Greenpeace

"The frontiers are not east or west, north or south, but wherever a man "fronts" a fact", says Thoreau.  Well since Thanksgiving we have sailed this ship in all of those directions and been blown around in a few more. Moreover, we have successfully fronted a few very unwelcomed facts. 

It has been three weeks since we last spoke. The Esperanza did manage to trump three typhoons but in doing so, Neptune took the liberty of making a very important decision for our expedition. Prior to the storms developing we were amidst formulating a strategy-which course to steer for the southern ocean. Bearing in mind the hunting grounds are the equivalent of twice the land mass of the United States.

We were directly south of the Japanese islands and the whalers stalk as far west as Cape Town, South Africa and as far east as New Zealand. The bridge and campaign team were well into playing out all the scenarios and possible routes the hunters might choose. Would they go west of Australia and pass through the Lok Box Straights of Indonesia or would they pass Papa New Guinea and around the islands of New Zealand to the east? At the time it was the dilemma of the day, but it soon became a moot point. We had to change our course from directly south to directly east in order to penetrate the storms.

These two shots were taken at the moment when we realized that there was no way to run from the first typhoon.They do not do the ensuing storm justice but I didn’t have a free hand to take a picture with while we were in the thick of it. None the less we all made out relatively well and it was good practice for what the roaring forties and furious fifties have waiting for us.

This image was one that I saw many times in my head over those two weeks. What you see is a survival suit and abandon ship drill we did prior to setting sail.

Of course the image of a gallon of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream also occupies many moments in my mind so maybe I am being a bit dramatic.

So now we emerge from the holes we rode out the storms in to a bright beautiful ocean with water so clear you would swear you could see the bottom, but you know what? You can't. We were sailing over the Mariana's Trench.  6.8 miles to the bottom, it is the deepest place in the ocean on earth. It is here the ship had to stop, and I had to dive to the bottom.

No, just kidding I obviously didn’t do that. But I did get to go diving to repair the ship. Gavin, the videographer is also a diver and so we were tasked with diving on the hull of the ship to inspect intake tunnels where the ship brings in raw water to cool the engines. We were running the engines hard in order to make up lost time and the already hot equatorial sea water was providing little comfort to the massive machines. Also raining on the parade were about six million black mussels that had hitched a ride from South Korea in these tunnels. Apparently, they really liked the place because they proliferated like the plague and quickly carpeted the walls of the sea chest, starving the engines of what little cooling water they had to work on. First dive Gavin and I plopped over the side with his camera to survey the hull. Second dive we took along hand scrapping tools in a foolish attempt to exterminate these stow-a-ways.The sea was relatively flat, the boat was a drift and people were quite jealous that we were getting to enjoy such magnificent conditions, but privilege quickly turned to a very challenging responsibility.

As you can see the intake is about fifteen feet beneath the surface. However, what you do not see is that the roll of the ship is creating a huge undertow as it list from side to side. So, if you are clinging to the side of the hull, which you must in order to clean it, then one second you will be at 15ft and the next at 25ft. The vacuum created by the sheer girth of the hull pried both Gavin and myself of the grates more than once leaving us twenty feet deeper than we were a blink before, and with two ear drums that felt like they have blown twice over. A third cleaning dive finally did the trick thanks to one of many ingenious solutions by Gavin. He constructed an underwater vacuum by welding a valve onto a long metal pipe using air delivered from the ships air compressor. MacGyver would have been well proud and by the time we were done cleaning that sea chest, you could eat in there but mussels were not on the menu.

It had always been planned to bunker (take on fuel and food) just before heading into the ice fields. Equally as crucial, we needed to repair the helicopter that had been grounded since our departure from South Korea. I cannot express how valuable the helicopter is to two of the main aspects of this expedition, finding the whalers and bearing witness to the murders. Not to mention the role it plays in our direct actions and scope it brings to the science conducted onboard. We aimed to sort these things in Auckland, New Zealand in the most efficient and expeditious manner possible. Seeing as Greenpeace has a national office in Auckland we were able to coordinate seamless ground logistics prior to arriving.  We knew we could get the fuel and food onboard within 48 hours but the helicopter was an uncontrollable variable.

When we came to rest along side at Princess Wharf in the heart of the city, there was a small gathering of around a dozen folks to greet us. It was bitter sweet. First, it was nice to see land and I could already taste the two banana splits I was planning on. However, the welcome party all had luggage, because they were replacements for several crew members whose three or four month tour had come to an end. I had grown quite fond of several of my colleagues in the engineering dept. They had been patient and gracious over the last two months and I was truly sad to see them go.

Crew change done, food loaded, fuel pumped and we are ready to go! Except the helicopter is not ready. Three days go by and no still no heli. Five turns to seven and now the natives are growing restless. In the process of fixing the original break in the chopper the technicians discovered yet another repair that needed to be made to the rear rotor. The parts had to be ordered from the UK and the helicopter service company was having their holiday party on Friday before they called it quits until after new year. We immediately began damage control and executed an exhaustive search for anything that could fly and land on the back of a ship. All the while the gap between us and the whalers becoming greater. Finally, the captain set a departure date of wed the 19^th with or without the chopper. That meant three more days of purgatory.  So, many crew members took advantage of unexpected shore leave and stretched their legs one last time.

I too was very anxious to get the show on the road. I could not sit still. So, I went and fulfilled a childhood dream.

I traveled to the Northlands with Remon’ (Fitter) and Paul (Electrician) to the Bay of Islands. It is there, that the original Rainbow Warrior ship was sunk after being bombed by the French military in 1985. The ship was actually tied up on the dock just next to where the Esperanza was currently moored when the French commandos detonated their explosives. The cowardly attack cost a man his life and sank the Warrior. She was towed north off the coast of Paihia Island and scuttled to serve out her retirement as an artificial reef, and what a magnificent reef she has become. The ship is both a garden and a grave. The wreck was the source of much internal dialogue as I made parallels between her mission and the one we were on, and how over twenty years later nations like Japan are still using their militaries to harbor acts of environmental destruction.

This is a picture of the monument that sits on the cliffs overlooking the ship it remembers. I left feeling very proud and very privileged and to say more wouldn’t do the experience justice. A nice four hour trip back south to the Esperanza gave me good time to digest the whole day. I woke up the next morning to a pleasant surprise, a letter from Robin Davey. Robin is the mother of Billy Greene for whom the boat I will drive in the Southern Ocean is named after. She reached out to me in a simple note saying that she was behind us all the way and how pleased she was to see that the Billy G was returning to help stop whaling. I was once again reminded of how many people are part of this expedition that aren’t onboard; Robin Davey, Billy Greene, the 13 year old boy who wrote me last week telling me he wanted to sail on the Esperanza and save whales when he grows up, people who are giving not only dollars but days of their lives. This is what we call “all hands on deck." So Wed. the 19^th arrived, it arrived yesterday in fact. It arrived without the needed helicopter parts and thus we left without a helicopter. But believe you me; this ship has no shortage of tricks up her sleeves. A helicopter would have been very helpful but as the captain very matter of factly stated-we have found them before without the helicopter and we will find them again-and friends, at the end of any day, that is good enough for me. Not only have we compensated for the lack of a chopper but we have improved on certain things that were previously restricted by the use of a heli. I cannot say more in the unlikely event that some lonely sailor on the Japanese whaling ship is perusing my Greenpeace blog before he retires for the evening. And we are off! For me this marks the beginning of our expedition. We will find the whaling fleet, we will find them soon and we will do exactly what we came here to do.  Of this I have no doubt, but I must go and sleep now for I need my rest I have a big day tomorrow! I have a date with a lady in red. Her name is Miss Piggy.

One of the camera crew asked me if it was an artifact I found diving. Five minutes later she stopped working. So I gave her a Texas tune up and tomorrow I will take her down to the nice romantic spot you see here:

and together over twelve breathtaking hours we will pump 10 tons of sludge from holding tank 9 to tank 20. This is the kind of romance you can only find on ships!

I was just set to say goodbye here and I heard ear piercing screams coming from the center of the ship. I walked into a crowd of smiles and learned that the Japanese government had announced it will not hunt humpback whales this season. They left port with a quota to kill 50 threatened humpback whales in the sanctuary. Japan had done so at the request of the US government who will chair the next International Whaling Commission meeting this June in Chile. This is great news. However, they must stop all commercial whaling, not just one species for one season. They still plan to murder 985 Minke and Fin whales. This change by the Japanese Gov. is a very clear example of how nations like the US and Australia have the power to convince Japan to stop killing whales. Now they must do it.
The temperature outside is dropping quickly. We are sailing faster.

The time to put this killing to an end is near at hand.
I will write once we reach the ice. Fingers crossed.
-heath

Now that Bali is done, things are moving forward on the global policy front.  The Bush Administration was sent packing back to Washington, tail firmly between legs but not without weakening the agreement.  The fight now comes back to Capitol Hill where there are efforts afoot to try to craft more global warming legislation in 2008. And apparently the Denial Machine has also come back to DC where it tries to dig trenches in front of any potential momentum and progress.

Sen. James "Hoax" Inhofe, the Archbishop of Denial, and his alter boy Marc Morano (formerly of the Exxon funded Media Research Center), today released a report through the Environment and Public Works minority website, with the headline:

Over 400 Prominent Scientists Disputed Man-Made Global Warming Claims in 2007 - Senate Report Debunks "Consensus"

Looking through Inhofe's list of disputers we find a large number of familiar names.

 
Here's an interactive ExxonSecrets map of the 35 plus we have already data on. 

 

These individuals have been linked through the years with:

Competitive Enterprise Institute

Tech Central Station - set up by Exxon's operatives at DCI Group

Heartland Institute

Cato Institute

Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow

Frasier Institute

The Annapolis Center

The George Marshall Institute

...and numerous other Exxon-funded groups who have together received millions of dollars since 1998 from the corporation.

We'll now have to start researching the others named here and see who and what makes them tick.  Its interesting that the Inhofe list includes a String Theorist and a slew of TV weathermen, they have recruited far and wide.  For many of the folks listed and their words quoted, one wonders if they are outright skeptics, or just questioning certain conclusions or lines of reasoning - the normal scientific process as DotEarth noted today. 

 
We also wonder if the Inhofe 400 share the conclusions of this report or the author's overt agenda to delay and derail political action on climate.  Time will tell as they Google themselves and find their names linked to the tail end of Exxon's Denial Machine.

An op-ed is making the rounds in papers today penned by veteren global warming denier David Deming, Adjunct Scholar of the National Center for Policy Analysis. 

The op-ed catalogs a long list of unusual cold weather events in 2007, including the recent giant ice storm that crippled the central US.  These extreme weather events are cited as solid evidence that global warming is bunk, and since cold weather is obviously bad for humans, therefore policies to control global warming are misguided. 

Clearly behind the curve in reading his latest copy of the Deniers' fashion magazine, Deming doesn't realize that it's no longer vogue to deny the science outright, and that most of his pals are taking more of a bumper shot approach - admitting that warming is happening, but that it might not be that bad or that we should focus on adaptation...

Well thank goodness for old-school deniers like Deming still sticking to their guns! 

The last line of Deming's essay, "Global warming has long since passed from scientific hypothesis to the realm of pseudo-scientific mumbo-jumbo."  really sums up how completely and dangerously out of touch with reality this crowd is.  Wow, we have a lot of work left.

The reality, again, is global warming doesn't mean uniform "warming" everywhere on earth.  In fact, what scientists have come to know, is adding heat to the weather system means chaotic and unpredictable weather, with average temps that trend warmer overall.

NCPA has received at least $465,900 from Exxon since 1998, including $75,000 per year for the past several years.

Speaking of animals that like things cold...we expect an answer out of the Bush Administration any day on their plan to protect (or not) the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act.  The NCPA chimed in on polar bears this past May with a "Brief Analysis" by H. Sterling Burnett, citing "A new NCPA study by Dr. David Legates" which turns out to be an inaccurate assessment of ice dynamics combined with a weak analysis of bear population dynamics...Funny how the former State Climatologist of Delaware is suddenly a polar bear expert... how convenient.  Legates was also a co-author of the polar bear study we discussed here.

 

There seems to be an outbreak of oil spills in the news lately. From San Francisco to Korea, Russia to Norway and Alaska to the Antarctic, oil spills are making headlines.   What’s most aggravating to me is this notion that an oil spill can be “cleaned up,” and that an area can be restored to its pristine condition after an oil spill.  Nothing can be farther from the truth.

I live in Alaska where the Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons crude oil that that blackened 1,200 miles of our state’s pristine coastline and killed untold numbers of fish, birds, whales, seals, otters and other wildlife. It also decimated local fishing and Alaska Native communities who rely on the ocean and its resources for their way of life.  I have kayaked in Prince William Sound and seen firsthand the “bathtub ring” of Exxon Valdez oil still visible at high tide line.  Scientists report that oil from the initial spill in 1989 is still being dispersed in the sound today, and could continue for decades.  Only a few species have recovered since the spill, the rest are in decline or have not recovered.  

All this against the backdrop of ExxonMobil declaring the spill “cleaned up” 16 years ago, while posting record profits and continuing to stall and delay the payment of funds to fishermen and communities still feeling the effects of the spill.   

In short, “cleaning up” an oil spill is a misnomer. Even under perfect conditions - warm temperatures, calm seas, no wind and oil, and oil spill response equipment close at hand –  only 15 percent of the oil is removed from the environment. The rest remains, smothering birds and other wildlife so that they die of hypothermia, suffocation or by poisoning themselves through ingesting oil in an effort to clean themselves.  The legacy of an oil spill lives on for decades.

It’s just one more reason we need to break our addiction to oil.  Phasing out dirty fossil fuels like oil and replacing them with clean forms of energy such as solar and wind will not only reduce and eventually eliminate the threat and impact of oil spills, it will also solve the issue of global warming.  

Above photo is me, at the site of the Selendang Ayu oil spill on Unalaska Island, Alaska, December 2004.

 

-- Melanie 

Being an activist, as you know well, is not always particularly satisfying. You read about a lot of crappy things that crappy people do. You repeat the same information to the same decision makers hoping that this will be the time they really listen. And sometimes you have a victory. And on very very rare occasions you have two in one month.

I told you about Target. And now I'm really excited to tell you about Sears and Kmart. Sears Holdings, the company that owns Sears and Kmart, has committed to phasing out PVC in their products and packaging. Sears Holdings is the nation's sixth largest retailer with over $50 billion in sales per year and approximaterly 3,800 stores. 

Center for Health, Environment and Justice has been running a super successful PVC campaign getting companies to eliminate PVC. This means that 3 out of the 6 biggest retailer stores are in the process of phasing out PVC. How's that for progress? Maybe these big wigs are finally starting to understand that we all really do care about the chemicals that are in the things we bring into our homes.

You can check out their website and see what the entire policy is, but I'll give you some highlights:

- identify safer, more sustainable and cost-effective alternatives to PVC

- show preference to PVC free materials

- encourage vendors to reduce or eliminate PVC from their products and packaging

 

Pretty good. Now we need the rest of them to phase out PVC as well as brominated flame retardants. And remember they listen to people who buy their stuff.
 

Have a good week. I'm back on the east coast on Friday. I heard it snowed over there. That does not make me happy even if it is December.

Renee  

 

Hmmm...wonder why Dana Perino reacted with such passion to a question yesterday about Rep. Waxman's (proposed) report on climate science censorship by the Bush White House? 

Aside from her laughable and classic Bush-like response  - dismissing the report then admitting that she hadn't even read it but had "seen reports about the report".... a flub up reported nicely here on DeSmogBlog.

Add this to Perino's mishandling of White House censorship of Center for Disease Control Director's Senate testimony in late October, covered well by ThinkProgress and RollingStone.

Here at ExxonSecrets, we know a little more about Ms. Perino from our 10+ years of research on global warming backlash.  Her anti-environmental roots run deep. 

 

Kyoto Bashing in 1997 

First off, in our archives we have a press release she penned during her days on Capitol Hill in the late 1990s, when she was press officer for Representative Schaefer (R-CO). Her boss was admonishing the Clinton Administration in June 1997 to slow down the push toward Kyoto agreement in December 1997, saying there still were too many unanswered questions about the impact on the US economy and other common refrains of the day pushed by the Global Climate Coalition.

 

On the CEQ Denial Team 

Perino came back to DC to work as Director of Public Affairs for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, where she was, in fact, running cover for climate criminals Jim Connaughton and Phil Cooney, the two main culprits in the Waxman report.

At CEQ, Perino was part of the global warming policy gatekeeper team, doing damage control and coordinating with other agencies on climate policy and communications.  There are many memos to and from Perino to Cooney including this one in the midst of Cooney's EPA report editing meltdown. Here she forwards Phil a comforting article by Brent Bozell of the Media Research Center, another Exxon funded front group.  Cooney responds hopefully, "do you know where this ran?"

 

Perino Hangs Out with Exxon's Main Front Group

Like Cooney, Perino also cozied up to Exxon's Denial Machine.  Here is an email from Perino to the Competitive Enterprise Institute's Angela Logomasini asking for a lunch meeting and saying she had been reading the CEI's report The Environmental Source.  The global warming chapter of this anti-enviro tome, penned by Myron Ebell, looks like it became a key page in the CEQ playbook.  CEI at the time was the leading recipient of Exxon denial cash, but was dumped by the Exxon Foundation in 2006.

Here's another note from Perino to Cooney and Connaughton referencing a Myron Ebell piece in the Washington Times about a prank invitation to a CEQ reception for Lee Raymond.

 

Redacted Information 

Most of these documents were delivered to Greenpeace after multiple Freedom of Information Act requests (see previous blog) and can now be found on the White House web page and our web site.

However, many of the documents we got back from our FOIA request looked like this one, from Cooney to the entire staff including Perino - mostly redacted text, leading Waxman's team to look for what was under the black marker lines... Read their report for all the details of the investigation

 

What Else Has Perino Seen Behind White House Doors? 

One can only guess what else Dana Perino knows about the global warming Denial Machine within the White House.  She has certainly had a front row seat.  Maybe the press will ask her more questions about her experiences.  Eventually they will all be held accountable...stay tuned.

 

 

 

A new report was released yesterday by the US House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee detailing the conclusions of their extensive investigation into the obstruction and politicization of climate science by the bush Administration.  Happy reading. 

This investigation began when it was revealed that Phil Cooney, then of the White House Council on Environmental Quality was editing government climate reports, downplaying scientific certainty and urgency.  Cooney, who was at the American Petroleum Institute before the White House, left shortly thereafter to go work for, you guessed...Exxon.  Check out what we have on Cooney and friends at ExxonSecrets.

Our favorite part of the back story here, is when the Committee first asked the White House for relevant documents, they said (paraphrased) 'you might want the Greenpeace FOIAs to start'. 

We had peppered the WH for years for documents and had revealed in those docs hints at  the skulduggery that the Oversight Committee has now dug into.  Many of those documents are available here on Greenpeace Investigations in text searchable format and also on the White House webpage here and  here.

We are reminded once again by today's Washington Post coverage of Bali and the Nobel Prize award ceremony in Oslo, Norway, of Exxon's attacks on the IPCC process through the years. 

While Al Gore and IPCC Chair Rajendra Pachauri were on hand to receive the prize, we note that Dr. Robert Watson might have shared the stage and Nobel prize accolades..  Watson chaired the IPCC through the really tough years, fending off numerous attacks from Exxon's Denial Machine. 

A fax revealed in 2001 showed Exxon's lobbyists asking for Robert Watson's ouster from his post at IPCC.  He was displaced shortly thereafter and replaced by Pachauri, who has done a fine job.

The same Exxon memo goes on to ask for other government climate officials leftover from the Clinton Admin. to be removed and suggests replacements, including current Bush Administration climate negotiator Harlan Watson.

Both of today's Washington Post articles quote Harlan "No Mandatory Reductions" Watson in his typically negative tone.  Did someone say "duck"?

So.  Here I am at the climate conference in Bali where Exxon's team seems to be very busy trashing the science whilst the rest of the world is trying to solve climate change.

 We have all sorts of groups turning up - but it seems the main lot is the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) which has received  $US 542,000 from ExxonMobil since 1998.

It got $US 70,000 just last year.

Also here is the International Policy Network which has received $US 390,000 from Exxon since 1998. 

My colleague Kert has already blogged about the Heartland Institute's behaviour early in the week...

But as the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Yvo de Boers, said the other day "The sceptics have had their hey day".  This is abundantly clear.  Nobody's questioning the science any more.

CFACT's little tricks here are verging on the hysterical - walking around the press centre abusing journalists, and offering free massages in the hope that people will come and listen to their ranting.  Nobody is taking them seriously.  In fact many journalists I've spoken to just want to write about how much money they get from Exxon.

They have launched the International Climate Science Coalition - a group set up by a New Zealand sceptic lot - interestingly, Brian Leyland from New Zealand is leading the CFACT delegation - despite denying any connections to Exxon money.  

Meanwhile the NZ delegation seems to be taking a positive role, supporting a range of 25-40% cuts for industrialised countries.  Doesn't look like Mr Leyland's having much of an effect.

 

 

 

Well, Monday morning started with some excitement.  The first bit of draft text that will be the basis for the conference’s Bali Mandate included several of the most important aspects that we are pushing for.

The text included both a 2009 end date for the negotiation process for the second commitment period, and also included the important developed country 2020 reduction range of 25-40 percent.  This language is a crucial component that needs to be in the final version of the Bali Mandate.  The 25-40 percent range is an important signal to the developing world that developed counties will step up their level of commitment post 2012.

However, after beginning the morning with some excitement that the ranges were included in the first draft text, we were quickly thrown back when we learned that behind closed doors the United States, Canada, Japan, and even Australia had insisted that any reference to the reduction ranges be stricken from the text.  This is a very bad development that puts the Bali Mandate in question.  This is completely unacceptable.  We are now working with our international colleagues and NRO’s to pressure the delegations here in Bali.  More on how this goes later in the week.

Yesterday brought Senator John Kerry to the conference center.  He was here to talk about the other America.  This is the America that is taking action on climate at the city, state, regional, and now with the Lieberman Warner bill, even the federal level.  Senator Kerry had meetings with the EU, China, Germany, the Indonesian President of the COP, and also the President of Indonesia.  His message was clear and an important one for delegates to hear.  There is a sea change in the United States on climate, and increasing support from citizens, businesses, and now Members of Congress, is bringing the United States back to the table on climate change.  Make no mistake; there is a lot of work to do.  The Bush administration’s official delegation here in Bali is still trying to weaken the Bali Mandate in every way they can, but Senator Kerry’s message was received loud and clear in the conference, the tide is turning.

After a week of negotiations WCPFC with over 360 people from many corners of the planet you would think that we would be able to come to at least SOME agreements on how we're going to save the Pacific yellow fin and big eye tuna stocks right? Perhaps it was just me being naive but I was really expecting SOMETHING to happen. After endless days inside a huge room without windows and lots of serious people in suits, the two most valuable tuna species in the Pacific are no closer to recovery than they were before. The reduction in fishing effort that the scientists were recommending was totally ignored by Japan, China, Taiwan and Korea with Japan leading the pack and earning themselves not one but two "tuna destroyer" Greenpeace awards.

Yet again shortsighted economics continue to rule the day putting the environment, fish stocks, Pacific Island economies and the fishing industry itself at risk. This fisheries commission is now failing miserably just like all the others and as you can tell, I'm pretty frustrated about it! I came here with high hopes and of seeing measures get adopted that would ensure the sustainability of the last tuna frontier in the world. Tuna is very important to Pacific island economies and the last thing they need in addition to dealing with the effects of climate change is to have their fish stocks crash!

I have actually been dreading writing this update because it felt like all I had was bad news but there is a light shining at the end of this tunnel because the Greenpeace oceans team, as usual has a few tricks left up their sleeve :-)

Well, it’s Saturday in Bali, and the UN Climate Conference is at its midpoint.  The temperatures are soaring and the negotiations are slowing.  

We have learned a lot about global warming in 2007. There is growing support in the US Congress for legislation that caps global warming pollution, more and more states are setting emissions limits and renewable energy targets, and the Nobel Prize winning IPCC released their most comprehensive report on the science of global warming to date.  That report paints a dire picture of what the future could look like if nations don’t act decisively here in Bali.  But the negotiations don’t reflect that sense of urgency.  But on Monday, Ministers and Heads of State from around the world will arrive, and not a minute to soon frankly.  They need to jumpstart this process if we are to leave Bali able to call this meeting a success.

We’d had an expectation that things would move much faster than they have.  We’ve seen some developing country movement which is positive, - including China (to a certain extent) - but we are seeing stagnation from the industrialized world, not the leadership we need.  We hope that all of this will change once the elected officials arrive on Monday.  The Ministers and Heads of State are much closer to the people and voters than the lower level bureaucrats, so we are hopeful the pace of the meeting will increase once they arrive.

We have an impressive Greenpeace presence at the meeting, with members from all over the world.  In addition to our Solar Generation youth, we have colleagues from China, India, the EU, Pacific island nations, Canada, Brazil, and many more.  All are working hard to push delegates to agree a mandate for a negotiation process that leads to a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol.  This second phase of the Protocol must lead to even stronger and deeper commitments from industrialized countries and expand the number of countries willing to take on targets.  It must also find away to bring deforestation into the international agreement.  In addition, recently developed countries like South Korea, Singapore, and Saudi Arabia should agree to join Kyoto Nations that have taken on binding targets. 

News has been flying around the conference center about the action in United States Congress this week.  This action in both the House and the Senate has undercut the official U.S. delegation here.  While the Bush administration’s delegation in Bali continues to shun targets or timelines for U.S. emissions reductions, the Senate passed from committee, legislation that would reduce emissions in the U.S. 60% by 2050.  The house also passed an energy bill that increases fuel economy standards for cars for the first time in more than 20 years.  Senator Kerry will arrive in Bali early next week to talk to delegates about progress in the U.S.  Everyone here understands the clock is running out on the Bush administration, and the action in Congress this week highlights the progress that can be made once President Bush leaves the White House.

Yesterday, our flagship the Rainbow Warrior arrived in Bali with a flotilla of more than 50 local fishing boats.  There was enormous media interest in the arrival of the ship.  Having the Warrior here in Bali gives us a platform over the next week to push for a strong Bali Mandate and engage delegates, with many scheduling visits to the ship.

And finally, at the halfway point of the meeting, today is the International Day of Action on Climate.  There are events all over the world today.  From the streets just outside the conference center where thousands of Indonesians are calling on delegates to act, to town and cities all over the United States pushing elected leaders in the U.S. to act now.

The pace of the meeting will pick up quickly on Monday morning.  Stay tuned for more.

Day four from the Bali UN Climate Conference brought an announcement from the United States delegation.  Was it that they had decided to join Australia and become the final industrialized country to ratify the Kyoto Protocol?  No.  Was it that they were prepared to agree to targets and timelines for emissions reductions and join the Europeans and others in support of a 25% to 40% reduction target by 2020?  I am afraid not.  Their big announcement was that they have invited the world’s 17 largest greenhouse gas emitters to the second in their series of Major Economies Meetings, or as we like to call it, “The Big Emitters”.   

It doesn’t come as a shock that their announcement was process and not substance, but to add insult to injury, they have made clear the meetings WILL NOT lead to country specific reduction targets.  It is simply a process to run out the clock on the Bush administrations final year in office.  We understand that as of now, while the caterers and hotel rooms have been booked, none of the countries have yet RSVP’d. 

The second in the series of the Big Emitters meetings, this time scheduled for Hawaii, distracts from the process that will begin here in Bali.  By the end of next week, in order for the Bali meeting to be considered a success, delegates must agree upon nothing short of a strong Bali Mandate.  That Mandate must create a clear negotiation process that leads to an agreement for the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol by no later than 2009, This mandate must ultimately produce an agreement that with reduction levels for industrialized countries of at least 25% to 40% and broaden the number of willing to take on targets.  President Bush’s Major Emitters meeting is simply a distraction from the process that will be required to produce this post 2012 agreement.

Perhaps countries should consider sending low-level staff to the Major Emitters Meeting in January.  Hawaii in January is a lovely place, and the lower level staff deserve a trip once in a while.  But high level staff should stay home and work towards delivering the Bali Mandate.  Time is short, and we cannot afford to waste it with meetings that blow nothing but hot air.

 

 

The negotiations are moving fast and furious but we still have a long way to go.  While there has been an unprecedented level of focus around the world on the issue of global warming throughout 2007, the conference has yet to be infused with a sense of urgency.  With the United States making it clear that they will not support targets or timelines for greenhouse gas pollution reduction, we are still working hard to push other countries to lead.  While members of the European delegation have been saying the right words, they have not yet been playing the leadership role we need.  But we are working hard here to change that.  

As we begin to move towards the end of the first week of the conference the level of public activity is growing.  We are all excited for tomorrow, when Greenpeace's flagship the Rainbow Warrior will sail into Denpasar.  A flotilla of dozens of boats will great her arrival.  The Warrior will host delegates from all over the world over the course of the next week and give us a platform from which we can highlight the importance of a strong Bali Mandate.

Saturday brings the global day of action on climate change.  Events all over the world will shine a spotlight on negotiators in Bali, demanding bold action here.  Nothing short of a strong Bali Mandate that charts a course toward the adoption of the second phase of the Kyoto Protocol by 2009 will be acceptable.  

On Sunday, thousands will gather on the beach just a short distance from the conference to create a human beach art image of the earth.  Students from Step It Up here helping to organize the image.  Look for pictures early next week.

And finally on Monday, the high level segment of the negotiations will begin as many of the Ministers begin to arrive.  While there is much talk during the first week of the meeting, in most cases the real work begins once the ministers arrive.

I am incredibly impressed with the large number youth attending the conference.  Greenpeace's Solar Generation students are here in force joining a large and focused youth movement.  The youth delegation has been working the delegates hard, and have becoming an increasingly powerful force at these meetings. 

Stand by for more from Bali.

 
Well at least there is lots of sightseeing in Bali for the grumpy team from Heartland Institute who had their fake press credentials whisked away by the UN at the last moment last week.  They might, for instance, check out some bull racing! or or maybe they can just go get their teeth filed down in the traditional Balinese coming of age ritual that banishes the evil spirits...not a bad idea for this lot.

 

photo credit: http://blog.baliwww.com/?pp_album=main

 

All year, in between expensive but fruitless newspaper ads baiting Al Gore to debate a team of bedraggled global warming deniers, the Heartland Institute has found plenty of time to attack the UN and the IPCC.  In their whining November 30 press release entitled "UN Rejects Press Credentials for Representatives of US Newspaper", they once again quote University of Washington geochemist Eric Steig. Heartland has now used Steig's comments as the lead example of IPCC "censoring dissenting voices" at least 3 times this year, here, here and last week...

Heartland says the UN IPCC process "has been criticized in the past for censoring dissenting voices in favor of a pre-determined political outcome. Even strong cautions were widely ignored, as in the Second Order Draft Comments (Chapter 6; section 6-42), when Eric Steig cautioned, "In general, the certainty with which this chapter presents our understanding of abrupt climate change is overstated. There is confusion between hypothesis and evidence throughout the chapter."

IN FACT... 

Steig wrote, in an email, on the subject:

"My views of the IPCC chapter 6, in its draft form, have been greatly misused to imply that I have a problem with the IPCC documents in general. First of all, my comments were taken into account, and the final version was much improved. This proves that the IPCC process works, which is quite the opposite of what Heartland is trying to claim. My views are consistent with that of all other serious scientists and educated people that have bothered to consider the most basic facts.  Anthropogenic climate change is a real and imminent threat."

 

Steig is a member of the IPCC and now by extension, a Nobel prize winner...good on ya Eric! and he also writes for RealClimate.

This week, Heartland was whining again in Bali...this time that the UN doesn't want to see their latest Baliwood production, the front group denier puppet show...wait for it...the International Climate Science Coalition.  Just a reminder that Heartland has been given some $676,500 from ExxonMobil since 1998, including over $115,000 in 2006.  We don't yet know how much Exxon cash they raked in for 2007, wait and see... Find all the details on Heartland's friends and family at ExxonSecrets. Click on SHOW ALL PEOPLE and click connecting lines to see linkages

Get your facts straight Heartland, or just go sightseeing...you aren't going to get much else done in Bali. 

 . . .  which is what it should be doing.

Articles galore, supporter feedback. Some good discussions have been coming out of the latest Guide to Greener Electronics. Our international co-worker Tom put up a blog today that I thought was pretty interesting. He talked about a number of the discussions we've seen in the past several days.

Check it out here.  

Renee 

P.S: I only have two weeks left on the west coast. I'm starting to miss California already!

 

 

Not too long ago I remember reading that fish stocks in the Pacific were relatively healthy and that it was the only region in the world where tuna was not being overfished. But a lot has changed in just a few years and scientists are now saying that Pacific tuna stocks are severely threatened from overfishing and that the situation is critical. The Pacific countries are now faced with a very difficult challenge and the fate of many economies is at stake.

I am in Guam right now at the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) meeting where more than 20 nations will be negotiating agreements on the region's fisheries, which mainly consist of 4 tuna species (yellow fin, big-eye, skip jack and albacore). The greatest concern is over the decline in yellow fin and big eye stocks which are the tunas that are sold to the sushi and sashimi markets.

Greenpeace has an observer delegation attending the meeting that consists of 5 oceans campaigners. Seni and Lagi are here from the Greenpeace Australia Pacific office in Fiji and Jason is here from the Sydney office. Sari is here from Greenpeace International in Amsterdam and Phil from Greenpeace USA arrives this evening. Inside the meeting they will be monitoring the negotiations and outside they are meeting with the delegates and encouraging the best solutions.

I am your trusty blogger for the meeting and will be letting you know exactly what happens here in Guam. You regularly get to see the heroic actions on the water but so rarely hear about the heroes who work long hours lobbying countries at important meetings like this. Of course the adrenalin levels aren’t quite the same but that doesn’t mean what goes on here isn’t exciting.

Pacific Island countries depend on tuna resources for income and food and this region has the most productive tuna fishery in the world providing over half of the total global tuna supply. Decisions made here will affect the lives of millions and determine the fate of a massive ecosystem. I don’t think you can get much more exciting than that!

We’re calling upon the WCPFC to get serious about protecting the Pacific’s valuable fish stocks by cutting fishing effort in the region by 50%, banning all trans shipments at sea (this is when fish is off-loaded onto another boat, which allows vessels to avoid reporting their total catch by not needing to come into port) and establishing a no-take marine reserve for species managed by the WCPFC. Indications suggest that some of the industrial fishing nations will block efforts to conserve the tuna and already it seems that some of them are making threats to cut the funding of the Commission if expensive measures are put into place to regulate the fisheries. If only they were as keen on cutting fishing effort as they are to cut the funding of the Commission, which only has 8 staff and costs, les than 0.12% of the annual value of the fishery.

The meeting officially starts tomorrow and I will be making a radical physical transformation that I will tell you about later. I'll be posting an update on Tuesday. 

-- Lisa 

When we debuted our Guide for Greener Electronics, we started the discussion with needing cleaner and greener cell phones and laptops in our homes and pockets. Last week we introduced the need for the gifts we give to video game lovers to be cleaner and greener too. But I want to take a moment to highlight that that is not the end of greening the electronics industry. It doesn't stop with what we purchase.

Our world is getting smaller, we know this not only from our nation's more recent immigration, trade agreement, and climate change discussions, but also from the toxic toy story's that have saturated our tv's and newspapers the past few months. I'll be the first to admit that it's sometimes hard to put ourselves in the shoes of others whose lives we can barely even image. But it is because the world is getting smaller that we need to.

Listen, I'm no hippy. I'm a somewhat odd mix to the environmental justice movement. I like shopping, makeup, and late nights out with my friends. Being an environmentalist can be difficult sometimes. There are many issues that effect every aspect of your life, of your routines. I understand the world is not black and white. There are many grey areas that sometimes keep us from being the very best that we can. But it is our duty to try and to do better when we know better. And that is why we publish these guides, talk to the companies, and explain everything we find out and know to people like you. The people who buy these products and the people who want to be making informed decisions.

The hidden story of the electronics industry are the environmental impacts of the complete life cycle. Such as . . .

- The manufacturing process where the companies chose what chemicals went into the laptop that I am using right now. If you would like to know what they are read the report we released a couple weeks ago on just that subject. We found out through taking apart many different laptops that it is possible to produce a more environmentally friendly one.

- The consequences of what is leached from our computers into our homes, offices, and coffee shops. BFR's (brominated flame retardants) are additives to our products and so they leach out and become part of our dust and find themselves cozy little spaces to bio-accumulate in our bodies. Check out this recent report and interesting website. 35 people were tested and found that yes BFR's have settled in our bodies.

- The people who break these products apart on open flames, unprotected in the e-waste landfills of developing nations.

The good news is that all the companies we talk to know this. And so they should be doing better.  . . . because they know better.  

There are many organizations around the world working on ending the devastating toxic waste trade between developed and developing nations.  And so as much as I love(d) my mac (it was totally stolen Oct 1) it is difficult to not think about where it came from, what it is doing, and where it will eventually end up without thinking about all of the people and places that are effected by each segment of that computer's life.

Besides looking through our webpages, check out two of the organizations that are working with us.

Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition

Basel Action Network 

 

Holla from Cali,

Renee  

Hi all. I am from Minnesota, which, I am sorry to admit, is part of the United States. I am doing my best to manage in the heat and insanity of life in Washington DC. Since 2006, the country seems to have begun to come to its senses, but the climate hasn't improved at all. I am the proud father of a 2 and a half year old boy, who I think has a better facility with numbers than our President. Well, in fairness I bet the President knows that a 6 is a 9 when turned upside down. But I wonder if he has the imagination to turn a 4 into an H?

I love being part of the International team. I am continually amazed by how much a small group of dedicated people can positively influence international negotiations. If any of you have a question about whether some piece of information gleaned from some obscure source now means that Bush is about to change his position on climate change. The answer is no. He is not. Feel free to call me and ask any time, but rest assured, when he really changes his position, we will send out an e-mail or two.

-John Coequyt
Global Warming & Energy Team
blogging from Bali

Learn more about the climate negotiations here

ExxonSecrets is happy to be cited in fine new piece of dirtdigging published on Scholars and Rogues over the past two days (part I, part II) . 

 

We learn that our old pal Steve Milloy is up to his old tricks with his latest anti-environmental vehicle, DemandDebate.com , where he recently conducted an 'opinion survey' on global warming science  - completely unbiased of course - first covered on Real Climate in October.  Gives us some new meat to add to Milloy's ExxonSecrets file.   We also have the goods on Kenneth Greene, AEI, Cato, Reason, etc and other groups and people mentioned in the Scholars piece on ExxonSecrets.

 

By the by, Milloy was, without a fitting and proper ceremony, un-funded by Exxon recently, as we revealed in our May 2007 ExxonSecrets report.  But he remains joined at the hip with many of Exxon's front groups and the larger extremist conservative and liberatrian think tank militia.

 

Added value here: The Canadian Broadcasting Company's Fifth Estate did cool TV episode called The Denial Machine, on the overlap between tobacco denial and global warming denial and the PR firm APCO and its connections to Milloy and friends.

And here: George Monbiot further explored this connection here revealing a memo from Milloy's lockbox on the early days of big tobacco funding his Advancement of Sound Science Coalition.  Monbiot wrote:

"By May 1993, as another memo from APCO to Philip Morris shows, the fake citizens' group had a name: the Advancement of Sound Science Coalition. It was important, further letters stated, "to ensure that TASSC has a diverse group of contributors"; to "link the tobacco issue with other more 'politically correct' products"; and to associate scientific studies that cast smoking in a bad light with "broader questions about government research and regulations" - such as "global warming", "nuclear waste disposal" and "biotechnology". APCO would engage in the "intensive recruitment of high-profile representatives from business and industry, scientists, public officials, and other individuals interested in promoting the use of sound science". "

More dirt on Milloy is always a welcome treat! thanks. 

Opps we did it again. We just released our 6th Greener Electronics Guide and this time we've expanded! We've include game consoles and TVs.

Remember how this goes?

We rank companies on their policies and practices on toxic chemicals and takeback. The main point to why we do this each quarter is that as electronic products become more often than not disposable products, companies need to look more closely at the life cycle of their products. Toxic chemicals in means toxic chemicals out. And most of the time those toxic chemicals are being released into your home, and the land, water, and bodies of the people who 'recycle' them in the developing world. And you don't have to be a genius or a CEO of some mega corporation to realize that  . . . well, that's just crap.

You can read the guide here. But I'll give you a sneak preview.

Nintendo got a zero. I mean a zero, boys and girls. I'll admit we are tough critics, but we've never given a zero before.  Microsoft scored a 2.7 and Philips did ummm not too well with a 2.

People are always asking what's with scoring them based on their policies and practices, basically what they tell us. Don't worry folks, we are all good follow up-ers here at Greenpeace and we are making sure they stick to their promises. But the bottom line is that companies should be transparent. They should be telling their customers what it is in their products and they should make them safe and toxic free.

So this is it. One step closer to greening the electronic industry.

Take Care,

Renee  

 

Seattle is awesome and it totally doesn't rain everyday. It hasn't rained once. It's super cold, but not rainy.

Yesterday we went to Pike Market and snacked on cheese and lattes most of the afternoon. There is a crumpet shop. Who knew what a crumpet was? Well . . . a lot of people, but I wasn't one of them until we walked up 1st and Pike.

I'm here in Seattle visiting an old friend Liz. She is 5 months pregnant and just married. So weird. When did people start doing that?

Sometimes I feel Liz is way more environmentally aware than I am. She makes her own cleaning products and recycles in ways I still don't understand. When the baby comes she is going to make her own food and use cloth diapers. And with the news reports every other week or so on new toxic chemicals found in toys, she is growing concerned with what she is bringing into the house.

But the reality is the everyday items we use in our homes have toxins as well. One of the most dangerous chemicals that has been getting attention on a state level across the nation are brominated flame retardants. I also mentioned those when I was in San Jose traveling around with that giant skull made out of e-waste.

Warning: ridiculously long words ahead 

Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) have many subsets, including polybrominated diphenyl ethers or PBDEs. There are three common commerical types, but two have been voluntarily phased out due to health and environmental concerns. The one that is still in use is called deca-bde. It exists in an ungodly number of home items. Including your tvs, couches and mattresses. One of the reasons it is so horrible is because it is an additive and leaks out of whatever product it is in. That's why the dust in our homes is so full of chemicals. It's also why you shouldn't carry around those plastic reusable water bottles.

States have started recognizing the dangers of BFRs. Maine's ban on deca-BDE goes into effect at the end of the year. One thing Liz can feel safe about is that Washington state has also passed a ban on deca. A number of other states are also debating the same type of legislation. You should know about it. Do a quick search on your state and deca ban. See what you find out. With all this talk on gross chemicals in our homes, knowing that there are people in your communities working to end it is pretty comforting.

Happy Saturday.

Renee  

 

The hunt is on! When I last wrote we were positioned just off the coast of japan awaiting the departure of the whaling fleet. They had already delayed their departure several days due to a meeting between the new Japanese Prime Minister and George Bush at the white house. The Japanese government wanted to avoid the tidal wave of negative media they knew would result when we intercepted them on their way to the southern ocean. Their commercial whaling program is a source of great diplomatic tension between Japan and the U.S. (a pro-whale conservation nation.) Once the meeting had ended the fleet delayed just a little longer so that they could leave port under the cover of darkness. We had sources to alert us when the mother ship threw off her dock lines. We got the word they had left the dock and we calculated their speed and came up with an ETA for them to reach the sea. The time came and they still had not arrived, a few hours past and still nothing. Then finally our radar detected a ship approximately the same size as the processing ship and moving at around the same speed. With no other means to confirm its identity we were forced to assume that this was the ship we were looking for. Then just as the ship came out of the channel our radar lit up like a christmas tree.

The Japanese government had strategically positioned a fleet of coast guard and navy vessels at the entrance to the ocean and all at once they turned off their AIS (Automated Identification Systems) and saturated our radar screen with a barrage of similar sized vessels all traveling at the same speed in every direction of the compass.

The Japanese military knew our exact location the entire time as they had used both coast guard air planes and helicopters conduct regular low level fly-overs of the Esperanza everyday for several days proceeding the fleets departure, not to mention our campaign had gone public and we were as always transparent and clear in our position and mission.

The captain was forced to use his best judgement and deductive reasoning to try and pick a needle from the haystack of Japanese decoys. at around midnight we made our choice and set a course to track down what we hoped was the mother ship of the fleet. We closed in just around day break and much much much to our dismay we could just make out the vessel on the horizon and confirmed that it was not our ship but one of the military decoys.

We immediately set our course for due south and began steaming full speed ahead to try and make up for time lost on the decoy. The Esperanza can sail faster than the mother ship and over the course of several days we hoped to close the gap between us.

If ever there was one iota of doubt about the illegitimacy and deception that is this so called ¨Research Project¨ it is gone now. This was a large scale military operation carried out at the expense of the Japanese tax payers. As Americans we are well aware of the operating costs of planes and ships and the Japanese government just served up a pretty hefty bill to its taxpayers all in the name of disguising a whaling program that 69% of the citizens adamantly oppose.

We are not a military superpower, we are just one ship, we have solid technology but nothing capable of trumping the Japanese navy. The fact that the government went to such great lengths and expense to sneak its whaling fleet past us in the middle of the night is bold testament to the fact that they are hiding commercial whaling and not conducting science at all. Were this a legitimate research operation then they should have nothing to hide and would be proactive in encouraging transparency and openness.

Their military operations have not stopped. Immediately after we altered our course south a high speed long range Japanese coast guard cutter began shadowing us. It assumed a position just on the outskirts of our radar and set a speed and course identical to our
own. They have remained there for four days now with no signs of leaving.

I will not lie. all of us onboard were very disappointed that the fleet got a head start on us. The next morning most folks spirits were down in their boots. So I did the one thing I know to do to cheer people up. I strapped on the the apron and headed to the galley. The cooks have Sundays off so myself and a few others took on brunch for forty hungry sailors.

If there is one thing in this world that can always cheer me up it is the smell of frying bacon and this ship has a skillet big enough for a whole hog. Note: we also made pancakes and veggies for our non carnivorous mates.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
That was four days ago. Now it is Thanksgiving for me being fourteen hours ahead, and instead of a turkey I got something else that starts with a T, a typhoon.

Right now we are franticly scrambling to steer through a tropical storm that was just upgraded to a typhoon. Unfortunately, if we do make it through said typhoon we will be positioned directly at the meeting point of two other typhoons on a collision course for one-another. I cannot describe to you the motion of the ocean and the rolling of the ship. So I will just say this, I am writing this blog laying spread eagle face down on the floor. I have both legs wedge in between bookcases and one hand pinning down my laptop, typing with the index finger of my free hand.

But rest assured navy decoys and typhoons are no match for this ship and her crew. We are charged more than ever and have no doubt in our minds that we will find the whalers and keep them from killing. Peace, to you and yours on this holiday, to my family I miss you and am sorry I am not there to cook dinner, if anyone is pressed to find something to be thankful for today, let it be that the couch you are watch football on is not going to be flipped upside down by a wave twice the size of your house, as mine was this morning :)

After you wake up from your turkey/tofu induced nap, prop yourself up in bed and go to greenpeace.org and sign up to be a whale defender!  Also, stay tuned because we are going to launch a massive global cyber action in the very near future where you can demand that the prime minister of japan put an end to this senseless slaughter! 

Hi Everyone,

So I'm sure you are busy with your holiday plans. Maybe baking a little pumpkin pie? I've moved out to the west coast for a few weeks. I'm visiting a friend who just got married and is now 5 months pregnant. I'm reaching that age where friends are doing things like that now. Liz and I met when we were 14. And as I think back through all those years, I never thought either one of us would end up where we currently are. She in Seattle with her husband (I mean her kid won't even be a Floridian!!) and me at Greenpeace talking about superfund sites. The good news is we both feel right at home and are pretty darn happy.

So . . . I wanted to mention this website I just found about superfund sites. In case you didn't know they are disgusting and a huge problem for communities. Its pretty interesting to find out who the top 25 polluters are, though I'm not that surprised -- Dow and Exxon anyone?

Right now it talks mostly about places on the east coast, but places in Texas, Louisiana, and California are taking a toll on its residents too. In fact here is a list of sites in Louisiana. I just did a quick google search on Lafayette, Louisiana where I was born and where most of my family continues to live. I found 10. Broussard, Louisiana a city that has one stop light and about 10 relatives - has one. 

Anyways, just thought you might be interested in learning more. Check out the site and do a quick search of your town. 

 

Take care, Renee  

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change just released their latest bombshell--a summary of their previous work that brings together a very scary vision for the future if we don't act now on global warming.

Essentially, the IPCC echoed what every serious person has been saying for years--the planet is warming, we're the cause, and we must stop now to stave off untold despair and suffering. I read their report with a real sadness and a certainty that the scale of the problem was greater than I could understand.

My uneasiness was supported by what I saw the next two days. On Saturday I took my usual Saturday bike ride up through the hills of Marin County, here in sunny CA.  As I reached the quiet town of Sausalito, I couldn't help but notice along the bike path all the cars filled with people who drove to ride their bikes. Yes, drove to ride their bikes! I thought to myself, how can we expect change when some people are so selfish, so clueless?

Then Sunday I watched the talking heads on display on the Sunday morning talk shows. First came Meet the Press, then Face the Nation and then This Week. With the IPCC's recent report fresh in my mind, I figured to hear some fresh policy discussions on the problem. Nope. Only John Edwards spoke about the issue and he only mentioned it in passing. It appears the media-created narratives of Hillary's experience verus Barack's youthful exhuberence were the topics of the day, along with a healthy helping of Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee sparring news. Goodness gracious, folks. We're out here yearning for you to lead. Can't you hear us? Do you even want to?

Naturally, and with wonderful calm, my optimism returned today as I sat at my desk at work. It was then, surrounded by my amazing and brave colleagues, that I was reminded that Greenpeace will not stop until we change the debate. Change the future. Change the world. Wanna join us? Go to www.projecthotseat.org to see how.  

Daniel
Media Officer 

 

Greenpeace and  Kimberly-Clark have announced the successful resolution of the Kleercut campaign as the maker of Kleenex has established a new sustainability policy focused on protecting Endangered Forests. Go to www.greenpeace.org/kleercut to find out more!

If you're interested in learning about the Boreal Forest we always refer to when discussing Kimberly-Clark, there is a new music video featuring the Boreal and current threats to the ecosystem.  Put together by three high school students for a class project over a year ago, the musicians will be presented with an award for their work on December 1st.  Please take a moment to view the music video. 

- Lindsey 

 

 

This is my first blog for this expedition to the Southern Ocean aboard the MY Esperanza, actually it is my first blog ever.  I plan on writing many more over the course of the next several months.  I will just say upfront that I am not very good with the flowery rainbows and majestic sunset stories so I am just gonna tell it how it is. Let me also add this disclaimer.  This is a really long blog (two pages) but many things have happened over the last month and I was unable to share them with you as they happened, as to not announce the ship’s intentions or position to the Japanese.  In the future I will write more frequently and more concisely now that we the expedition has gone public.

I joined the ship in South Korea where we were tied alongside at an industrial ship yard. 

The ship had been there for a few weeks before I arrived and the crew had already begun tackling a long lists of repairs and maintenance that had been delayed for lack of parts and moreover, time.

 

 

 

 

When the ship is sailing everyone has more than their share of responsibilities and little repairs here and there fall to the wayside out of necessity. 

I was a bit anxious upon my arrival.  I am a first mate on a fairly large vessel at home in Florida, but this was my first expedition on a Greenpeace ship and something told me it was going to be a little different from what I was accustom to.  I was right!  For starters I quickly realized that I am the only American in a crew of now 34, soon to be 45.  As I am sure you can imagine our countryś reputation for social irresponsibility and environmental negligence forged a skeptical (at best) reputation that well proceeded me.  In addition to that I am the youngest member of the crew at ripe ole 27.  However, I am far from a greenhorn when it comes to the sea and knew I just needed an opportunity to prove my metal.  Well, I got it almost immediately.  On my first day a quiet and pensive lad, shorter in stature but well salty and wearing the countanence of a man who had stared into a crystal ball (compass) for more days than I had been alive, approached me on the poop deck.  He had only to say a few words and I realized he was the captain.  We spoke briefly about my experience and skills and he immediately offered me an opportunity to be a member of the engineering department.  I accepted and was introduced to a team of seven very talented individuals from all over, Germany, Sweden, Argentina, Ireland, and now the US.  Each engineer has their own niche be it, fitter, electrician, mechanic.  Mine would be to assist with overall operations of the engines and to focus on repairing and maintaining the small fleet of rigid hulled inflatable boats on board.  It could not have worked out better.  Now I could spend time working on my baby, Billy G,

the workhorse of the fleet and the boat I will drive in front of the hunting ships in the Southern Ocean.

One of my first challenges was to go ashore and find two items.  Sounds simple enough right?  Wrong!  The first part was three yards of 1mm metal screen to be used to fashion homemade filters for various raw water pumps.  The second, was a nutt, just one little metric nutt.  But this one little nutt was the missing piece to a hydrolic pump that was keeping one of the jet boats from running.  I was handed a a huge roll of cash (the exchange rate from US dollars to Korean currency is 1 to 900).  I didn´t have to walk far before I found myself amidst a maze of narrow alleys and passages lined with openair machine shops and scrap metal piles.  As soon as I left the ship I was without a doubt the only non-Korean person for several miles.  I was wearing sunglasses, hair in pony tail, oil stained carhart pants and work boots.  Hydrolic pump in hand I began approaching stalls that looked like they might have the nutt I needed.  However, I could not get within ten feet of a shop before the owner would run out in the street waving their hands frantically infront of my face and shaking their head saying, ¨NONONO.¨  I was really confused.  I lived in Thailand for over a year and considered myself fluent in the traditional customs and curticies of Eastern cultures.  I was humble, polite, and passive.  I bowed at the waist always taking care to position myself beneath whomever I was greeting, no small feet for a six footer.  Still, with palms up and kind smile I was chased all the way down the street. 

Then it all became clear.  I stopped at a busy intersection to gain my bearings and happened to see my reflection in a shop window.  My t-shirt!  I was wearing an old favorite raggedy shirt.  It is blue and has an American flag in the center and beneath the flag reads, ¨BUSH - SATAN 2004¨ 

I am fairly confident that the people that were shunning me did not find the humor in the slogan but were capable of recognizing the flag accompanied by the notorious BUSH.  I dipped into an alley and turned the shirt inside out.  Again, I set out down a gauntlet of sparks and welding smoke but this time my reception was much much warmer.  I found an old man asleep on a pile of rolled up steel mesh.  After making sure his bed consisted of the screen I needed I gently woke him and began the usual game of sherades to communicate to him the type and quantity of what I needed.  He whipped out this enormous pair of metal sheers and began to cut me off what he thought I asked for.  In doing so the roll of steel slipped from under his knee and coiled up like a yo-yo causing him to slice the palm of his hand wide open with the sheers.  He scream loud and began bleeding all over the place.  He ran off through a maze of metal racks and I followed after him.  When he got to his stash of bandages he was startled to see that I was right behind him.  He motioned that he was ok and for me to go back outside.  I was not convinced and took a few steps back to see the severity of his injury.  He fumbled with his good hand to open packages of gauze and tape.  I wanted to help but was not willing to risk offending him.  Finally, I could not watch this old man continue to bleed all over himself and his shop.  I sat him down and gave him a look that said, ¨don´t be ridiculous, let me help you, you stubborn old coot.¨ He conceded and we got him all sorted out.  We walked back out to the street and I finished cutting the screen.  I then pulled out my bank roll and motioned for the bill he had scratched on a box top.  He smiled, bowed, and tore the box top inhalf, motioning for me to go on my way this one was on the house. One item off my list. I was just hoping the nutt I was seeking would not result in so much blood shed.

 

The simple little nutt became a needle in a haystack almost instantly.  As I approached people sitting atop mounds of scrap and random pieces, I held out my pump and pointed to the bolt protruding from the top.  Each time they would disappear and return with a five gallon bucket filled to the rim with fasteners of every size and shape you could imagine, and each time i sat on my knees and pillaged through millions of bits, but to no avail.  It was getting dark and I was not totally confident I knew the way back to the ship, but I was not going back without this nutt.  By this time I had become the equivalent of a traveling side show scavenging up and down alleys. I also had acquired a fan.  A little guy probably eleven or twelve i would say.  Every time I turned around he would dip behind a pile of old engines in a good ole fashion game of peak-a-boo.  By this time he had disappeared, but as I was staring aimlessly at makeshift street signs that had no meaning to me, I spotted him again standing on the hood of a junker car.  The car sat in front of a auto-body shop, so I thought, ẅhat the heck it is worth a shot.  I crossed the street and entered an open garage bay.  Turns out the kids dad was the owner and as he saw me enter the kid ran over and whispered something in his ear.  They both had a good laugh, at my expense I am sure, but by this time I did not care I just wanted my nutt.  The dad pulled out yet another huge bucket of bits.  This time he took the initiative to begin the digging and pretty quickly came up with the closest match yet.  It was the right diameter, but was too thick.  He spun around, pulled down his welding helmet, and fired up a saw that looked like it could slice through a tank with no problem.  Bare handed he held the nutt right up to the blade and from a shower of sparks came a perfect fit.  Again, I graciously bowed and he instantly saw the look of relief on my face.  I reached for my pocket and he waved his hands and bowed, again insinuating that it was on the house.  I gave the little guy a high five up high, one in the middle, but of course he was too slow for the one way down low J

 

On my walk back to the ship I marinated on the last five or six hours, amazed by how different it had ended from how it began, humbled, embarrassed, almost ashamed at the impact of the t-shirt. 

 

Upon returning to the ship everyone had called it quits for the day and were relaxing on the helicopter deck.  When I produced the nutt and the metal screen there was silence.  It turned out that several of them had set out on this exact same mission days before and all had returned empty handed.  It wasn't until I returned the wad of cash just as thick as it was when it was given to me that a round of applause broke the silence.  Everyone, demanded the story but I was exhausted and knew that I could not have done the day justice with words, and I really needed a cold beer!    

 

 The next day we cast off the lines and set sail for ¨Jakarta.¨ I put in quotes because we never really intended to arrive in Jakarta we were using that as our heading to try and fool the Japanese fleet into thinking we were not there for them.  A few days at sea and I began to really feel at home on the ship.  Working from eight to five in the engine room 

 

and draped over diesel engines on inflatables, preparing them for the extreme conditions they would have to perform in in the Southern Ocean.  In my down time in the evenings I tried to make my cabin as homey as possible by pinning up pictures of my family and my girlfriend and two cats.

 

I share a cabin with a really cool guy from New Zealand.  He is the Bosun on the ship.  He is in charge of the deckhands, general maintenance, crane operator, etc.  His name is Grant and he is 34. 

 

 

 

 

His trade at home is that of an arborist for a conservation society that tends to national parks.  Very smart man and we got along from the get go which was good because we were about to share a small and miserable space.  Being a Floridian I was pretty anxious about going to Antarctica.  Having not worn a pair of close-toed shoes in four years I packed every warm thing generous friends could dig out of the tops of their closets.  My dad spent 30 years in the air force so he was the big contributed of cold weather gear.  Little does the US military know but they sponsored me on this expedition, thanks Uncle Sam.  But the joke was soon to be on me.  I was so myopic in my wardrobe planning I failed to realize that sailing from South Korea to Antarctica required at least two months of sailing through tropical climates and crossing the equator.  It was around eighty degrees out and getting warmer.  The ship has air conditioning but in the name of fuel conservation the chief engineer elected not to use it.  Each cabin has at least one port hole, but as you can imagine they are small and when the seas are rough, as they have been, you cannot keep them open for the water coming in.  So imagine a steel can with 35 people sweating profusely all the while being shaken about in fifteen to twenty foot seas.  It was miserable.  People began sleeping on deck until it rained for several days in a row.  Sticky sleepless nights resulted in cranky crew.  But levity was soon brought to the irritable group, at my expense of course.  Each night I began trying to sleep in my bunk but would retreat to a hallway or common area in seek of air circulation.  One night I got up and climbed down from my sauna.  The port hole was open so I decided to lay down on our vinyl couch that was next to it.  I managed to dose off for a bit, but soon awoke for some odd reason.  I opened my eyes and in the pitch black I could make out two bright white circles coming towards my face.  Thankfully, at the last second my eyes came into focus and I realized those weren't circles at all, THOSE WERE BARE BUTT CHEEKS!  Grant had awoke in a pile of sweat himself and had the same idea I did.  He had stumbled over and was going to plop down on the couch aka my face.  I screamed like a little girl and luckily scared him so bad he aborted his landing and jumped into the air.  We were both definitely awake now and had quickly relocated to opposite sides of the nine by six cabin.  We stood in silence for a minute and then at the same time began rambling about how hot it was and how we should go for fresh air.  Laughing our ¨butts¨ off we made our way up to the bridge to see what was on the radar screen besides a full moon.  I knew that I planned on working to erase the incident from my memory asap, but the next morning at breakfast I was greeted with uproarious laughter and applause.  Grant had thought the whole thing to be so funny he shared it with the rest of the crew and again the Yankee provided the laughs.

Laughter soon came to a halt upon receiving word that the fresh water maker had a broken pump and there would be no more laundry washing and showers were limited to three minutes or less.  Not what you want to hear when you have been sweating 24/7 for two weeks.  In addition to that the helicopter mechanic had discovered a crack in the control box that could not be repaired on board.  This meant that we would have to detour to a port and try and get a new pump and parts for the heli.  The most logical choice was Taiwan.  Two-thirds of the things made this planet come from this little island so we figured if we can´t find it there we probably aren´t going to find it.  We spent three days alongside in Keelund, Taiwan.  We managed to get what we needed and then were on our way again.  We sailed for a week and then under the cover of darkness, we turned off our locating and tracking devices, becoming invisible and altered our course for the waters just south of Japan.  There we would wait for the whaling fleet to leave and there we would begin to shadow them on their mission to murder whales in the international whale sanctuary of the Southern Ocean.  As we sailed we conducted daily trainings on the inflatables.  Practicing, launching and recovering, pacing, navigation, transferring passengers while underway. 

These boats are high performance machines but they are no better than the person who is behind the wheel and the water where we are heading are unforgiving and mistakes result in serious injury or death.  

 One morning I came out to the poop deck to have my morning tea and I saw the captain and several crew standing on the side of the ship and pointing astern.  They had spotted a Japanese navy cargo vessel, and if we had spotted them, they had surely seen us.  There went our cover.  The Japanese government and their whaling fleet now knew we were there and most certainly knew why.  We continued on and just yesterday came withing 36 miles of the coast of Japan.  Territorial waters of any nation end 12 miles out but Japan has decided that they have the right to extend that boundary by another 24 miles.  So, in order to avoid the chance of being boarded and taken in to port and held until they whaling fleet could leave and get away we lingered on the cusp of their self proclaimed territory, and that is where I am writing from right now.  We are ready, more than ready.  There is no doubt that every person on this ship from the newest deckhand to the captain are determined to do whatever it takes to stop this senseless slaughter of these beautiful creatures.  Whales face a endless threats, including being caught in nets, ship-strikes, and climate change.  The Japanese government should not be adding research whaling to these threats, especially when significant research can be accomplished without harpooning whales.  300,000 whales and dolphins die caught in nets each year, that is one every 90 seconds - and countless more through other man-made impacts. To allow the Japanese government to hunt them for fake science is just madness and we won´t have it!  Everything we need to know about whales can be learned without shooting them with grenade tipped explosive harpoons.  The hunters are set to leave any moment know and I only hope that they are aware of the passion and resolve that drives this ship and its crew wherever we must go.

 

 

Today 6 whales riding segways went looking for Prime Minister Fukuda of Japan who was meeting with President Bush today in Washington, DC. Neo, a humpback whale and mother, penned a letter to the PM asking him to use his authority to cancel this years whale hunt and to end commercial whaling for all time.

 
Neo and her family had a sighting of the Prime Minister at the White House, but he was too busy with Bush to chat with the whales. She and her family then went to Japanese media outlets to try to tell their story, and then the US State Dept to enlist the help of the U.S. government.

Failing to find a way to meet the Prime Minister at these locations, the whales went to the Japanese embassy where a Japanese diplomat came outside, thanked us for coming and took the letter to the Prime Minister.

Check out the slideshow!
 

    
 

Greenpeace and  Kimberly-Clark have announced the successful resolution of the Kleercut campaign as the maker of Kleenex has established a new sustainability policy focused on protecting Endangered Forests. Go to www.greenpeace.org/kleercut to find out more!

As most folks know we've been working for the past couple years to get Kimberly-Clark, makers of Kleenex, Scott, Cottonelle, and Viva, to commit to using more recycled and FSC certified content in their disposable paper products.

In an age of increased environmental concern we are seeing a parallel increase in corporate greenwashing efforts.  This week it was a relief to see Kimberly-Clark’s faux greenness outed in the Ethical Corporation magazine.  Here's an excerpt, you can read the full article or subscribe to their emails.

According to Dave Challis, Kimberly-Clark’s “sustainability manager” for Europe: “Working with the Carbon Trust is a perfect fit with our overall sustainability policies. We have long held objectives to reduce carbon emissions through our ‘Vision’ global environmental programme and this is an extension of that work. For Kimberly-Clark, exploring how the entire retail industry reaches a common measurement for carbon emissions is vital and we are delighted to be involved at this early stage.”

Sounds marvellous, doesn’t it? Is this the same Kimberly-Clark that has been widely condemned for its indiscriminate pillaging of the ancient North American Boreal Forest? According to environmentalists, Kimberly-Clark has gobbled wood from forests in Ontario for more than 70 years, driving massive clearcutting and environmental degradation.

The company stands accused of turning endangered forests in Ontario’s largest forest management unit – the Kenogami – into disposable products to be flushed down the drain or dumped into landfills. Without a break in this chain of forest destruction, wildlife such as the woodland caribou may disappear from the Kenogami altogether. Presumably one way for Kimberly-Clark to reduce its carbon footprint would be to stop this climate-busting practice with immediate effect.

In other news Kimberly-Clark's Cottonelle brand strikes out in a Grist magazine toilet paper review.  As they put it "While this one felt quite easy on the arse, some staffers reported feeling only guilt, as they suspected it wasn't so easy on the earth."  You can read the full article and compare some of the leading recycled toilet paper brands here.

- Lindsey  

Japan’s new Prime Minister, Yasuo Fukuda, is in Washington, DC making the rounds and we wanted to make sure that he knows how Americans feel about Japan’s whaling practices—they totally stink!

Despite an international moratorium on whaling, Japan continues to whale under the guise of “scientific research.” We’re not buying it.

So, a bunch of us suited up in humpback and blue whale costumes and hit the pavement to see if we could find Mr. Fukuda and deliver our message. We were a pod of whales seeking sanctuary from Japan’s relentless whale hunting.

 

While we didn’t find the Prime Minister, we did feel the love from fellow Americans. They wanted to know what more they could do to help us seek sanctuary and had fun taking our pictures and honking their horns in support.

President Bush is meeting with Mr. Fukuda later in the week. Do you think he’ll deliver our message of whale sanctuary or just shake his hand and smile?

 

DeSmogBlog has a nice one by Ross Gelbspan today reporting on a Financial Times article today featuring Exxon CEO Rex "T-Rex" Tillerson's latest tirade against the notion of Energy Independence at the World Energy Congress in Rome...

Remember Exxon's attack on the Bush Administration after his famous "addicted to oil" quote in the State of the Union.  Apparently they take this stuff pretty personally.

 

It turns out Exxon's comrades in Denial are a little upset by U.S. momentum on global warming policy at the state level.  I guess they see the writing on the wall - as the states move, so will the Fed.  While we know they are too late to stop the train leaving the station, we fear they will continue to try to derail it.

The Institute for Southern Studes revealed today that the John Locke Foundation launched state level attacks on the Center for Climate Strategies starting this September .  The Center coaches states on good climate policy ideas.  In a nice connect-the-dots analysis, the researchers reveal that the Locke gang teamed up with Exxon's pals at Heartland Institute and get funding from a slew of Exxon-funded organizations.

Here is an ExxonSecrets custom map of the players named in the investigation.  You can start from there and expand any of the organizations to show who else is tangled in this web.

 

I always wake up to NPR and sometimes I have a hard time telling if what I am hearing is a dream or reality, especially with the current state of our nation. This morning I heard two things that kept me guessing.

(1) Our national debt hit a record high -- $7 Trillion. I just kept picturing little kids making up numbers . . . . I have 7 gazillionbillionmilliontrillion dollars. Its like  . .  what?!? . ... . .. We owe who what?

(2) Children toys contain the date rape drug GHB.  

 

Is it safe to get out of bed yet?

Renee  

I'm not sure how many of you have heard, but Target has been, um, targeted by dozens of environmental organizations over the past year to eliminate PVC from their product lines. And on Monday they announced that they be eliminating the amount of PVC, also known as vinyl, in their own products including infant toys, shower curtains, and fashion accessories. They also announced that they will begin collaborating with their vendors whose products are sold in their store in order to do the same. Just to give you a better understanding of what a large victory this is let me tell you that Target is the 5th largest retailer in the country with $59 billion in revenues.

In a world where doll manufactures are almost weekly recalling their products because they contain banned chemicals, this step shows that companies are listening to us. They are hearing that consumers want toxic free products. That they are demanding it. This victory and several like it tells the story of a world that is changing. Companies are beginning to take on the series threats that are facing our world and how their actions are contributing.

An International Herald Tribune article came out yesterday explaining how companies are starting to ask questions of their entire supply chain. The article even provides a quote from an executive saying that "if you are going to make a real difference, you have to let go of your corporate ego". Wow! Can you believe that statement? The world really is changing. They are listening and they are paying attention to us.

But it's easy to start letting up the pressure when you hear statements like that. This is not the time to stop demanding a toxic free future. This is the time to step it up. Remember the chemical industry spent almost $10 million more on lobbying Homeland Security to not protect us from chemical threats than the department spent on actually protecting us.

If you want to know more about the Target victory, read this.  

 Thank you Center for Health, Environment, and Justice to leading this campaign and the dozens and dozens of local and national groups for keeping up the pressure and creating a system where corporations are starting to take responsibility for their actions.

--Renee  

 

This past Saturday was the second Step It Up, a national day of action to find out who are the real leaders on global warming. This day of action built on Step It Up’s April 14 rally, which produced more than 1,400 events in 50 states, the largest global warming event in U.S. history.

Greenpeace contributed to Step It Up in a big way. Our Project Hot Seat field organizers held events in 11 places and our Frontline campaign had six events of their own. Here in San Francisco, we joined with other Green groups and had a rally outside the UN Plaza. The day was well-attended; we even had an appearance from erstwhile candidate for the House,  Cindy Sheehan. 

If you don't know anything about Step It Up, here are their demands, which almost mirror our own: a carbon cut of 80 percent by 2050, a moratorium on any new coal-fired power plants, and five million new Green jobs.  Check out photos from Greenpeace's events here and go over to www.stepitup2007.org to see what happened nationally.

Now that Step It up is over, we'll go back to work on getting Congress to take action. The best bill in the House to accomplish a significant reduction in CO2 emissions is Henry Waxman’s Safe Climate Act. The bill has 142 co-sponsors. The magic number is 216, the number of votes needed in the House to pass a bill. You can help keep up the momentum from Step It Up and help pass the Safe Climate Act at www.projecthotseat.org.

Best wishes,

Daniel Kessler
Greenpeace Media Officer  

Thousands of students gathered outside Congress today to lobby for a greener future. Students from all over the US representing several college campuses from Alaska to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico left their differences behind, overcame student apathy, and united in one voice to demand bold changes with the current environmental Legislation. With their personal stories and passion students proposed the 1SKY Platform in the US Congress. The 1Sky Platform consists of bold principles to be applied in specific pieces of legislation that address global warming as a priority.

The 1Sky movement puts priority in what it takes to tackle global warming in an effective way. The first principle consists on creating over 5 million green jobs creating opportunities of involvement in the environmental movements to the working class. These green jobs would trigger the momentum needed to create healthy, efficient communities, and develop our local economy while we conserve 20% of our energy by 2015. Second, as the US we need to lead the world once more in technology and innovation and take the initiative to cut reduce carbon emission by an 80% by 2050. Lastly, the 1Sky Platform proposes that Congress should reprogram their investments to more clean energy and smart transportation.

In times in which we are deeply concerned for the effects of global warming, students and voters took action once more and discuss with their congressmen the actions needed to put an end to global warming. The students had undergo a weekend of training and discussion regarding the environment in the 1st annual Powershift conference. This conference was organized by a joint group of organizations known as the Energy Action Coalition. Powershift ended today with a massive lobby day in which students from across the nation meet outside the House of Representatives, wearing green hard hats and chanted with all their heart “20% by 2015.” We expect that as youth from this nation our voice is heard as much as our vote is taken into consideration. And as we make history, we know that Powershift is the beginning of a long journey. A journey that got started today when thousands of students took the challenge to develop some networking and relationships that are needed so that their voice for a greener future is heard loud and clear and we always “remember, remember the 5th of November.”

- Emanuel Figueroa

The following posting is from Hayden who is at our Forest Defenders Camp. Learn more about the camp and threats to Indonesian forests.

I spent this morning at one of the dam construction sites as one of the standby medics.  I was the only one who got hurt this morning though.  I was climbing down the face of one of the dams when I used a piece of wood that hadn't been nailed in as an anchor (always test your anchors!).  I came tumbling down into the water, along with my camera. My camera appears like it will recover.  And I escaped with only a small scrape.

I departed the work site with about 15 hugs (turns out Indonesians are huggers - either that or they assumed that Americans are) - I even got a hug from our stoic Finnish action coordinator, Petteri.

I'm really going to miss many people here.  I've made a lot of new friendships with people from all over the world.  And it's been an awesome experience to be a part of this camp, where people converge from all over the world for the same purpose:  to save the remaining peatland forest (and all the stored carbon it contains.)

Right now Rob is stapling up all the articles that we're featured in. There are stories in many different languages from newspapers all over the world.  There's actually not enough room on the wall for all of them.  To see the articles is a great reminder that what we're doing here is making a difference.

Although I'm leaving, the the work of the camp is continuing.  Many more journalists are arriving next week, and interest is continuing to pick up.  It's almost a good thing that the dam construction is taking so long, as it gives more opportunities for the press to witness what is happening here.

I want to thank Rici, Rob, Geoff, Coang, John, Yudi, Hapsoro, David, Frode, JJ, Cedar, Yifang, Titis, Ranga, Oka, Imam, the U.S. Consulate in Medan, and everyone else who has helped make the camp work  (and that's a lot of people, at least 200 others, not including all of our generous donors).

As I was leaving the dam site today, someone yelled "don't forget us!" - I'm sure that I will never forget this experience.

Hayden 

I have to drop a short one in here on the story from Saturday's Washington Post revealing that the Smithsonian Institution was lined up to take a $5 million dollar donation from the American Petroleum Institute (Exxon's the biggest member by far) to do a major new exhibit on the world's oceans at the Museum of Natural History...

The grant is stalled for now because a couple members of the Smithsonian's Board of Regents, Senator Patrick Leahy and (oil man) Roger Sant raised concerns.  Broad sweeping irony and  outrage aside, one can imagine the snickers and high-fives inside the API mothership in late August when the project was approved..."What!! They fell for it! Holy crap! 

And what loser at Smithsonian sealed this deal and thought it was a GOOD idea? Where is Captain Hazelwood working these days anyway?

The donation is on the rocks for now...it could have sunk the fine Smithsonian's credibility.

Why would Exxon pay a known global warming denial scientist to spread doubt about the impact of global warming on polar bears?   Hmmm, interesting question.  More to the point, why would Exxon want to keep the public from connecting fossil fuel combustion and greenhouse gas emissions to the bear’s demise?

We discovered this plot in the spring, during the flood of discussion around our legal action to force the US Fish &Wildlife Service (FWS) to list the polar bear as an the endangered species.  This work, initiated by the Center for Biological Diversity in 2005, has helped to elevate attention to the polar bears' plight, generating wave upon wave of media coverage.  

During the public comment period on the proposed bear listing, a draft of a new polar bear science paper surfaced. It had been submitted to the obscure Journal of Ecological Complexity. The paper's lead author is Markus Dyck of Nunavut Arctic College, the co-authors include several lead ExxonSecrets actors, Willie Soon, Sallie Baliunas, David Legates and Tim Ball.

DeSmogBlog has more goods on Mr. Ball here.

Here's a new map of this gang and their wide connections to the Exxon-funded network of front groups.

These people and organizations are also detailed on our new wiki pages.  Please add more stuff if you've got it!

The Alaskan Department of Fish and Game even referenced the paper in its comments to the USFWS this spring.

Fast forward…Ecological Complexity finally published the paper this summer as a Viewpoint article - not peer reviewed.  Then the fun began...in the back page acknowledgments we read that Mr. Soon started this work with Dyck in 2002, but then he makes a startling admission:

“W. Soon’s effort for completion of this paper was partially supported by grants from the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, American Petroleum Institute and Exxon-Mobil Corporation.”

The Koch Foundation is a known contributor to several free-market libertarian organizations including the Cato Institute.  The Koch brothers recently bought Georgia Pacific Corporation using their oil bankroll.

We know Soon and Baliunas have been paid by API before, most notably for their 2003 attack on Micheal Mann’s “hockey stick” work published by the George Marshall Institute  as reported by Jeff Nesmith of Cox News Service in June 2003, just as we launched.

But direct funding from ExxonMobil Corporation is something very unusual to see in print and certainly demands some answers from Exxon.

After an October 17th House Science Committee hearing entitled, Disappearing Polar Bears and Permafrost: Is a Global Warming Tipping Point Embedded in the Ice?, Rep. Brad Miller of North Carolina penned a letter to Exxon demanding answers.  He wrote, “Exxon has the right to fund any research or publications it wishes.  However, the Congress and the public have the right to know why ExxonMobil is funding a scientist whose writing is outside his area of expertise to create the impression that expert scientists have conducted rigorous, peer-reviewed work that says the problems with polar bears are unproven or unserious.”

ABC.com “The Blotter” covered Rep. Miller's letter well. New Scientist also covered the story, but fell for another corporate front group, quoting Craig Loehle, one of the editors of the Journal of Ecological Complexity, who defends Willie Soon's right to take corporate money.  New Scientist failed to note that Loehle's organization, the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement, Inc. is funded by the timber and paper industry.  NCASI calls itself an "Independent non-profit research institute that focuses on environmental topics of interest to the forest products industry".  hmmm...www.kimberlyclarksecrets?

Back to the Dyck, Soon paper, there are so many blatant flaws in the “science” of the paper that leading polar bear scientists Sterling and Derocher felt compelled to respond here.  Derocher has been going back and forth with these characters for years its seems.

When we asked the ice scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center for their take on the Dyck, Soon paper, they sent back pages and pages of detailed analysis of the errors and omissions in the paper's sea ice assumptions and conclusions.

There are real questions remaining for you investigative reporters out there.

How much was Mr Soon paid?
Over what time period?  
Exactly what was the contract from Exxon?
Are there other scientists getting cash straight from Exxon Corporate?
Why doesn't the company report this "science" funding to its shareholders?

...Enough for now, but this story will continue.

The following posting is from Hayden who is at our Forest Defenders Camp. Learn more about the camp and threats to Indonesian forests.

Constructing the dams in the peatland canals over the last few days has been extremely challenging.  Getting materials ontime, extremely hot weather, and today we had probably our most interesting challenge.

We showed up to the building site of dam number three only to find a pompong (boat) stuck behind our half constructed dam.  In it was a mother and father with five children, and all of their possessions.  It turns out that they had just been evicted by Duta Palma from their house they were building.  The company told them they were squatting illegally and had to leave.  So they left the way they got there, using one of the canals at high tide.  Except this time their way was blocked.

We worked all morning as the tide rose with the family hanging out in their boat right behind the dam.  They even had a rooster they had tied to a tree nearby.

Finally at high tide we had to deal with moving a huge boat with a diesel engine over our dam.  None of us were looking forward to it, and many of us thought it might be impossible with the tools and people power we had available to us.

We used wooden poles as a ramp up over the dam, and used two lengths of rope wrapped under the boat to help lift and push it, inch by inch, over the dam.  Fortunately it worked.

Afterward I asked Petteri, the Finnish action coordinator who is helping coordinate the dam building, if he was taught how to deal with that situation in action planning school.  He replied with his usual finnish chuckle.

We now have two dams completed, and another one about halfway done.  But today is my last day.  I'm off tomorrow, as I've been here nearly a month.  In fact, I have the current record for the person who has been here at camp the longest.  People say they can notice, as apparently I appear very comfortable here.  In fact, I sleep very well every night now.  And I've acclimated to the heat - I watch the new arrivals drip with sweat after being in the sun for only 2 minutes.  I also get some enjoyment in watching them squirm every evening as the bugs swarm around them.  Maybe it is time for me to leave...

 - Hayden

The following posting is from Hayden who is at our Forest Defenders Camp. Learn more about the camp and threats to Indonesian forests.

I wanted to write a quick web log entry about our major means of transportation here in this corner of Sumatra: the pompong

The pompong is THE means of transport on the rivers here.  In fact, it's the only type of boat that I've seen on the Cinaku and Indragiri rivers.

The pompong is a custom made boat that is long and narrow, and comes in a variety of sizes.  What they all have in common is an old school inboard diesel engine that can be heard from over a mile away.  The engines have no electrics.  It is started with a crank, just like the old cars.  And being a diesel there are no spark plugs involved. The engine is then connected to a shaft that runs through the hull at a very shallow angle and sits just behind the middle of the boat.  This protects the prop from river debris, which is important since the rivers here are almost swamps.   It also allows the boat to go in very shallow waters, which is important for the work of the pompong.  They use these boats for transport, fishing, and shipping.

The steering system is very basic, like everything on the boat.  It uses two ropes that wrap around the steering column that then run back to the rudder.  While the potential for steering failure is high, any problems can be fixed while on the water.  I've been witness to this, as we lost steering through a narrow canal, but they merely retied the ropes and we were off again.

On Cedar and JJ's trip back to Rengat yesterday they actually lost the rudder.  Luckily they were close to the village of Kuala Cinaku.  The driver of the boat disembarked and disappeared in the bushes and reappeared about 30 minutes later with a new rudder.  Having a standardized vessel for the entire region makes finding spare parts easier.

The name of the boat is derived from the sound that they make: pompongpompongpompong...

They are so loud it sounds like a helicopter approaching, and I'm sure some of the pompong drivers have long term hearing loss, as the sound can be deafening.

And the last feature of the ponpong is that anything goes; anything can be towed, no lifejackets required, smoking is allowed, even if you're sitting on the gas tank, and the capacity of the boat is as many people as can fit. This morning, on our way to the damming site, we fit about 15 people on the boat, and then towed two canoes full of people. We managed to get a crew of about 30 to the work site in one trip.

The pompong is what keeps things moving (incluging Greenpeace) here in Riau.

- Hayden 

The following posting is from Hayden who is at our Forest Defenders Camp. Learn more about the camp and threats to Indonesian forests.

I haven't written a web log entry for a few days. I've been busy building dams for Greenpeace.  I never thought I'd type that line.  Usually we're opposing dams, not building them.

Building dams is apparently extremely laborious and time consuming work. Fortunately we've had an infusion of community members from the local village helping us out.  They really know how to work and have shown up most of the city folk here.  They also are extremely entertained by seeing a "bule" put in some hard labor.  They've taken to calling me by the name of some soccer player who plays for AC Milan who they think I look like.  Probably some white dude with a beard.  They also call me "Mister Sport", which I'm not sure is a compliment or an insult.

So yesterday we finished two dams, and it was incredibly satisfying to see the water level rise behind the dam.  Rob said it one of the coolest and most effective actions he's ever been a witness to.  We have three more dams to go, however.

The idea of building these dams is to help raise the level of water in the peatland area to its previous height, thereby restoring the area to it's natural state.  This would take quite some time, as the forest has been cleared and burned.  But damming the canals is the first step towards restoration.  The oil palms, already planted in the area certainly aren't going to like the rising water levels.  But that doesn't really concern us, especially as seeing as this palm concession is illegal under international law.  The law states that any peatlands over 3 meters in depth may not be deforested and converted.  The peatland area where this concession exists has peatland depths of over 8 meters (26 feet).  8 meters was the maximum depth that could be measured with the tools that were used by the surveying crew of scientists who helped us measure the peatland depth.  In many areas the peatland depth exceeds 8 meters.

So far we haven't had any reaction from the company that owns and operates the concession, Duta Palma.  Some of the workers have come by to check out our work, but none have done anything to stop us - yet. There could me many reasons for this, such as the probability that they know that their operation is illegal.  Another possible reason is that they know how much support we have among the community, and even among the local officials, which brings me to another story.

We had yet another visit from government officials.  This time we were told to expect about 6 people, and of course about 15 arrived.  They were mostly officials from the Indonesian equivalent of the county level.  Also with them were some people from military intelligence.  The government officials were extremely friendly. They even visited one of the damming sites and expressed their support.  The military intelligence officials, dressed in all black with sunglasses, weren't quite as vocal in their support.  But I assume that's just their MO. It was great though to see the support we are getting from official government in Indonesia.  This can sometimes be a risky place to make bold statements, and how Indonesian officials will react cannot always be predicted.  Right now it seems that we are safe from goverment intervention.

After our last visit from the police and police intelligence I contacted the U.S. embassy,mostly because the visiting officials asked me if I had registered with the embassy.  I have to say that I have had excellent support, especially from the consulate in Medan on Sumatra. They have kept in contact, and even read my web log.  Illegal logging is an issue that is very important to them.

I only have a few more days left in camp.  It has been nearly a month. I acclimated to the heat here, I sleep well every night, I haven't had a beer in a month, and I wake up at 5:30 almost every morning, and people make fun of me for my American accent.  I have a feeling that some changes will be coming soon.

I'll send out more updates on our progress, and any reaction from Duta Palma, if they react at all.

Also, I'm told that my web log is being translated to mandarin and is published on the largest web site in China.  So that's kind of cool.

Hayden

This Saturday is the second Step It Up, a national day of action to find out who are the real leaders on global warming. Step It Up’s April 14 rally produced more than 1,400 events in 50 states, the largest global warming event in U.S. history. This Saturday’s event promises to be even larger.

The demands from Step it Up are simple: a carbon cut of 80 percent by 2050, a moratorium on any new coal-fired power plants, and five million new Green jobs. Think we can do it? Of course we can. The technology is with us today, but the political will is missing.

That’s why Step It Up and Greenpeace’s Project Hot Seat are so important. If you don’t know, Project Hot Seat is our campaign to get Congress on board with real solutions to global warming. The best bill in the House to accomplish a significant reduction in CO2 emissions is Henry Waxman’s Safe Climate Act. The bill has 142 co-sponsors. The magic number is 216, the number of votes needed in the House to pass a bill. You can help get us there by going to www.projecthotseat.org to take action.

I’ll be in San Francisco this Saturday for a Step It Up rally outside Speaker Pelosi’s office. The event will be like a carnival with a variety of attractions to educate people on global warming and get them involved. The Rolling Sunlight will be there, a moving example of the possible. The Sunlight can generate enough solar energy to power an entire concert. If you’re in SF, come by and visit us. If you’re not here, be sure to go to www.stepitup2007.org to find an event in your area.

Best wishes,

Daniel Kessler
Greenpeace Media Officer  

The following posting is from Hayden who is at our Forest Defenders Camp. Learn more about the camp and threats to Indonesian forests.

Today we began the process of damming the canals that drain are draining the peatland forests of the bordering palm oil concession.  We began work with about 40 people at 6am this morning, mostly volunteers from the local communities.

The first job was to finish moving all the damming materials over half a mile up one of the canals.This is a huge task that requires hours of work, as we're talking about tons of material for each dam. We use canoes to carry the sandbags, and we float the wood poles in the canals and someone has to wade through the coffee tinted water pushing them up the canal against the current.

We are planning on building a total of 5 canals in the coming week. Assisting us are experts in canal dam building and peatland restoration from Indonesia.

In addition to the challenge of moving many tons of material over many miles, we also have the additional challenge of having to time our work with the tides.  We use high tide to move the materials up the canals, and then we use the lower tides to begin the building process of the dams.

I was fortunate enough to not have to work most of the morning, as I was supporting our para-motor pilots.  I have to stay on standby with first-aid supplies in case of any incidents.

When I finally got to one of the dam building sites most people were already exhausted.  They had been working at the site since 7am with only a break for lunch.  I helped carry wooden cants to the dam building site.  After about an hour of that I went to work with an axe sharpening the ends of the cants so they could be pounded into the ground for dam supports.  Cedar and I worked on that as many people watched, and apparently were very entertained by the site of two white guys working with axes.  We chopped on amid the laughter, and made our own jokes about the irony of working on a Greenpeace action that involves chopping wood.  Usually we're on the other side of that.

More damn building tomorrow.  I have to make this short as bugs are attacking me and the computer I'm writing on.  Ah, one just flew into my eye.

 

 Hayden 

The following posting is from Hayden who is at our Forest Defenders Camp. Learn more about the camp and threats to Indonesian forests.

Yesterday afternoon we received a visit from 22 members of various regional and local police and police intelligence officers.  They hung around the camp all afternoon, taking pictures, asking us questions, and speaking with some of our Indonesian campmates.  One of them also helped himself to Frode's last piece of chocolate, which Frode wasn't too happy about.  I grabbed my camera and asked if we could get some pictures with them, to which they happily agreed.

Finally at around 7pm they departed, but they've left two armed officers here at camp to keep an eye on us.  We're making every effort to explain to all the various law enforcement agencies why we're here, and that our work here is also about helping the Indonesian goverment.  Hopefully this message can get through to the right people, and we can continue our work unabated.

And a big Hi from Rob, he really is the greatest guy

The following posting is from Hayden who is at our Forest Defenders Camp. Learn more about the camp and threats to Indonesian forests.

Yesterday our real Communications Hardware Coordinator arrived, over a week late.  This means that I was replaced.  Which is a good thing.  I was tired of having to stay here at camp and be the comms center for our various activities.  And when I came here I never anticipated having this responsibility.  I was happy to fill in until Geoff got his Visa taken care of, but I knew that it was just temporary.

Geoff arrived yesterday morning, and we did a walk through of all our gear here and how it functions.  The solar system, lighting, satellite comms, radios, GPSs, etc. etc.  And then I was free, finally.  I immediately got on a "pong pong" (local diesel power boat) full of very heavy building materials and worked for hours and hours, carrying many tons (literally) of building materials including sand and lumber in 100 degree heat.  I was so hot at the end that I actually dove into the dark black water of the canal.  The water was so acidic is burned every cut and scratch on my body, and there are many.  I figured that if anything the water helped disinfect my wounds.  I'll try to get some photos up in the next few days from our photographer, Oka.  Attached is a photo of some of the materials we had to unload.

And this morning, I was able to leave camp once again, this time to help support Cedar, one of our para-motor pilots.  He was doing an aerial survey of the concession, and looking for peatland fires.  Since many of the Indonesians had to go into town to the mosque for their Friday prayers, that left me and another bule (white foriegner) to be on the motorbike team.  So that was a lot of fun, but getting out of camp is quite challenging, especially for someone who's experience is solely on road bikes.  But I got the hang of it pretty quickly, and the most challenging part was wearing full motocross protection, boots, body armor, gloves, helmet, goggles, in this heat and humidity.  It was nearly unbearable.  But I still enjoyed it.  There's something exciting about riding a motocross bike covered in Greenpeace logos.

So that's what I'm up to now.  I'm also doing more work for the international media team.  I'm one of the talking heads featured in a web video that should be up on the Greenpeace International site soon. Also some news networks very familiar to the United States will be
visiting the camp soon, and it's been suggested that an American accent may be in demand for parts of that.  And since I'm the only one here with one of those, it's assumed that I'll be doing some work with them. And the last update on the media front is that I just wrote my first blog for the Chinese website QQ.com, which as I mentioned earlier is the largest web site in China, and the fifth largest web site in the world, so I'm told.  There going to have someone translate it into Mandarin, so hopefully I end up saying the same thing on the other side.  I'm going to have a friend in the Greenpeace China office letting me know how it's
sounding on their end once it's translated.

Okay, more building materials are waiting for me.  Also, we're about to be visited by the city and provincial police forces today.  Hopefully that all goes well.  I may actually take a cue from others at camp and register with the U.S. embassy.  Though I'm confident things will be
fine, especially with all the attention we're beginning to draw.

More coming.

Hayden

I’m writing as Southern California burns. There’s been a lot of talk within the environmental community and in the media about whether or not these fires can be linked to rising temperatures caused by global warming. What’s beyond dispute, however, is the scary reality that as temperatures rise, the frequency of massive fires and other horrific natural disasters will rise along with the mercury.    

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported earlier this year that North America's annual window of high fire ignition risk could increase by 30 percent this century. They said fires and insect outbreaks are likely to intensify as temperatures rise, which will cause drier soils and longer growing seasons. Add that to the findings of U.S. Geological Survey scientists who said recently that rising temperatures have increased the death rate for old-growth conifers, firs and pines in the Sierra Nevada, making more fuel for fires.

So what can we do? First, we can recognize our immediate vulnerabilities. Together, population growth and development into the wildland-urban interface is tempting fate. People need to make smart choices about how much land they need, how far from population centers they want to go and how their decisions affect the land, wildlife, and other people; in my mind there’s no reason to put a firefighter’s life at risk for a swimming pool and a nice view.

On a larger scale, we continue our push to make Congress take immediate action on global warming. Nov. 3 is Step It Up, a national day of action on global warming that will make it clear just who are our leaders on the defining environmental issue of our time. Please go to StepitUp2007.org  to find out about an event in your area.

 

Daniel
Greenpeace Media Officer

The following posting is from Hayden who is at our Forest Defenders Camp. Learn more about the camp and threats to Indonesian forests.

Last night at camp we had an incredible display of talent from all over our planet.  We had an amazing blend of cultures on display from Germany, Finland, Papua, Java, New Zealand, Australia, the U.S.A. and Argentina.

The talent show, or what we called the unjuk bakat in bahasa indonesia, is definitely a foreign concept to Indonesians, and probably to many others in camp from places farther afield.  I'm not sure of the cultural history of the talent show, but it is certainly something familiar to most Americans.

I suggested the idea of a talent show last week, when I noticed that after our nightly debriefings about the days events, the camp separated into separate groups, generally based on languages spoken.  I wanted to create a fun evening event that would get us all together.

It was challenging at first to get the Indonesians to sign up and participate in this foreign concept.  I even got a bunch of prizes together to try and encourage participation.  Most people were wary to participate, but the night of the event when it really became apparent how it was truly open to all comers we had some late entries from our local hosts.

I started off the evening, figuring that I should set an example of how it's not that bad making a fool out of yourself in front of everyone, and it can actually be quite entertaining to the audience.  I created a skit (which was a new word to many people here, including most of the english speakers) - it was called "The Debrief" and I played Rob Taylor, our fearleass kiwi leader, and re-enacted one of our debriefs, except different people played different characters.  The highlight was JJ, one of our pilots, dressed up as Yifang, our Chinese forest campaigner.  He wore some of her clothing, which was quite funny considering that he's about twice her size.

After the skit, we had an incredible performance by both of our pilots, JJ and Cedar.  They did a duet with a guitar, and a single stringed bass, made from a 5 gallon drinking water container, a large piece of bamboo, and a piece of nylon twine recovered from the construction of our camp.  They also put in some lyrics in Bahasa Indonesia - "bule bule, bule gila!" which means "white foriegners, crazy white foreigners" - which of course was received with rousing applause and laughter.

Frode, our Nordic campaigner really put himself out there.  He did a three act performance: the native forest, forest destruction, and then forest recovery, sung by a cat.  Yes a cat.  He was backed up by JJ and Cedar.  My face hurt from laughter after that one.

Rob Taylor then did a re-enactment of his punk rock days from twenty years ago.  He played so hard that JJ had to take some time to re-tune his guitar.

After this we had a story told in bahasa by Yusef, from Papua, translated by Findi.

Richi, our camp manager from Jakarta, then stepped up and had us all play a game, based on the concept of forest fires, that had us all running around and knocking each other over, and laughing like crazy.

Arti, our Argentinean video editor, played an electronic song that he made earlier in the day on his Mac computer.  It was pretty impressive, especially when considering he only put about 30 minutes into it.  Arti followed this with an awesome 1 minute video about our action in the forest from a few days ago, where we hung a giant banner that read "Save Our Forest, Save Our Climate".

Our last performance was a slide show put to music by our photographer, Oka.  It was lots of personal shots, and it was great to see how much we'd actually accomplished in the past 2 weeks.  We got to see lots of fun shots that we normally don't get a chance to see - the ones that don't make it to our website, on TV, or in the newspaper.

At the end I handed out the prizes to all who participated.  The prizes, or "hadiah", included two bottles of soda, which is a very hot commodity here at camp, a coupon for a 15 minute massage from our campmate Hengke, a coupon for two free hours of solar charging, for phones or laptops, which also is in high demand here.  And finally, the grand prize was a free paragliding flight in Byron Bay Australia, courtesy of Cedar.  The coupon was non-transferrable, and didn't include transportation to Byron Bay.

It was a late night for the camp, but it didn't seem that anyone minded.  In fact, there's been a request for encore performances.  So we'll see if that happens in the coming weeks.  We're actually getting busier every day, so it's not something that I can really think about now - but I think we may have some mini-performances in the coming evenings.

Stay tuned for exciting things - I'm moving from the Communications side of things to more of a laborer, so I'm looking forward to that.  I'll write more when I can.

Hayden

Three years after launching ExxonSecrets.org, we finally have a BLOG!

Why? To enhance the conversation with all of you who have used and expressed your appreciation for ExxonSecrets since its birth.

We started ExxonSecrets to broadcast our research on the growing web of global warming denial.  Climate deniers and front groups were working together in increasingly tangled coalitions- shifting associations, organizations, titles - deceiving the media and policy makers and delaying progress.  Tired of explaining all these connections over and over to reporters and colleagues, we designed the graphic network mapping tool with web aces Josh On of TheyRule.net and Amy Balkin, most recently of PublicSmog.org.  The relational database behind ExxonSecrets was built upon opposition research going back to the early 1990s by the Clearinghouse on Environmental Advocacy and Research, CLEAR, now housed at Greenpeace.

There have been well over 1000 custom ExxonSecrets maps made and used by people like you to illustrate the intricate web of the climate denial industry.  ExxonSecrets has been cited, quoted, and used as a research tool over the place in the past three years -  from Mother Jones to Vanity Fair, from the Wall Street Journal to the Guardian and, of course, on the blogs, Daily Kos, Huffington Post, DeSmogBlog and others.   But its not about media and web hits, we stopped counting ;), what is most important is that it's now well known that Exxon has worked hard to delay action on global warming and continues to fund and work with the climate denial machine and its cogs.

The new ExxonSecrets blog is really a response to requests worldwide - from fellow bloggers, academics, scientists, journalists, researchers, policymakers and activists -  asking to interact with ExxonSecrets, contribute information and comment on what we've revealed.  Well, let's get the conversation going.

We will also now be able to shout (or blog) about our research on the fly. Things happen almost daily that we can connect to our research on front groups and deniers as they meddle with the policy arena and the media.  Take the recent campaign against Al Gore by Heartland Institute or the attack in the UK against An Inconvenient Truth, the 2006 DCI/TechCentralStation post-Katrina video news release on hurricanes, coordinated attacks against the IPCC and its findings, Exxon unceremoniously dumping the Competitive Enterprise Institute last year and on and on.  We always have more than we can convince reporters to write.

And we know you know even more! Not only can you comment on the blog pages, we've also set up a wiki.  Skeptic detectives, get working - there's plenty of information out there that we may not know but somebody else does.   

Welcome to ExxonSecrets 2.0! Have fun, stay in touch, do good work. 

Remember, we have a planet to save.

And, for inspiration, I have to include this picture of a license plate I spotted on the way home from work, on a Prius to boot...

I get the sense that people are interested in the staff behind the curtain here at Greenpeace so here is one story of an inspiring forest defender.  If you receive the quarterly newsletter you've met Jeremy before and should enjoy this update. 

 

Last week Forest Campaigner Jeremy Paster was awarded the People and Planet award by Rainforest Action Network (RAN).  Here is an excerpt from the event as covered by Branden at RAN.

 
"And finally, a surprise award, for Jeremy Paster. Jeremy was one of the key organizers of the ‘99 WTO protest and has been a great friend to RAN and the movement. He was diagnosed in 2006 with advanced metastatic prostate cancer at the age of 35. He was recovering from an operation when we announced this award - to recognize his great contributions to the world through his activism, his photography, his work and his spirit. RAN ED Michael Brune took the stage with Jeremy’s friends, Ilyse Hogue, John Sellers and Marianne Manilov. The three of them managed to gain the attention of the room - 650 people mind you - with Jeremy’s story. And while holding the space by telling stories of Jeremy (which I invite them to post on this blog) Jeremy was racing to the venue, having “escaped from UCSF”, in his own words. And after quite a few emotionally charged minutes, Jeremy made it to the party. Escorted by friends and family he was wheeled to the stage and stood to accept his award. And in accepting it, his humility and grace honored us. We are so very blessed by this very very fine man. If you’d like to learn more about Jeremy, visit www.jeremypaster.com. You can make a donation to help offset his significant medical expenses here: http://jeremypaster.com/donate/" 

Congrats Jeremy! 

 

The following posting is from Hayden who is at our Forest Defenders Camp. Learn more about the camp and threats to Indonesian forests.

So today is a pretty relaxed day, other than having about 100 people at camp today for day 4 of the fire fighting training (and on a side note I got totally shafted and was on dish duty yesterday and had to help wash what seemed like hundreds of dishes.)

The highlight so far today is that I just sat down for an interview with QQ.com, the fifth largest web site in the world (and the largest in China.)  I was a bit circumspect as to why she wanted to interview me, of all people (as opposed to Hapsoro, our Indonesian forest campaigner, or Rob Taylor, the overall logistics coordinator) and Yifang, our Chinese forest campaigner didn't help at all when she supposed that she wanted to interview me because I'm "an attractive and charming American" - the internationals in the room thought that a bit of an oxymoron. Regardless of the reason I wasn't about to turn down an opportunity to tell 120 million people about why this campaign is important, and about how China and the U.S. are partners in leading the world in creating pressures that lead to deforestation - and how all of that links to global warming.  I definitely hit all the important points, as to what she chooses to write, that remains to be seen.  I wish I could read Chinese (or Mandarin, I suppose.)

I definitely got the feeling that some of my more assertive comments won't make it to print.  Being such a large website their content is watched closely by the Chinese government, and any criticism of the government must be balanced with compliments.  Needless to say, I didn't have too many good comments about China's role in forest destruction, other than that they are beginning to do a decent job of protecting it's own forests.  And of course I linked the U.S. into that equation, as China is many times just the middleman for manufacturing of products that end up in American homes and buildings.

On a completely unrelated note, half the camp was awoken last night by a blood curdling scream.  We all got up to look for the source for the scream, but to no avail.  I think it was just someone having a vivid and vibrant nightmare, not a too atypical side effect of taking Chloroquine, an anti-malarial.  It took me awhile to get back to sleep after that. Especially with the chainsaw snoring resonating from the women's sleeping quarters.

That's all I have for today.  We're busy unloading materials for an upcoming activity that we're working towards.  I'll write more about that next week.

Hayden

The following posting is from Hayden who is at our Forest Defenders Camp. Learn more about the camp and threats to Indonesian forests.

 

We all got up this morning at 4:30.  The group of climbers wanted to  make it to the edge of the palm oil concession without being noticed by the workers, or the security patrol.  The edge of the concession, or what we call "the forest wall" is where the burned clearcut ends and where the native forest begins.  However this native forest is in the process of being cleared for more palm oil.  The "forest wall" is just how far they've gotten in clearing the forest.

To edge of the concession is about 4km away, but is clearly visible from our fire lookout tower.  Rob and I were up in the tower at 5am as the team left.  My responsibility was to run communications for the climb team, and also for the para motors, which were scheduled for a flyover at 8am.  My new title, as Rob told me yesterday, is "Communications Hardware Coordinator", so now I'm no longer just the U.S. campaigner/volunteer.   GPI is even putting up a photo of me with that title, apparently.

So, back to the action.  The team, of all Indonesians, hung a huge banner (36'x30') from two trees accross the road that runs into the forest from the concession.  Shortly afterward Cedar flew over in the para-motor, this time with the wing that has the Greenpeace logo on it. We got some great images, and the entire event went remarkably smooth. No conflict with the workers at all.  And as of this writing the banner is still hanging.  We decided to leave it there as a parting gift.

In other happenings, we dug up some maps of the area, and I found out that the river that runs by our camp has it's headwaters in the hills, not near town, so now I've started to go for swims in the afternoon (I can't go in the evening, as the local residents believe that if people swim in the evenings, and have fun, that bad things may come.)  Today I went for a swim with JJ, Frode, and Hengke, and we had a great time, diving off the dock.  As we were getting out a boat arrived that was unloading about 80 huge bags of sand.  We did the Indonesian thing to do, which was to pitch in and help carry the bags of sand up the dock to land.  So we worked for about 20 minutes, and these guys were really surprised and entertained by 3 "bule" (white foreigners) helping them carry heavy loads up the dock.

And that's all I have for now for an update.  Stay tuned.  The most exciting stuff is yet to come.  Also, I'm happy to report that there aren't any lingering effects from the lightning strike.  I'm fine.

Hayden

Yesterday evening, a very powerful lightning storm came through camp. As we though it was winding down I was crouched on the porch of the warehouse talking with one of our pilots, Cedar, when a lightning bolt struck a tree about 30 feet from us.  A massive shock came up through my feet and into my legs.  It was very painful, without a doubt the most powerful electric shock I've ever received.  I looked at Cedar, and said some things that shouldn't be put into print, and then asked if we're okay.  Both of us were shaken up, to say the least, and kind of stumbled back to the main building.  It turns out that a lot of people felt a shock to some degree.  Suzette, who was in the communications room (and my bedroom) writing an email got a major shock.  It turns out that the electric charge likely came up through a ground wire into the room and burned into some of the floorboards.  Also, our inverter, which converts the battery power (charged by our solar panels) from 12 volts into 220, was completely fried.  So we're without power for some of our most essential electronics.  But we're working fast to get a new one (and I'm typing fast, since this computer is running on battery power.)

So yesterday was a very exciting day and I think we're all lucky that no one was seriously hurt. And now I have yet another story to tell when I get home.

Hayden

Today was finally the day we got in the air.  Yesterday we had to call off the launch of our two para-motors due to some shaky weather.  This morning we were all up before 6am, waiting on standby for the weather conditions to become right for flying.

After a lot of waiting Cedar took off from our makeshift runway, which is on a small clearing in the oil palm concession.  I was acting as the tower for the flight.  I was up in our fire spotting tower with a couple radios and a high powered scope to keep track of our pilots.

Cedar flew over the concession and got some excellent aerial photos of the forest destruction, and the native forest that borders the oil palm area.  He also got a pretty sweet aerial shot of our camp.  Though, after taking a look at the photo, we all realized that we need to do a little cleanup of the construction materials lying around camp.

An hour and a half later Cedar touched down.  It was a great first flight.  He didn't spot any peatland fires, but he only saw a fraction of the oil palm concession.  Tomorrow Cedar, and our other pilot JJ, intend on flying much farther into the forest clearing in order to spot and illegally set peatland fires.

That's all the updates I have for now.  It's still hot here, there are still a lot of bugs, and every day a cold beer is sounding better and better.

Hayden

This morning we got up early and took a walk into the concession area to do a show and tell to the new campaigners that just arrived.  They toured the forest destruction caused by conversion of forests to palm oil plantations.  We took a walk through the wasteland of the charred remnants of trees and saw the network of canals that have been dug to drain the peatland.  Yifang and Frode, from our Chinese and Nordic offices had many questions, and the tour, not surprisingly, was sobering.  I've attached a photo which can give you some idea of what it looks like out there.

Our camp borders the concession area.  The local village, Kuala Cenaku, has contested the rights of Duta Palma, the company clearing the forest and planting the oil palms, saying that they have historical rights to the land.  And if it were up to them, they would've preferred that it stay as native forest.  Tragically, the forest next to their village is being logged and burned, and it continues to be logged today.  From our fire observation tower we can see the edge of the forest clearing. We're using every means we have to put a stop to this forest conversion and all other peatland forest conversion, until a region-wide environmental sound policy can be implemented.

Meanwhile our camp is nearing completion.  Nearly all the walkways are built, John and I spent all day yesterday treating the water so that it is safe enough to wash and cook with, and we only have a few finishing touches to put on it for the camp to be fully completed.  Some people have noted that it's beginning to look like a sort of "eco village", especially with the addition of some campaigners who spend some of the day "lazing around" in the shade under the trees typing things on their laptop computers.  We've also had a lot of new arrivals lately and we're nearly at capacity.  In fact, we've decided to build an annex to the main sleeping quarters to accommodate even more people who will be arriving in the coming weeks. The camp has really taken on a more active vibe.  Evenings are filled with meetings, planning sessions, and even English and Bahasa Indonesia classes so we can help bridge the language gap among us.

In addition to the campaigners, we've also had some guitar players join us, who also happen to know how to pilot a para-motoring machine.  A few evenings we've had late night guitar playing sessions and stayed up until the very late hour of 10:30.

That's all I have for an update now.  We have to do a quick cleanup, as the village chief is paying another visit to our camp this afternoon.

More to come....

Hayden
at the Forest Defender Camp, Sumatra, Indonesia

Not many people can say that they’ve been dripped on by a whale’s oil—but I can. I worked in New Bedford, Massachusetts for a couple of years and frequently visited their whaling museum. They had a gigantic 66-foot blue whale skeleton hanging from the ceiling. Even though it has been dead since 1998, it’s skeleton is somehow still exuding oils that drip from his nose (I think) and onto people walking around below. Pretty crazy, huh!

Walking around the museum, it was amazing and depressing to learn about the history of whaling and how it turned communities like New Bedford into major cities with economic riches. Once humans discovered that they could kill whales and then actually haul them back to land—whales were doomed.

It just wasn’t enough for us to take a couple whales to sustain our needs; we actually decimated entire populations. If we took too many of one species, then we just turned our attention to another species until they were decimated too. As a result of over-indulgence, communities and whales suffered. Cities like New Bedford took a major economic hit once whaling was no longer feasible or allowed – and many whale species were exploited to the point where their populations may never recover.

Whales today still face many threats—getting tangled up in fishing gear, being hit by boats and swimming around in polluted waters. You’d think that in the face of all these threats, they’d at least be safe from whaling. We learned our lesson, right? Well, not our friends in Japan. They seem to think they’re above the law and can continue to whale under the guise of “so-called” research.

Yeah, right! What kind of research is Japan conducting that justifies the need to kill 1,000 minke whales, 50 threatened humpback whales and 50 endangered fin whales this year? I haven’t seen any new “scientific” journals posted about whale discoveries coming out of Japan. But, I have seen pictures of whale meat in Japanese markets and even in school cafeterias. Right, it’s research! Everyone believes that.

So, this season I’m following Greenpeace’s Great Whale Trail. It’s really sweet, actually. They are proving to the world that they can research whales withOUT killing them. You can follow too.

They have humanely tagged a bunch of humpback whales and will follow them by satellite as they journey to their feeding grounds in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. The best part about it is you can follow the journey too. They’ve made it all available online. From the looks of the map, the whales are heading towards New Zealand right now.

I understand that it’s not easy to change habits. We all fight against change—and are only compelled to move when we are made to, or don’t have the strength to fight against it any longer. I just hope we are able to convince Japan to stop whaling before it’s too late. The whales have had to change because of us. Let’s give them a break, show some compassion and make the oceans a safer place for them to live. I for one, have enough strength to share with them—so they can rest a little easier—why can’t the rest of the world?

I'm finally back in town after 4 days and 3 nights at the Forest Defenders camp.  I've really begun to enjoy being out there.  The main building is complete, and we've installed all of the lighting (powered by solar, of course) so we can stay up later, working, talking, etc.    There's still a ways to go to complete the camp, but it's looking good.  As John, our tech guru says, it's really beginning to look like the television set of "Survivor Sumatra" 

I've begun to get a little involved with the design.  A building in front of the Belair Adat (the main building, and I really have no idea how it's spelled)  was being built.  and they were going to clear out some very small trees/shrubs.  After I threatened to chain myself to one of the shrubs, the architect yielded, and now it has become a nice deck area, with some small trees coming up through the coconut wood to provide shade.  Now we've planned to get some party lights (or what we may call "christmas lights") and string them on the trees for evening lighting. 

 This morning I went on a hike into the concession area (the area of forest that the company Duta Palma is clearing for palm plantations) and we surveyed some canals that were dug in order to drain the peatland.  This is a crucial step in clearing the land.  After the canals are dug in the peat (that in this area is many meters thick) the water drains out, irreversibly drying out the peat.  The dried peat is then ready for burning, which as I mentioned earlier, releases enormous amounts of greenhouse gases into the air.

 We were measuring water flow and water depth of the canals.  While I could surmise many reasons, I honestly can't tell you exactly why we were doing this, as it was a request from some science geeks back in Europe.   But it was very interesting to see the clearing process first-hand after reading so much about it. 

A few notes about the Forest Defenders Camp: 

 There are so many insects there, it's incredible.  Now that we have the lighting installed for evenings, we've become extremely popular with our six legged neighbors.  Probably the most noteworthy are the Rhinoceros Beetles.  They are freakin' huge!  And when they dive bomb into camp, they circle the lights and are the size of small birds.  They slam into anything in their path, including you.  I got a great picture of one who visited us two nights ago.  They really do have horns similar to a rhinoceros. 

 Also, an update on my bag, which on my last entry I mentioned was stuck in Taipei.  Well, it finally arrived and was kindly delivered to me by Hengki and Yusef, two new forest activists who just arrived from Papua.  I immediately popped my malaria medication, and I'm hoping that none of the first 100 mosquito bites I received were from malaria carriers.  I'm sure I'll be fine. 

 One more update:  I'm also now one of the camp medics.  Our camp doctor, Naki (who we endearingly refer to as Doogie Howser) is leaving for Idol Fitri.  So it's me and a local nurse who arrived today.  Funnily enough, within an hour of her arrival she ended up being my first patient.  She was unpacking her supplies and happened to burn her hand on a bottle of pure hydrogen peroxide (unlike the %1 or %2 solutions you buy over the counter) -  oh the irony.

 More to come...

 Hayden

Okay, here we go, my first blog, ever. I've already done some trash talking with my friend Kieran Mulvaney, who prides himself on his blogging abilities - so let's hope that I can pull off an interesting and informative blog.

I'm now sitting at our not quite complete Forest Defenders Camp in Riau Province, Sumatra, Indonesia. And I'm exhausted from a very long day of hard work.

What would possess someone to spend 5 days traveling, with almost no sleep, enduring 40 straight hours of spending time in airports and on airplanes, followed my more airplanes, followed by a death defying drive across Riau Province, to arrive at a town that is still a 3 hour boat ride away from the camp? To save the Peatland Forests, of course.

The peatland forests need to be saved, but not just to protect all the cute little (and huge) creatures in it. They actually need to be saved to save us, humans. Peatland forests are an enormous carbon store. And these forests are being converted to oil palm plantations at an alarming rate. And when this conversion occurs, they burn the peatland forest and all that carbon that has been stored is released into the atmosphere as a Greenhouse Gas, Carbon Dioxide. This forest conversion has helped to propel Indonesia into third place in Greenhouse Gas emitters, behind the world's largest polluters, China and the United States. I find that fact staggering, considering that Indonesia isn't a huge fossil fuel hog, like its co-polluters. Who knew that saving our forests could be just as important as switching to clean energy when it comes to stopping Global Warming?

So now you know why we're here. Now let me tell you a little about what the camp is like. First of all, it's hot. Really hot. They say it's been getting up into the low to mid 40's. So that's well over 100 degrees. And did I mention the humidity? It's not easy building a camp in this kind of heat. But I can't complain too much, I've only been here one day. And it was a very long day, with lots of work. I helped install the solar array, and we finally got power to the camp, thanks to the sun, and a lot of hard work. I'm writing this email now using some of the energy we produced after 1pm, when we finally got all the wires wired (and narrowly avoided a 6 inch long scorpion, which decided to hang out behind our battery bank.)

The camp is coming together, though we still have a ways to go. We have the main meeting house and bunk quarters nearly complete. We got the roof on our kitchen today, and our fire-spotting tower got a little taller. We also now have solar power, as I mentioned earlier, and tomorrow we'll get our water tank installed, make our solar installation more permanent, and keep plugging away on the buildings to get them finished.

It's Ramadhan, and most people are about to break fast. In other words, it's time for dinner. I'll keep the updates coming as the camp progresses, and hopefully send along some photos of our progress. And remember, when the camp is finished, that is when our real work begins. I have many more stories to tell, just from my first few days (did I mention that my bag still hasn't arrived at the airport?) but it's already been a 13 hour work day, so I think I'll call it a day.

Hayden

I hope I can shed some light on how this North Pacific Fishery Management Council process takes place, of course from a position of bias and not so happy.

I have been attending the Council meetings, off and on, for about 20 years or so. Began back in the day when we were fighting for the establishment of the Community Development Quota (CDQ) program which we hoped at the time would benefit the villages. It was a long battle and one you can read about just by goggling it, if you are interested. I want to, however say a few words about that later, as it sorely impacts the people in the villages.

If you want to know the details about the Council process you can also get on their web page at www.fakr.noaa.gov/npfmc. That is an interesting site. So I will simply give you a perspective from someone who is from a village, and also from my position as a Campaigner, time and space allowing.

Lets see. If I were living on St. Paul Island and I wanted to submit a comment on some issue the Council was addressing, it would probably go something like this.

The issue. Crab. How much? Well this year, some 63 million pounds. Sounds impressive, but when I was the pastor on St. Paul some 10 years ago, the quota was 250 million pounds, and the entire season began 15 January and lasted sometimes into May. Now its just about 2 weeks before the quota is caught. So lets say, I am an employee of the City government. We are interested because of the raw fish taxes we get from the processing of the product and the additional services, such as fuel sales, dockage fees, grocery sales and additional other services. So the local economy benefits from this activity. Now, keep in mind that I am working for a municipal government which probably can afford the rest of the story. The Tribes? Probably cannot afford to do this.

So, I write a position paper and submit it to the Council for consideration. Then it is decided that I should attend the meeting to submit verbal testimony to support our written position. I have to travel. Well, so, from St. Paul to Anchorage, where the meetings are usually held; sometimes they are held in Seattle Washington or Portland Oregon. So I have to buy a ticket. A round trip ticket to Anchorage from St. Paul on PenAir is about $900.00. Then I have to get a hotel and food, and maybe a car, but certainly a cab. So additional $180.00 per day per diem, or there abouts. So for one week, at $180.00 per day is? Ya, $1260.00. So now, with the air fare that totals, ya, $2,160.00 just to attend! For one person! There are other costs too, like being away from home, family, incidental expenses, etc.

So, usually the Council begins meeting on a Monday. The SSC or the Scientific and Statistical Committee begins bright and early in the morning. Now I have to follow the issue and try to figure out where and when the issue will be addressed by the committee. Sometimes, and more often than not, the agenda is moved around, often without much notice, so I have to sit there throughout the entire day and listen to hours and hours of stuff I have not idea about. This report, that testimony. Lots of stuff. Oh we get breaks, and when that happens, I will try to corner someone from the committee to lobby. But I am relatively unknown, and often the members have buds or other people who are "council groopies" that are better known and more attuned to the issues that get the time and the ears. So, I try to wiggle my way into some conversation with someone. Then back to the meeting and more listening. Now, the issue on the crab is being discussed. First there will be staff reports, scientist reports, and others who signed up to testify. Then, if I signed up, my time will come. I am called to the hot seat by the chairperson. The committee are all sitting at tables arranged usually in kinda a circle, with table cloths shrouded on them, microphones, lots of papers and folders and notebooks, really looking knowledgeable. So I walk up to the table, sit down, introduce myself and say what issue I want to address. Now, figure. An entire table of experts. An audience of about 30 people. Bright lights. Microphones. And I begin to talk. Usually I will have about 3 to 6 minutes to say what I wanna say. Then questions from the committee, if any, and I am done. Whew...public speaking. Not fun. 

But that is basically what happens, and happens both at the Advisory Panel (AP), which meets from Monday to usually Friday of the same week, and usually at the same time as the SSC is meeting, and sometimes the issue I wanna comment on is taken up at the same time there as in the SSC. Sometimes not. And all three meet in different rooms, and,yes, usually at the same times.  But with the AP, the process is the same, and same set up, but this time with about 25 or so members on the panel. And 3 to 6 minutes to talk. And with the Council itself, usually the same. They usually meet from Tuesday to Saturday or Sunday. But here it is more intimidating, cause, well, they are THE Council. They have a bigger room with bigger tables and bigger chairs and more of an audience. And here, you get 3 minutes for an individual and 6 minutes for an organization to testify, and no more. There are green, yellow and red lights to tell you how much time you have. And, the Chair will say, "...thank you, your time is up." Any questions from the Council? If not, thanks. And its done. Here again, with the AP and the Council you try to lobby during breaks, but you also have additional competition from the other folks there. Lobbyists, processors, lawyers, fishers and long time friends who usually have the ear of the people you wanna talk to. And if you are lucky to get a Council member to talk to its usually really quick. They are on a break and have to go to the restroom or do something else. I personally have found some more approachable when I have followed them into the restroom, at least I can talk to them. So it is very difficult and extremely intimidating.

So, when John Hovevar wrote about our experience? Well, it was really something else. Imagine a person who lives in a village trying to do this. Imagine a person who's second language is english trying to do this. The expense? The intimidation? Ya, very little gets done if you are from a village. Unless of course if you are representing a CDQ organization, well, thats totally different. You will have bocoo bucks and paid lobbyists and lawyers to help you and speak for you. I have heard some of the executive directors of these organizations get paid upwards of $300,000 a year. They do this stuff. It is intimidating and really frustrating when and if you are a Tribal president trying to effectuate change. To protect your foods and your homes. It is nearly impossible to do it through this process.

This is why, it seems to me, the cultural heritage zones are the best chance to get protections for our families. We need to have a flag to rally around, an issue that makes sense. We need to help the people. We need support. For this, I am so grateful that Greenpeace is stepping up to the plate, not only to work to protect the oceans and habitat, but to help and support the Tribes on this planet we call mother earth.

This process is not fun. Not developed for people who live in villages, thats for sure. Too expensive and too foreign to our ways of living and communicating. But....? 

 

Kimberly-Clark, the world’s the largest tissue company, destroys ancient forests to make its disposable products.  They film Kleenex commercials by inviting people to sit on a couch in famous public places and “let it out” with a fake psychologist.  Sounds goofy, right?  Also sounds like a great opportunity for creative activism!

When Kleenex came to Times Square in New York, Greenpeace activists infiltrated the shoot and shut down filming with a banner.  The video is a classic (watch it here).  And, like any good classic, it deserves a sequel.

This time we were in Chicago.  It was a beautiful day for a ball game.  Fans decked out in blue and red Chicago Cubs gear were streaming towards historic Wrigley Field, eager to watch their team advance to the major league baseball playoffs.

Meanwhile, in a parking lot across from Wrigley Field, a Kimberly-Clark advertising crew was setting up another Kleenex commercial.  They had thought of everything…except the irony of trying to sell Kleenex at a Cubs game while clear-cutting cub and bear habitat in the Boreal Forest.

What a set up!  It was almost too easy for undercover Greenpeace volunteers to throw curve balls at the Kleenex crew.

What happened next?  Watch the video!

Pssst: If you have a YouTube account, rate the video, save it to your favorites list, and leave a comment for Kleenex to see.

You can read more, see photos and take action here.

Share the video and spread the word about Kleenex and Kimberly-Clark with family and friends!

George and I are at the North Pacific Fishery Management Council mtg in Anchorage this week.  George has been to a lot of these week-long monstrosities before, but this is my first time to experience it firsthand.  Imagine a process that involves six or more meetings a year, each lasting at least a week, full of nearly impenetrable jargon, at rotating locations spread all over the Pacific Northwest, and you can see pretty quickly that only professional industry lobbyists can hope to fully participate.

There are a handful of conservation-minded folks and small-scale fishermen that try to make a dent here, but for the mostpart it's by, for, and about the big money fishing industry. 

I'm here to present preliminary findings from our canyons exploration, and to start pushing for these areas to be protected.  I met with the Scientific and Statistical Committee last night, and things went well.  Bob Stone came up from NOAA's Auke Bay lab in Juneau to provide expert assistance, which was great.  Most of the SSC members attended, along with a handful of guests.  There were quite a few constructive questions, along with some free-flowing discussion.

In additions to sharing our findings, I also made a case for why the canyons should be set aside as no-take marine reserves.  It was a bit disturbing to see how little understanding there was of the existing protections along the Bering Sea shelf break (there are none), but this just helped emphasize the need to fill that gap.

If overheard hallway conversations are any indication, we've created quite a buzz here.  I heard people talking about the canyons expedition three times yesterday, and we're not even on the public agenda until Thursday.  One lobbyist paced back and forth through the hotel talking loudly on his cel phone, trashing our project at length to a reporter.  It was useful hearing what his attacks were going to be in advance!

The real drama will take place Thursday evening, when I present to the N. Pacific Council and the general public.  After more than a decade of failing to take action, the Council may finally be ready to move. 

Wish us luck!

John H

I am a long time Burma activist. I have spent some of each year for the past 7 years on the Thai-Burma border working with former political prisoners, refugees, migrant workers, doctors, lawyers, students, and 20-something backpackers for the freedom of the Burmese people. This issue, the freedom of a people, is not just a human rights issue, it is an environmental justice issue. Greenpeace, many years ago, worked on forest issues within Burma. It seems that American companies are very happy to make shady corrupt deals with the Burmese regime. If you do not know what is happening inside Burma right now, please check this out.

But what I really want to talk about this Monday morning, is how repressing human rights magnifies environmental degradation. Looking at the situation inside Burma is the easiest way to talk about this issue, though there are several cases within the United States where this also exists. Love Canal, Hurricane Katrina, superfund sites around Los Angeles, CA, refineries in Convent, LA, and chemical waste landfills in Port Author, TX --- to name just a few.

As many communities around the United States have seen, illegal dumping and irresponsible management of toxic substances leads to water and land pollution and the poisoning of our families and loved ones. One way to better understand the situation within Burma is by picturing the Love Canal and then adding child soldiers, slavery, and ethnic cleansing.

This weekend a couple friends and I spent an amazingly beautiful Washington DC early Fall afternoon walking around the city. As we were walking through downtown we saw about 100 birds flying in circles above a small round-about park in formation. We started discussing the simple complexities of eco-systems. We shared knowledge on how schools of fish react to predators and how bats understand community. We talked and talked and what we were really saying was that we are all connected. Everything we do effects the lives of people and animals and the giant complex eco-systems around us. A government can not suppress a persons freedom of speech without it directly relating to the way that government regulates toxic chemicals or the way that government turns a blind eye when foreign companies mismanage their waste systems within their country.

Supporting the Saffron Revolution is just one way to support the environmental justice activists within our own country. And what we are all doing by taking cyberactions, reading up on what is being done about the blown over oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, and better understanding the connection between building pipelines and child slavery inside Burma is realizing Aung San Suu Kyi's words, " Please use your liberty to promote ours."

Renee 

 

 

I am back in the office after a long day last Thursday. I have been working on environmental issues full-time for over 7 years now and yesterday was the first time I crossed a police line and got arrested.

I felt completely confident I was doing the right thing by engaging in civil disobedience to demand that our governmental take real action, not false steps to curb global warming. Global warming is the real challenge of my generation and the generations to come.

If we do not take bold and swift action now I fear to think about the future world we will live in. Last Thursday, myself and 48 other activists protested Bush and his charade of a meeting on global warming. Bush is trying to take the world in the wrong direction by working outside and not engaging in the international Kyoto Treaty process, and his meeting is nothing more than a propaganda effort to deflect international criticism.

I was there on Thursday to do my part to show that Bush does not stand for the vast majority of Americans on this important issue. If Bush was serious about moving the country forward on global warming he would sign the Kyoto Protocol, period.

A friend of mine mentioned the other night that when people engage in civil disobedience an issue has reached a tipping point, he pointed to woman rights and the civil rights movement as examples. I think that this statement rings true to an extent.

Last Thursday, I shared a cell with two women, one of them was a grandmother and the other worked at a University of Maryland, like me they had ever been arrested before. They were not the stereotype of the 'lefty environmental extremist'. Across the country people from all walks of life are taking serious and bold action to preserve the future of our planet by demanding action on global warming.

Some might think a few people getting arrested is not going to do anything. While it may be true that our protest was a completely symbolic act I believe it is important to show the Bush does NOT speak for many Americans with his criminal stance on global warming.

I have always been inspired by the bold and brave acts of people in our history like Alice Paul and John Lewis. I hope that the movement to fight global warming continues to gain momentum like other social movements. It must, we have no other option but to force action. Our survival depends on it.

 

--Kate Smolski

 

Yesterday, along with 48 other climate change activists, I stood on the steps of the State Department to make sure the world knew, that President Bush knew, that he does not represent my voice on climate change. Today is the last day in a two day sham of a meeting that President Bush called on climate change with heads of states from the largest greenhouse gas emitters. 

49 of us, including the Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of Greenpeace were arrested within just a few hundred feet of this meeting. We chanted "This meeting is a fraud" and "No More Hot Air, Clean Energy Now" for almost two hours before being given 3 warnings from the police to move our protest or face arrest. No one moved.

My blogs on this site are usually cheeky and full of odd info about issues surrounding the chemical industry, but today I'm talking about the single biggest, most devastating issue to face our generation. I couldn't be cheeky if I tried right now.

This afternoon I attended a rally on the opposite side of the State Department building that we stood early yesterday morning. One speaker said that it doesn't matter if we cured cancer today or if we had the ability to end all wars because the effects of climate change on humanity will cause food and water shortages, death of species and villages, and violence if we do not continue to act like our lives depended on it. Because it does.

I went to jail yesterday along side 48 other activists who believe the same things I do:

• President Bush does not represent my voice on climate change.

• The world needs to move on with real global warming solutions without the United States.

• and finally this issue is so important to my life that I am willing to put my liberty on the line until there is real action on climate change.

 

Renee.  

It's been a pretty crazy week here in the US, with the UN meeting on climate in New York at the beginning of the week then down to Bush’s farce here in Washington which started today.

Arriving at the end of the Mall early this morning, as the sun was coming up, I saw a huge flock of Canada geese milling about on the grass. I figured they were probably on the way south from Alaska where last month the ice melt was more than 1 million square km more than last year's record low. What will climate change do to their Alaskan summer home?

The other flock on the lawn of the Mall was the tidiest looking bunch of environmentalists I'd seen in a while. Everyone had dusted off their suits for the dignified protest we were going to do outside the meeting.

The media was gathering, and delegates to the meeting starting to go in.

Let's be clear: there is a world of difference between the UN and the Bush meeting. The UN one was born out of concern at the lack of international action on climate. Today's meeting in Washington is about Bush trying to deflect criticism on climate change ahead of the US elections next year. He has no intention of taking any real action and, instead, is trying to stop that action happening without him. The only part Bush played in the UN meeting was going to the official dinner.

So outside the State Department, about 50 people from Greenpeace and three other groups marched up the street groups with a big banner reading “Bush: wrong way on global warming” and went straight to the front of the building. The protest went on for about three hours before most of them were arrested, including the head of Greenpeace US, John Passacantando.

I was running round dealing with the many media milling about, so wasn't in an "arrestable situation" shall we say. But it was great hearing so many Americans with the message "President Bush doesn't speak for me." Recent polls show that more than half the country disapproves of the way he is [or isn't] dealing with climate change.

Almost all of the protestors were arrested – they're currently in jail, and we're waiting to hear how long they'll be and what will happen to them. I'm so proud of my colleagues who turned up this morning saying "ok I'm prepared to get arrested for this – this is the most important issue I'll ever work on."

Meanwhile other colleagues Steph and John arrived back out from the meeting – they'd sat through speeches from Condoleezza Rice and Bush’s environmental advisor John Connaughton. Both of them were talking about the "need to act" and "work together." Translation: "we need to LOOK as though we're acting so that Bush doesn't get a hard time on climate change before next year's elections" and work to point the finger at China instead of doing anything at home.

Bush speaks tomorrow – but we know he won't be taking any action on climate. My message to him: Kyoto: just DO IT!

In September 2007, a few days before the United Nations high level meeting for climate change—in which Greenpeace China's campaign director, Lo Sze Ping, is invited to address 70 heads of state (including Bush) about what we believe countries should do to protect the climate—Greenpeace is also invited by the office of the Secretary General to meet the Secretary General himself in private. When my colleague informs me that on behalf of Greenpeace China , I am to be part of the Greenpeace delegation, my first reaction is, "You have to be kidding me! I am just a 26-year old girl! What am I going to say to when I meet Mr. Ban Ki-moon?!"

For me, meeting Ban Ki-moon is the equivalent of meeting a rock star like Michael Jackson or the Beatles. For one, we are both Korean and he is currently probably one of the best known Koreans in the world. Moreover, I admire his values and the fact that he takes the problems of this world so personally—in his recent piece in the International Herald Tribune, he stated that as a child of the Korean War, he grew up viewing the United Nations as a savior, an organization which helped his country recover and rebuild from a devastating conflict. And this is in turn made him devote his life to public service. For me, this has amazing resonance—having lived in many countries, such as Korea, Latin America, the USA, and now my new home China, where I was and still am extremely affected by all the environmental devastation and poverty I see, I also take the problems of the world very personally, which has in turn led me to work for Greenpeace.

So back to the story of meeting Ban Ki-moon. We arrive to the United Nations building in New York City. The United Nations building is a great place to be—seeing people from different nationalities and ethnicities working, visiting and interacting in harmony in this 38-story building is such an inspiring sight, and you can’t help but to wonder why the rest of the world cannot be like this. After passing through various security checks, four other Greenpeace colleagues and myself finally go up to the top floor where the office of the Secretary General is located. We are warmly greeted by a various UN staff and then suddenly there he is—Mr. Ban Ki-moon himself.

I am almost star-struck. It is almost an out-of-space feeling, meeting someone whose face you are so familiar with from TV and newspapers but you have never met before. His face almost has a sense of tranquility, and I think 'this is the reason why this man can lead one of the most complex organizations with the largest mission in the world.' We all stand in line to greet the secretary general. When it is my turn to shake hands with him, I introduce myself in Korean, and tell him that I am representing Greenpeace China. He seems to be very surprised and very happy to see a fellow Korean working for Greenpeace and representing a country that is not her own, much like himself. He doesn't let my hand go for about 20 seconds and continues to shake it, and in the meantime asks me various questions including why I am working in China as a Korean and whether I speak Chinese, making me blush all along the way.

We sit down, and briefly exchange words about the future of climate change. When it comes to my turn, I briefly introduce him to our work in China, and tell him how we engage policy makers in China and showcase to them that it is possible to achieve economic growth while stabilizing greenhouse gas emissions by increasing renewable energy and energy efficiency while decreasing China's dependency on coal. I also introduce him to our work on raising awareness on climate change. I give him the example of how young people in China are becoming increasingly interested in climate change, as shown by how much interest Greenpeace's Himalaya expedition blog, where we discussed how rapidly glaciers are retreating, got in the major Chinese websites (200,000 hits in a few hours!). I am very happy when he in turn tells us that he has been following Greenpeace's work for a long time and that he admires what we do, and how much impact we have made in the climate change front. He also tells us we have to continue to push countries as well as inspire the public to act on climate change. He clearly understands the impact that NGOs can have in addressing a societal issue, and am ecstatic to hear from one of the highest and most admired political leaders in the world that Greenpeace indeed has been making positive change.

The meeting ends, and as I come out of the office still feeling elated and numb. I ask myself: 'Did that just happen?! Did I just exchange various words with the secretary general of the United Nations?!' I truly hope that I have done justice in not only representing Greenpeace but also the young people from China and Asia, and have let Mr. Ban know that indeed we do care about climate change and that we do fully support the United Nations and individual countries in their efforts to combat climate change. I am also personally determined to continue the fight against climate change, no matter how difficult it is or how long it takes.

Jamie Choi
Greenpeace China

As you read this, chainsaws and bulldozers are laying into huge swaths of ancient forests – illegally – across the globe.  More than a few trees here and there, the growing problem of illegal logging is much more serious than most people realize.

Take Indonesia for example.  Indonesia got itself into the Guinness Book of World Records for the worst forest destruction rate in the history of the world: about 4.5 million acres a year.  80% of that logging, or 3.6 million acres, is thought to be illegal.  That’s enough criminal clearcutting to cover the state of Delaware every year – twice!

With that much dirty logging comes a lot of dirty money that fuels corruption, crime and gang activity.  The brutal dictator of Liberia, Charles Taylor, used illegal logging to fuel paramilitary forces and years of civil war in West Africa.  In Mexico this year, 21 year old Aldo Zamora, who worked to curb illegal logging in Zempoala National Park, was shot dead by criminal loggers.  Where there is illegal logging, you can bet there will be human rights abuses – these sad examples are just the tip of the iceberg.

Of course, wildlife suffers as well. In addition to destroying millions of acres of critical wildlife habitat every year, illegal logging roads bring poaching and illegal hunting of bush-meat into virgin forests.  The endangered orangutan has lost 80% of its forest habitat since the 1980s.  Illegal logging is responsible for much of that loss.  Without action now, orangutans could be extinct in the wild within 20 years.

Forest fires, both accidental and intentional, also accompany illegal logging, destroying habitat, releasing massive amounts of greenhouse gases and threatening the health of those living nearby.

The economic burden of illegal logging is enormous as well.  US jobs are lost as domestic logging companies are robbed of an estimated $1 billion a year due to illegal timber imports.  In developing nations, black-market timber robs local communities as cash flows to gangs and corrupt corporations.

The good news is, we have a real chance to do something about illegal logging.  Legislation in both the US House of Representatives and the Senate is poised to set up the first national safeguards against the import of illegal timber.  Isn’t it nice when there’s a light at the end of the tunnel?

Learn more about these bills and take action by clicking here.

With your help, we can put illegal logging in check.  That's worth a few clicks, right?

-Rolf

Did you know that lead in children's products is not restricted to lead-based paint?  Many other children's products especially those made of vinyl plastics can contain lead and other biologically available hazards such as cadmium and phthalates.

In a 1998 CPSC Federal Register notice urged manufacturers to "eliminate lead in consumer products," including those made of vinyl plastics. The CPSC also reminded "any firm that purchases a product for resale is responsible for determining whether that product contains lead..."

Following the 1996 revelations of lead in vinyl plastic mini-blinds Greenpeace decided to test vinyl children's products and found lead, cadmium and plasticizers (phthalates) that were also bio-available to children.

Unfortunately the actions taken since by industry and the CPSC have been wholly inadequate. In the letter the groups cite recent examples of lead contamination in vinyl products (bibs and lunch boxes) and the need for broader testing of products, a phase out of the use of vinyl plastics in children's products and the need for better safety standards.

As a result we recommend a three step process:

1) The immediate testing for heavy metals and phthalates in children’s products now on the market starting with young children’s products.

2) A phase out of the use of vinyl in products intended for or likely to be used by children.

3) Establish mandatory, comprehensive federal safety standards that truly protect children from lead and other hazardous chemicals in children’s products.

To view the document collection related to toy toxicity beyond lead-based paints click here.

I forgot to say that there will be two hearings this week on the lead in toys story.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2007

Protecting Children from Lead-Tainted Imports (Day 1)
Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection Hearing
10:00 a.m. in room 2123 Rayburn House Office Building
Connect to the Video Webcast (100 kbps)

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2007

Protecting Children from Lead-Tainted Imports (Day 2)
Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection Hearing
9:30 a.m. in room 2123 Rayburn House Office Building
Connect to the Video Webcast (100 kbps)

 

Renee. 

This lead in toys story will not go away. And it turns out its been going for like 10 years.

In 1996 Greenpeace published a report titled: Lead and Cadmium in Vinyl Children's Products. So we don't have the same PR cache for simple headlines as People magazine, but hey at least you know what it's about.  I'll summarize the summary for you.

 . . . or just write it out," A Greenpeace investigation revealed the presence of hazardours levels of lead and cadmium in a variety of vinyl consumer products, including items specifically designed and marketed for children. The study was spurred by the discovery of hazardous lead levels in vinyl blinds and associated lead poisoning of children in 1996. Since no government agency appeared to be investigating whether other vinyl consumer products might also pose a similar health risk, Greenpeace initiated a nationwide study of vinyl products." 

Here are some of the findings of our investigation:

• Lead- and cadmium-containing vinyl products are readily available from some of the nation's leading retailers, including Kmart, Wal-Mart, Target, and Toys R Us.
  
• Children are a marketing target. Products featured Barbie, Minnie and Mickey Mouse, 101 Dalmations, Michael Jordan, Bugs Bunny, and various other Looney Tunes characters.
  
• Lead -containing vinyl products are common. The investigation began by testing vinyl children's products purchased in Chicago. Twenty-one percent of the vinyl consumer prodcuts examined contained greater than 100 parts-per-million lead (28 out of 131). Since all of the items were purchased at national chain stores, this high percentage may reflect the US frequency for lead-containing vinyl products.
  
• Lead- and cadmium-containing vinyl products are widely available in California, despite its stringent regulation fo carcinogens and reproductive toxins. A representative sample of items grossly exceeded limits for exposure to lead and cadmium set by the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, also known as Proposition 65.
  
• Both lead and cadmium are readily available for ingestion by children. Lead and cadmium were released to the surfaces of products as they aged. Lead also became available under conditions that mimic swallowing.
  

And just in case you're thinking well of course it's not the same exact products, think again . . . a Barbie accessory tent pole was one of the products found to have high levels of lead. One product Matell is currently recalling  ---- Barbie accessories  . . alright I'll give this one to them the lead paint is on the dog and cat accessories, not tent poles. My mistake.

What the hell is going on? Why are families suffering today from a problem that was highlighted to this industry 10 years ago? What's wrong with these people? And why are these people completely satisfied with sacrificing children's lives for money? Sometimes I have a hard time wrapping my head around these things. Maybe they just do this stuff because they can.

 
Renee. 

 

Social Entrepreneurship is one of the most interesting part of the environmental movement for me. It allows people to be creative, powerful, and smart all while taking the health of their economy and society into their own hands. Environmentalists are often hammered with arguments that our stance on issues do not mesh with free enterprise, that we want regulation where if people left to their own devises will create fairer ways of doing business and therefore providing a more fair society. I think this is a complicated issue I'll admit I am not prepared to really tackle right now for several reasons. One because I just finished three days of training in Amsterdam with my international Greenpeace colleagues and don't have the energy. (I'm still in Amsterdam -- if you haven't been, take a look at any postcard of the city, that is exactly how it looks - I swear - it's incredible) Two because it is usually being spouted by executives who are trying to get away with poisoning neighborhoods that they don't have to live in and care nothing about and sometimes these people are just not worth replying to because everyone sees straight through them.

So briefly I'll say, I do think that people are creative enough to come up with businesses that are good for our communities, bodies, and land. I also think that organizations like Greenpeace are important to this system because we have the ability and knowledge to highlight when business is NOT doing this. When they are pumping obscene amounts of money into shady political campaigns and helping to write bad legislation. It is when business and society work together through a transparent relationship that the free market is able to truly benefit us all. In order for this to happen, we all need to keep up the pressure. Even though people are good, they often times need to be reminded how to do good.

On Monday Sept 10, Anita Roddick passed away. She is the founder of The Body Shop. A body health care shop that focused not only on looking, smelling and feeling good, but on making sure that our decisions do not harm the communities, bodies, and land around us. She participated in the WTO protests in Seattle, she spoke around the world on how business can and has the obligation to be environmentally responsible, and she wrote an amazing book that has inspired countless entrepreneurs to create businesses that make money and take responsibility for leaving this land in better condition than when we found it.

So . . cheers to one great environmentalist, woman, and business leader!

Take care, Renee.

Thirty six years ago this month, September 1971 President Richard M. Nixon said, perhaps from his oval office in the White House, “FIRE!” Suddenly the entire Island of Amchitka, in the Aleutian Island Chain, erupted. Boom! The ground heaved in sudden turmoil, ripped apart. Wildlife, unprotected and not even given a warning, suddenly were thrashed to the point that even the eyeballs of the sea otter slammed through their skulls. Birds ran, literally, and some flew, to find cover. The world shook and would never be the same. The largest underground nuclear test bomb in history was triggered on and in Alaska; on and in an Island Chain that is on the Great Pacific Ring of Fire. A big bomb, suddenly destroying a National Wildlife Refuge.

I was there last month as part of a team of people from Greenpeace to bear witness. I walked up steep unforgiving cliffs, slogged through deep tundra, crawling to the exact site of the test, of a nuclear bomb they called Cannikin. And it was….wow, lack of words. Scary. We did this on a National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. And today, although there is lots of greens, plants, berries and fresh water, we could not, dared not even taste of this dirge. It is, was, and perhaps forever will be dead.

Greenpeace went there because thirty-six years ago, we got started by a few people in Vancouver B.C. who felt, as we all do today, that this act was not acceptable, not in Alaska, not anywhere. We went there because we wanted to bear witness that we must not allow anything like this to happen anywhere in the world again. We must not build bombs to destroy anything; people, plants; animals; the earth, our Mother Earth.

While there, one has so much to think and meditate about. It is silent. Empty. It is alone. By itself. Not a part of any other thing. Not even a partner to its neighboring Islands. Not even a self-respecting jellyfish was seen. And we could not drink the water!

Now, we did this with the idea that perhaps we might be able to warn the Soviet Government of Russia that we have big bombs, that we are someone to be afraid of, that we are powerful. The result of that thinking? They built more and bigger bombs with nary an end in sight.

Sadly, being at Amchitka was like looking into a future devoid of life. Even more sad is that perhaps what happened there is in some sense happening again, but this time with another big bomb, and right under our noses. Like that bomb, legal and sanctioned by our United States Government, is the bomb of bottom trawlers, legal and sanctioned by the same Government. They are destroying the habitat of the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska, and are protected by our laws to do so. We saw that. We witnessed their destructive fishing practices by diving into the underwater canyons by the Pribilof Islands. Just like being at ground zero on Amchitka, by Cannikin lake, we were at ground zero in the Pribilof and Zumchug Canyons.  They are almost totally devoid of life and history is repeating itself. It is happening in Alaska, on the most productive Oceans and Seas of the North Pacific.

We planted a cross there. We wanted, when doing this, and want to, express our desire that no longer is it acceptable to kill and destroy, no matter the form or manner. Once life is gone, as was evident on Amchitka, we cannot pray or will life back. We saw the future and we must not allow it to come, not in that form. So, now comes the marine cultural heritage zones. Perhaps these zones will be our cross, one which we are told to pick up and carry. Perhaps by establishing some protections for our foods to survive, we will not allow someone, five thousand miles away to say, “FIRE!” Perhaps we can learn from our history and put an end to building and enabling ways to destroy. Perhaps we can. But you must help by doing your part. You must join us in commemorating an awful time in our history, if for no other reason than to say, we will not participate.

I moved to Washington DC the semester I graduated college. I thought I would work in some big hot shot international development organization and make full use of my new International Relations degree. Well, things don't always turn out as planned. Instead I waited a whole bunch of tables, met and then eventually dated a number of bartenders, and five years later am still friends with the dude that walks around holding a newspaper (some people call him Everywhere Man, but his name is Mark). He always asked me how the people of Lafayette Louisiana are doing.

He remembers the time I told him I was born in Lafayette. I was born on a bayou. Yes, I do have several versions of that song on my ipod.  It's a good song! Mark always seems to pop out at odd moments when I had just forgotten that I was indeed born on a bayou.

I didn't realize when I applied to work at Greenpeace, that the organization had a deep history in Louisiana. I didn't realize that the people who work here felt connected to this place. It's one of the things I love most about the Greenpeace, it's interesting history and people.

Last week, NPR played a series of stories of DC natives visiting New Orleans, some deciding to move there and some raising awareness of what is still happening in the area by coming back to the district and telling anyone who will listen. I'm starting feel like Katrina is my generation's Kennedy assassination. We all remember where we were when the levees broke, when we saw the images of the Super Dome, when we heard the rumors of violence, when we saw Anderson Cooper wade in the water.

I'm not sure if everyone at this point feels oversatutrated by these images, the mainstream media (if you've noticed) seems to prey on our heartstrings with horrific images without providing any suggestions on action we can take.

So I guess . . .  what I want to do with this entry is introduce you to a few things in New Orleans that you might not know. Things don't always go as planned and if you find yourself wanting to take action to help New Orleans maybe these resources will help guide your kind efforts.

WWOZ - The best radio station on this planet (Not sure about the other ones). I know I recently rented a car that had satelite radio. This is better. And you get to hear Cajun accents all day! I mean really what more could you want during the work day?! I often spend the day reading about how CFO's of large corporations say going green is too expensive and try to make others believe that consumers think destroying ancient forests is just fine for their soft toilet paper, while listening to this amazing station online.

New Orleans Habitat for Humanity-  After moving from Lafayette to South Florida, I realized I am destined to live wherever hurricanes hit. Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida not long after my family moved. South Miami was devasted and similarly to what happened during Katrina most of the houses that withstood both hurricanes were made by volunteers at Habitat for Humanity. Look it up. It's true. Last Thanksgiving I visited Shylia Lewis and her family, GP staff helped build her a toxic free house in 2004 and we wanted to see how she was doing. During the day that I spent with Shylia and her children, we talked about why her house had survived Katrina when others had not. She said that Habitat houses survived because they were made out love. I think my heart stopped that very moment. It may just be that volunteers get nervous about not putting enough nails so there are about double the amount, but that doesn't mean she isn't right. Those houses are made out of love.

I guess this is a long paragraph to say, if you are planning a long weekend why not use it to volunteer at Habitat in New Orleans.

Louisiana Bucket Brigade-  Ever heard of grassroots organizing? This is it. The people who founded this organization were sick (literally) and tired of government agencies like the EPA standing behind big corporations instead of the communities they are suppose to protect and gave power back to the people to defend their homes and their families. This very small organization (3 full time staff people) teach community members how to test the air quality of their neighborhood. This is extremely important in Southern Louisiana (as in other places around the United States) because of the large concentration of PVC facilities.

Young Aspirations/Young Artists- "I was born a stick figure and with each person I meet and each action I take, I become a full drawing." I'm not sure who wrote that, but it is a reminder of how intertwined humanity is with art. This is an organization that brings art to the youth of New Orleans. Now N.O. has a strong rich history of art and artists, the city has once again entered a time when art and artists are helping to keep it alive.  

 
Alright, I'm going to stop here. I could continue the rest of my day writing about organizations we should all know and care about in New Orleans. Hopefully this has peaked your curiousity and you will do a little more research on the topics you are most interested. I feel there may be a running theme to my blogs, figure it out yourself. No . . its not that harsh. I guess I mean I want to be source of information where anyone who reads my writing will feel empowered to discover what their role is in this big ol' mess of ours. Am I doing that? Are you bored? Would you rather read about Nicole Richie or my LA Sophis-Hipster style I was recently told I have?

Well, at any rate, you are stuck with what I give you. Oh the power I have!

 

Holla.
Renee.  

 

 

 

Since my last post about the Bush Administration and its cozy relationship with logging industry lobbyists, the “revolving door” between the two has spun again.

The latest whirl has Jan Poling, a high-level lawyer for the Forest Service, landing in the lap of the nation’s most powerful timber industry lobbying group – the American Forest and Paper Association (AF&PA).

As Poling takes her post as general counsel for AF&PA, she’ll run into lots of familiar faces.  There will be, of course, industry friends who kept her company during her stint at the Forest Service.  But there will also be Dave Tenny, Bush’s former “deputy undersecretary of agriculture for natural resources and environment” (does that title even fit on a business card?) who, like Poling, swapped his job at the Bush administration for one at AF&PA this year.

To bring the door back full circle, I’ll point out Dave Tenny’s new job at AF&PA – vice president of forestry and wood products – is the same one that Undersecretary of Agriculture Mark Rey held before Bush put him in charge of the Forest Service.

I think the revolving door is becoming more like one of those carnival rides where you spin and spin until the centrifugal forces stick you to the wall.  I love those rides.  But this one ain’t as much fun.  Rather than defying gravity, this ride has folks like Rey, Polling, and Tenny defying the public interest, sticking to the narrow ideology of the logging industry instead.

-Rolf

We are pulling into Dutch Harbor/Unalaska for the fourth and last time during this whirlewind tour of the Bering Sea. And it is both an end and a beginning for me. We came to the Bering Sea to bear witness to the world, to ourselves, to what is happening not only to the beautiful ecosystem of water and fish and mammals and birds and plants, but as equally important, how change is impacting an ancient people. And what a vision we had, looking and listening.

And because of what we heard and saw, there is no doubt what so ever, even if there was any to begin with, that the establishment of the marine cultural heritage zones is the only moral, realistic and honest way to the survival of this incrediable gift to humanity all over the world. This gift to our people, to all peoples, is a gift given by our ancestors following centuries of daily sacrifices, learnings, insight and fortitude to pass on to their decendents a responsibility we must not take lightly. A responsibility to cherish life.

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It has been, as two reasonably famous songwriters once put it, a long and winding road, one that has lasted, on and off, for more than eighteen years now.  And, theoretically, once we drop anchor in Dutch Harbor on Monday morning, it is a journey that—apart from a couple of days of post-expedition wrap-up and video editing—will come to an end.

Except that I have said as much many times before. It isn’t even the first time I’ve said it this year.

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After seeing Amchitka, one really wants to drink like a sailor. A bottle of rum would come in handy around now. But no. On this ship, we drink only wine and a brand of beer from Korea which promises "Fresh Taste Brewing System". If this is fresh, we would hate to see stale.
The Korean beverage is a brand called "Hite". We only need to add the 19th letter of the alphabet before "Hite" to title it even more appropriately. No doubt this extraordinary drink was scientifically concocted to function for drinkers just as the nicotine patch functions for smokers.
=> Read more...

I looked out of my porthole this morning and found myself channeling Martin Sheen.

"Adak. S***. I'm still in Adak."

Then I stripped down to my underwear, drank too much whisky, and cut my hand on the mirror while practicising kung fu.

=> Read more...

August 26th - On the road to Chicago!

We just spent the better part of last week in the surprising progressive hot-spot of Bloomington, Indiana! The town was great. Lots of good folks and an amazing Greenpeace Project Hot Seat coordinator - Edyta! Together we worked to pressure Rep. Baron Hill at a Democratic party golf outing and deliver a copy of the Safe Climate Act, which he still seems to claim he hasn't been asked to sign.

The Safe Climate Act is the gold standard for global warming legislation. It has 140 co-sponsors, but Baron Hill isn't one of them--yet!

On Saturday we made those delicious solar smoothies at the Bloomington Farmers market. We met some incredible volunteers that revived our love for campaigning and the excitement found in meeting new people from all over.

We had plenty of relaxing time sitting around the campfire, swimming in Lake Monroe and traveling thru Indiana.

We got our date's mixed a bit and we are heading to Chicago a day earlier than planned. My brother Andy has offered to put us up for the night. Anyone in and around the Chicago area drop me a line if you'ld like to meet up or come to any of our events. Right now - we honestly don't know what they will be - but that's part of the fun right?!

Much Love -- Amanda
906/ 250.0296

August 20th - Kalamazoo, Michigan

We're in Kalamazoo! And it's raiiiiiiny. Very rainy. We drove 13.5 hours yesterday to get here, just under the official 14 hours that we are allowed to be on the road according to the official trucker rules that we are following on the road. We are crashing with Justin, the Project Hot Seat organizer here, and we had our first event today. We made some delicious solar smoothies and got a bunch of letters written to Representative Fred Upton, who happens to love nuclear as a sustainable energy alternative. Ick.

 
We had some great high school kids helping us out today who were excited about the campaign and thrilled to have something to do for a few hours because apparently life is pretty boring for the high school crowd around here. They got all jazzed up in Hot Seat gear and talked to the public. They were great and gave me hope for the future!

love to all.
lauren

August 18th - Greetings from Pennsylvania

We just finished up our second official event of the tour. Last night we made solar-smoothies for the good people of Phoenixville, and today we held an event with the area Project Hot Seat coordinator, Pete, and his son Max, outside an eco-grocery in Dowingtown, PA.  Tonight we will take some time to plan and adjust to life on the road and relax around our campsite! Next stop - Kalamazoo, Michigan!

We are moored off Amchitka Island, as far west...and interestingly, on the map, also as far east...as a boat can go. How ironic it is that visitors here were once greeted by a sign "This is a wildlife refuge and no weapons are allowed", words rendered absurd when the U.S. government set off their biggest underground nuclear test ever here, blasting the earth, sea and animals to smithereens.
When the 1971 blast, code-named Cannikin, ripped through this island, puffins were found with their legs driven through their chests. Sea lions miles from shore had their eyes blown out of their sockets. And the sea otters this refuge was set up to protect? Against reason, I am hoping to see even one.
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Of all the places I never imagined I would visit twice ...

We are about an hour away from returning to Adak. Few places have had as much an impact on everyone on board as this remote outpost, and whereas initial reaction to the apparent ghost town was disbelief and discomfort, the crew genuinely warmed to the community and the hospitality it showed us. For a few hours this evening, we will have an opportunity to experience it again.

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Oh my gosh. Of all the things I have seen, experienced and witnessed, never before have I seen such awefulness. I saw Amchitka. I saw the future. I saw death shrouded in attempted beauty. I saw the big one. Amchitka.

I was born here, as you know. I grew up here. I learned here. I was nurtured in honesty and in truth by my environment, Mom and Dad. I trusted without doubt in goodness. Men; people, I was told, are fundamentally good. Given a choice they will always do the right thing. Not. I witnessed that first hand. Amchitka.

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As some of you may know, Kieran has written a great blog about Amchitka and our time there. For me it is taking a little longer to process. Hence, although we left the island this morning and are on our way back to Adak, you'll be hearing from me over several blogs about our time on this nuclear test zone. Starting now.
For any other stop I’ve been content to wander out of my cabin after the usual 7:30 wake-up call but for Amchitka I ask Hettie, who is on watch, to wake me at first sight of the island, even if it happens to be in the middle of the night. This is not likely, as we’re due to arrive at the staid old hour of nine am, but just to be sure.
=> Read more...

People of all political persuasions breathed a sigh of relief when Bush’s top political advisor and neo-con lightning rod Karl Rove recently announced his resignation from the White House.

For lovers of forests, that celebration may have come too soon!

Rove’s replacement, DC-insider Ed Gillespie, has made millions of dollars as a logging industry lobbyist for the past seven years.  In fact, one of the first well-heeled clients of Quinn Gillespie (his lobbying firm) was a logging industry group from British Columbia, Canada!

I’m guessing Mr. Gillespie isn’t a big fan of efforts to protect the Great Bear Rainforest.  And, he’s probably not super supportive of protecting the Boreal Forest either!

Now, only a fool would expect the Bush administration to suddenly embrace science-based, forward-thinking forest policies after Rove's departure.  After all, putting ideology before the public interest has become this administration’s trademark.  In some ways, Gillespie’s pick is just more business as usual from Bush and company.

Still, the revolving door between anti-conservation lobbyists and the Bush administration is spinning so fast, it's starting to make me dizzy.  I’m feeling queezy...is it 2008 yet?

-Rolf

We are here at Amchitka, and I can’t write about it. It is all too fresh and overwhelming. Fortunately, Kieran has done a wonderful blog about our experience here, which you may want to check out. Later I will try to set something coherent down.
Meanwhile, on a MUCH lighter note, in my last blog I promised to talk about what my Mom, Chuck Berry, Pink Floyd and Bono all have in common. So here goes. (Warning…Bono story included. I know many other Greenpeacers have Bono stories…bring ‘em on!)
It all comes down to food. Good cooking and good music are inextricably entwined in this story, and on board the Espy. Raymond, the ship’s cook -- whose combined Dutch, Indonesian, Chinese and Italian heritage have resulted in black wavy hair, brown skin, and a love of a great variety of cuisine -- is de facto DJ of the deck where many of our cabins reside. His music blares out into the halls as Samantha – 23 year old assistant-cook/kitchen goddess who sports a ponytail and an uncannily calm, elegant bearing – chops and dices while Raymond sautes and boils. Our dinners are accompanied by Sinatra, Swing, Classic Rock, and you may find yourself heaping your plate with a vegetable medley or fried chicken while getting down to the sounds of Mr. Chuck Berry. Swabbing the deck…the type of chore we all…almost all…do between 8 and 9 in the morning…goes faster to Pink Floyd, unless you are in a melancholy mood, in which case just let your tears mingle with the soapy water in your bucket.
Meanwhile, back home, my mother is cooking. I know this even though I haven’t talked to her for the two weeks I’ve been on the Espy. How? Because besides founding Greenpeace with a few other souls my mother is known by friends, family and the many visitors she is always inviting to dinner for her gourmet meals, and when not in the kitchen is to be found shopping at Granville Island Market for the freshest produce in Vancouver or rifling through one ot the hundreds of cookbooks on her shelves. Picture her now, five feet on a tall day and wearing a white chef’s hat bigger than her head, pounding dough to the sound of Pavoratti, serenading the entire block around her house through the giant speakers my father always insisted our house contain.
You may be wondering where Bono fits in to all this. At this point in the story I must introduce my brother-in-law Ed Montague, a lawyer and a very persistent fellow who happens to be a huge U2 fan. When he heard the band was coming to Vancouver a few years ago he said, "Hey, Bono is a big Greenpeace supporter, I bet he’d love to meet a founder of Greenpeace, why don’t you invite him to dinner at your Mom’s?
Right. Like Bono would happen by for a bite and a brew at the home of total strangers. I ignored the insane request for awhile but Ed (like all lawyers) is so stubborn that I finally wrote the Great Man just to get Ed off my back. The response? Dinner was out of the question. Surprise! However, Bono would like to meet my Mom, if he had time. I had to give Ed credit at this point. Credit, and a big hug, and then dance around the room for a minute.
Three o’clock on the day U2 was to open in Vancouver, Ed got a call: my Mom and entourage (Ed, myself, and our spouses) were to be backstage at 7 pm. Passes would be waiting. Needless to say, we were a tad excited.
When we entered the green room…having first been escorted through at least three security details…we bopped around like idiots wondering whether to partake first of the chilled wine, beer, or snacks, and taking dumb photos. My mother sat serenely on the couch, holding the history of the beginning of Greenpeace that Rex Wyler penned, and one of the original Greenpeace buttons, presents she thought Bono might like. As forty minutes ticked by, then forty-five, then fifty, our spirits fell. We weren’t going to meet the Man after all. Of course it was silly to think he’d actually show up...as if he wasn’t busy enough.
And then, just when all hope was lost, in he strode, clad in black and those trademark green shades (that his eyes are very visible through). "Dorothy, Dorothy, Dorothy," he sighed, putting his arm around her. "You ruined my life."
It was Greenpeace, he confided, that first inspired him to activism. He asked if she had any earplugs and everybody laughed until he pulled out a pair. It was hard to imagine how, minutes before walking onto the stage, a rock star could be so focused on the comfort of a petite 84 year old woman, how he could be so entirely present, or how he could submit so graciously to posing for a photo.
During the concert he dedicated a song "Original of the Species", to Dorothy, and the next day U2 posted Ed’s photo of Bono and Doro on their website with a link to Greenpeace.
As we walked down the stairs to the floor after the concert everyone stood back, making way for the elderly lady with the smooth white hair. Dorothy, they called, reaching out to grasp her hand. Thank you.
My mother smiled back, and only on the way to the car, having passed all the crowds, did she pull out her nitro inhaler and take a couple of puffs. I don’t remember what, if anything, any of us ate that night, but if Bono ever does come to dinner, you can bet my Mom will have something good on the table. Meanwhile, on the Espy, it’s dinnertime. Until tomorrow then…

I was totally going to wait until next week to blog again, but this morning I got 8 (EIGHT!!) Google Alerts on cats being poisoned by (get the dictionary out this is going to be a really big word) polybrominated diphenyl ethers. Alright, I'll get the dictionary out for you.

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers: or PBDEs, are a group of chemicals that are used as flame retardants in a variety of polymer resins and plastics. They are found in many products in most homes and businesses, including furniture, TVs, stereos, computers, carpets, and curtains.

PBDEs are also used, to a lesser degree, in some textiles, adhesives, sealants and coatings.

So flame retardants. I think I talked a little about them when I was out in Silicon Valley running around with that giant skull made out of e-waste. Yes, this is actually my job. I know your jealous!

One more vocabulary word before I move onto the meat of this issue and why I got so many Google Alerts on this thing. I'm not spokeswoman for many things, but Google Alerts --- awesome! 

Feline hyperthyroidism (You have to see the little cat (ha ha) scans of these cats: is the most common endocrine disorder. Some of the signs are rapid weight loss, hyperactivity, and increased appetite as well as increased water consumption.

Ok, so, it turns out feline hyperthroidism was almost unknown until the 1970's and now its a total epidemic. The EPA is calling cats the canary in the coal mine for toxic chemicals in our homes. Scary.  And if your cat is getting sick from the unnecessarily dangerous and deadly chemicals in your furniture, think about your kids.  Young children have a higher propensity of putting random household items in their mouths and because of their smaller bodies chemicals accumulate at a faster rate.

In 2004 the European Union banned two types of PBDEs and this past spring Washington state became the first in the country to ban all uses of PBDEs.  

Keep up the pressure all you cat-lovers! and people lovers! We all deserve better a toxic free home.

 

Holla.  

 

 

 

Thirty-five years, eleven months, and eighteen days later, we finally made it.

On September 15, 1971, a crew of twelve set out from Vancouver Island in an eighty-foot halibut seiner called the Phyllis Cormack on a daring, even foolhardy, mission: to steam to the Aleutian island of Amchitka and protest, or even prevent, the detonation of an underground nuclear test. When the plan was first hatched, the group that organized the mission went by the name of the Don't Make a Wave Comittee. By the time the Cormack set out to sea, they were calling themselves Greenpeace.

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Saturday August 25 Feeling melancholy this evening -- although whether from missing home or the sheer challenge of this trip and the desolate beauty of Alaska I don’t know-- I put my ipod on, troop up to the foredeck and dance around in front of the webcam as arranged for seven pm with my extended family.
I don’t know if they see me, but as I’m dancing, feeling sad and trying to look happy, I notice a small fat sparrow on the deck. I kneel down and it goes still and then we both start moving together down the deck, me walking, it hopping. It hops near the open door of a room where some ropes and other gear is hanging and, worried, it might hop inside and get trapped, I make big gestures to scare it away from there. Then I run to the sick bay.
Clive, our doctor and the most fervent birder on board, rushes out in his trademark leather boots, green pants and flannel shirt and as we step back on deck we discover the wee visitor sheltering under the boat cradle that holds one of our five zodiacs. I notice yellow feathers on it’s back and think oh, maybe it’s not a sparrow but it is, Clive says, it’s called "Savannah sparrow". It doesn’t look hurt or sick and the thinks it will be just fine.
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Saturday August 25 Feeling melancholy this evening -- although whether from missing home or the sheer challenge of this trip and the desolate beauty of Alaska I don’t know-- I put my ipod on, troop up to the foredeck and dance around in front of the webcam as arranged for seven pm with my extended family.
I don’t know if they see me, but as I’m dancing, feeling sad and trying to look happy, I notice a small fat sparrow on the deck. I kneel down and it goes still and then we both start moving together down the deck, me walking, it hopping. It hops near the open door of a room where some ropes and other gear is hanging and, worried, it might hop inside and get trapped, I make big gestures to scare it away from there. Then I run to the sick bay.
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So this is what the edge of the world feels like.

Adak is the most westerly town in the United States. It is 1,300 miles southwest of Anchorage and 350 miles west of Dutch Harbor, the final redoubt before the Aleutians devolve into a broken necklace of isolated volcanic pearls.

And it is empty. Or so, at least, it seems.

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And can you make it toxic free? 

A good friend of mine bought some junk of a house in NE (a lower income quadrant of the District of Columbia that is quickly becoming the IT area) two years ago and decided to gut the entire place and rebuild his very own house. Sounds fun, time consuming, and exhausting. It is. In the winter it's really cold and in the summer you have to stand directly in front of the air conditioner to cool down. Needless to say we usually hang out at my house.

Ben and I have been friends for about 5 years. He has slowly come around that non-violent direct action makes change and now I've moved on to the discussion that his new house should be green in design. He gives me the same old excuses that big companies like Kimberly Clark say, "it's too expensive and difficult to go green". I call Bullsh****.

And I'm out to prove it. So is Brad Pitt with Global Green and the New Orleans chapter of Habitat for Humanity by building their Musicians Village pvc-free.

Maybe you're asking yourself, what the hell is a 'green building'? And that's cool. I'm not a building expert or even an environmental expert of any kind (I just work here people).  So I did some research. Here's what I found:

Global Green defines a green building as a building that "saves energy, conserves water, protects natural resources, contributes to a healthy indoor environment, and reduces the building's impact on the community." Makes sense.

Now, how do you that?

My House is Your House is an organization that talks about this. It is a consumer education advocacy campaign that is tied to the award-winning documentary Blue Vinyl (our very own Toxics Campaigner Rick Hind is featured in the movie).

The Healthy Building Network says, "Green design and construction standards, materials policies and operating practices are an opportunity to decrease - and even reverse - the profound impacts of the contemporary building industry on the environment and human health" and is using their influence to help keep green builders true to their mission and stand tall against the toxic industry's bullying ways.

The Natural Resources Defense Council has an entire site dedicated to "Building Green: From Principle to Practice". 

I know this isn't that in depth, but it's a good starting point for you to do some additional research on your own. So there you go. Homework!

Alright Ben, let's do this!  

Holla . . .  

When official announcement was made of the first planned nuclear test on Amchitka Island, the response of then-Alaska Governor William J. Egan was to declare that, “I am pleased that we have been selected as the hosts, so to speak, for this test, and I’m sure I speak for my fellow Alaskans.” He stated that 140 previous tests in Nevada had “proven that there is no danger from radioactivity being released in the test area.”

In fact, 56 of those 140 Nevada tests had leaked radioactivity. And so did that first Amchitka test, dubbed Long Shot, which was detonated on October 29, 1965.

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She has freckles, long eyelashes, a crooked smile and she's floating in the middle of the Bering Sea. There is no land in sight, no boats but ours. It is our job to rescue Overboard Annie.
How did she fall overboard? Actually, we threw her off, then circled the ship 'round to start our emergency drill. I was on the bridge talking to Captain Pete at the time, having forgotten all about the cryptic note on the blackboard this morning mentioning O.A. drill at 14:30. When I'd asked what it meant I was told it didn't involve me, as I'm only here for three weeks, unlike the rest of the crew who are mostly on for three month stints. So mid-afternoon there I was chatting blithely away to Pete when suddenly he responded to a message, moved to the control panel, pressed a red button and an alarm sounded.
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In the process of helping give a tour of the ship the other day to four youngsters from St. Paul--who, it turned out, had been on board a couple times earlier in the day, and whose interest seemed focused only on the snack area they had previously discovered in the mess room--I passed Penny, the bosun, cleaning paint brushes out on the poop deck.

"And here," I said to nobody in particular (because the children, aware that Penny was neither a snack food nor rich in trans fats, had little interest in her), "is an actual crew member doing actual work."

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I'm admitting it. I'm a slave to fashion. I love shopping. I love shoes and bags and makeup. I'm the best target for marketing people. Yes, I work on issues that usually go against this type of consumerism, but the reality is in my personal life I love shopping.

So besides the whole toxics part of this, I'm loving the whole banning of plastic bags in cities. There are already bags being designed specifically for this issue and they are selling out everywhere. This cute one once sold for $10 and now aggressive shoppers might be able to get their hands on it for anywhere between $600-$1000!

I totally want to get my grimmy paws on one of those. Or maybe I can make my own, though I doubt that will actually happen. However, I was super creative this weekend when I turned all my hat boxes into my drafting table legs. So I guess you never know where a slow weekend will take you.

Besides seeing hippies take on more fashionable ways to shop for GMO-free, organic food (which is always nice), mainstream media has taken on this issue as well.

Here are some interesting articles:

NY Times 

Christina Science Monitor  

USA Today 

 

Here is some more information on what our office in Amsterdam is saying about chemicals in our homes.  

 

Holla.  

Last night at around 2300--shortly after a community meeting that was occasionally fractious, but overall highly positive and supportive, and in which one elder in particular spoke with forcefulness and anger about the need to shut down factory fishing--we left St. Paul Island. Today, we have been sailing south from the Pribilofs to return to the Aleutians. Around midnight tonight, we are scheduled to arrive at Nikolski, following which we will conclude our community visits with stops at, in turn, Atka and Adak.

The sea has been flat calm, and while the sky has, of course, been gray, it has at least been clear, with not even a hint of the fog that has followed us everywhere like a morose yet overly-obedient dog. As a result, the day has provided an opportunity to catch up on outstanding tasks, and to prepare for what lies ahed.

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Looked at up close, fur seals seem really improbable animals. Underwater it is a different story: slick and streamlined, they arc gracefully through the element for which Nature intended them. But on a rocky beach on St. Paul Island, those same flippers which propel them effortlessly beneath the waves look like an afterthought, a sick joke on the part of a disinterested creator: “Well, I have these things left over, and I have to use them on something, so I may as well stick them on these seals.”

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The Disclaimer: Today's blog is of a more serious nature than some of my previous ones, as I take you into some very heavy meetings that include complicated issues and language I haven't had the chance to educate myself enough to talk about except in the most basic terms. I hope there are no inaccuracies, and if there are I apologize and beg your indulgence as a blog is a like a daily diary and on this ship there is scant time for intensive study in my schedule so far! For more information on this very important issue, please see George Pletnikoff's blog on the Bering Sea Voices website.
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Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I’d be sitting on top of this much power. Only an astronaut (and maybe Elvis in his heyday) knows how this feels. I’m talking about being behind the wheel of the Rolling Sunlight, Greenpeace’s mobile demonstration and educational vehicle showcasing clean energy technologies that I, along with three other lucky souls, will be piloting across America for a month.

The idea behind our expedition is to draw attention to global warming and what we all can do to slow it. I think we can all agree that the global warming future is not one that we want. We can also agree to prevent it. To do so we must look to the clean alternatives that are available and use the electricity that is generated in our society responsibly. Enter the Rolling Sunlight, a bio-diesel chugging, solar powered powerhouse that proves that with a big dose of ingenuity and a dash of fun, we can do anything, even reshape our energy economy into one built upon renewable energy.

I can’t wait to see the looks on people’s faces when we roll into campsites and parking lots with this baby. To keep us powered we’ll be drinking solar smoothies made in blender powered by the sun. If you see us on the road you’d better stop for one. They’re delicious.

Along the long asphalt trail from Washington D.C. to San Francisco we’ll also be promoting Project Hot Seat, Greenpeace’s campaign to force Congress to act on global warming NOW. PHS is working from coast to coast and Congress is starting to listen. Just last week they passed an energy bill with a national renewable energy standard. Now we need them keep to it up and pass an increase to car fuel efficiency and cap global warming emissions.

I hope you’ll join us on our adventure this month by reading our trip blog. We’ll tell you about what we see, who we meet, and about the amazing capacity of our renewable ride.

Until then,

I have a slim book with me, by Sumner MacLeish, a Bostonian by birth who for several years in the 1990s lived on St. Paul, where we are now docking. She married an Aleut in a ceremony officiated by none other than our very own George Pletnikoff, who was at the time a pastor with the Russian Orthodox Church. The book, about life in the Pribilofs, is titled "Seven Words for Wind," which she explains in the opening paragraph: "Aleuts have at least seven words for wind, many of which refer to strength. Day after day, night after night, sometimes for weeks on end, the wind pushes across hundreds of miles of open water, across this small plate of land in the Bering Sea."

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Two days ago we arrived at St. George, an island populated by 108 people and a heck of a lot of fur seals and birds such as the Red- Leg Kittywake and Thick-Billed Murre. Imagine cliffs teeming with birds and their offspring, gulls squawking overhead and the grunts of fur seals and surf pounding the shore.
We arrived in the afternoon, after a morning where Stoweaway found the "Nausicalm" didn't. Even more ignominious, we were only in five foot swells.
After awhile, I fell into the sleep I hadn't had much of the night before. When I woke up it was afternoon and there was this sound like marbles the size of giant satelite dishes tumbling out of a closet. Holy s, had we hit something?
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Last night after our fabulous whale watching day we gathered in the mess where Kelly, the marine biologist, gave us a talk on whale vocalization, playing us some recorded sounds. "What's that?" someone asks. "That thumping sound? That's the whales jumping on the seals," says Kelly. The room goes sober, as we imagine that scene, although the image provokes some uncontrollable laughter too, which gets worse as she explains the next sounds, a kind of garbled grunting. "Now they're eating. They're like us, they like to talk over their food, it's like a whale dinner party." Hmn. Do the Humpbacks...like the beauties we saw all morning...do that too?  How incredibly ignorant I am about whale behaviour. Later, Kelly educates me: Humpbacks eat fish or Krill, a shrimplike creature. But right here, right now in the mess she is talking about Killer Whales and Tom (our resident radio operator and techno-genius) corrects her: "Orcas". There is no mistaking the disapproval in his voice. Kelly doesn't hear him. I ask her later about the discrepancy in terms. Haven't some people...by which I really mean "Greenpeace"...decided to call these types of whales "Orcas" as the term "Killer Whale" sounds perjorative, and creates a lack of empathy? "Well, they kill other whales," she says matter-of-factly. => Read more...

I had an interesting conversation with George last night—it would admittedly be difficult to have any other kind of conversation with George—during which we touched on the meaning of “action” in a Greenpeace context, particularly as it applies to this expedition.

Both inside and outside the organization, the traditional view of Greenpeace action is of non-violent confrontation: driving inflatables between whales and harpoons, for example, or sailing a ship to a nuclear test site.

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You are nursing a cup of coffee in the mess, the last breakfaster, late at 8:15, when First Mate Hettie tells you to get your ass up to the bridge for whale watch. You'll be on watch from 8:30 to noon with your cabin mate Kelly, a marine biologist who is documenting whale sounds, and Willem who coordinates, well, just about everything around here. You grab a hat and jacket and water and laptop and binoculars and camera and haul your rear end to your post. Hettie says, "We expect to see whales very shortly once we're out of the harbour", and then the Espy hauls anchor and sails out of Dutch in a sea so smooth you can barely feel the ship moving.

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The shearwaters came first, a steady parade of seabirds skimming the surface of the sea, flying across the water in a seemingly interminable procession. Then, far ahead, close to the horizon, there was a whale blow, then another. Shortly afterward, another.

We grew closer, and the number of whale blows kept growing. Five, six, seven, eight in a row, all stretched out ahead of us, and then humpback whale dorsal fins, and then an occasional tail as a whale dove deep beneath the waves.

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For a couple of days, I just stared from shore. The Esperanza sat at anchor, close enough almost to touch, but I wasn’t ready to board just yet. I had other things to do before I took a ride out to what would be my home for the next two weeks or so.

Sam and I saw each other just about every day for most of the seven years I lived in Anchorage, but we hadn’t laid eyes on each other since I reluctantly left Alaska about eighteen months ago. But now, there she was, waiting for me at Dutch Harbor airport, and I can’t even tell you how overjoyed I was to see her. It isn’t every day you find your closest friend working on an island in the Bering Sea, after all. But there she was, and for a couple of days, there was much catching up to do. There were long nights at the Unisea Bar, and long days spent recovering while staring at the television and DVD marathons of "Rescue Me."

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"...are we there yet?" How many of we parents and grandparents have heard those wonderful and so touching questions when driving? Oh, I know it can be so annoying, especially when stuck in rush hour traffic, or when we are a bit late, but to those of us who are seperated for any length of time from our families, they are words more and more cherished.

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Greenpeace is known for rocking the boat, but we also have boats that ROCK, and I don't mean just the way the Espy is rocking us right now, gently like babies in a cradle. This ship has five zodiacs on board, a sauna, a heli-pad, and...most important of all...an espresso machine in the lounge, the engine that truly powers this vessel according to certain wags. All this, and I keep flashing back to the Phyllis Cormack, Greenpeace's first boat, that set sail from Vancouver in 1971 for Amchitka Island where the U.S. government was preparing to explode an atomic bomb hundreds of times bigger than the one that leveled Hiroshima.

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We are back in Dutch Harbor now and enjoying the first sunshine since we left here three weeks ago. As I look north out of the harbor, I can see the almost ever present fog bank waiting for us. The last three weeks we used two one person submarines and an ROV (Remotely Operated vehicle) to explore two canyons around the Pribilof Islands. It was tiring work for the ship drivers. Maintaining communication with the submarines meant staying directly (plus or minus 100 meters) over them. Staying on top of the ROV is sort of a given, as it is attached to the ship with a 1000 to 250 meter fiber optic cable.

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Greetings from Unalaska/Dutch Harbor, in the Aleutian Islands.  We have finished our (first!) submarine expedition to explore two of the world's largest underwater canyons.  The crew is tired but happy, and so am I.  The weather cooperated, and we were able to do 25 sub dives and 8 successful ROV dives, giving us well over 50 hours on the bottom.  From the techical and logistics side, the expedition was a huge success.  But what did we find, and what does it mean?

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News Flash!
The Bush administration misrepresented science to promote an ideological agenda favoring special interests that puts our environment at risk!

Yeah, I know this isn't exactly a surprise, but it just happened again.

Bush’s Fish and Wildlife Service is in the process of “revising” (read: ripping apart) the recovery plan for the Northern Spotted Owl – an endangered creature that depends on old-growth forests to survive.  Everyone knows that to help endangered wildlife, you need to protect habitat.  Nothing can survive without a place to live.

So, with the owl plummeting towards extinction, the obvious thing to do is boost protections for old-growth forests, right?  With breath-taking disregard for science and common sense, the Bush administration proposed logging more old-growth forests as part of its owl recovery plan.  In fact, they propose buzz-sawing about 25% of the owl’s remaining critical habitat.

And that’s supposed to help?

Now, I’m not sure why they thought they could get away with this.  In fact, when they commissioned an independent science panel to comment on their plan, the scientists said the Bush administration “failed to make use of the best available science and, in fact, appears to have selectively cited from the available science to justify a reduction in habitat protection.”

That’s polite, scientist-talk for: “Are you kidding?  You guys cheated to make excuses for more clear-cutting!”

Another review had this back-to-the-drawing-board feedback for the Bush administration: “Our main recommendation to (Fish and Wildlife) is to scrap the draft recovery plan, convene a panel of independent scientists and ecologists to redo the recovery plan and place on hold related forest policy decisions…”

Ouch!  That's a serious scientific slap-down.

The scientists have had their say; now it’s your chance.  Click here to send your comments on Bush's old-growth logging, uh, I mean “owl recovery” plan by this Friday, August 24th.

To read the official plan, click here.

And don’t worry – you don’t need to be an owl expert to comment on these plans.  In fact, if you passed 5th grade science, it seems you’re way out ahead of the Bush administration!

-Rolf 

In addition to the exiting undersea research and exploration taking place in the Pribilof and Zhemchug Canyons, we are doing bird surveys for biologists at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This involves making observations of the endangered short-tailed albatross, (Phoebastria albatrus) recording the exact location of the sightings as well as differentiating between adults, subadults and juveniles.

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Alaska Natives and Marine Cultural Heritage Zones

Alaska’s First Peoples are facing many challenges. Resources, both for economic and subsistence needs, are reaching critical mass. More and more people want a similar lifestyle we have cherished for thousands of years in our homeland. Businesses, charter boats, commercial fishers and others dependent upon those ventures are demanding rights to resources. Families are struggling to find enough fish to not only feed themselves, but to also make ends meet economically. Sadly, both the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea are forced into a system not ever experienced by their calm. Global competition, climate changes and food competitions are damaging what we all consider "ecosystems in beauty." For our people, this must mean we take a very close look at our needs. This must mean we become critical of how these finite resources are being divided by foreign powers, economic powers, challenging our traditional knowledge and ways. This means we must assert our beliefs and inalienable rights to what has proven to be our lifeline for generations: we must demand marine cultural heritage zones!

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