Solar Generation

by Miko Alino, SG Pilipinas

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Kudos to our team captain Martijn van Rouveroy for leading the team!

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by Miko Alino, SG Pilipinas

More Reductions Please!

Rains and cold weather were no match against our high spirits as we demanded Bundestag members to wake up and take action against climate change. Greenpeace activists, including members form the 50-plus group, organized an event from May 8 to 10 to call on members of the Bundestag to support our target - by 2020, carbon emissions should be reduced by 40% - NO IFs, NO BUTs. The event, dubbed Klimaschutz Camp, was held near the Reichstag. SolarGen members engaged Bundestag members in healthy dialogues, urging them to support the reduction target.

Dining at the Beluga

The Beluga II was in the Spey River to help out in the campaign. It also served as our mess hall, as well as a place to relax in-between shifts. What is interesting about the ship is that it was built from scratch for Greenpeace. Other Greenpeace ships - the Arctic Sunrise, the Rainbow Warrior, and the Esperanza - were bought as second-hand and were re-fitted to accommodate state-of-the-art communication equipment.

'Age is not a Question'

Is age still a factor? What moved me during the engagement was the participation of people with grey hair and receding hairlines. The volunteers are part of Team 50-Plus, a group composed of people aged 50 years and above. Doris, one of the Team 50-Plus members, told me that they are not too old to do their part for the environment. Greenpeace Germany also has other volunteers belonging to other age groups. Some volunteers are as young as 10 years old.

To play on a popular sports ad slogan, age is nothing.

'Wake Up'

We met up with several members of the Bundestag and presented a huge alarm clock to show them that it's time to wake up and adopt the 2020 target. Among those who supported the campaign were Bundestag Vice-President Dr. Susanne Kastner (SPD) and Dr. Peter Struck (SPD).

Touring the Reichstag

To end the Klimaschutz Camp, we went inside the Reichstag to get a feel on how draft legislations are tabled and processed. Thanks to an invitation coming from one of the Bundestag members, we got a special pass and went inside through the side entrance (all visitors have to wait in long lines at the front entrance). Nonetheless, everyone has to go through a security check. The security people even asked us to remove clothes bearing the SolarGen and Greenpeace logos. I guess they were just making sure that we would not make noise about the Klimaschutz Camp during the tour. We also listened to parts of the afternoon session, which was about the moratorium on whaling.

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May,6th - By Fei Xiao Jing

Today is the day for the opening session of the board of Governors, all the delegates, especially the financial ministers from ADB members are invited for this session, and for us Solar Generation is cherry blossom day. Cherry blossom is considered the national flowers of Japanese, every year it blossoms in early spring, and full-blown in only one week. It is threatened, as one of the result of the climate change. We use it as gift to the delegate of the ADB 40th annual meeting, to arouse their consideration to the urgency of global warming problem, and the ADB’s responsibilities to take a leadership in this region to stop funding fossil fuels and switch to the renewable energy.

The gift is a bookmark with the picture of cherry blossom, as well as an artificial cherry blossom, which we got ready two days ago. We waited on the way to the event room; sent the bookmark with flowers to delegate, especially the governor from ADB members. I think they like them, many people even come and ask me for the bookmarks. We were always smiling and saying, “Cherry blossom, have a nice day!” Though our activities lasted only half an hour, we sent out more than 600 book marks as well as flowers. The message in the bookmark is the voice for we youth, for our future and the future of human beings as well.

This is the first time for me to take part in the Greenpeace actions, thus I am very excited. As an ecology student, I know much about the climate change, the course, the result and the solution, as well as the urgency of this problem. I think our actions is very meaningful, though many people may think their too small to affect the strategy of the ADB, as it is a large organization with government background. However in my opinion, climate change, as well as other environment issues cannot solve for one person or one organization only. It needs effort from different fields and the whole society. One speaker in the seminar of “Asian cities: Environmental Management and Financing Challenges” referred the “3P” system for solving the environment issues. ”3P” refers to people, private and public. Different parts of society have different effects. What we are doing is to let the public and governor in Asian release the urgency of the climate change, as well as the ADB’s responsibilities in this issue. Let them to give pressure to ADB, let it quits fossil fuels and so-called clean coal programs and prompt the renewable energy and energy efficiency programs.

We are young generation, we have the right to action for the welfare of our future, we are doing what we want to do and what we can do. Everyone has his own responsibilities, so do ADB and other organization similar to it. For climate change issue, the only solution is renewable energy and energy efficiency, so ADB, as well as other stakeholders should take their responsibilities. We like cherry blossom, but we do not want our earth is like it, just full-blown for short time but develop sustainably, that we solar generation wish.

Posted by Agnes at 8:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

by Deepa from SG India.

I can confidently say "we all looked beautiful"... six solargeneration delegates strolled down the aisle in the Japanese traditional wear, the 'KIMONO', at the dinner reception organised by ADB President Kuroda.

Walking around elegantly in the Kimono, we did not fail to catch the attention of every single person at the reception.

As we shook hands with the president we made our message clear by opening out the fans we carried, which read 'adb quit coal' and 'clean energy now'. Though the president was annoyed,if i may say so,he was pretty much helpless.

Rest of the evening we walked around in 3's making our message clear. Camera flashes nearly blinded us with people wanting a picture with the multinational 'japanese' girls.

The guests and delegates, all equally impressed came up to us saying 'impressive work' and 'nice tactic'. Some even saying 'yes,so no more power plants'... but we all know how much they actually meant it...

And the whole experience?? Way beyond words!!! To begin with, it was a 5 HOUR job to get dressed!! And another 5 hours in front of the cameras? Even more tedious.But the feeling of being dressed in Japan's most celebrated and prestigious traditional outfit and all the attention... no words can describe that...

We were the Solargeneration 'MAIKO' girls with a very strong message... 'ADB QUIT COAL' and 'CLEAN ENERGY NOW'

Posted by Agnes at 9:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

May 5, 2007 - By Karla from SG Philippines

Every 5th of May, Japan is celebrating Children’s Day specifically Boy’s Day. But today, 6 women from different sides of the world made a stand and braved to make a change. This 5th of May was remarkable for the ADB (as it always is) since 6 delegates of Solar Generation representing Greenpeace International did an art performance.

We went all the way from the Grand Prince Hotel to the Kimono shop. We arrived a little late and the woman who owns the shop was waiting for us outside. Since then, she started talking and talking (all in Japanese) and didn’t even bother if we understand a thing or not. We chose kimonos of great colors and then started with the make up. Everybody was just so excited and had good laughs with our faces painted white.

It took almost an hour for one delegate to get dressed. And everything was just so tight, from the hair to the dress. You can neither be too full or too hungry. All preparations started at 11.30 and we haven’t eaten anything yet. So we satisfied ourselves with cookies and some sandwiches. We also made sure we wouldn’t have to go to the toilet because it would be very complicated.

The next processes went a bit quicker but not that much. We were dressed one by one and it took us 5 hours. We were supposed to leave by 3 but it was just so impossible. It was a lot more complicated when we were made to wear the wooden slippers. They were really painful to the sole and it was really difficult to walk with them. We had to walk really slowly and don’t know which is for the right foot and which is for the left foot.

We were done by 16.15 and we were waiting for the metro. Riding the metro was as well as complicated as getting dressed. We could hardly sit because we seem to have these hunchbacks. We also have to make sure we don’t stay so close to each other because our hair accessories were a problem. We had one common statement at the end of the day, “It’s not so good to be a geisha.”

Well, I guess all the back, feet, head, etcetera aches paid off. We deserved the attention people gave us. In one way or another, it was a very good strategy to express our message. “ADB QUIT COAL! CLEAN ENERGY NOW!”

Posted by Agnes at 9:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Thursday 4th May, we begin slowly...

After a French breakfast, we arrive at the ADB Meeting. We attend a seminar on energy, especially renewable energy, with many NGOs. It was very interesting. Then we lunch in the Japanese garden (I know, we eat a lot, but I think it is due to the climate change between Thailand and Japan! Lol). In the afternoon, I have to take part in a meeting with the Diplomat of Greenpeace and “Gerd” the Director of Greenpeace but there is a problem with the UK delegates... Therefore, I try to meet the French delegation but it is busy so I give a paper to signal my presence. But I have had an interesting debate with Gerd about the next French presidential elections.

So, I join my friends to make the bookmarks with cherry blossoms which we want to distribute Sunday to each important delegate. It is very symbolic, and a mean to begin a discussion with them. I really want thank Cheng for her big work for these bookmarks, I’m really impressed. I note that the ADB Meeting is very strategic. There is a lot of meetings between many countries and many structures (enterprise, NGOs, manager etc.). It is very interesting. It is a kind of Model United Nation. You have to negotiate and try to convince the other.

But the most exciting event of the day was the reception the evening: a lot of food and a wonderful Geisha’s show (which reminds me the book “Memory of a Geisha”). I thank Agnes since thanks to her I discovered the delicious Japanese desert (taste vegetable…very strange, it was very hard to eat!). Thank her for her patient towards us and her beautiful work. Moreover, I invite you to look her picture (in sumo) on the French blog www.solargeneration.fr : it is worth being seen! It was a very beautiful and funny evening, but now it’s late, so good night everybody....

Posted by Agnes at 2:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Tuesday 1st May 2007, « Hotspot » Day - by Aurelie Uricher from SG France

We woke up with a very good news today : members of IPCC won’t back nuclear energy but aim more for renewable and clean energy. We are really happy!

It is raining and today is a very important day for us: we will go to an area which is affected by climate change. When we arrive in the place, we have to take a boat and we go across the former streets. The road is now under the sea and we just see the electrical cables which are just on the sea level. We are really impressed.
Inhabitants of this area had to move from 5 to 10 times on average due to the rising sea level : it’s very sad... Then, we have to leave the boat and wewe go on by foot (bare feet) in a kind of mud, it is quite awful but funny because we are together under the rain and it is sliding. We look like to be in adventure broadcasts such as “fear fight” with mobile and sliding bridges with water running beneath it. It is really exciting but some of us are a bit afraid.

We are relieved when we arrive in the Buddhist Temple: everything is so beautiful and quiet. It is worth walking so much time. But when we go near the sea, we see every former electrical pylon and former houses. That’s breaks my heart. The landscape is really sad and unfair. It is really impressive. We take the pictures and one of the monk (the leader) gives a little interview. It’s a real nice person. Also, some journalists are present.
Then, we’ll go back at home just after lunching there. They are so poor and they give so much! We are very touched. They keep smiling and they do their “duty” with so much optimism, it’s really impressive. They are really strong people and we have to help these kind of people. They won’t be able to face ecological crisis if we don’t help them. It’s enough : stop the flooding coastal areas and stop devastating large tracts of land : act! We have to back these inhabitants, they really deserve it.

When we go back, I can’t help thinking about what we have seen and about inhabitants we have met. I find it hard to find my words...

We don’t have to discourage, quite the contrary.

The evening, we went to the centre to do shopping and visit Bangkok because we had a really hard day. People are so friendly and kind to us. It’s a really good atmosphere. I’m feeling good in this town and nobody wants to leave it. But tonight Cheng, Agnes and Lisa have left for Kyoto and I am going tomorrow. We are happy and sad because people are so nice here. So many gifts, but especially so many smiles, goodness and motivation... I’m very sad to leave Thailand but we have to.

Posted by Agnes at 12:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Lisa Reichmann, SG delegate from Germany

Today was a really busy day- the first day of the IPCC Meeting in Bangkok; Thailand.
We met Dr. Patchauri, the chairman of the panel in front of the United Nations conference building before he went inside for the opening session. Since the solutions for climate change presented by the IPCC will have a big influence on the decisions to be made by politicians all over the world, we were rather proud that he followed our invitation.
He met us at the “Solar Generation future carrier”, a container on which we demonstrate how renewable energies are working. Since we have representatives from 7 countries here (from developing and from industrialized countries), everyone of them gave a short statement and afterwards Dr. Patchauri took action by symbolically reducing the amount of greenhouse gases at our thermometer. Unfortunately, he only thanked us for our commitment but did not mention how he is going to behave during the next days. We will watch him, carefully and since we gave him a pen with a windmill on it he will hopefully remember our presence and our demands...
After having taken this first step, we informed the world press and the thai public about our demands in a very loud and colorful action.

After lunch, we went to meet the thai minister for energy. He plans to build nuclear power plants in Thailand because, as he puts it, they are a solution for climate change.
Since nuclear power plants are unsafe and nobody knows where to store the radioactive waste, we do not consider it as a solution but as a serious problem. We had a long and energetic discussion with the minister and were really angry when he wanted us to be the “nuclear generation” and tried to corrupt us with presents. Sorry Sir, we do not give up that easily!!!

I think we had great activities today and there is a lot more to come during the next days:
The international SolarGeneration is working hard in Asia right now and we will keep you updated on our activities...

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