Our "Break the Addiction" video is up for a Webby Award, and today is the last day to vote!

If you want to vote for our video, go to http://pv.webbyawards.com/ and follow these steps:

1. Click on the "Register now to vote!" button on the right and register to vote (It’s free and easy, but you need to use a working email address in order to confirm your registration)
2. Click on “Online Film & Video + Vote Now"
3. Scroll down and click on “Public Service and Activism”
4. Vote for “Breaking The Addiction” (yeah they got the name wrong...)

It's just that easy! For bonus points, you can also use the handy button to share your vote on Facebook.


Winners will be announced May 5th. Props to Brian Thompson, who put this video together for us.

Thanks for your support, and hope you enjoy the video!

When I was in the 8th grade, I ran on the 4 x 4 relay team. One sunny Saturday on the rubber track still stands out in my mind. On that warm day, I ran a personal best for my leg of the relay, but our team lost the race in the end. On one hand, I was happy to have reached a new individual record, but on the other hand I was sad to have lost the race. Little did I know that feeling would come back years later while working at Greenpeace…..

The bittersweet emotion came yesterday, when I read a press statement from Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke announcing that they “are revoking an eleventh-hour Bush administration rule that undermined Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections.” In rolling back the legislation, they have ensured that federal agencies must consult with biologists when taking action that might further threaten endangered species. Wooo hooo! Yipeee! Hurray!

While it is nice to revel in this environmental victory, the overall picture isn’t as appealing. Secretary Salazar still has work to do to save the illustrious Polar Bear – he needs to withdraw the shameless exemption that removes global warming from the list of threats that must be considered when analyzing negative impacts to the Polar Bear under the ESA. If he doesn’t, it means that ice-bound Arctic species go extinct, thanks to human-made global warming pollution.

The interesting part of the story is that Greenpeace delivered 85,000 petitions to the Department of the Interior last week. Clearly, the Secretary has seen and heard the call to support the Polar Bear from supporters like you. Thank you! It really goes to show that we can make a difference when we pull together and when the government recommits itself to scientific integrity. But it also goes to show that government agencies move like honey, not like water, on environmental issues.

That leaves us with one oil-interested Bush regulation down and one left to go. Secretary Salazar has until May 9th to overturn the global warming exemption for the Polar Bear, so sign the petition now! Greenpeace is working to make sure that Salazar uses his authority to withdraw the regulation. After all, winning one lap doesn’t mean you’ve won the entire race.

We’ve been saying all along that nukes are not the answer to global warming: they’re too expensive, too risky, and new reactors take far too long to bring online. We need a clean energy economy now, not 10 years from now. Our Energy [R]evolution report shows how we can meet our growing energy needs and help rebuild our economy entirely without building new nuclear energy plants (or new coal-fired plants either, for that matter).

According to a Wall Street Journal blog post, it turns out the new chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) agrees with us:

FERC Chairman: We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Nukes

Forget everything you’ve heard from people like energy secretary Steven Chu and Exxon boss Rex Tillerson about the need for a mix of energy sources this century. The U.S. doesn’t need any new nuclear or coal-fired plants. It can do the job with just renewable energy and natural gas.

Yes, that is Greenpeace’s energy blueprint. It’s also the line of Jon Wellinghoff, the new chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the nominal head of the U.S. power system.

Speaking at a conference yesterday, Mr. Wellinghoff said the U.S. can make do without new nuclear or coal plants, Green Wire reports: “We may not need any, ever,” he said.

And yesterday the WSJ had another blog post up pointing out the similarities between our stance on coal and nukes and Mr. Wellinghoff’s. Yesterday, you might recall, was also our new boss’s first day on the job. Phil Radford spent the first half of his first day on a 140-foot construction crane helping to hang a banner across the street from the Major Economies Forum at the State Department, and the second half in jail for his part in this daring non-violent action. The WSJ blogger, Russel Gold, after first pointing out that both Radford and Wellinghoff oppose nuclear and coal, proceeds to ask, Who is the real radical: “The guy inside the political power corridors – or the one dangling from a crane above them?”

Now, given that he’s writing for the Wall Street Journal, I have a feeling Russel Gold is probably trying to undermine the credibility of Jon Wellinghoff, not demonstrate how our position on global warming solutions – which were once very much on the fringe, especially when we started working on the issue in the 90s – have become mainstream.

Of course the answer to Gold’s question is: neither! They’re both realists. There’s nothing radical about opposing nuclear power: at $12 to $18 billion per plant, even MidAmerican Holdings, a subsidiary of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (Buffett, if you’re not familiar, is one of the world’s most successful investors, known as the “Oracle of Omaha” for his investing acumen), withdrew plans to build a new nuclear power plant because it was not economically viable (citation available in this PDF).

And Congressman Ed Markey has even said that, “by the time we reach the switch being pulled for the first nuclear power plant to be generating their first 1,000 megawatts we will probably have 150,000 megawatts of renewables 10 years from now.” Here’s hoping we do have that much renewable energy capacity by then, because if not, we will have failed to avert the worst effects of global warming.

Every one of those $12 to $18 billion we spend on a new nuclear plant is a dollar we don’t spend developing renewable energy generating capacity, or the smart grid needed to get that energy to the marketplace. These technologies are ready to start producing energy now, not 10 years from now. What’s so radical about wanting to implement a solution that will actually solve the worst environmental crisis of our time, rather than throwing money away on false solutions?

"Global warming is an issue that concerns all of us... If our leaders can find the time and the money to bail out the banks, then they can certainly bail out our planet. It's simply too big to fail."

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!

Never!  

Over and over again, we write about the forest destruction caused by tissue-giant Kimberly-Clark.  To make products like Kleenex, Scott, and Viva, Kimberly-Clark destroys pristine, thousand year old ecosystems.  Its products are used once and then thrown away, but leave a lasting mark on the landscape and displace migratory birds, caribou, wolverines, and other critical species.

It would never seem appropriate to use something like a television set once and then throw it away, yet companies like Kimberly-Clark continue to do just this to our ancient forests when they pulp them for Kleenex.

This was the message delivered across the country when Greenpeace volunteers filled trashcans with objects we would never use once and throw away to make the point that we should not use our ancient forests once and throw them away as Kleenex.  Garbage cans were filled with products like skateboards, bikes, toasters, and televisions to show the absurdity and wastefulness of throwing using products once!

 

In Chicago, locals, superheros (youngsters dressed as Superman) gathered with “Treemo,” Chicago's loveable, huggable humanoid tree, in Millenium Park to spread the word about the importance of incorporating recycled fiber into tissue products.  

In Monterey, California, and Austin, Texas, garbage cans held products like bikes, golf clubs, guitars, snowboards, and electronics.  In Los Angeles, California, Greenpeace volunteers spread the word about forest destruction caused by our disposable products to the passers on the Walk of Stars in Hollywood!

 

In Portland, at the local Whole Foods, Greenpeace volunteers chatted with shoppers about the importance of making tissues from paper instead of from trees. Several of the brands on the Greenpeace Recycled Tissue and Toilet Paper Guide were available at the store for folks to try or continue to buy.

Even in the heat at high noon, our fearless volunteers, their “trees,” superheros, and garbage cans spread the word of the importance of using tissue products that contain recycled content and post-consumer recycled content and made without harmful whitening chemicals.

Bright and early this morning I got a text picture message from my friend. The message said—Greenpeace Strikes! And she included a quick snap of my fellow Greenpeacers hanging a banner across the street from the U.S. State Department in Washington, DC.

Greenpeace was hanging a banner to tell the Ministers from the 17 biggest global emitters that the planet is "too big to fail." The ministers are in DC to talk about the climate as part of the Major Economies Forum.

Greenpeace is calling on world leaders to take personal responsibility for guaranteeing a strong, legally binding and fair agreement at the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen, in December.

My hope is that these world leaders will move quickly to act on global warming solutions. We need more action and less talking and meetings! Time is running out. The leaders need to use this meeting as an opportunity to fast-track discussions on avoiding catastrophic warming.  

A peak in global emissions by 2015 followed by a rapid decline to as close to zero as possible by 2050 is crucial to protect the climate. The industrialized world must commit to deeper cuts in emissions and provide financial and technical assistance to developing countries to enable them to switch to clean energy, stop deforestation and adapt to those climate impacts that are now unavoidable.

President Obama has said that the US is ready to lead on global warming. I’d like to see us start leading today by encouraging world leaders to get moving on strong global warming solutions in their home countries.

Check out the slideshow for more images from the banner hang >>

--Michelle

When 17 heads of government descend on Washington Monday for President Obama’s Major Emitters Forum, he will hear the same demand from each of them: that the United States take big action, immediately, to slash climate pollution – or risking putting a real global solution to the climate crisis at risk.

Even though President Obama was elected on a platform of delivering action on global warming, and has passionately reiterated those pledges since becoming president, he will have to overcome enormous skepticism from his international negotiating partners. At this summit, it is they who will be repeating Ronald Reagan’s maxim about Soviet overtures at the beginning of the glasnost era: Trust, but verify.

The presidents and prime ministers have good reason to doubt: for all Obama’s talk (and President Clinton’s before him) about the urgency of the climate crisis, the United States has done little to nothing to address global warming pollution, even as almost every other developed country has at least started down the road to a climate-friendly economy.

Of course, there are some sprigs of hope: the House Energy and Commerce committee is currently debating a bill that constitutes a good first step in the transition to a prosperous clean energy economy. But even that bill currently falls short of the 25-40 percent short-term cuts in U.S. pollution that scientists say is necessary to avoid the worst impacts of global warming: massive droughts, floods, extreme weather, and extinction of endangered species like the polar bear, not to mention a $3.8 trillion drag on the economy.

That bill, however, faces huge challenges: Republicans and even some Democrats with close ties to the coal industry are likely to try to water it down even further. And even if it makes it out of the House intact, it will be a big political challenge to pull together the 60 votes necessary to pass major legislation in the Senate.

If the United States doesn’t take action that matches its responsibility, it’s unlikely other countries will meet theirs: China will continue to build new, very dirty coal fired power plants, and tropical countries like Indonesia, Brazil, and the Congo will continue to allow giant agricultural interests to burn down their forests. And the climate will rapidly careen out of control.

But President Obama can single-handedly avert that fate with a little political hardball. His Environmental Protection Agency recently declared the climate change does indeed represent a threat to human health and welfare – giving the Obama administration the authority to unilaterally limit climate pollution through the Clean Air Act.

No negotiation with ornery senators necessary. No bargaining with committee chairmen seeking to protect some home-state polluter that makes big campaign contributions. Just an honest look at the science – and what it’s going to take to deliver future generations a living planet.  But so far, the Obama administration has danced around this authority and implied they’re only using it as a back-up in case Congress doesn’t act.

If Obama is serious about getting other countries to act in concert with the United States to meet this global challenge, that’s got to change. A firm declaration that he will regulate carbon dioxide to the maximum extent possible will bring developing countries to the table in a serious way.

It will also ensure that Congress passes a reasonably strong bill: if they don’t pass something commensurate with what Obama does through the Clean Air Act, he can just veto it. It’s hardball, sure, but it’s what it will take to solve this great crisis.

--Phil

There was a rather interesting (if you want to call it that) story in the New York Times today about how the Global Climate Coalition, "a group representing industries with profits tied to fossil fuels," ignored its own scientists' findings that human activity is causing global warming. These findings date back to the early 90s at least. Of course this is not surprising: The auto, oil, and coal industries, to name a few, are still by and large trying to obstruct legislation that will regulate their ability to pollute our atmosphere, even well after all legitimate debate on the issue is over.

These corporate polluters don't need to "win" the debate, of course, just sow doubt and confusion, in order to delay action on global warming. And they've done that quite well, often aided and abetted by journalists who are compelled to present both "sides" of an argument, no matter how illogical one side might seem, and are surprisingly easily duped by the hacks on the payrolls of groups like the Global Climate Coalition.

Greenpeace's own Glenn Hurowitz wrote a blog for the Huffington Post about how journalists are still being duped on a daily basis by these same industries:

The amazing thing about this story is not that industry deceived journalists about the threat of climate change, but that journalists are still buying industry deceptions to this day - just different ones.

Having finally lost the battle about the reality of climate change, these same industries and their backers in Congress have come up with a different deception: that bold action on climate change would somehow negatively affect the economy.

In fact, there's overwhelming evidence showing that climate change is causing hundreds of billions of dollars in drag on the U.S. and world economies as a result of drought, flood, sea level rise (Hurricane Katrina alone caused more than $100 billion in damage), and greater spending on hot-weather accoutrements like air conditioning. NRDC estimates the damage from just four impacts at $2000 per family every single year. And that number doesn't even consider, for example, the $167 billion annual health care costs attributable to regular old cancer-and-asthma inducing coal fired power plants.

Nevertheless, many journalists, including even many at The New York Times (here and here (h/t Joseph Romm) for instance) repeat as received truth the industry's latest myth that continuing to spew pollution is somehow good for the economy.

I'm sure the oil and coal industries have a memo somewhere that will come out in 15 years showing that, in fact, their economists knew the environmentalists were right all along: a clean energy economy will in fact boost GDP, create millions of new clean energy jobs, and save consumers money on their electricity bills.

But until that memo comes out, they're going to continue peddling totally concocted junk economics about dirty energy to reporters - and impede the creation of the clean energy economy.

It's time for journalists to learn from experience that no matter what your instincts or how slick and knowing the industry flacks seem, they cannot be trusted. They can't be trusted when they say tobacco is safe, they can't be trusted when they deny the need for seat belts, they can't be trusted when they deny the dangers of climate change, and they most certainly can't be trusted when it comes to the new green economy.

Just thought I'd share this video put together by our awesome video crew. It's from the Windy City action we did on Earth Day — when we erected six wind turbines in downtown Chicago to show what the clean energy future will look like.


If you're on YouTube, we'd appreciate it if you could favorite the video, as always!

I have a giant poster with pictures of polar bears on it next to my desk. It reminds me of one of the reasons I work at Greenpeace: to help those that can’t help them selves.

The polar bear was listed as an Endangered Species in the waning Bush days, but global warming was removed from the list of threats that must be considered when assessing federal activities that might further endanger the polar bear. Polar bears, as we all know, are under grave threat from human-induced global warming, as their icy habitat is melting away (read more here). This is similar to being admitted to the hospital, only to be told that you won’t be receiving treatment!

In an effort to mitigate global warming and to save the prestigious polar bear, I headed to the Department of the Interior (DOI) in Washington, DC today and brought along two polar bear friends as well as some young activists (view a slideshow). We delivered a petition with nearly 85,000 signatures to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar’s office. The petition asks him to revoke the Bush regulations that undermine the Endangered Species Act protections for polar Bears.


After a long wait in the moody spring weather, a sharp representative from Secretary Salazar’s office – Ray Rivera, Director of External and Intergovernmental Affairs for the DOI – came out to greet us and take the petitions off our hands. Mr. Rivera noted that he “really had to hand it to us” because he “had already seen polar bears in four different states!” (One of the other states was California; we were there to welcome Sec. Salazar when he visited last week). I guess people are concerned about polar bears all over the country!


Rivera also assured us that Sec. Salazar is committed to scientific principles (Obama could have said this himself). This leaves us hoping that Sec. Salazar will use his authority to repeal the illogical and dangerous regulations that bar the polar bear from serious protection under the Endangered Species Act, so that dreamers like me can savor our polar bear posters rather than mourn them. But Sec. Salazar only has a limited time to exercise this authority!

We’ll be delivering more peitions to Salazar on May 7 and May 8, because the deadline for him to take action to save the polar bears is May 9th. Biodiversity is something we can all value, and it is clearly unacceptable to watch a species dwindle away until one day it vanishes completely. You still have time to sign the petition and help save the polar bears!

Things have finally started to calm down in the Greenpeace office here in the Windy City following our successful installation of six wind turbines in downtown Chicago (view a slideshow, read more).


Now, as a bit of background, I’ve been an environmentalist for most of my life. My mom still jokes about my “adorable” effort to start a recycling program at my pre-school. However, I must admit, I’d never been a part of an Earth Day event that had any real meaning to me.

Today was different.

Walking into the office at 7:15 this morning, I knew a couple things. I knew we were creating an image that would inspire people to imagine a clean energy future – a world where dirty, toxic coal plants have been replaced with wind power and green jobs. I knew we were going to walk down to an iconic Chicago bridge and set up symbolic turbines. I knew, after hours of training at a Southside warehouse, the exact bolt tightening sequence required to get the prop up safely.

However, I had no idea how I would actually feel when I saw them go up.


The media team was right; it was fully inspiring.

Over the course of the day, I attempted to gather reactions from the activists and Frontliners who were handing flyers on the bridge and sharing our message with the public. Not surprisingly, the response was overwhelmingly positive. Outside of the typical “awesome,” “cool, ” or “can you take a picture with me?” a couple reactions stuck out.

A mother, walking along the bridge with her two kids, directed their attention to our turbines, saying, “That’s your future.” (And why shouldn’t it be? The wind industry is ready to employ millions of Americans and help ensure a livable world for future generations.)


Lucas, an Italian tourist, told us he was proud that America had elected Barack Obama, but even happier that there were organizations like ours willing to push the new president to do what it takes to stop global warming.

And finally, while watching our team of trained activists take down the turbines, several passersby remarked that “city crews” had been called in to remove the props. (For a bunch of young climate activists, we put on a good show.)

The coal and oil companies are throwing embarrassing amounts of money into a PR campaign designed to convince us that it’s somehow safer and cheaper to stay completely dependent on their dirty energy. We’re smarter than that. Cheap, clean, homegrown energy is available right here, right now. Today, I saw first hand that our vision of the future is undoubtedly brighter.

If you want to help us push President Obama and Congress to make this vision of the clean energy future a reality, sign our petition now!

I can imagine a clean energy future, can you?? Send a Happy Earth Day ecard to your friends and family. Get them thinking about the environment today and everyday.

Send your ecards today...

 

As I’m sure you know, tomorrow is Earth Day. But this year, we’re getting started a day early. (Besides, it’s already Earth Day in places like Japan, Fiji, and New Zealand.)

With the Copenhagen Climate Conference coming up in December, every day needs to be Earth Day this year. We're mobilizing people to join our fight to force the world’s governments to act against runaway global warming, and we made this video, “Inspring Action,” to help recruit.

If you want to help, send the video link to 5 friends, favorite it on YouTube, and become a climate activist by signing up with Greenpeace.

Over 300 activists assembled today to participate in an act of civil disobedience in Charlotte, North Carolina to protest the massive new coal-burning power plant Duke Energy is building at Cliffside. It was the latest and biggest in a string of actions that have been carried out since the Capitol Climate Action in March, which unleashed a wave of grassroots activity aimed at stopping new coal plants from being built and ushering in a new era of clean energy in America.

After the estimated 300-400 activists rallied in front of Duke's Charlotte headquarters, 44 were eventually arrested, including Jim Warren of NC Warn; Bo Webb and Mike Roselle from Coal River Mountain in Appalachia; Larry Gibson and Mike McCoy-from Kentuckians for the Commonwealth; and several Rutherford County residents who live near the site where construction of the Cliffside plant is already underway. They are likely to be charged with second-degree trespass.

Duke Energy made an especially good target because the company’s CEO, Jim Rogers, likes to tout his company’s commitment to addressing global warming even while the company is building a coal-fired plant that will keep North Carolina hooked on coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel around, for the next 50 years.

But climate change-causing greenhouse gas emissions aren’t even the only reason why we need to transition off of dirty fossil fuels like coal and onto clean energy sources like wind and solar. The coal mining practice known as mountaintop removal, for instance, is incredibly destructive, capable of completely destroying whole eco-systems; mining in general is dangerous for miners and their families; and the burning of coal has several serious impacts on public health.

And of course let’s not forget the little problem of storing all the highly-toxic coal ash that is left over.

There’s also the fact that investing in renewables instead of coal would create more jobs and help revitalize our ailing economy. Read more about today’s action and the environmental, health, and economic costs of coal here.

The demonstration in Charlotte, NC was organized by a coalition of over a dozen environmental, faith-based, and social justice groups, all of whom are calling on Duke Energy and the state of North Carolina to cancel construction of the Cliffside coal power plant. The plant is predicted to cost $2.4 billion and emit an estimated six million tons of carbon dioxide every year for the next 50 years. Similar protests have happened at coal plants in West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, and other states. Several more are planned for this summer. You can view more pictures here.

The Capitol Climate Action was the catalyst for this new wave of climate activism. We can’t sit around and wait for solutions, we have to go out and make them a reality. And we simply can’t stand for decisionmakers like Jim Rogers delaying action while greenwashing their own activities.

Greenpeace’s field organizer in North Carolina, John Deans, put it best: “It’s absolutely hypocritical for Rogers to talk about sustainability and responsibility when Cliffside locks in dangerous climate pollution for another 50 years. If they really want to protect the planet and create jobs, they’d invest in wind and solar power instead of more polluting energy.”

Activists in Charlotte, NC have just reached Duke Energy HQ! They're there to protest the company's Cliffside coal-fired power plant, which is currently under construction and will only prolong North Carolina's reliance on the dirtiest fossil fuel around, coal.

Follow updates in real time on Twitter!

And if you couldn't be in Charlotte today but want to make your voice heard, you can call Duke Energy and tell them to "Stop Cliffside!" yourself:

Duke Energy
1-800-488-3853

This is an open thread, so let us know in the comments if you made a call and what response you got, or just tell us what you're seeing out there in the field.

Have you ever wondered what goes into your can of tuna fish? Turtles, smaller fish, marine mammals and even some species of tuna are at risk from pirate fishing and irresponsible fishery management. As more and more people get an appetite for tuna, less and less can be found in the seas. Watch the Greenpeace video and open up a can of truth.

Update: 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!

A couple weeks ago, we released a video called “What's inside your box of Kleenex?” Kimberly-Clark doesn't have a policy for using recycled content in their consumer paper products, which include Kleenex as well as Scott, Cottonelle, and Viva. Even worse than not using recycled content, the company sources some of its wood pulp from virgin forest, including some of the last remaining ancient Boreal forests in North America. That’s the dirty secret about what’s inside every box of Kleenex: ancient forests.

Kimberly-Clark has launched a big marketing campaign to try and tell consumers that it "Feels good to feel" their tissues. But with virgin forest in every box, Kleenex comes with more than a feeling. So we made a video to get the word out:


If you’re a YouTube user, please favorite the video! And if you want to let Kimberly-Clark know that you won’t be using their products until they start using recycled content, please take action now!

... with John Deans, Greenpeace field organizer in NC, calling out Jim Rogers, CEO of Duke Energy, for building a new coal plant — in my local paper!

Check out John's quote at the end of the article, responding to Rogers saying it will take multi-generational patience to address global warming, like building the great cathedrals of Europe.

"We don't have cathedral time," said John Deans, a field organizer for Greenpeace. "The environmental community is appalled Jim Rogers is trying to put himself forward as a hero, but his plans will not come even close to helping to solve the crisis his grandchildren will inherit."

Nice build up for the April 20th civil disobedience at Duke HQ in Charlotte. Stop Cliffside!

Time is running out. There are now only 22 days and 21 hours left for Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar to rescind the Bush regulations that eviscerate the Endangered Species Act protections for polar bears by allowing federal agencies to disregard global warming impacts when planning or approving projects (read more here).



Meanwhile, Arctic sea ice – critical habitat for polar bears, who rely on the ice for hunting and breeding grounds – continues to melt at alarming rates thanks to global warming.

Salazar has been traveling the country holding hearings on whether Americans think it makes sense to drill the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), and it just so happened that he had a stop in San Francisco this morning. So we trooped on out there, brought a couple polar bears with us, and stood outside of the venue demanding Salazar take action to save our furry friends.

But don’t think we ignored the issue of drilling the OCS. Oh no, friends. We were joined by folks from the Center for Biological Diversity, the Surfrider Foundation, and many other local activists later in the day at a big rally to let Salazar know that drilling the OCS is a fool’s quest. Not only would it threaten our coastlines with oil spills and all kinds of industrial disturbance that is harmful to wildlife like polar bears and coastal ecosystems at large, but opening more land to drilling would only serve to prolong our addiction to fossil fuels.

With a stroke of his pen, Salazar can simultaneously rescind the dangerous Bush regulations limiting the scope of the Endangered Species Act and prod America to step up our efforts to stop global warming. Join us in urging Salazar to do the right thing: Sign the petition now!

Images © Greenpeace / Diana Silbergeld

Do you know how many chemical facilities are in YOUR state? I didn't and was surprised to find out how many are in my tiny state of Maryland.

Check out how many are in your state — and then write your member of Congress asking for their help in making our communities safer from these dangerous plants.

Congress has the power to save lives and prevent tragedy. It's up to YOU to make sure they do.

 

 

--Michelle

Another heart warming blog from the Tokyo Two. Thanks to Toru for this wonderful blog! So great to see photos of you back "home."


The so-called “scientific” whaling fleet has now returned to port from the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary for what we hope will be the last time, and it is almost one year since Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki exposed the embezzlement of whale meat by the fleet’s crew.

Junichi and Toru are still on trial for their efforts to expose this crime, however, recently their bail conditions were relaxed slightly, enabling them to come back to work – just not with each other.

Here’s Toru’s reflections on his first few weeks back at work... Junichi posted a few days ago, on his return...

I'm so glad to finally be able to come back home to the office.

Well, I did feel little strange for the first five minutes, as it was my first time here in nine months. But it wasn’t long until it felt like the home it used to be.

Since I was released under bail restrictions, the most disappointing thing for me was that I was unable to see my Greenpeace colleagues. When I was in custody, I was looking forward to having a BBQ with my colleagues as soon as I was free. But this simple wish was shattered. You can imagine my disappointment, particularly after 26 days with really bad food (It was not the main reason for my hunger strike, but I have to say that I'm glad I did it, as it brought the least amount of awful meals to me in my box of a room).

Before our arrests, we - that is everyone at Greenpeace in Japan - already went through much hardship. So my wish before release was to see everyone and pat each other's shoulders.

This is now a reality. I didn't expect it would take so long...

There is still a long way to go with the trial, but now I'm really happy to see and touch the great hearts of these wonderful people again. When you have your spirit up and are with your colleagues, there is not much to worry about. Now my spirit is reinforced, I am stronger than ever!

I would like to thank everyone who helped us to get here. And please keep your eyes on us, as much as possible.

The fact that everyone is watching us, and them, is our best insurance for the trial.

The next pre-trial hearing for the Tokyo Two will be held on the 15th of May this year.

Ahoy -

As Somali pirates have captured the world’s attention over the past week, I’ve been up to my neck in pirates of a different sort.  Greenpeace got a tip that several Spanish owned vessels blacklisted for engaging in pirate fishing were en route to Singapore to offload illegally caught Chilean sea bass, or Patagonian toothfish.  We alerted U.S. authorities at NOAA, the Coast Guard, and the State Department, each of which deals with pirate fishing.  All three agencies were helpful and responsive, sharing the information we provided with other governments, updating databases, and even contacting the Singapore Navy Maritime Operations Center.

The investigation is still unfolding, but it looks like at least one or two of the vessels offloaded a considerable amount of illegal sea bass before local authorities were able to respond.  In fact, it is not clear that local authorities planned to respond at all – Singapore is not a party to CCAMLR, the Antarctic treaty under which the vessels were blacklisted.

While these pirate fishing vessels may seem to have little connection with the pirates plaguing ships passing through the Gulf of Aden, these issues are in fact tied together by more than a word most of us associate with eye patches and parrots.  In all oceans of the world, vessels flying under flags of convenience – registered to countries with little or no concern for what the ships are used for – and owned by shady operators based in countries such as Spain, China, or Korea, pirates illegally catch enormous quantities of fish.  

Somalia is a prime example of where pirate fishing thrives – a poor country with weak governance and no capacity to manage or patrol their own waters.  And as is often the case, the most impacted people are local fishermen, who can no longer feed their families after foreign pirate fishermen have literally stolen all the fish.  When deprived of their livelihoods, few breadwinners in any culture would be willing to quietly allow their families to starve.  So it is not surprising that some have resorted to illegal activity.  In addition to hijacking ships, unemployed fishermen in Ghana have been known to become wildlife poachers, adding new threats to already endangered populations of hippos, lions, and leopards.

It would be ridiculous to call the Somali pirates Robin Hoods when they hijack cargo ships carrying aid for starving people.  At the same time, there’s something disturbing about the international community failing to intervene when wealthy European owners of pirate fishing vessels destroy the livelihoods of coastal African communities and demanding military intervention when impoverished communities resort to violence.  Even now, European companies are illegally dumping nuclear waste off the coast of Somalia, and there have been reports of whole villages being affected when barrels have washed up on shore.

In early May, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization will meet and hopefully finalize a binding global agreement to address pirate fishing.  The US has played a very positive role in negotiations so far, but Japan and Korea have balked at some of the measures that are necessary to get the job done.   If there is a silver lining to the Somali pirate story, it may be that it helps wake policy makers up to the fact that pirate fishing creates far reaching impacts and must be dealt with immediately.  

Yet another reminder that we live on Planet Ocean – and that the health of our marine ecosystems is intimately linked to the health of humankind.

For the oceans - 

John Hocevar

On March 2nd, over 3,000 people took to the streets of Washington, DC for the Capitol Climate Action. We surrounded the coal-fired Capitol Power Plant, which supplies Congress with dirty energy, shutting it down for four hours. Our message was simple: We need to end the stranglehold dirty energy has on Congress and start building the clean energy economy of the future.

The protest was a huge success – Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sent a letter to the Architect of the Capitol (cool title, huh?) ordering him to switch the Capitol Power Plant off of coal by the end of the year. It was a major victory, but it was only the beginning.

The thousands who marched in the streets of DC that day have gone home and started grassroots campaigns to kick coal out of their communities, as well.

On April 20th, a coalition of activists will be protesting Duke Energy’s proposed Cliffside Coal Plant in Charlotte, North Carolina. You can check out the coalition, get the scoop on Cliffside, and RSVP for the event at StopCliffside.org.

Greenpeace will be there on the ground with the Stop Cliffside coalition. Just try and watch this video and not want to join us:

Today we announce news that at first blush is not good--we have found areas in the Amazon rainforest that have been deforested to grow soy in violation of the Soy Moratorium Greenpeace helped create in 2006.

The good news is that the coalition of traders have agreed not to allow any of this soy to enter their supply chain and plan to revoke the funding of the farmers who broke the agreement. This is big news. Since we found soy growing in newly deforested areas for the first time this year, it was a test for the moratorium and the commitment of our coalition parters in the Soy Working Group to make sure that this soy did not make its way into the mouths of consumers. For more information read on because I've included a blog sent to me today from Paulo the Director of our Amazon work in Brazil.

- Lindsey 

Today the soya trading companies operating in Brazil - this includes giants such as Cargill, Bunge, ADM, Dreyfuss, Amaggi and others - will announce that the monitoring of the current soya crop (2008-2009) found soya planted where it shouldn't be: in areas deforested in the Amazon after July 2006. This is the date when the soya industry announced a moratorium for buying soya coming from newly deforested areas in the Amazon – a direct result of a strong campaign led by Greenpeace and soya European consumers, including McDonalds and its allies.

The good news is that the volume of soya resulting in deforestation is pretty small and traders will finally enforce their promises of not buying soya from farmers who disrespected the moratorium. Additionally, traders will cut credits of these farmers or others who challenge the moratorium – the soya traders fund large part of the Brazilian soya production.

Last year, the monitoring found new deforestation in the surroundings of traditional soya farms but didn't find soya planted in those areas (only rice which is not part of the moratorium). It has been pretty easy and comfortable for traders to claim that they are respecting an agreement which was not welcomed by farmers – in fact, it was imposed to them. Now, we are happy to see the trading companies making good on their promises to protect the world’s largest tropical rainforest!

This decision of the traders shows that companies can really play a fundamental role in fighting deforestation and join the global effort to stop climate change.

cheers,
paulo

Here is a post from Frida, one of Greenpeace International's oceans campaigners. She is currently on the Rainbow Warrior, off the coast of Norway.

Did you know that there are thousands of beautiful and diverse coral reefs in the northern seas, outside of Scotland, Norway and the Bering Sea? Most people are not aware that the cold and dark waters up here are teaming but that's because they haven't had the chance to look close enough. I am on the Rainbow Warrior to do just that. Specifically what we are looking for is a lovely named creature called Lophelia pertusa. It is this cold water coral that dominates the coral areas of the Northern deep sea. It lives at depths between 200 and 1000 meters. We are now documenting the presence and status of a reef in an area called Breisundsdypet.

Our equipment for doing this consists of a deep sea drop cam connected to a winch.

As in most places the wonderful and diverse life is not thriving as much as it could do if we were not going about our business without thinking of the ecological consequences. It is estimated that 30-50% of the Lophelia reefs in Norwegian waters have been damaged or impacted by trawling and they are also threatened from other human activities such as oil drilling. The deep sea corals in other places face equally dismal situations. Lophelia corals grows very slowly and can live for a long time but the coral structures remain long after the coral polyps have died. Some of these structures have been here since the last ice age. That’s 8500 years, 1500 years before agriculture started in ancient Egypt, and it only takes a second for a bottom trawl to scrape them clean from the sea bed. It is sad that only three of the 18 lager coral reef areas Norwegian waters have some form of protection and even the ones that are designated as marine protected areas are not safe from human impacts.

Our tour started a few days a go in Bergen, after two days of talking to people about corals, holding a press conference and showing off our gallant ship we are now underway. We hope that this trip can raise awareness about the need for protecting our wonderful and unique cold water habitats.

 

 

 

Here at Greenpeace we work a lot more to influence global warming policy than we do to promote individual lifestyle choices. But this recent HuffPo article, “The Breathtaking Effects of Cutting Back On Meat,” is an excellent reminder that our personal choices really do have an impact on the planet:

If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would save:

• 100 billion gallons of water, enough to supply all the homes in New England for almost 4 months;
• 1.5 billion pounds of crops otherwise fed to livestock, enough to feed the state of New Mexico for more than a year;
• 70 million gallons of gas--enough to fuel all the cars of Canada and Mexico combined with plenty to spare;
• 3 million acres of land, an area more than twice the size of Delaware;
• 33 tons of antibiotics.

If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would prevent:

• Greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 1.2 million tons of CO2, as much as produced by all of France;
• 3 million tons of soil erosion and $70 million in resulting economic damages;
• 4.5 million tons of animal excrement;
• Almost 7 tons of ammonia emissions, a major air pollutant.

Of course lifestyle choices alone can’t deal with the scope of the global climate crisis. It’s incredibly important that we stay active and keep telling our elected representatives in no uncertain terms that we expect them to deal with global warming and kickstart an energy revolution. But being the change we want to see is also a very powerful way to make a difference.

If you want to know more about how industrial agriculture is contributing to global warming, check out this report: “Cool Farming: Climate impacts of agriculture and mitigation potential” (you can download the full PDF, or the summary). Deforestation to clear land for cattle grazing is also a huge contributer to greenhouse gas emissions; read more about that in our report, “Amazon Cattle Footprint.”

We also have a page in our Green Living Guide that deals with food choices. The page is called “On your plate.” It’s full of good tips, like this one: “According to author John Robbins in his book The Food Revolution, you could save more water by not eating a pound of California beef than you could by not showering for an entire year.”

So no need to forego showers! (Seriously, please don’t.) Whether you go vegetarian for life, for a day, or just eat less meat in general, you can make a huge reduction in your personal carbon footprint.

Junichi Sato is one of our oceans campaigners in Japan, now facing a maximum of 10 years in prison for exposing a crime at the heart of Japan's whaling industry.

After nine months of disconnection from their colleagues and workplace, Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki walked back into the Greenpeace Japan office last week like long-missed adventurers finally home.

Of course they did not come in on the same day, as while the bail conditions binding them have been relaxed enough for them to speak to their colleagues and come back to work, there are still a lot of kilometres left on their road, and they still cannot communicate directly with one another or be in the same place at the same time.

 

But they’re back, morale is up and we can all throw more energy into getting them justice, and ensuring there is justice for whales too.

Junichi would like to share some of his reflections on his first week back in the office.

“The Greenpeace Japan office is in a very busy part of Tokyo, called Shinjuku. I walked down to the office from one of the biggest stations, passing through the streets that I thought I would be very familiar with, but I was not. There are new buildings, stores and restaurants that all made me realise how long I have been away.



The last time I was here I left the office knowing that I was going to get arrested the next day. 10 months can change somebody’s life, but it can also change quite a bit of landscape.



There is a small Shinto Shrine next to the office called Naruko Tennjin where I came by before coming to the office hoping nothing changed there. Indeed, the only change I could find was that the cherry blossom was about to bloom. It was the perfect moment to come back to this place. The colour and shape of the cherry blossom has a power to make people smile and motivate.



Coming into the office, I realised there are so many pictures blooming on the walls of the office, showing people around the world taking action for us. They are my flowers that never fall from my memory. I am grateful to have a chance to say thank you to all the people who participated in these activities.



Now, being back to the office is not the victory of the campaign. It is surely a great step forward to achieve the end of Japanese "scientific" whaling, and also to realise true civil society where citizens can enjoy the rights of "freedom of expression."

 Today is the day I reboot the campaign in Japan with my great colleagues who stay strong for the great cause.

I sincerely ask you all for your continued support, and I will keep you updated!”

And if you haven't already taken action against this injustice - tell Japan they should arrest you too - for standing against the killing of whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary and opposing the scandal and corruption of their whaling industry.

 

 

Our colleagues over at GreenpeaceSEASIA (Southeast Asia) have put out a comic book entitled Nuclear Meltdown: A Message from the Darkness: "an advocacy comic book about the perils of nuclear power and how the youth can make a difference in making the world a better place."

I just think this is really cool, especially because the point is to show youth activists that they can make a difference. Here's a little more info:

The comic book was developed by Indonesian artists with storyline by Greenpeace Southeast Asia Nuclear Campaigner Tessa de Ryck. In the story, two teenagers, Cosmo and Luna, go back in time to the year 2009 in a race to save the planet from the devastating effects of climate change and nuclear power.

Read more and download your copy on the GreenpeaceSEASIA website!

Okay, so you won't really become a star. But you can become an extra in the remake of a classic George Romero horror film from 1973, The Crazies, which is currently in production. And you're guaranteed to be seen in the theatrical or DVD release of the film!

In the movie, the residents of a small Iowa town start going crazy after they're infected by an unknown substance that leaks into their water supply. No, the substance is not coal ash, pesticide runoff from factory farms, or mercury pollution from power plants, as horrifying as those substances are. It's something far more "mysterious," I'm willing to bet.

So how do you support Greenpeace and get in the movie at the same time? Just go to this eBay auction and place a bid. The winner of the auction gets a featured walk-on role in the movie as an infected person, PLUS the comfort of knowing that the proceeds from the auction will benefit Greenpeace. We will in turn use the money to fund our work aimed at preventing people from getting infected by dangerous toxic substances, mysterious or otherwise.

The climate talks in Bonn, Germany have come to an end, and by all reports we sure could have used some of that leadership on global warming policy that Obama keeps promising us. According to my Greenpeace colleagues who were there, the presence of the Obama Administration and the reengagement of the United States was generally a good thing that created a much more positive atmosphere, but virtually no progress was made on key issues and critical decisions that need to be made.

Greenpeace USA deputy campaigns director Carroll Muffett had this to say:

The diplomats and negotiators in Bonn have been treading water for two weeks, while back in the real world ice caps have continued to melt at alarming rates and flash floods have devastated parts of Australia. As it stands, this exact same meeting will be repeated in June. Heads of State must now inject leadership and direction into the talks in order to avert catastrophic climate change.

Read our full response: "As Bonn Negotiations Conclude, U.S. Climate Leadership Still Missing".

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!

Each year Kimberly-Clark hosts a shareholder meeting full of Execs, Boardmembers, and key investors in Dallas.  Given this is the company's most important meeting of the year we have a few things up our sleeve to remind Kimberly-Clark that destroying ancient forests doesn't pay.  From now until the shareholder meeting on April 30th keep an eye out for all the ways you can help us convince Kimberly-Clark that it is time to stop wiping away ancient forests for Kleenex!

In February we released the Greenpeace Recycled Tissue and Toilet Paper Guide and the story traveled the globe in The New York Times, The Guardian, The International Herald Tribune, and hundreds of other media outlets.

One of the questions that I was asked time and again was Do my tissue and toilet paper purchases really make a difference?

The answer is YES, but don't take my word for it.  Here is what is in your box of Kleenex...

You might recall Tim DeChristopher as the environmental activist and University of Utah economics student who staged an inspired one-man act of civil disobedience last December. When the Bush Admin was auctioning off some of Utah’s most pristine wildlands to oil and gas companies on December 19th, 2008, DeChristopher threw a giant monkeywrench in the process by bidding on several of the parcels even though he had no intention of actually buying them. In the end, DeChristopher won 22,500 acres of land near two national parks, Arches and Canyonlands, and drove the prices for several other parcels up by thousands of dollars. (This HuffPo piece has more.)

DeChristopher did this with full knowledge of the potential consequences. It was a truly courageous act. He put himself on the line and was willing to take whatever punishment came down, all for the greater cause of protecting our planet and attempting to stop pillagers like oil and gas companies, as well as their allies in the Bush Admin, from prolonging our dependence on dirty fossil fuels.

Late last week we got news that DeChristopher has been indicted by a federal grandy jury on two felony counts of “auction-rigging,” as well as being slapped with hefty fines by the U.S. Attorney’s office and by the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which ran the auction. Bidder 70 is now facing up to 10 years in prison and over $800,000 in fines for standing up for the Earth at the BLM auction.

But the damage that would be done to Utah’s wildlands and wildlife by oil and gas exploration, compounded by the damage that would be done to the Earth by prolonging our addiction to dirty fossil fuels, far outweighs the damage DeChristopher is alleged to have done by interfering with this reckless auction. For that reason and that reason alone, these charges and fines should be dismissed, if there is any justice in the world.

And then of course there’s the fact that Obama’s Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, ordered a review of 77 of the parcels auctioned off in December, including all of the parcels “won” by DeChristopher, making those parcels ineligible for lease. If even the Obama Administration thinks these auctions were not proper, what harm can DeChristopher be said to have done whatsoever? He simply used the only means available to him to stand up for what’s right.

You can read more and follow new developments in this story on DeChristopher’s website. And check out this interview he did with Democracy Now!

Heart-pounding suspense and fast-paced action surround the popular television show 24. The fictional character, Jack Bauer, heroically conquers espionage, terrorism and chemical attacks. His exploits only last one hour, once a week. After we watch the show, we are sufficiently entertained, turn off the television and go on with our busy lives. But, there is some truth behind the stories on 24. In particular-–the dangers posed to us by chemicals such as chlorine. We use these chemicals for disinfecting water. These chemicals are stored in large quantities all over the country–posing a serious risk to you and your family in the event of an accident or terrorist attack.  

Check out the new 24-style video that Greenpeace just launched. It will show you exactly what I am talking about.

I don't want to dwell on the grim and the dark. It has been a pretty dismal few months and it seems no news has been good news lately. I want to end my blog on a more positive note–real change is possible! There are safer alternatives to some of these chemicals. And, we can increase security and regulations so the chemical plants and the transportation of these chemicals are done in a safer manner–protecting both you and I.  

Congress has legislation in the works that would address these issues–they just need to hear from their constituents (that's you and I, again). If they know it is important to us–they are more likely to pass the legislation. We know they are hearing from the chemical lobbyists. They are pouring millions of dollars into making sure these hazardous chemicals continue to be used are safer regulations continue to be ignored.

Let's turn this story into a happy ending–we want safer alternatives where we can and safer regulations so we can all be spared a catastrophic event. Take action today, check out our video and tell all your friends and family!

--Michelle

President Obama is in Prague today for the EU-US Summit. As Obama was addressing a crowd of thousands, six Greenpeace activists scaled the Nuselsky Bridge and hung a banner that read, "Bail out the climate."


© Greenpeace/Ibra Ibrahimovie

Another banner was deployed at Prague's Nustle Bridge, within view of the venue hosting Obama's speech. This banner was addressed to Obama and read, "Lead the change on climate."

Meanwhile, half a world away, the Wilkins Ice Shelf was breaking off from Antarctica. The two actions in Prague today aimed to alert world leaders to the fact that patience is wearing thin for their endless delay on global warming while we're seeing the drastic effects of rising global temperatures every day.

Obama accepted our challenge to lead in his speech. Read more here.

You can also check out a great behind-the-scenes video of the banner hang here (Czech language site, but of course video is universal).
 

According to reports, the ice bridge connecting the Wilkins Ice Shelf to Antarctica has shattered.

This is a glaring example of global warming having drastic impacts on our planet. The Wilkins Ice Shelf only began to break up, or “retreat,” in the late 1990s. Scientists say it has been “very stable” since the 1930s, but believe it to have been stable for far longer than that. Per the British Antarctic Survey: “It is probable that the current reduction in ice-shelves in the region has no precedent in the last 10,000 years, and certain that this minimum has not been reached at any time in the last millennium.”

The collapse of the ice bridge has been expected for some weeks. Cracks in the ice bridge were first spotted by researchers last week using satellite imagery. The loss of the ice bridge puts the entire Wilkins Ice Shelf at greater risk of total collapse.

This dramatic event underscores the real and pressing need for global action to combat global warming. Greenpeace USA deputy campaign director Carroll Muffett puts it this way: “The breakup of this ice shelf is in vivid contrast to the glacial pace of the international climate negotiations, where governments are trying to avoid acting responsibly - and bickering about who’s at fault." You can read the rest of the Greenpeace’s reaction here.

More info on the breakup and its import via the BBC:

An ice bridge linking a shelf of ice the size of Jamaica to two islands in Antarctica has snapped.

Scientists say the collapse could mean the Wilkins Ice Shelf is on the brink of breaking away, and provides further evidence for rapid change in the region.

Sited on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula, the Wilkins shelf has been retreating since the 1990s.

Researchers regarded the ice bridge as an important barrier, holding the remnant shelf structure in place.

Did you get fooled on April Fool’s Day? Did you fool someone else? I did. In fact, I joined folks from all over the world to put one over on the fossil fuels industry. Every day the fossil fuels industry reaps huge profits from climate change-causing oil and coal. That’s why we made April 1st Fossil Fool’s Day.



In NYC, I joined about 20 other activists to stage a “Coal Going Out of Business Sale” at the headquarters of coal power plant developer and funder, Sithe Global. It was tons of fun pretending to put on a sale and spread the word that “All Coal Must Go!” Coal is responsible for a third of global warming C02 emissions in the U.S. And renewable energy produces more jobs per dollar invested. Doesn't take a fool to figure out that equation.



At the same time, Greenpeace activists in New Mexico were staging an event at a Navajo encampment close to where Sithe Global wants to build a new pollution-spewing coal plant. The Navajo activist group Dooda Desert Rock has been working for three years to stop construction of the plant.



But more than just having fun, we know we had a real impact on Sithe. Their CEO, Bruce J. Wrobe, came out and tried to defend himself. What happened next was pure comedy in the classic Fossil Fools Day tradition. Here's how Eva Erbskorn, Greenpeace field organizer, describes what went down:

Believe it or not, my new friend Bruce is an environmentalist and is also extremely concerned about poverty. Coal plants, like the one his company is going to build in New Mexico, are going to help the poor, he argues. Good thing Joe Smyth [Greenpeace field organizer in NM] was on call to get Elouise Brown, the President of Dooda Desert Rock, a woman who has dedicated her life to fighting Sithe's proposed Desert Rock Plant, on the phone to deliver a message straight from the people who live there. Seems they DON'T actually think the plant will help their life. Interesting.

I asked Bruce if he'd be willing to take a call from Elouise, he boasted and said heck golly, he'd even have lunch with her next time he was out there. I pulled a tabling move (you know, where you put the clipboard in their hands before they know what happened?) with my cellphone. He said, "Oh well I'm not going to call her RIGHT now." And I said, "No no, she's already on the line." So the CEO of Sithe disappears with my Blackberry for 30 minutes to get the same message we were sending, only now he was getting it straight from the source.

The event wrapped up just as the police were stopping by to tell us to disperse. Bruce rejoined our conversation claiming that CCS is obviously too expensive and impossible, and the Tennessee ash spill shouldn't be repeated — we agreed on that. Unfortunately he thinks coal can burn clean even without CCS and that global warming isn't real. Big surprise. The only time he looked embarrassed was when I shook his hand and said "Happy Fossil Fool's Day!" as he left.

While we were standing up to Sithe Global’s fossil foolery in New York and New Mexico, Greenpeace members and other activists across the world were raising awareness about breaking our addiction to fossil fuels. Check out some of their photos below.

In San Francisco, even cavemen know coal is bad:

And in Boston, activists staged a Clean Coal Circus. They even had a dunk tank were you could soak King Coal if you hit the target.





All in all, it was a fun day fooling around for the climate.

(photo credits for New York, San Fancisco and Boston go to Michael Nagle, Hanna Quevedo, and Daren Fiske respectively)

The news this week that much of the Great Bear Rainforest will be protected once and for all was welcome and joyous indeed. It is the culmination of more than a decade of struggle and a point of personal reflection for me – and for countless others Greenpeace activists and campaigners worldwide, as well as across countless other environmental groups and individuals who gave it their all.


Mouth of Lockhart/Gordon Creek, Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia, Canada. © Greenpeace / Phil Aikman

What began in 1995 on muddy logging roads in Clayoquot Sound on the Pacific Coast of Vancouver Island grew into a campaign that ultimately protected much of British Columbia’s coastal temperate rainforest – considered the rarest forest type on Earth. To my mind this campaign is the mother of all the Greenpeace forest campaigns that followed. This is where it all began for us. And if you look today at the forest leadership at the Rainforest Action Network, ForestEthics, the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, etc., and at the spectrum of Canadian environmental groups, many cut their teeth on this campaign.

When the coastal temperate rainforest campaign expanded from Clayoquot Sound in 1997 the larger area in question was known as the “Mid-Coast Timber Supply Area.” Lesson number one: No one wants to necessarily save the “Mid-Coast Timber Supply Area,” but “The Great Bear Rainforest” – now that’s something people can rally around. And thus, the name was changed… and it stuck.

The Great Bear Rainforest is where we discovered the power of “market campaigns,” the painstaking process of documenting the activities of logging companies in one region and exposing the often murky supply chains to end-consumers across the globe. In time, it is also where we honed our skills with landscape level planning and multi-stakeholder processes. We draw upon this experience today from the Amazon to the Russian Far East.

Let me tell you, it was a pain in the butt and friendships were strained and gained... But looking back today, all I can see is the result.

As the campaign progressed some took to calling it the “War in the Woods.” Logging companies sued us a number of times, naming both Greenpeace as well as individuals. At one point the B.C. Premier called Greenpeace an "enemy of British Columbia." The stakes were indeed high. There were complex economic and cultural considerations to be negotiated. But this is an evolving ecosystem bypassed by the last ice age and thus home to some of the longest-lived forests in the world. Protecting the Great Bear Rainforest made those considerations worth navigating.

And, it all paid off in the end.

So what did we get? Five million acres (an area half the size of Switzerland) legally protected from logging; $120 million available to First Nation communities to help kick-start a new conservation economy; and a new system of “lighter touch” logging based on Ecosystem-based Management (EBM). Where logging is appropriate EBM will maintain 50 percent of the natural level of old growth forest in the region – that equals an additional 1.7 million acres of forest set aside from logging. And there’s more to it, like on-going, science-based collaborative planning and the development of a reserve network outside of formally protected areas.

Thanks to all of the people who made this possible, for your years of hard work and sacrifice. The world is a better place because of your efforts. While there is no rest for the weary, I’ll take just a moment today to reflect and raise my glass to you all.

(Also, you can check out an excellent post about saving GBR by Tamara Stark, communications director at Greenpeace UK, here.)

Thanks to all of our letters and phone calls, the U.S. House and Senate passed President Obama's budget last night - with language that puts cap and trade legislation in the agenda for this year!

This vote is an important step forward because members of Congress who have never before supported action on global warming are now on record supporting an agenda for the year, including a cap on global warming pollution.

The work of Greenpeace and all our volunteers and activists was crucial in passing the budget and defeating efforts to strip global warming from the bill. Thanks to all of you for your efforts!

This blog post by George Monbiot on the Guardian website would be pretty funny if it weren't, you know, so dreadfully serious an issue...

Here is the text of the G20 communique, in compressed form.

"We, the Leaders of the Group of Twenty, will use every cent we don't possess to rescue corporate capitalism from its contradictions and set the world economy back onto the path of unsustainable growth. We have already spent trillions of dollars of your money on bailing out the banks, so that they can be returned to their proper functions of fleecing the poor and wrecking the Earth's living systems. Now we're going to spend another $1.1 trillion. As an exemplary punishment for their long record of promoting crises, we will give the IMF and the World Bank even more of your money. These actions constitute the greatest mobilisation of resources to support global financial flows in modern times.

Oh - and we nearly forgot. We must do something about the environment. We don't have any definite plans as yet, but we'll think of something in due course."

The whole post is well worth the read, but the situation is not pretty. You might laugh. You might cry. In a nutshell, Monbiot says, "The G20's strategy for solving the financial and economic crisis, in other words, is detailed, innovative, fully costed and of vast scale and ambition. Its plans for solving the environmental crisis are brief, vague and uncosted."

Yikes.

On March 31st Greenpeace and the Center for Biological Diversity sent a letter to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) notifying the agency that we will sue in 60 days if they fail to list the ribbon seal under the US Endangered Species Act.

The ribbon seal is one of four ice-dependent seal species in Alaska whose sea ice habitat is literally melting out from underneath them because of global warming. Greenpeace and CBD were successful in forcing the Bush administration to list the polar bear under the ESA due to global warming. This notice letter begins the same process for the ribbon seal. Read more here.

If the NOAA ignores the letter, then we will sue in 60 days. Let's hope the Obama administration does things differently than Bush on global warming/ESA issues.

There’s obviously more to come on this story. Stay tuned…