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September 28, 2005
The Meeting Today!
28th September 2005
The other pressing issue of the day, besides the obvious mobile phone
disaster, is of course the meeting with the Energy Ministry after
yesterdays peaceful activities in Hedera.
Our team, Nili Grossman (our unrelenting, Israeli Energy campaigner),
Ahmet Bektas (Executive Director of Greenpeace Mediterranean) and Paul Horsman (International Energy Campaigner), went to the ministry armed with all the information and heaps of determination.
The Energy Minister himself was unable to speak to us, but we got a
Meeting with Eli Ronen, Secretary General of Israels Ministry of national Infrastructures. Ronen has been working in the energy ministry since the plans were first approved, whilst the Israeli Energy ministers play musical chairs, changing every 6 months or so.
People working in the ministry were all talking about our protest against the Hedera plant, as it had been all over the television news here yesterday. Is Ronen living in a hazy but comfortable bubble?
Nili clearly articulated the strong environmental and economic case for the solar thermal plant and presented him with our report outlining the advantages. Ronen provided us with a timeline for when the plant would be built and what a disappointment. Oblivious to the urgent issue of climate change the ministry continues to take too little action with all the urgency of a sleepy sloth. The plans have been scaled down to100MW 3 years from now, then if it's operating well an extension to 500MW.
This is not acceptable. Ronen and the Energy Ministry, expect your bubble to be burst. We will not give up until action is taken for clean renewable energy.
Donna Mattfield
Posted by Hussein at 5:30 PM | Comments (0)
mobile, toilet... what?
September 28th 2005
Well, today we are waiting for the weather to change to leave Israel and head to Alexandria, Egypt. The day started out as a day of chores and tasks on the Anna. That was until the great faulty flush incident of 2005.
I headed purposefully through the windy streets of Jaffa to the local
hostel where I hoped to pick up email on their wireless connection.. While I was there I also had to use their facilities. So off I went, unaware of the drastic turn of events that was about to occur.
In the loo I placed my mobile carefully and safely on the back of the
flush. When I pulled the flush handle down, some sort of mechanism in the cistern sprung unexpectedly upwards knocking off the lid of the cistern.At this moment my mobile flew spectacularly through the air and landed right in the centre of the toilet bowl. The phone disappeared past the U bend and beyond.
So, there I stood mobile less in front of that fateful porcelain bowl Before breaking into hysterical laughter.
Note: Although I do carry my mobile with me to the lavatory, unfortunately the same cannot be said for a digital camera. Thanks to the Scientific and Award Winning website Toilets of the World for supplying the photo here. This particular example is a seat less Greek offering. (Where would we be without the Internet eh!)
Donna Mattfield
Posted by Hussein at 5:16 PM | Comments (0)
September 27, 2005
Good luck to the team tomorrow!
Tuesday 27.09
It's a beautiful, fresh Tuesday evening and we are sailing fossil fuel free back to Jaffa harbor. I am a very happy soul here, as today we moved a small step towards a solar future for Israel. But where to start...
Late this morning Greenpeace activists blocked the front gate to the largest coal power plant in Israel in Hedera. All activists were removed and arrested.Then Greenpeace moved in from the seaside of the plant and 3 Greenpeace activists climbed onto the achor chains of the Cape Mor, as she unloaded her dirty, coal cargo, to protest this polluting business and call for a meeting with the energy minister to push the plans for a solar thermal power plant.
I am sitting here with Ilai, one of the guys who climbed onto the anchor chain.Ilai a supporter,volunteer and activist for Greenpeace is motivated by a belief that environmental issues are some of the most burning of our day. He truly values the peaceful means Greenpeace uses to bring home environmental messages.
The guys working on the Cape Mor today did not initially share his views. Ilai explains that at first they taunted and shouted at him even saying that his friends had left him when the zodiac went off to do something else briefly, but Ilai not one to let bad feelings stick around, persevered in making them his friends, talking to them about why he was there, what he believed and explaining that this was peaceful protest. After a bit there were better relations between those chained to the anchors and those working on the ship
and one guy even told Ilai that he supported what we did, but wished it wasn't during his lunch break. Bon Apetit!
While the activists held on to the anchor chains we received news from the campaign that the energy minister had agreed to meet with a Greenpeace delegation. Woooo hooooo! Although this is only a first step this is a significant step. The plans for the solar thermal plant have been held up here, whilst elsewhere in Israel the Israeli Electric Company experience no such hold ups to build other fossil fuel powered plants. What would Ilai say, if he spoke to the energy minister tomorrow... he would urge them to take in the real picture, solar thermal power is viable and makes economic
sense, he would ask for the Israeli government to not be swayed for political reasons. This has to stop and the solar future has to begin.
Good luck to the team tomorrow!
Posted by Hussein at 12:41 AM | Comments (1)
September 26, 2005
Interview with an old hippy!
September 26th 2005
Today, I had the chance to speak with one of those individuals who have inspired and lead change- Yosy Flug. Yosy immediately won everyone over by sharing some delicious local pastry with us. Hmmmm mmmm. All crew were very appreciative.
Yosy is described by folk in the area as a local hero. Hero, for some ofhis past diving exploits, in 76 he completed the deepest dive in the world at the time and he was one of the first local divers at
Sharem-El-Sheik. Unfortunately in 91 Yosy was paralysed in a diving
accident and one of the hardest things he ever did was getting his toes to wiggle - a feat that took two weeks of sheer concentration. Yosy is up and about on his feet these day, although not as sprightly as he used to be and less able to dive.
This is not the only reason Yosy is considered a local hero.
A LOCAL VICTORY STORY:
In the early 90s there were government plans to sell off Jaffo port - to change a charming ancient port that has survived from the bible, survived Napoleon, a Turkish and a British occupation into a sterile commercialized zone. For Yosy, Jaffo port is special as somewhere that Arabs and Jews alike sit together as equals, something he attributes to fishermen and sailors all being equal against the elements at sea. Not to be beaten Yosy worked to pull together a local movement with Environmental and other organisations to demonstrate against the plans.
And boy, did they succeed.
A decision was taken to preserve and renovate the port. In addition
legislation was changed for all to ensure that citizens are made aware of plans in advance.
The fight goes on to make the municipality rather than the government
responsible for the port and to bring back some of the life to the area, as many residents and restaurants left when the earlier plans were announced.
Yosy acknowledges that bringing about change take years and needs all
people to work together. Yosy has a vision of all the different
organizations working together to bring about real holistic change. He thinks that people in Israel (and the rest of the world) need to work together to support the weak and the poor to make a healthier environment and at the same time the environment has to be protected as it is the poor and the week that suffer when we exploit our environment.
And how does he think this will happen? There are already signs of
movement. With the hurricanes Katrina and Rita people have started to wake up to the dangers and urgency of climate change and again it is the poor that are suffering. Yosy strongly supports the work of Greenpeace activists in taking a stand to wake people to the realities that we are causing in exploiting our environment.
Donna Mattfield
Posted by Hussein at 12:01 AM | Comments (0)
September 24, 2005
"Oh, it's Greenpeace!"
Saturday 24th Saturday
We are at Tel Aviv Port in the morning to prepare the exhibition and the bar for the solar shakes. Solar shakes are a nice way to show people how solar energy can be used. The exhibition is being set up to inform people about renewable energy. There is also another stand for the fundraising activities. Many volunteers are working so hard to prepare everything, informing people. People are able to relax, chat, lounge on cushions and eat some extremely tasty food prepared by bedevi people under a bedevi tent. A man comes near the stand and after seeing the banners, says enthusiastically: "Oh, it's Greenpeace!" This sentence explains the feeling of people, the kind success of Greenpeace's long history... Small kids come to drink solar shake under sun and asks how we use solar energy. Meanwhile Greenpeace videos are being broadcast in the exhibition tent and people are watching it attentively. And all these signs show us that these open days will work! First open day is quite peaceful and successful!
Nilli has just updated me that someone who works with the commission for future generations has popped by. Israel is one of the few countries in the world that has such a position in their government and they are responsible for looking at issues that will affect our children and their children etc. Climate change is an urgent issue that will have a huge long term impact on peoples lives all over the world and decisions taken today on dirty fossil fuel plants today will also stay with us for about 40 years. The lady will come and speak to us again tomorrow- this is hopefully a good sign for moving energy issues up the political agenda.
Donna Mattfield
Posted by Hussein at 12:30 AM | Comments (0)
September 23, 2005
"Life of Brian" in German with Bulgarian subtitles!
Friday 23rd September
So, after our small detour we travelled on along the coast towards Tel Aviv. We approached in Jaffa port in the early morning sun, disturbing a line of fishermen and a few stray cats hanging out on the quayside. Jaffa is a peaceful and ancient port. Wonderful.
A team of exhausted red-eyed Greenpeacers came to the port to welcome us and invite us for breakfast. They had been in the office preparing and wading through reams of local authority planning bureaucracy for the exhibition over the next days.
Tomorrow the events and exhibition begin. Today as we were moored in Jaffa, so many people approached us. All friendly asking questions and offering us support. It gives you a good feeling about the days to come. Hopefully, this is a good sign. Israel has a huge solar thermal energy potential and there are even agreed that seem to be stuck in the Energy Minister's in tray, whilst plans for a new coal power plant near the border go ahead. We really need as much public pressure here as possible to move the situation forward. So fingers crossed for the week!
Tonight I watched "Life of Brian" in German with Bulgarian subtitles. Unusual. I listened out for references to Jaffa, but alas there were none. It seems that Jaffa, being over 5000 years old, only features in the Bible and not in Monty Python films. Still, you can't have it all.
Donna Mattfield
Posted by Hussein at 12:13 AM | Comments (0)
September 22, 2005
No worries, we will get there!
Thursday 22nd September
Well, after a peaceful start to the morning and a beautiful sunrise, events seemed to take a suddenly dramatic turn.
We received a call around 10 from the coast guard asking us to stay exactly w here we were. There were some problems with immigration procedures and we had crossed into territorial waters. As such a navy boat brandishing some rather large guns paid us a visit. They circled us like a shark circling it's prey. Daniel, our captain requested that they do not point their weapons at us we are peaceful people and they did. They also removed their helmets. pheweee. Apparently this is their standard procedure, but still.
We were requested to go back to Haifa back to go through the immigration procedures there instead of in Tel Aviv. We invited them for a cup of tea on board. But our offer was declined. See, no need for guns at all. As I write this we following this detour back to Haifa. We will arrive a bit later in Tel Aviv than planned - but no worries, we will get there.
Donna Mattfield
Posted by Hussein at 4:57 PM | Comments (1)
September 21, 2005
Time is tight!
Wednesday, 21.09.
Time is tight!
A small ship with a big message has arrived to and left more than 14 cities so far. People in each city had their share of the ship's precious time. Greenpeace volunteers, captain and crew, activists and staff and most notably, Greenpeace supporters have been on and off this ship for the last five months. Each has a story of a lifetime to tell, a memory to keep and a wonderful and positive spirit to spread.
The old and tiny SV Anna with the lovely crew on board has once again left another city (Beirut) this morning. And again, the Anna has done her job. A message has been delivered, a spirit has been refreshed and an ongoing and lovely memory has been created.
Here in Beirut, we witnessed how a small group of people, sailing on a 95 year old ship, sparkled a stunning debate on climate change and energy revolution. Most importantly, we witnessed these changes happening in this very short time. And again, the Anna has done her job. Time is what we make out of it even though it is tight.
Yet with people like Heiner, Daniel, Christiane, Greg, Frank, Dorothea, Mevlut, Donna, Dimi, Leo, Uwe, and Kina -the lovely and crazy crew of the Anna- our time spent together was really pleasant and extremely tight!
Hussein Fakih
Posted by Hussein at 5:00 PM | Comments (0)
Seasick, Sunset and Sunrise!
Wednesday 21st September
Today, we will set sail for our next port. We took a day off yesterday so that all had more of a chance to explore the rapidly changing streets of Beirut a bit. Sad to go, its been a great city to visit. One of the objectives of our visit here was to move the urgent issue of climate change further up the agenda and on our last day here I think that there has been a noticeable increase in coverage of the issue on the radio and in newspapers and we have managed to hook up with some other groups who want to work together to move the fight to save the climate forward.
This morning as we waited for the immigration something highly unusual occurred. I don't mean to alarm, anyone, but there were reports of a crew member ironing his shirts on board. Kina was so shocked that she made sure that it was preserved forever on videotape. Uwe- is the heat getting to you?
Given that I am new to sailing, I have spent the majority of the day focussing on not feeling seasick. A complicated task when other crew members have not stashed some of the most smelly cheese imaginable in the fridge and then insist on exchanging smelly cheese anecdotes (YES, there are such things. If you have any you with us please dont contact us!!)
Seasickness aside, I have also been in the lucky position of working on the 4-8 watches, which means I get to view the sunrise and sunset. I saw the sunset last night over Lebanese mountains and tomorrow I will see the sunrise in Lebanon. Perfect.
Donna Mattfield
Posted by Hussein at 4:30 PM | Comments (0)
September 20, 2005
A feeling of hope!
Well, its Monday morning 19th September and here I am sitting in a press conference in Arabic in Beirut's marina. Not your average Monday morning for a small town British girl and mostly European crew.
My Arabic is unfortunately non existent, but I picked up the odd word like "Kyoto", climate change" etc etc
Besides, it was an eventful press conference with a minor microphone catastrophe (it worked again once we used the solar panels instead of mains, hmmm, the moral of the story is clear) a class load of high school students arriving to see the exhibition and a few moments where I thought the wind would completely sweep the tent away!
After the event, I asked Wael our energetic energy campaigner in Lebanon for an update. It seems we have a campaign victory here.
On the panel were Dr Anhar Hijazi, the director of sustainable development at ESCWA (a regional UN body-www.escwa.org.lb); Mr Wahid El Baba, the president of the Lebanese Solar Energy Society and Mr Ahmad Reslan, representative of the Ministry of Energy and water resources. However Dr Berj Hatjian, Director General of the Ministry of Environment, was maybe the most significant guest for Greenpeace. Greenpeace normally comes up against Dr Hatjian in a different relationship and it was very unusual for the team to sit down and discuss how they can work together on renewable energy. He brought with him an entourage of energy consultants who were all jumping up and down out of their chairs adding bits enthusiastically.
And here comes the victory bit....
Dr Hijazi announced, right there in front of all the media cameras, that renewable energy will be included in the new energy law. Hooray!
This is a really significant step for Lebanon and Greenpeace have agreed on further follow up meetings to move this forward. Dr Hatjian was concerned that it was bad for Greenpeace to be sitting here with him, but wael was quick to point out that we were happy to start out on a positive note - but we wont be sitting back with our feet up if they do not deliver on their promises! Dr Hatjian - you have been warned!!
The really positive and progressive feeling at the press conference was interrupted only by the wailing of many police sirens and news of another bomb in the city. A harsh reminder of some of the realities here. I think though the overall the feeling I will carry with me from Beirut is a feeling of hope for the future and a sense of new beginnings. That, and a few extra kilos due to all the excessive eating I seem to have done.
For the crew and boat life on the Anna, Heiner our skipper and his partner Christiane left yesterday for a well-deserved rest, Daniel the new captain arrived. Leo is ill but recovering and tomorrow we move on again.
Donna Mattfield
Posted by Hussein at 12:52 PM | Comments (0)
September 19, 2005
New perspectives
Friday, 16.09.
The exhibition started today.There was a lot of media presence, the crew was posing for pictures all morning long.
We got honred by the Lebanese Yachting Club as they wanted to thank us for environmental work. It's a very nice medal and we feel really honred.
The visitors coming by are very interested and the lebanese Greenpeacers have a lot of talking to do. There is a livly dialog going on, many people havn't heard much about climate change and solar energy before and it's suprising for them to see that it's really working even for the energy needed here for the exhibition itself.
We have open boat and many visitors are shown around. They had a painting contest for kids on the solar subject prior to the exhibition. These pictures are now hung up here as well and it gives the place a nice coloured touch.
Greg was supposed to take off back to Hungary tonight, but at the airport at three o'clock in the morning they weren't willing to give him his flight so he had to come back to us and we are happy to have him another day.
There was a bombing tonight in the city. They told us about it in a Café in fluent arabic and as we don't have easy acess to the internet we are not very well informed so far. We are waiting for further information tomorrow morning.
Written by
Dorothea K.
Posted by Hussein at 1:34 PM | Comments (0)
September 16, 2005
Hot!
Thursday, 15.09.
Whoever manages to sleep the longest in the morning wins, as heat, noise, and mosquitos are still operating corporate business against us. But anyway the mood is good and everybody trys his best to get the work done.
It's another working day on ANNA. Leo and Dimi are taking out the whole floor in the mess to clean underneath. Uwe and Greg are fixing the bathroom door and grinding one of the hatch windows, Kina is preparing a picture presentation for the volunteer start off tonight, Christiane is taking things out off the fridge before they enter a second life stage, I am painting one of the ANNA signs anew, Franck is in the office again.
The laundry comes back from the washing service and now Uwe even wants to iron his shirt. Hussein promissed him to bring one tomorrow.
The statments for today are:
Kina: somebody wanted to marry her today (sorry, couldn't get any further details).
Greg: he was dissapointed because it took too long to set up the exhibition (usualy it's his personal goal to be a little bit faster each time than with the one before).
Heiner: hot day...
Christiane: did not leave bord exept for the shower at night.
Leo: it was beautiful!
Dimi: hooooooooooot!
Uwe: I was not lazy.
Written by
Dorothea K.
Posted by Hussein at 5:52 PM | Comments (0)
September 14, 2005
To slow for playing
Tuesday, 13.09.
We do our watches, look at the sunrise, have some coffee, watch the calm sea, hardly pass any other ships, look around, have some breakfast, watch the sea. Sometimes you think you see something but usually it's just a wave and your imagination. But wasn't that a fin? Looking closer it comes up again and then even a second and a third one. The whales are crossing in front of the ship and then passing slowly alongside in some distance. Dimi says they must be about nine or ten meters long but we don't know which species it is. Already further away one is blowing a fountain and then they are not seen anymore.
It's so great to be able to see something like that!
But even that shouldn't be all for this day. In the early afternoon we spot a school of dolphines. It's a big species, about four meters, at least eight of them. We slow down and steer towards them. They don't take off but come towards us and nosily start to swim around Anna. We can watch them really well in the clear water. Two of them are swiming directly in front of the bow, but we seem to be to slow for them to play in our bow wave. Their bodys look really scratched but Dimi says it's typical for this species. There is even a mother with a baby. The baby trys to get near the ship as well but the mother always keeps it in save distance. The two are always coming up and going down simutaniously, if from our point of view the little one is behind the big one you cant't even see it.
Heiner follows them slowly with the ship, but they seem to be taking off. It's Dimi who is clapping and whistleing them back again and they take some extra tours around the ship. Kina is a little bit anoyed because she's trying to film the dolphines but everybody is talking so excited that it's impossible for her just to get the snorting dolphines without our excited voices.
Finally they take off for good, leaving us really happy and excited behind. We continue our way to Libanon, catching sight of Beirut around three o'clock in the afternoon. It's not easy to identify the harbour form the water side and there are not many ships who could give us a hint where the entrace is. Franck tries to remeber form when he was checking the harbour weeks earlier from landside and so we manage to find the exclusive city harbour where we are going to stay from now on almost a week.
Lama from the Lebanese Greenpeace office is already there, they saw us coming in form the office. A long procedure of immigartion starts for Anna and us but after all it's manly paper work the asingned agent is doing for us.
We are very warm wellcomed be the Lebanese Greenpeacers, who after all of us having taken a shower are taking us out to a real lebanese place to have a typical dinner. It was a fun night in a new country and I'm courious to see what's happening the next days in Beirut.
Written by
Dorothea
Posted by Hussein at 4:00 PM | Comments (0)
Water jumping crew
Monday, 12.09.
Early in the morning the moon is gone and it's really nice to watch the stars. There are also quite a lot of shooting stars. But you always have to be really quick if you also want to whish for something.
Once again it starts to dawn on the horizon, this time behind the mountians of the coastline. The whole night somebody was singing or playing I am a woman in love on Channel 16, the calling and emergency channel.
Around noon we are passing through really nice, clear blue, and shallow waters. The captain stops off the engine and we are having the nicest swim. It's so great to jump right off the ship into the water. And not only because we all didin't have a shower in two days in really hot weater. (Actually the skin feels sticky the whole time, no matter wether you had some water on your skin or not.)
But of course it's not enough just to take the chance to get ourselves clean but also the ship from the outside. Uwe gives out our last sponges (of course a clean ship is more important than clean dishes), red ones for the gilrs, blue ones for the boys. We are swimming around the ship like litte cleaning fishes and wiping off the dirt from Annas waterline. It really works well.
After continuing a turtle passes the ship. Really nice as well. And then we are going back to our usual routine: watch, eating, sleeping, watch, cooking, eating, sleeping.. (Guess what's next.)
Dorothea
Posted by Hussein at 3:50 PM | Comments (0)
No fish today
Sunday, 11.09.
It's Dimi Birthday today. It starts for him with a long sleepout until four o'clock in the morning, when his watch starts. He got a Greenpeace wristwatch with a whale as a present, so from now on taking down positions when he's on duty is really on the point.
The Sun is crawling quickly over the horizon of the dark blue Mediterainian at 06.39h. Unfortunatly the wind went down so we had to put on the engine again and did not have a chance to put it off again until we were going to arrive in Beirut.
Later on Dimi and Leo are trying hard to catch some dinner out of the sea but to their big dissapointment they are not really successful. Either there might be a better way to do it or this is the praxis proof that the Mediterainian is overfished already as well. (Leo is going to try it again in the dark as he wants to try out his night fishing gear but he doesn't have much patience this time.)
Besides that everybody is launching through his watches, sleeping or eating and than starting over the whole routine again.
Greg said far away he saw someting big jumping out of the water and splashing back in again.Sounds pretty much like a whale.
In the evening a cloud front is showing on the horizon. We take down the sails which we still had up for extra power. The clouds are passing by without the expected thunder storm but slight fog is coming up for the night. Everything on deck is getting wet.
Tonight Leo and Christine are cooking tasty chili con carne, chili con queso, chili con soja i sin carne. And for desert Greg even did vanilla-banana pudding with chocolate sauce!!!
After the sun set the moon gleams kitschy on the surface of the water. There are only missing the dolphines jumping in the reflecting light and maybe a nice old, two mast sailing vessel...
We are realizing that we are missing an asthronomical star map on bord so we are trying hard to put all our defuse halfknowledge totgether to tell the stars.
Dorothea
Posted by Hussein at 3:47 PM | Comments (0)
Leaving Europe behind
Saturday 10.09.
We got up early in order to leave in time from Rhodes. Heiner and Leo bought for the next days on sea all the bread the store had to sell. After having Breakfast togehter Sunny and Klitos from Greenpeace Greece came by once more to get last things organized. We got the ship ready but leaving the habour wasn't as easy as we thought. Our ancor got hooked up with a really big ancor chain on the ground of the harbour. It was hard to pull up our ancour togehter with this huge chain that didn't belong to any of the other ships around nor did it seem to serve any other reasonalbe purpose only that it was impossible to get it off our own chain. Greg had to jump in and tie a rope around it so we could get them seperated from each other. Everybody behind us had to wait because we were bloking the habour right in the middel.
Once again it was catalog weather in the Mediteranian, the coulor of the water is really amazing. Outside the habour it was quite windy with waves and a breeze from astern. The silence after putting off the engine and going sailing is really really nice.
Quickly everybody is donig the last calls and checking the internet, as we don't know if we are going to have network within the next six days.
Heiner calls the watches for the next days on sea, always three people for four ours, two times a day.
We are sailing along the Turkish Riviera, but we don't see too much of the coast line and too much doesn't happen within the next hours: the sea is impressivly blue, Christiane and Leo are cooking a fine dinner and we are just letting our views flow.
Dorothea
Posted by Hussein at 3:43 PM | Comments (0)
September 10, 2005
Way from Lesvos to Rhodes!
We left the harbour in the afternoon, rised the sails immediately by using the wind-shadow of a huge ship, turned around and headed to the first waypoint. We had sixteen of them on this trip that is quite a lot. Like always we had 4 hours shifts between us. This way everyone has the opportunity to have a rest. Fortunately I had the 4-8 shift hours with Dimi. So 4-8 in the morning and 4-8 in the afternoon we were responsible to sail and stear Anna. It is an exceptional experience especialy in the morning when all the stars are there for you to enjoy life even more.Dimi has a lot of experiences in sailing and a lot of good stories to tell. I learned a lot from him.
Sunny the greek action-coordinator and Klitos the best greek activist joined us for the trip. They had a very good time with us on Anna no wonder why...
At some stages the wind got so strong that we had to put the sails down as it was far too dangerous.
We saw some flying fish on the way! Flying fish is very interesing. They even can fly a full circle if they want to, but cant moove their wings (or fins?) as a bird. (If they could moove it, they would be birds anyways. On maybe not I don´t know...)
Everyone put on one more kilos on this way as Leo (we call him The Doctor for his cooking abilities) cooked a fantastic food for us. This is my 5th or 6th extra kilos I guess.
We got some bad news from the port that they can´t provide any place for Anna in the port. It was very dissapointing for Sunny but as always we could manage it somehow. The last bit of the travel was very enjoyable! We had some serious waves so we had to tie the windows down in case if the water goes over the board. But the water didn´t get over the board, we arrived to the port safe. We were staying next to a motoryacht that costs about 10 million Eur to the oppinion of the Captain. It was very interesting to see how rich people live their everyday life on a thing that´s price could feed all the homeless children in Romania for two-three years. We couldn´t stop stearing at them and they couldn´t stop stearing at us. I felt like in the zoo.
Somehow we get this cultural shock very often. When we get to a port after sailing for a longer time we just don´t feel like getting out of the ship. We are not interested in the people and the noise they create. After having a good sleep we sailed to the other port in Rhodes. The mayor of the town didn´t want to help us by givin a good place for Anna so we had to transport the exhibition with a truck.
Rhodes is very much a turistic island. There is an oil powerplant here producing 205 MW electricity. This should be too much electricity for such an island however they have blackouts times to times so they are planning to build a new one. They need such a lot of electricity because of the millions of tourists visiting this fantastic place every year.
Dimitri the campainer was having some hard discussions with the responsibles.
Anyhow I can understand the tourists to come here. There are a lot to see on this Island. If someone needs a deserted beach he just has to rent a car or a scooter and off he goes! There is a whole fortress in original condition built some 600 years ago. We got lost in the small narrow streets of this fortress several times. There are many bars, restaurants and many more typical tourist attractions to visit. I think that the whole Europe and about half of England is spending their holiday time here.
Today is the 9th of September. This afternoon there will be a life radio broadcast from our tent using only clean energy. Tomorrow at 8 o´clock we tie off the ropes and we start our six day sailing trip to Beirut Lebanon. We hope the good weather for our journey
Greg
Posted by Hussein at 5:37 PM | Comments (0)
Island of Lesvos
Island of Lesvos Greece 02.09.2005 - 05.09.2005.
On the way to Lesvos we have seen Bosgada Island with 17 wind generators. The original plan was to stop here and take some photograps of Anna with the wind generators. Unfortunately we were so much late that we had to skip the plan and keep on sailing to Greece.
I usualy sleep on the deck. The stars are bright and Anna is swinging so much that it gives the most beautiful star-watch experience.
When I opened my eyes near to Lesvos the first thing I saw was a little fin on the surface of the water. A little Dolphin was swimming next to us. What a nice morning!!!
Lesvos is a big Island, took us a long time to get from one end to the other end where the harbour was. When we got to the harbour we had a nice breakfast. During our breaky the greek office people arrived and they asked us the question we were dreaming of for a long-long time: would you like to take a shower and have a rest after that in the hotel near-by? Dimi´s face changed a lot after hearing the word shower.
The greek exhibition was very successfull. There were a lot of people interested in their work and the T-shirst they were selling. Dimitri the greek campainer had a lot of meetings with several politicians and even the mayor of the Island. Unfortunately they are planning to have a new oil powerplant on Lesvos that honestly doesn´t make much sense as there are so many alternative opportunities on this fantastic Island. Wind is always blowing, there are many waves, biomass could be a solution too and the sun is shining all the time. But oil and the money behind seems to be more convincing. Never mind! Sunny the Greek action-coordintor (who is stronger than I am and tough as a greenpeace warior) might turn up one day with some activist to change their mind quickly. Come on Sunny! Make a big wave!
We left Lesvos on Monday, the 5th of September. It was sad as Lois the boat driver finaly left Anna. Lois joined the ShipTour coincidently. He had been invited to a wedding ceremony in Wien. When he was having a good time at the harbour in Wien he just met Frank and seen Anna. It was one day after our party. Frank invited him to be a boat-driver until Bratislava. So he went home (it was already two in the morning), packed in his smallest backpack and got on board at six in the morning. Since that time he was on board all the time. He has been infromed to leave Anna several times on the way but never left until Lesvos. He is a hard working guy with an ever-lasting smile on his face and with very good sense of humor. We miss you Gnocchi!
Greg
Posted by Hussein at 5:34 PM | Comments (0)
September 6, 2005
Back home ... Hopefully!
Stuck in Turkey now for a week. Istanbul is a really nice city and we even managed to go for a little trip outside the city. However, having to stay here without knowing when it will end is far from pleasant. A lot of the time is spend at the office, waiting for news and dealing with small but important things like arranging papers and giving interviews. Hopefully the travel restrictions will be lifted soon and we can travel back home to go back to work and pick up our day to day lifes.
Thor Veen, Eric Birkhoff, Matan Ben Asher
Posted by Hussein at 11:25 AM | Comments (2)
Stop using coal!
I was one of the activists who was intended to climb up on the 120m high cooling tower of the Can Coal Power Plant in Canakkale region order to highlight the dangers of burning fossil fuels which cause climate disasters. I wanted to say STOP DIRTY ENERGY. Wind, sun, water and biomass are endless, domestic energy sources which dont kill the climate. Human beings have the brain and the technology to benefit from those energy sources given to them by Mother Earth. In fact we have been using them for ages. The wind mills, sail boats, water heating systems WHY with the industrial age have we turned our backs to the environmentally friendly ways of living? Time is passing by and we are facing a huge global ecological crisis like climate change. We should be wiser, smarter and more civilized than our ancestors. The ancient cultures managed to live in Peace with the Mother Earth, using what nature has given them in peace and this creates a big question mark in my mind as to whether we are really advanced. Are we more civilized and smart destroying our very own home Planet Earth. Coal emits CO2 so I wanted my voice to be heard through this action: COAL CREATES CLIMATE DISASTERS AND THE SOLUTION IS IN OUR HANDS: WE DEMAND RENEWABLES AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY!
Ziya Cobanoglu
Posted by Hussein at 11:23 AM | Comments (0)
Complete Success!
Greenpeace ship SV Annas visit to Istanbul was a complete success for us, not only in terms of highlighting the importance of renewable energy sources as the solution to climate change, and also to demonstrate the use of these energy sources in our daily lives (let me remind you, we served our visitors water cooled by the energy produced by solar panels). The only and major incident that made us sorry, was the restriction order put on the climate activists who took part in the Can Coal Power Plant action. There is not even a court case opened against them yet and we all think this order is disproportionate to a completely peaceful protest. We all hope this unfortunate restriction is lifted soon, and we can finish the Turkish part of the Peaceful Energy Tour in peace.
Ipek Mamat
Posted by Hussein at 11:17 AM | Comments (0)
Long way to go
The Greenpeace Energy Revolution Tour has been underway now for over 3 months, travelling through the rivers of Europe from Poland down to the Mediterranean, still on track for its final destination of Cairo in Egypt. We have communicated our message of clean renewable energy to literally thousands of people along the way, exposing examples of dirty energy such as the nuclear power plant at Cernavoda in Romania and the coal power plant in Turkey as we go. The Greenpeace ship SV Anna is now in Greece, where the popular exhibition explaining the causes, impacts and solutions to climate change has been set up.
It's been a strange week for the rest of the world. I've been helping out with the tour since July and have not really had access to my usual sources of news. So I have only recently become aware of the scale of tragedy unfolding in New Orleans. Although it is not something that can be directly attributed to climate change, it does put in to sharp contrast what we are trying to achieve with this tour.
Here in Europe, we have been experiencing severe droughts and forest fires on the Iberian peninsula, while flooding has been claiming lives and ruining crops and infrastructure in Central and Eastern Europe.
These all seem to be examples of the kind of effects that are predicted to be more frequent if the world is allowed to continue warming. Traveling through these countries - 7 people died in one night during a flood when we were traveling through Romania - you get a sense of the kind of damage that sustained flooding or regular droughts can do. These are parts of the world that are spending every penny they have on industrializing as their borders open up, and will have little left over for flood defences, contingency budgets for the lost food crops, etc that would be needed to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
The most important message we're trying to get though to people is that there is a solution and isn't yet too late. Witnessing the weather events of this summer just make us more urgent in our message.
The renewable energy potential of Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean region is truly vast. The benefits are also clear - clean air, energy independence and a contribution to stopping climate change. It's up to the Government's of these countries to make it happen
though. We're definitely seeing some evidence of progress, but there's still a very long way to go.
James Footner
Posted by Hussein at 11:10 AM | Comments (0)