Rainbow Warrior weblog - Greenpeace and the Paradise Forests of Asia Pacific.



		Paradise Forests of Asia Pacific

-- Talk to the crew --

Hi all,

If you're a registered cyberactivist, you can send us a webmail. What? You're not a cyberactivist? Well you should be. It's free, and is an easy way to be part of what Greenpeace does.

Register today.

Send the ship a webmail.

Some past webmails and replies...

For everyone who's asking about specific wood products, and for information advice about what to buy:

First choice is to buy something made from recycled materials (preferably post-consumer), or even ask yourself if you really need to buy something new at all.

If a product has an FSC logo then you're also OK. It's true that FSC isn't perfect - local environmental groups in Indonesia have concerns with how it's being done here in Indonesia, for example. It's also possible for people to falsely label something as FSC certified when it's not, but that would be fraud and should be prosecuted accordingly.

However, FSC is the best international certification program going, and personally I feel comfortable buying anything FSC certified.

Beyond that, it's pretty difficult to give advice that applies on a global level. Right now, I would be pretty wary of any wood from Indonesia or Malaysia.

-- Andrew

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from the Greenpeace Cyberactivist Community has sent you the following message:

Hi Rainbow Warriors,

Greetings from Perth, Western Australia. I'd like to know if I am contributing to deforestation in Indonesia if I buy wooden carvings from Balinese shops? I love Balinese art work, want to support Bali after the bombings too but don't want to compromise the environment.

Thanks for all your great work.

Fiona

Sorry, but there's no way to know without more information. I suggest asking questions at the shop: What kind of wood it? What guarantees do they have that it is sustainably sourced? Is it FSC certified? How much do the workers/artists make for each piece?

All that said, it's pretty hard to establish a chain of custody in Indonesia - given all of the illegal logging and corruption. So, personally, I would be very skeptical about any wood product from here or Malaysia (where a lot of illegally sourced Indonesian wood is given official papers).

Maybe there is some other way to support the people of Bali until the situation with Indonesia's forests is brought under control. Perhaps do a web search for a non-profit organization working there.

-- Andrew

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For everyone that has been offering to help publicize this site by putting links on their homepages, etc:

Fantastic! We do need help getting the word out. Linking to a Greenpeace site helps in two ways. First, it sends people directly from your site. Second, it helps promote the Greenpeace site in search engines like Google, which track how many incoming links a site has to determine (in part) how popular it is.

So, yes, please do link to Greenpeace. Maybe best to link to www.greenpeace.org so people will see the latest even after this ship tour is over. If you want a Greenpeace banner for your page you can find some here.

-- Andrew

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findi from the Greenpeace Cyberactivist Community has sent you the following message:

wow, what a picture... it's cool man. can you tell me where you took the picture? and can you send me the big one? Thanks.

Natalie Behring-Chisholm took the photo in the Java Sea, on our way from Jakarta. Natalie is the ship's photographer and has taken almost all of the photos you see on our website. I'll tell her you liked it.

To see a larger version, look for the link in that blog post.

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Suroto from the Greenpeace Cyberactivist Community has sent you the following message:

Hi Atmo, hi Andrew, hi Jim

I read Tempo and I think to myself, "Nice jobs, at last you visited us in Indonesia."

So it is now the time for us (including you too) to be serious saving the last paradise forest.

But if the rate of forest destruction is still high and increasing all the time, what could we do? The enemies are too strong and armed to teeth, and the problems are too complicated. While what we have here is only good will and a non-violent action.

Should we not only be radical, but also suicidal.

Or, may be paradise is just not exist. It has never been exist, it won't exist.

The answer is to tackle this problem by looking at what we have learned from people here in Indonesia:

As Amien Rais, a prominent Indonesian politician, told us we must apply international as well as national pressure to force the Indonesian authorities to tackle the problem of illegal and unsustainable logging. Maybe going after and arresting some of the better-known timber barons would be a good start.

As the Minister of the Environment told us, we must attack the problem of illegal logging from both supply and demand. We have to remind the wood buying countries that it's their money driving the destruction of Indonesia's forests. They also have to be part of the solution.

And as the Indonesian activists have shown us, we have to go on with the work despite the danger involved. They're at much more of a risk than we are, but they're also some of the most sensible, cheerful and good spirited people I've ever met.

I like how Arbi (Telapak) put it in his crew profile, "If you have a measuring scale, with piles of rice on either side - even one grain of rice can unbalance the scale. This is true also for people working to save the forests. Even one person can tip the scale in favor of the forests."

-- Andrew

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findi from the Greenpeace Cyberactivist Community has sent you the following message:

i just want to know is this weblog is updated every day? that's all...

We're averaging a bit over one update per day - so most days we post at least one update, but there's no fixed rule. Sometimes I'll skip a day if there's nothing much to report.

You might be interested to know that updates are usually posted by email, and we only run a few internet sessions per day because they are expensive. Some days we don't connect to the internet at all. This means that sometimes updates reach the web hours after they were sent.

Also, my crewmates like to write updates, but sometimes they're busy with their day jobs, and don't write an update until the next day. I post these when they're done, and if I get a spare minute of internet time will change the published date to put them back in chronological order.

All that said, when something interesting happens, something that people really need to hear about, I get it up on the weblog pronto - even if it means an extra internet session.

-- Andrew

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Ann Novek from the Greenpeace Cyberactivist Community has sent you the following message:

Hello all,

The biggest NGO in Sweden, has sent me an e-mail, telling me that even products which are FSC labeled, are not always environment friendly, and that some companies which are selling FSC wood, don't live up to required standards.

What's GP's opinion?

Good luck to you all ,who are doing a great work.

Ann

The FSC isn't perfect, and as a member organization Greenpeace is always pushing them to improve. Here in Indonesia some local NGOs have some (well founded) concerns about FSC operations in their country, which will need to be addressed. As a whole, however, the FSC is pretty good, and is the only international certifying body Greenpeace is pushing.

I'm afraid I don't know the exact situation in Sweden, except that Greenpeace Nordic has been in the woods doing some documentation, and on the streets protesting. Best to go to their website for more information.

-- Andrew

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Atmo71 from the Greenpeace Cyberactivist Community has sent you the following message:

Hi Steve and all,

As far as I know KORINDO doesn't have any legal concession in the area (CKal). They got the timber from the illegal source that provided by so many illegal loggers upstream of Lamandau river.

Related to the Rainbow Warrior latest trip, did you guys see any timber shipment that own by the biggest timber mafia there -- Abdul Rasyid? I think you should go for him, 'cause he is the untouchable timber mafia in the area.

Regards,
Atmo

One of our crewmembers works for the Environmental Investigation Agency, and has done a lot of research on Abdul Rasyid. I'll post an interview with her soon.

-- Andrew

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popple from the Greenpeace Cyberactivist Community has sent you the following message:

hiya, i was just wondering how you can become part of the Rainbow Warrior.

We've had a lot of people asking this question since we arrived in Indonesia. See my January, 22nd weblog post about it for more info. Good luck with your applications, and maybe I'll see you on board.

-- Andrew

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PackerBacker from the Greenpeace Cyberactivist Community has sent you the following message:

Hello Rainbow Crew Members:

I just finished reading your posts about the illegal logging trade in Indonesia. You are to be commended on the fine job that you're doing in making the world aware of this ecological travesty. I wish I were there to help you! How can concerned citizens (like myself) help out? Being a cyber-activist is fine, however I think we really need to step up the action and make more people aware that this problem is growing out of control and needs to be resolved now. Stay healthy and God Bless! You're in my thoughts.

Regards,
Jim

Thanks for the support Jim. We'll be launching some cyberactions soon, which I'll announce on our weblog. Howver, the best thing you can do is be awear that products made from wood - everything from plywood to paper - may well come from one of these ancient forests. Use paper with post-consumer recycled content, and ask for FSC certified wood at the harware store and furniture store.

As a consumer you have a lot of power. Even choosing not to buy is a powerful choice - especially if you write the company and tell them that you didn't buy their product because it wasn't recycled or FSC certified.

You can also lobby your local government to adopt an ancient forest friendly procurement policy. You'd be surprised at how much paper the government of even a small town goes through in a year, for example.

Thanks again for your support, and stay tuned for more ideas and suggestions on how you can help.

-- Andrew

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To everyone who has been asking how they can come down and see the ship:

Thanks for your enthusiasm. It would be great for you to visit. However, this is a pretty busy time for the ship, and it's hard to say where we will be from one day to the next.

If there is an opportunity for people to visit the ship, we'll send an email to cyberactivists in the area.

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