominant. Spain produces 80% of all GMO in Europe and is home to 76,000 hectares of land used for the cultivation of GE crops. Our visit to the Spanish farm was scheduled for the following morning so we checked into our hotel to catch up on some sleep.
12/04/2010 Greenpeace Staff in Spain

The soil here was much dryer and more arid than that in Hungary and it was hard to imagine it being fertile enough to produce food but Chema showed us some of the crops, including leeks which were large and healthy and growing in abundance. The farm was much smaller than both those visited in Hungary and all of the vegetables are hand-planted using a simple tool which he demonstrated to us which is used to position the plant into the earth.

I took portraits of Chema with his plants, in the greenhouses and on the fields where the intense blue sky contrasted with the dry, flat, brown land, giving a desert-like appearance and quite a different backdrop to the previous farms. After he signed the bus a group of us went back to the fields for a team photo-shoot in matching t-shirts. This was fun shoot! I directed the group to pose beside some of the crops in the field and then we moved over to a greenhouse nearby which was surrounded by little white flowers. Chema joined us in the centre of the photograph and white butterflies buzzed around the scene as I everyone laughed and joked, putting flowers in their hair for some real flower power!
11/04/2010 Organic Wheat in Spain
After an organic lunch we headed to Eco Monegros bakery, a small family-run business which produces bread using only organic ingredients. Father and daughter team Daniel and Ana Marcén showed us around the tools of the trade, explaining (in Spanish) how things operate here. I found it quite chaotic at this point, with so many people and trying to conduct a photo-shoot when everyone spoke in a foreign language! I had to slow things down and pull the Daniel and Ana to one side for pictures both together and separately as we went along. Ana was really very helpful and positive and we tried various angles whilst she fed me some delicious organic biscuits made here. She said that her grandmother was wary of press attention and was of the belief that "pride comes before a fall". I told her that I think it's really important to get a positive message out there, not just from this bakery but all of the organic farms we visited on our trip. Hopefully it will inspire more people to take pride in their food and go organic.

Our trip culminated 6 days later in a huge rally which was attended by over 15,000 people from all over Europe. The message was 'No Transgenicos' ( No GMO’s/ No GE) and it rang loud and clear through the streets as the people marched against GE.
16/04/2010 GE Action at Spanish Ministry of Environment
The day before Greenpeace had an action outside the Ministry of Agriculture in Madrid and the bus was left here as a blockade / petition and later towed away. The police had outnumbered activists at the site and I had tried to shoot goodbye pictures of the truck surrounded by police and activists. The action was much more frontline than anything that we had done on the trip and it was a powerful statement to make in that country in particular, although it was sad to wave “ adios” to our beautiful and colourful bus!

The rally at the end was really a positive climax and a great way to end the visual narrative. It was fantastic to see so many people speaking out against something we had been working on for the past few weeks. I hope that the GE Free Future bus tour and the photo-documentation of alternative machinery and ecological farming will go some way in getting support for this campaign so we can protect health and nature for generations to come.

To see more of Emmas photographs from the tour join out GE-Free Future Facebook page.

Thailand's first ecological rice farming camp for kids has been launched by Greenpeace in an organic rice farm in Ratchaburi as part of a project to demonstrate sustainable agriculture solutions and to educate and inspire the youth to value healthy food, land and community through experiences in ecological farming.
07/03/2009 A child gets ready to plant a rice seedling in a bid to create the first ever art on a rice field in Thailand. The 10-rai rice field in Ratchaburi province will grow into a beautiful art in the next 4 months to show an image of farmers wearing straw hats and using sickle to harvest rice.

Picture credit: © Greenpeace / Vinai Dithajohn

Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has announced his government will postpone its carbon pollution reduction scheme (known as the CPRS) until the end of 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol is due to expire. Rudd backed away from his biggest election promise, citing parliamentary opposition to the emissions trading scheme (ETS) and "slow global progress" on tackling climate change. The decision, he said, would “provide the Australian government [in 2012] with a better position to assess the level of global action on climate change" - although it is not clear how the level of action taken by other governments will in any way improve Australia's "position" with regard to climate change, which Rudd referred to earlier as the “great moral and economic challenge of our time.”

Australia is one of the highest per capita carbon emitters in the world, and has some of the highest per capita carbon emissions of developed nations. As the world's leading coal exporter, Australia also gets 85 percent of its electricity generation from coal, accounting for 42 percent of the country's CO2 emissions (not including that which is exported).

Life-threatening short-term-ism

Meanwhile, Australian coal producers are having a boon: Reuters reported today Australian coal prices are at an 18 month high, thanks to soaring Chinese demand, and slowed production in Indonesia and South Africa. In India - where the government expects to boost its thermal coal imports by 75 percent to 35 million tonnes in 2010 - traders have already increased their orders from Indonesia as most South African producers have already been booked out this year, traders said. "Prices could still go higher from here. We're beginning to see very strong demand from China and India and we are expecting shortfall of between 10-20 million tonnes in the Asian thermal coal market this year," an analyst at UBS said.

EU tips hat to coal, with CCS as fig-leaf

The UK's Independent reported European countries will be able to use money from a key EU scheme for reducing climate-changing carbon emissions to build new coal-fired power stations. "What these documents show is that billions of pounds raised through a scheme that was meant to help reduce pollution could be handed to massive German energy companies to actually increase pollution by helping them to build the most polluting power stations that exist" said Joss Garman of Greenpeace. "It's exactly like taking money from Weight Watchers and handing it to McDonald's to run advertising campaigns for Big Macs in schools. It's utterly perverse and it requires Gordon Brown to step in and stop this madness."

Funds could be used to provide up to 15 percent of the costs of so-called "highly-efficient CCS-ready power plants" - meaning those power stations with "carbon capture storage" technology - it is said might be developed some time after 2020. Furthermore, under current EU guidelines, values could be used for a coal plant which is only 44 percent efficient - in other words, one that loses 56 per cent of the energy it produces in transmission - putting the term "highly efficient" in highly relative quotation marks.

Indeed, Reuters reported this week the EU's ambition to lead the fight against climate change faces "a setback" as its target of rolling out full-scale CCS plants by 2015 is increasingly seen by experts as "unrealistic". The likelihood of the EU reaching its target is vanishingly small" said David Reiner of Cambridge University. "If they achieved five (plants) by 2015 and 10 by 2020 it would probably be a minor miracle." The plants would take about four years to build, after a permit process of a few years, taking Europe way beyond 2015, by which time global carbon emissions must peak in order to avoid catastrophic climate change. CCS-ready plants will cost about $1 billion more to build than normal coal plants, but no incentives are yet in place. "We will not have (any) CCS plants operating in the EU in 2015," Reuters quoted an anonymous adviser to the EU Commission as saying.

Behind the fig-leaves and rhetoric, the reality: coal is not "sexy"

Greenpeace New Zealand have responded to the country's Economic Development Minister, Gerry Brownlee's claim that "coal is sexy" - his show of support for proposed coal mining in a national park. Actresses Lucy Lawless and Robyn Malcolm poke fun at the ministers remark, rolling around on a pile of coal for fun.

Take action to stop the New Zealand Government from opening up protected conservation areas to mining!

The fight for climate justice goes on

In Australia, AAP reported, 15 Greenpeace activists have been fined (see picture, top) for shutting down a mining depot at Hay Point, Mackay in Queensland, on August 5 2009. In a protest over carbon pollution caused by the expansion of the Australian coal industry, the action "brought one of Australia's busiest coal export terminals to a standstill" while the Esperanza moved in to blockade the port (owned by BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance). ABC online quoted Greenpeace chief executive Dr Linda Selvey saying "[w]hile we continue to expand our coal industry in Australia and continue to increase our carbon dioxide emissions, Greenpeace will continue to take action." Fines totaled AUS$6,000 were given out, and the captain, Vladimir Votiacov, still faces court next month "maritime offenses".

No to Nuclear in Turkey

In Turkey, protests were held against the construction of a nuclear power station at Sinop, on the 24th anniversary of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. There is widespread public opposition to the nuclear plans in the Sinop area, and in solidarity with the protestors, many locals hung black flags from the windows of their homes and businesses yesterday (see the picture from the Turkiye Gazetesi) Five Greenpeace activists were taken into police custody, the Turkish office announced.

Being the on-board photographer for the GE Free Future bus has been a fantastic, inspiring and totally unpredictable experience so far. I was particularly interested in this project as I've been concerned with food related topics for some time, following and sometimes documenting, food mapping guerilla gardening and planting activities of transition town movements and eco communities in London where I live. People are thinking about the future of food supplies and demand for local organic produce is increasing.

I knew the next stop in Hungary would be very different again as we were planning to visit farms. It was hard to know what to expect and I hoped that the locations would be visually interesting, that we would have enough time and flexibility and that the day would provide some magical lighting opportunities. Again, it was a grey and rainy morning. A man came to show us around the farm and I shot pictures as we went along of some of the workers and animals. We then went to the fields and looked at some of the machinery used by the farmers. As the day progressed the people and places we visited became more aesthetically pleasing and the clouds lifted a bit. In the afternoon we were due to visit a farm with grey cattle, a traditional Hungarian breed. The man who greeted us as we arrived was dressed in a traditional outfit and he was sporting a fine moustache to match his clothing.
03/31/2010 Herder with Herd in Hungary. Sari Istvan is a cattle herdsman. Grey cattle, a typical Hungarian breed provide organic meat which goes to German baby food company, Hipp. Hortobagyi Gemmegorzo non-profit Ltd. The farm is an organic farm in the buffer zone of the Hortobagyi national park which preserves the genes of traditional Hungarian animals. They also produce food for human consumption and organic feed for their animals.

I immediately began photographing him and one of the team had to come and retrieve me from the sheep shed where I was taking a portrait of him with one of his black sheep. The grey cattle had arrived. The herd was impressive, led by a shepherd and his dog across the fields to our bus. The cattle were led around the bus several times and I chased after them with my zoom lens, getting as close as I could for some good animal portraits. At one point, after running across the field, I noticed some of the cattle had spotted me and they turned towards me. I took the camera away from my face and came face to face with the animals and their impressively large horns which suddenly seemed quite threatening. I quickly turned around, expecting the team to be just behind me and I realised that I had run a good distance from the group and had to face the horns alone. I backed slowly away. On our way home a pleasant surprise greeted us in the form of magical lighting as a double rainbow of full colour intensity hugged our bus. We stopped to take pictures and enjoy the visual spectacle.

The second day we visited an eco farm called Kishantos. The weather was very different - bright and sunny and the late afternoon light gave a golden glow to the fields as we explored with the farmer - Bolye Ferenc, some of the machinery and methods used for sustainable farming. I was really impressed with some of the machinery here. A special weeding machine is used to pull out any weeds that threaten growing plants and this means that no chemical herbicides are needed to kill of pests. To show us how good the soil is here Bolye took us to a field of wild, yellow Adonis flowers that he discovered on his land. The abundant flowers are a sign of non-chemical agriculture. Later, we were invited for some incredibly tasty organic food before heading off, and Acs Sandorne Eva, a director of Kishantos, gave us a short presentation about some of the programs which Kishantos are involved in. It was great to take a step back to listen to some of the information. The trip had been pretty manic so far and I'd been too busy shooting pictures to take in much of the information presented to us as we continued on our journey. The half an hour presentation provided much inspiration for the rest of the trip.

More of Emma's pictures can be seen on our GE-free future page on Facebook.

The BASIC countries (Brazil, South Africa, India and China) met in South Africa on Sunday to discuss how to speed up a process of finalising a global agreement that would require rich nations to cut carbon emissions and reduce global warming by 2010. Greenpeace Africa political advisor Themba Linden said in a statement: "Greenpeace urges the governments gathered in Cape Town to take the opportunity to make a clear and unanimous call for a fair, ambitious and legally binding deal to avert catastrophic climate change." The story appeared in France 24, after being picked up by the news wire AFP.

Greenpeace volunteers were present displaying banners reading “climate change needs BASIC
leadership” on a boat directly opposite the 12 Apostles Hotel in Camps Bay where the conference took place.

Greenpeace is highlighting the urgent need for the BASIC group of countries, four of the most influential emerging economies in the world, to take climate leadership in the run up to the next UN Climate Summit in Cancun, Mexico, at the end of the year.

Reuters carried the story today under the headline " Murderer, liar, fraud, traitor" about Koch Industries and other climate change deniers, such as ExxonMobil. They oppose climate change science because of concerns about the multi-billion dollar costs associated with carbon trading schemes and clean energy policies. In an attempt to greenwash themselves Koch Industries says on their website that all they are trying to do is to "encourage an intellectually honest debate on the scientific basis for claims of harm from greenhouse gases". If that is the case, why are the companies US $50 million being quietly funneled to front groups which deny climate change?

Chernobyl is not a thing of the past

AFP reported today, Greenpeace was in action in France raising awareness of the dangers of nuclear power, for the 24 year anniversary of the explosion of a reactor in Chernobyl (Ukraine) in 1986. Greenpeace activists, wearing masks (pictured) installed a tower symbolizing a chimney of a nuclear power station. The article includes a photo of a Greenpeace activist during a demonstration this Saturday in Nice.

Opponents of nuclear power formed a 120-km (75-mile) human chain between reactor sites in Germany on Saturday to protest against government plans to extend the power plant. Protesters hope to draw attention to the issue before a May 9 regional election, after which they fear Merkel's coalition will move to extend the reactors' lifespan.

More Greenpeace protests where held Sunday morning at the Labour party conference in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, to try to persuade politicians to vote against nuclear power and instead opt for clean energy.

About a thousand people demonstrated against a nuclear dump site in a town in Spain (Albala). The Spanish government is still deciding on which town will be used as a storage place for nuclear waste, but opposition is growing stronger.

Dirty (oily) mess will cause environmental disaster
21/04/2010 Fire boat response crews battle the blazing remnants of the off shore oil rig Deepwater Horizon

BBC reported fears of an environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico (after a drilling rig leased by the oil company BP exploded and sank off the Louisiana coast last week in roughly 5,000ft of water after burning for two days) as efforts to clear up an oil spill have been suspended because of bad weather. Some 1,000 barrels of oil a day are leaking into the sea from the damaged well, officials say.

Earth Day

Academy Award nominated actress and environmentalist Sigourney Weaver wrote in the Huffington Post about testifying before the US Congress on an emerging environmental threat. She stood before the Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and spoke about the topic of ocean acidification. She was urging them to put aside their differences and begin America's transition to a clean energy economy that will increase our energy efficiency and invest in renewable power, while cutting carbon pollution.

Sigourney Weaver has also recently accompanied Canadian film director James Cameron (director of Avatar), in protest of the proposed Belo Monte hydro-electric dam on the Xingu river, a tributary of the Amazon in the northern state of Para, which has long been a source of controversy. The project, first abandoned in the 1990s, will cause devastation in a large area of the rainforest and threaten the survival of indigenous groups.

A historical perspective to Earth day and various environmental landmarks are nicely presented by the The Jakarta Globe.

In short

DPA reports, that most fast food restaurants in Germany are opposed to GE potatoes.

As the New Zealand Government plans to mine some of New Zealand's most beautiful and iconic land for such things as coal, Greenpeace ambassadors Lucy Lawless and Robyn Malcolm went down to the Paparoa National Park on the South Island's West Coast, to promote our March Against the Mining by making a 'scandalous' video.

Picture credit: © Shayne Robinson / Greenpeace, South Africa
Picture credit: © The United States Coast Guard, Gulf of Mexico

Paloma and Hernan talk about what the World People's Conference achieved and the closing ceremony in their final blog from Bolivia

It has been a fascinating experience here at the World People’s Conference, which closed on Thursday, World Earth Day.

In the end the numbers were even bigger than we first thought, over 35,000 people from 140 countries came together to exchange views and search for common goals to tackle the climate crisis. Outside of the official panels and working groups, there were some very interesting meetings as well.

Over the course of the Conference, the 17 working groups looked at how to:

*Analyze the structural and systemic facts that cause climate change, and find measures that allow the human welfare to exist in harmony with nature.
*Discuss and come to an agreement of the Universal Declaration of Mother Earth project.
*Agree proposals for new commitments for the UN Convention on Climate Change that will guide the actions of governments.
*Organize a Global People's Referendum on climate change.
*Analyze and make an action plan to advance to establish a Climate Justice Court;
*Define strategies of action and mobilization in defense of life against Climate Change and the Rights of the Mother Earth.

The findings of the groups were compiled into an “Agreement of the People” document that Morales told the closing ceremony, he will present to the UN at an international committee meeting next week.

The closing session also saw Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Juan Estaban Lazo, Vice President of Cuba as well as as official delegations of Nicaragua, Ecuador, Paraguay, Mexico and 47 other countries take part in a dialogue sessions between people and governments.

There was also celebration – traditional music and dance played to the stadium filled with the colours of the flags of several countries of the world, and the traditional costumes of Bolivian indigenous people.

Excerpts from The Agreement of the People were read to the crowd:

“Today, our Mother Earth is wounded and the future of mankind is in danger. We must forge a new system that re-establishes the harmony between humans and nature. There can only be equilibrium with nature, if there is equity between human beings.”

“Let's raise to the people of the world the recovery, revaluation and fortification of the knowledge, wisdom and ancestral practices of indigenous people, affirmed in the experience and proposal of “Living Well”, recognizing Mother Earth as a living being, with the one we have an indivisible, interdependent, complementary and spiritual
relationship.”

Among other things, The Agreement of the People text demands:

That on the basis of the common but differentiated responsibilities principle developed countries must commit to the quantified greenhouse gas emissions reductions that will limit global temperature rise to a maximum of 1°C.

That at the next UN Climate Change Summit to be held in Mexico at the end of the year, the Kyoto protocol amendment gets approved, for the second commitment period (2013 - 2017), developed countries commit to domestic reductions of at least 50% compared to 1990 levels - without including carbon markets or other systems that deviate from the real goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Thousands of people of the world have shown concern and their will to make a real and effective agreement that will allow us to stop dangerous climate change.

We hope that the three day work and discussion in Cochabamba will help to pave the road to the construction of a fair global agreement, ambitious and legally binding that recognizes the need to protect and care for Mother Earth, our source of life.

Today, on the front lawn of New Zealand's Parliament, about 100 Greenpeace anti-whaling protesters held black whale-tail placards with "RIP?" written across them in white letters. Greenpeace New Zealand executive director Bunny McDiarmid condemned the International Whaling Commission (IWC) plan.

New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully said that the IWC proposal, which would allow hunting to continue in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, falls seriously short of providing a strong basis for a diplomatic solution. Many whale species are in danger of extinction as a result from commercial whaling.

In northern Europe, TT-Reuters also reports in the Swedish Dagens Nyheter that the main issue is that the IWC regulations have loopholes, these have allowed Japan to continue practice of commercial whaling while claiming that it is being done for scientific purposes. The meat though, is sold on the commercial market and the industry is supported by Japanese taxpayers money.

AP cites a statement by Greenpeace Japan Program Director Junichi Sato, saying "At the moment, it appears that the whales are making all the concessions, not the whalers and this proposal keeps dying whaling industries alive and not the whales."

AFP cites Greenpeace oceans campaigner Phil Kline: "It's a bit like a bank robber who keeps robbing the bank. You can't actually catch him, so you decide to just give him a big pile of money."

Join us in the attempt of trying to restore whaling populations by demanding marine reserves.

Netherland’s Trouw reports that, as a result of Greenpeace actions against the diary company Campina, the decision was made to switch to sustainable soya for milk production, question is: is it GE-free? The article's main point is that the industry and environmentalists are coming closer together and finding compromises. GE soya varieties, cultivated outside the EU, are authorised for import as animal feed.

Psychoanalysing KitKat

Welt Online reports that Greenpeace is not planning to stop campaigning against Nestle any time soon, unless the company fulfills the demands made by Greenpeace. An interesting angle is given to the campaign by a psychologist taking part in a bloggers conference in Berlin. He said that the use of social media is an attack on the established rules of power, and requires a rethink.

Latin Americas environment and tribes are facing big oil challenges

Peru has the third highest concentration of tribes living in voluntary isolation, after Brazil and New Guinea. Now their survival is threatened by oil giants. The Peruvian government has allowed the oil company Repsol to build 279 miles of seismic lines and 152 heliports. Rainforest trees would be removed and dynamite would be blasted to build the seismic lines which are used to explore for petroleum (by taking readings of underground deposits after blasts). The Peruvian government has a history of having lied about the existence of tribes in the Amazon in order to justify infrastructure projects and allow the fossil fuel industry to exploit the area.

The forests maintain the balance on our planet - stop chopping them down

Sadly these practice affects tribes that have used the ancient forests as their home and source of food and shelter. The forests houses around two-thirds of the world's land-based species of plants and animals. They also recycle our air in water, maintaining the balance of our Planet.

07/05/2009 A small boy in a village in Apyterewa land, the area inhabited by indigenous people in Brazil most affected by cattle ranching, another big problem for indigenous tribes in the Amazon.

Picture credit: © Marty Melville / Greenpeace, New Zealand
Picture credit: © Marizilda Cruppe / EVE / Greenpeace, Brazil

Happy Earth Day, everyone.

Around 40 years ago, environmentalists across the US came together in a teach-in to demonstrate just how big a force the environmental grassroots movement was in the first ever Earth Day (as the Chicago Tribune, the Seattle Times and the Boston Globe recall).

Today, this fragile Earth needs more people like you who care about environmental issues, more people who will use their voices to defend it - and more people who will take action to protect it.

Watch our new inspiring Earth Day video and get involved!

As Kumi Naidoo, our executive director, said today: "A green and peaceful future is possible - please join us in making it happen. The Earth needs our attention not just on Earth Day, but every day."

Biofuels could emit up to four times more emissions than standard diesel or petrol, a European Union document has pointed out. The study, which was released under freedom of information laws, adds to a growing body of research revealing many current biofuels as a false solution.

While biofuels seem to have enchanted governments, car manufacturers and many others who must cut emissions to prevent climate change, we have been arguing for years that the environmental credentials of biofuels are seriously suspect.

As outlined in our Energy [R]evolution report, truly sustainable energy technologies such as wind, solar and geothermal energy coupled with massive energy efficiency increases are the way to deliver climate friendly, clean and secure energy.

Indigenous take action against Brazil’s hydro-electric dam

Following our action in front of Brazil’s National Electric Energy Agency yesterday, indigenous activists have set off in boats to occupy the site of Belo Monte, the planned hydro-electric dam the Brazilian government plans to build in the Amazon (as reported by The Age, DN and De Telegraaf).

Local leader Luiz Xipaya, who presides over a council of elders, told AFP: "Boats are in the process of leaving and we hope to occupy the territory tomorrow (Thursday). We will build a permanent village there and will not leave so long as the project is on. The indigenous people feel threatened by this project and are very agitated."

Brazil yesterday awarded construction rights for the $11 billion-project in the Amazon rainforest; we made clear what a catastrophe the dam will be for the area’s environment by placing tons of manure in front of every entry of the government building where the decision was taken.