When I think of the victims of global warming, my mind leaps to Pacific Island nations: places that are disappearing off the maps as rising seas swallow people's homes and cultures. One of our ships, the Esperanza, was collecting some of those Pacific Island stories last month. But it was an island in the Atlantic Ocean that played host to the most recent action in our global warming campaign.

Right now, President Obama is vacationing with his family on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, a summer tourist destination off the coast of Massachusetts.

While the Vineyard isn’t disappearing quite as rapidly as the places the Esperanza has visited lately, it faces dire consequences if we continue burning the oil and coal responsible for global warming.

Just a few feet of sea level rise will wreak havoc on the island’s tourism industry, not to mention the few thousand residents who call the place home year-round.

So when we found out that the president – the one person with the most power to save this and every other island around the world from global warming – was visiting, we knew we had to send him a message.

Yesterday, a dozen Greenpeace volunteers from Massachusetts stepped off the ferry on to the Vineyard, armed with several thousand copies of a spoof newspaper we produced: “The Martha’s Vineyard Future Times.”

At a glance, the paper looked like the popular Martha’s Vineyard Times newspaper, but our edition was dated to August 27th, 2020. On the front page, it told the story of what Martha’s Vineyard could look like if President Obama embraces the clean energy revolution we need. Majestic wind turbines off the shore spin cheap, clean energy into the Vineyard’s homes and businesses. The local economy is buoyed by green jobs. People around the world honor the president for his political courage for standing up to special interests.

On the back page, we see the grim consequences of inaction. Hurricanes barrel toward the Vineyard. Local governments hurry to prepare evacuation plans. Of course, we couldn’t avoid a dig or two at the posh tourists who summer at the island, with ads for sandbags and evacuation boats from Gucci and DKNY.

When tourists and residents received the newspapers from our activists, quizzical looks often gave way to a laugh or a “thank you” for helping to spread the word. Ashley and Emily, two teens who grew up on the island, said that of course they were worried about climate change. If sea levels rise, “we’re basically screwed,” they told us.

To drive the point about sea level rise home, we had one more trick up our sleeves: an underwater protest. We created a pair of hands that mysteriously emerged from the water at the island’s main harbor, holding a sign imploring the president to “Stop Global Warming – Or We’re All Sunk!”

Our underwater protestor drew laughs and smiles, and hopefully provoked some thought about what sea level rise will mean for Martha’s Vineyard and islands all around the world.

I genuinely hope the president had a restful week on the Vineyard – I also hope he took a moment or two to consider what global warming will mean for his new summer home, and for the billions of people around the world who will suffer if the United States does not lead at the U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen that are now 100 days away.

President Obama’s press secretary said yesterday that he has loved his time on the Vineyard, and that he will be back to vacation there again. If he wants to have that opportunity, he needs to go back to D.C., listen to the world’s best climate scientists, and take the courageous steps we need to stop global warming.

I am SO HAPPY about this:

President Obama should listen to Granny Sarah - take action to let him know you feel the same! Push for Solar Solutions! Yes we can! Stop letting false solutions like "clean" coal, natural gas and nuclear power get airtime - dedicate your messaging to the possibilities of renewable energy! The time is now! Yes we can stop global warming! :o) 

PS - And yes, she is top notch in my book because she spells her name with and 'H' too! 

During the school year, we have our "Fun Friday" afternoons.  We open the many letters we receive from school groups, tape up our favorite pictures, and send back brochures, book marks, and personalized letters.  We truly enjoy reading about the many ways classes make a difference in their schools and their creative fundraising initiatives.  During one staff meeting, we even broadcast a homemade video which a school group showed in their community as a fundraiser!

Now that the school year is starting up again, here are some ideas if you or your classmates want to get involved but aren't quite sure how:

As an academic project, one group tackled global warming as a four part project including a written report, a photo report, a display board, and an action point.  For their action point, they chose to raffle off three themed baskets with gift cards.  The raffle tickets were sold at their class exhibition and then donated.

Student led environmental groups have set-up donation tables with materials we've provided covering deforestation, oceans, and toxics.  A high school group chose toxic electronics, which includes video games(!), as their fundraising topic because of its relevance to their everyday lives.

One determined club made hand-sewn canvas totes to promote reusable bags and sold their totes during the school's Earth Day festivities.  They donated the proceeds raised from selling their totes to classmates, staff, and community members.

Classes have organized weekend walk-a-thons, yard sales, and recycling drives in their communities to raise awareness and fully understand how they can go green in their own lives. 

If your school doesn't have an Environmental Club, you should start one with the help of a teacher and classmates!  Clubs are a great way to tell your fellow students about the importance of recycling, using reusable bags and water bottles, and turning off lights and electronics when leaving the classroom.  As your club grows, you can get involved in or organize school-wide volunteer opportunities, pressure your administration to make environmentally wise purchases for the classroom, and your classmates to be responsible!

We love to hear what projects you and your friends take on at school and at home!  Send us your drawings, photos, and information requests to the below DC address and we'll try our best to get a package out to you!

The flames that recently engulfed the suburbs of Athens and several Greek islands in the Aegean Sea are finally dying down.  Nearly 52,000 acres of forest have been destroyed but, miraculously, no one has died.

The news of this summer’s devastating Greek forest fires drew my mind back to a summer two years ago.  In August of 2007, my Yiayia called me and told me sadly, “Kaiyete y Ellada” – Greece is burning.

That summer, Greece experienced one of the worst environmental disasters of the year.  Over 3,000 fires blazed across the country destroying 670,000 acres of ancient forests, olive groves, and farm land; ruining more than 2,000 homes and other buildings; and taking the lives of 84 men, women, and children.  Historic sites like Ancient Olympia experienced irreparable damage.

The intensity of the fires was largely attributed to three consecutive and unprecedented 105’C heat waves that struck the country and caused severe drought.

Dramatically intensifying summer fires, super-charged hurricanes, disappearing coastlines, and wide-spread famine and disease are what await us if we do not take immediate action to halt the rapidly warming global climate.

Our last chance to prevent runaway climate change will be at this December’s U.N. Climate Convention in Copenhagen.  But, as the world’s leaders prepare to hammer out a new international climate treaty, the U.S. House of Representatives has passed a weak and ineffective global warming bill.

The Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that, in order to avoid the worst impacts of global warming, the U.S. and other industrialized countries must cut their emissions 25-40% below 1990 levels by 2020.  The House of Representatives’ bill only calls for a 4% reduction by 2020 and gives billions of dollars to coal-fired power plants – the single largest source of global warming pollution in the U.S.  

Now is not the time for complacency. The raging forest fires that we are witnessing in Greece, Spain, Australia, and southern California will only be the beginning if we do not pass serious legislation to stop corporations from pumping CO2 into our atmosphere.  Unless the new climate bill is strengthened in the Senate, the United States will enter the U.N. Climate Convention without a strong commitment to fight global warming. 

It is up to President Obama to get us back to the science-based targets he promised in his inaugural address and become a world leader in the battle against global warming.  Otherwise, we all will face a future in flames.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION.  Tell President Obama to be a world leader against global warming.  America honors leaders, not politicians. 

I was listening to Bill Maher last week and something he said about global warming that had me scratching my head. “And when it comes to 'bad for the environment,' nothing compares with the business of raising animals for food, which causes about 40% more global warming than all the cars and planes combined. If you care about the planet, it's actually better to eat a salad in a Hummer than a cheeseburger in a Prius.”

Then, I stumbled upon this Greenpeace video that gives a pretty good breakdown of why meat has such a large carbon footprint.



As someone who cares about the environment, you are probably searching for things you can do to help protect it. And, here is one more way you can make your life a little greener.

--Michelle 

It has now been almost three months since the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) took on the serious issue of chinook (king) salmon by catch in the Bering Sea pollock fishery. The result of the vote on a motion made by the State of Alaska, Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G), is misguided. As it happens, this is one of the last decisions made by our former Governor Sarah Palin before she left office. The problem is the pollock fishery in the Bering Sea is a one billion dollar a year fishery. While they are fishing for pollock, dragging huge nets behind their factory ships, they also catch other fish other than pollock.

In this case, they catch chinook salmon, many of which are heading for Western Alaska rivers and streams, as by catch. Between 1990-2001, an average of 37,819 chinook salmon and 69,332 other salmon were caught annually in the Bering Sea pollock fishery. Governor Palin's motion said the pollock industry should be allowed to catch up to 68,000 chinook which was later lowered to 60,000 fish per year. This amount is almost double the eleven year average cited above! You can get more information about this serious problem by Googling the NPFMC if you wish. What I am wondering in this short paper is given there are representatives from the States of Washington and Oregon, as well as others, on the NPFMC, and given that most of the pollock fishing companies are from Washington, why would the State of Alaska make such a motion which negatively impacts the Citizens of the State she is supposed to represent? And make a motion that would increase the chinook salmon by catch amount to almost twice the amount of what was caught in this fishery, from a eleven year average of 37,819 to 60,000 fish?

We should make no mistake that the elected government officials of our State must do all they can to represent the people, all the people of our State. And those who are appointed to important positions, representing our elected government officials, must also do the same. We are requesting a review of this motion, passed by the NPFMC unanimously, by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, a very popular former Governor of the State of Washington, where many of these pollock fishers reside, so that the needs of the people of Alaska can be fairly represented and that a lower number of chinook salmon by catch can be put into place. We hope that the Secretary will take a serious look at this most serious problem. Just this summer alone, many of our people have been denied keeping a chinook salmon when caught for subsistence use.

Recently some of our people in Western Alaska went ahead and fished for salmon for food against an ADF&G closure in their waters. The elected officials of our State are to do all that they can to represent all the Citizens of the State of Alaska and not the interests of large fishing companies from other parts of our Country. It seems our former Governor has done exactly the opposite. No doubt the pollock fishers need to work and provide for their families. So do our people in Alaska. Now the NPFMC will be taking on the issue of Chum salmon by catch in the next few months. Lets hope our elected people will do all they can to represent Alaska and the Citizens who are dependent upon these fish to feed our families. After all we elected them to do just that!

This weekend I stopped in my "neighborhood" Trader Joe's to escape the hot, humid weather and do a little investigating. Are they really selling seafood that they shouldn't? And, if so, how much? I was pumped with caffeine, armed with my camera phone and ready to find some answers.

The store was small, but there were seafood products in almost every aisle. The frozen section, canned goods, pre-packaged meals in the produce aisle and end-caps.  It didn’t take me very long to find seafood that was less-than-sustainable. In my scouring I netted lots of seafood that Greenpeace has on their red list. I easily hooked swordfish, yellowfin tuna, tropical shrimp, Atlantic salmon, cod, halibut and albacore tuna.

As I prowled the aisles searching for more red list seafood a strange announcement came over the intercom, “Would Mary please report to the captain’s desk?” What? Where was I, a grocery store or a marina? I admit Trader Joe’s has a fun décor and theme, but the fun stopped once I learned Trader Joe’s is harming the oceans by stocking their stores full of seafood that is helping to destroy the oceans.

What is Trader Joe’s thinking? They have organic produce. I didn’t see any plastic bags. Do they have a secret evil side to them that hates the oceans? Were they unaware that their seafood harms the environment?

Then, the sad truth dawned on me -- like everything in this world, it’s all about the bottom line. Trader Joe’s can buy unsustainable seafood cheaply and sell it to all of us without sharing the dirty details. And, unless we make a big stink about it, they will continue to do so.

Trader Joe shoppers want a good bargain, of course, but they also want to feel good about their purchases. That’s why Trader Joe’s spends so much money on fun in-store signs, web marketing and newsletters. They proclaim they are green and doing their part to help our planet. But, they aren’t doing enough.  

The pressure all of us have been applying is working. Trader Joe posted a note on their website stating, “As we’ve often mentioned, we listen to our customers. Hearing recent feedback, our goal is to offer seafood options that fit customer needs ranging from food safety and taste, to concern over the environment.”

But, they are still selling tons of red list seafood. And so, we need to keep the pressure up. Here are four quick things you can do to help. You’ll feel good after you do, of that, I’m sure!

• Call Trader Joe's and tell them to stop selling seafood that isn’t sustainable!

• When you are in the store shopping, find some red list seafood, bring it to a manger and ask them to stop selling the items in their stores. Here are some tips >>

• Follow Greenpeace and Traitor Joe on Twitter.

• Fan Traitor Joe on Facebook.

--Michelle

Today is August 22. We are mid-way through leg 2 of this Arctic Climate Impacts Expedition in Sermilik Fjord. We have been wildly busy since arriving in Tasiilaq on August 17, but things are going really, really well. We’ve been incredibly lucky: none of the problems that could have thrown a wrench in to our well laid plans - fog grounding the helicopter, heavy ice impeding the ship’s transit, scientific equipment breaking down – have happened. I chalk this up to “the luck of the Irish” since four of our crew are Irish - the chief engineer, media officer, helicopter pilot and videographer.

Since things are going so smoothly, I’m taking a few moments out of my busy day and have taken my laptop up to the bridge to churn out a blog. Here’s a bit of a running description of what’s going on from my vantage point.

The helicopter is about to take off to take a TV crew back to Tasillaq after they spent the night on the ship. The helicopter will pick up another TV crew in Tasiilaq, and bring them to the ship for their night on board. It’s 9am now and this is the helicopter’s third flight. The helicopter first started flying at 5:30am to take a team of glaciologists to Helheim Glacier to retrieve GPS units that are recording the glacier’s flow speed (an indicator of its melt rate, and in turn, the pace and intensity of global warming here in Greenland).

Off on the starboard side of the ship a team of oceanographers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, led by Dr. Fiamma Straneo, are conducting “CTD casts.” “CTD” stands for “conductivity, temperature, depth,” three indicators in the deep waters of Sermilik Fjord that will help them to understand the complex dynamics of currents and how they deliver warm water to Helheim Glacier at the head of the fjord. The CTD cast is done with a device that is lowered through the water column on a metal line, using a winch that’s been welded to the deck just for this purpose. The fjords here in Greenland are very deep, and the CTD casts often go to depths of 2,300 feet. As one of the oceanographers described it, Sermilik Fjord is like a submerged Grand Canyon.


Here on the bridge, Captain Pete is trying to maneuver the ship through waters that are completely covered by ice at the surface. Huge icebergs float amongst the smaller pieces of ice, and as the ship moves through the ice, it sounds like a huge gin and tonic (Ok, Pete says it is more like a frozen daiquiri, but I maintain the gin and tonic comparison). He can take the ship through the smaller pieces of ice, the ship shoves them aside, but it’s impossible to shove or move the larger icebergs. When I went to grab my laptop out of my cabin I looked outside the porthole and just a few feet away was a solid wall of ice, the port side of the ship was sitting next to an iceberg that measured about 50 high. And that’s a small iceberg. We’ve seen icebergs that are so huge that they look like tremendous walls of ice, or small glaciers themselves. It’s unreal.

Because there is so much ice in the fjord, moving the ship is very slow going. The CTD casts are conducted in lines across the fjord in order to get a picture of water currents and movement. The ship is trying to follow straight lines across the fjord that are drawn on the chart, but in reality, it’s impossible to follow them due to all of the giant icebergs in the water. The ship’s actual course is a zigzag on the chart, not a straight line.

It is crazy beautiful here. After close to two months without sunrises and sunsets, it’s nice to be at a latitude where we can enjoy them again. We have been very lucky with the weather and the skies have been clear, so when the sun sets at night it casts a pink and orange glow on the ice in the fjord. Two nights ago we saw some faint northern lights that was also a treat.

After today we have three more days in Sermilik Fjord before departing Tasiilaq at the end of the day on August 25 and heading north toward Kangerdlugssuaq Glacier, and then on to 79 Glacier even further north up the east coast of Greenland. This period in Sermilik Glacier is our busiest, most hectic time on the entire three-month expedition, and so far it is going swimmingly well, better than I ever expected. The factors that guarantee a successful expedition in the Arctic are a good crew, and lots of luck. We’ve got an amazing team on board, even after almost three months on board together everyone is working hard and doing great work. All we need is for our “luck of the Irish” to continue to hold.

The last few weeks of summer are finally here and for many students that means sleeping in as much as possible, final visits with hometown friends and earning some last minute savings before heading back to school. But as enticing as the final lazy days of summer are, some students decided to dedicate their last week to developing their leadership skills and preparing for an active semester.

On Thursday, August 13th, 70 young activists from across the US and Canada arrived in Algonquin, Illinois for Activist Camp, a 4-day summer training program hosted by Greenpeace and Forest Ethics. Activist Camp provided an opportunity for these activists to develop their grassroots organizing skills, discuss Greenpeace and Forest Ethics campaigns in depth, network and have fun.

There were a variety of trainings offered throughout the weekend including coalition building, advanced media, creative activism, recruitment and banner making. All of the trainings provided the young activists with skills that will be beneficial to working on a Greenpeace or Forest Ethics campaign on their campus or in their community.

“At Activist Camp I learned how to train trainers. I can now go back to my campus and build the capacity of my club by sharing the skills I learned with students at my school,” said Tina Robinson of Penn State University.

With a new set of skills, these Greenpeace students will be returning to their respective campuses to continue to tackle the issue of global warming and build the youth climate movement.

An Activist Camp participant, Rachel O’Connor, has already been recognized in her hometown for her demonstrated leadership.

Want to get involved? The Greenpeace Student Network is seeking student activists that are eager to lead the clean energy fight on their campus. If you’re dedicated and passionate about tackling top environmental issues then apply to be a Greenpeace campus coordinator at your school.

There's been a lot of chatter about the American Petroleum Institute's astroturf campaign to oppose climate legislation ever since the story first broke. Of course, plenty of conservatives, global warming deniers, and representatives for Big Oil have tried to defend the astroturf campaign, claiming that they are just helping facilitate legitimate grassroots activity by scheduling a series of rallies in cities where Big Oil has a strong presence.

But according to Public Citizen folks who managed to get into the campaign's kickoff event in Houston earlier this week, the word "rally" doesn't even come close to describing what's going on here. It's more like a "company picnic," according to citizensarah of Public Citizen.

Check it out:

Though the Netroots has gotten the message loud and clear: these are really just company picnics, not uprisings of real grassroots support, there has still been some hedging on the part of the traditional media — who is still reporting that “many of the people attending the demonstration were employees of oil companies who work in Houston and were bused from their workplaces.“

But the truth is that the Houston rally was attended ONLY by energy company employees and retirees (at least that’s the way they wanted it). It’s no big surprise that a few rabble-rousing enviros were kicked out, but when even those that oppose cap and trade were turned away — that should raise major red flags about the true nature of these events. This isn’t even Astroturf anymore, this is asphalt.

But don’t take my word for it, listen to the anti-cap and trade folks from Freedom Works that were [excluded] from yesterday’s rally:

When you've got funding from giant multinational corporations like ExxonMobil, Chevron, and BP, and you aren't even allowing the general public to attend your events — even when they agree with you, for crying out loud! — then there really is nothing legitimately grassroots about your campaign. Sorry.

If you too are fed up with the deceitful and manipulative tactics employed by Big Oil and want to see a real, intelligent debate about climate policy take place in this country, write to Big Oil now and tell them to stop the lies.

Watch Greenpeace Research Director Kert Davies on Democracy Now. Kert explains how the leaked memo reveals that the American Petroleum Institute is asking oil companies to recruit employees, retirees, and contractors to take part in rallies against climate change legislation.

Watch now >>

Today in Kogelo, Kenya, local activists worked with Greenpeace's Solar Generation to install solar panels on the Senator Barack Obama School as well as the house of Mama Sara, President Obama's grandmother.

"I am very pleased that my home has been improved thanks to solar energy and I'll make sure my grandson hears about it," Mama Sara said. Let's hope President Obama not only hears about it, but is so moved by the benefits that solar energy has in store for his grandmother’s community that he takes the action necessary to kickstart a global energy revolution!


Created with flickr slideshow.

The solar installations are part of a renewable energy workshop hosted by Solar Generation. The Kibera Community Youth Programme and members of Nyang’oma Kogelo participated.

Like many other countries in Africa, Kenya is on the front lines of climate change impacts. A drastic reduction in rainfall in recent years has brought on a drought that has worsened the country’s preexisting agricultural problems caused by poor land use and desertification. The drought has also made Kenya’s large-scale hydro power generators unreliable.

All of which makes solar energy an especially good investment for Kenyans. Solar installations strengthen the economy and protect the environment while ensuring a reliable and clean supply of energy for a part of the world where paraffin oil – which, when burned, releases toxins and carcinogens – is still in widespread use.

The solar industry is ready and able to deliver the needed capacity. There is no technical impediment to powering Kenya with clean, green solar power, just political barriers.

Industrialized countries are largely responsible for the climate crisis, and it’s time we took responsibility for that. The developed world should be helping developing countries like Kenya leapfrog the dirty fossil fuels of the past while giving them access to the clean energies of the future with which to continue their economic development. Greenpeace is calling for rich countries to contribute $140 billion annually to support climate adaptation, mitigation, and forest protection in the developing world.

With just 15 weeks left to go until the decisive UN climate talks in Copenhagen, we are urging world leaders to emulate the innovative young people of Kibera and Kogelo and translate their climate rhetoric into action in Copenhagen.

The Arctic Sunrise is currently in transit from the west to the east coast of Greenland. We said goodbye to the on-board science team in Nugatsiaq on August 9, and to two Chinese journalists and a campaigner from Greenpeace China in Sisimiut on August 11. Our next port-of-call is Tasiilaq on the southeast coast of Greenland.

You can follow our Arctic Expedition tour on this handy Google map:


View Arctic Tour in a larger map

An independent science team from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachussetts will join the ship in Tasiilaq. The team, led by Dr. Fiamma Stranneo, will undertake a variety of oceanographic measurements in Sermilik Fjord, just east of Tasiilaq, from August 19-25. Their goal is to determine if warm, sub-tropical waters are coming into contact with glaciers in the fjord, and to determine the processes that control the variability of ocean conditions where the glaciers meet the sea.

Why is this important? The IPCC’s estimates for sea level rise by the end of this century contain very little contribution from the melting of ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica because the dynamics of the melt are so poorly understood. As scientists conduct research and begin to unravel the complicated dynamics that govern and influence the melt of the enormous ice sheets at opposite ends of the planet, their predictions for the rate of sea level rise increase. The IPCC’s 2007 estimate for sea level rise by 2100 is 20-60cm (8-24 inches). Since then, scientists have predicted sea levels will actually rise one to two meters (3.3 to 6.6 feet). That’s a significant jump in just two years’ time, particularly since so many of the dynamic forces that affect ice sheet melt and flow rate are not yet understood.


The Arctic sunrise is pictured here amidst cracked and drifting ice in front of the Petermann glacier (out of shot to the left). This is the zone where the glacier's front meets the sea and starts to break up. This is the furthest point that the ship can get to the front of the glacier to begin research via helicopter, inflatable and perhaps by foot/skis. © Nick Cobbing/Greenpeace

Dr. Stranneo’s science program in Sermilik Fjord is well-organized and very ambitious, so we are prepared to support her team’s research around the clock, 24/7 if need be. However, scientific research is not the only activity that will be underway in Sermilik Fjord. Although it’s pretty remote, Tasiilaq is relatively easy to reach by air from Iceland and Denmark, so we are able to host a number of VIPs and journalists from around the world while the research is taking place in Sermilik Fjord. This is the one leg of our expedition where a VIP or journalist can join the ship for just a night or two. As a result, we will be hosting a crew from CNN, three German TV crews, one French TV crew, and one Indian TV crew. The ship can only accommodate so many people per night, so additional news crews (AP print and TV, a French newspaper, The Economist) and a Spanish politician will stay in Tasiilaq and be ferried out to the ship for the day.

All told, we’ll have about 20 people cycling on and off the ship as overnight guests, and another ten or so as guests during the day. This may not sound like a lot, but trust me, it is. Each person and their gear must be transported to the ship via a small boat or the helicopter. Ice in the fjord may scuttle our plans to use small boats, and fog (very common in these parts) will keep the helicopter grounded. Every person who joins the ship, even if it’s just for one night, will need to be briefed on safety protocols as well as ship do’s and don’ts. But most importantly, our goal is to provide each guest with a firsthand account and explanation of the work that Dr. Stranneo and her team are conducting, as well as background information on how it relates to the upcoming climate negotiations in December. We want them to leave the ship understanding the urgent need for deep, mandatory reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to increase the chance that the message gets to heads of state who are going to be negotiating a climate treaty in Copenhagen this December.

The media are an important avenue for getting our message out into the general public. Greenpeace puts its money into its campaigns; we simply can’t afford to spend billions of dollars on advertising to get our message out (unlike Big Oil and its allies, who have spent $82 million already this year lobbying against climate legislation). We rely on a variety of other tactics – from our website to public speaking to newsletters and talking to people on the street. Our tactics may be numerous, but media coverage is a great way to get our message out to many people – including politicians – in one fell swoop. So we are very excited to be hosting so many top-notch journalists during our time in Tasiilaq.

We have a couple of days of “calm” left before the managed chaos that will ensue in Tasiilaq. I for one am looking forward to it. It will be challenging, hard work, but in the end, the rewards will be measurable.

And it’s always a treat to see someone’s face when they come aboard a Greenpeace ship for the first time. I'll have more updates for you soon, so check back!

Things can get pretty serious around the office here at Greenpeace, what with the whale killing, forest destruction, corporate polluting and all.  How do we unwind? Many of us here have thrown our hearts and souls into the summer softball season.  On the national mall at the base of the Washington Monument, we started the season a rag tag group of hippies, (don’t get me wrong, most of us wear shoes most of the time) and finished the regular season with a record of 3-5, two of those wins forfeits.  We had a rough start.

Something changed though during the playoffs.  Maybe it was momentum gained from a big win for Greenpeace on the Kimberly Clark campaign in early August.  Maybe it was the spirit of George Washington touching us all from that great stone obelisk in the shadow of which we play each Wednesday.  I suspect that if he weren’t so busy fathering our country, he would have been an avid sports enthusiast.  Somehow, against regular season odds, we made it to the championship game of the playoffs.  Pitted against Newt Gingrich’s “Newtralizers,” we had no choice but to win.  It is hard to accept something like this as a simple physical contest.  It was bigger than that for most of us, a manifestation of the ideological odds at which our teams stand.  So, from the depths of our do-gooder souls, we mustered all of our might and beat the Newts 17-10 for the National Capitol Softbal Association championship title.  Thom Kay's poignant reaction, “God it feels good to be a gangsta.”  Indeed it does, Thom!                             

 

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Woodstock (Aug. 15 to 18), Treehugger.com has been running a series of articles about the spirit of protest born in the 60s and how it has shaped activism today. I wrote a brief history for them about the role rock musicians have played in Greenpeace activism over the years, starting with the benefit concert by Joni Mitchell and James Taylor that started it all, up to today when Anti-Flag is helping us organize young punk rockers at the Warped Tour.

One thing I didn't touch on in the piece that came up in my research, which I think is really awesome, is that Allen Ginsberg was an "early advisor and mentor" to Greenpeace. I'm a big fan of Ginsberg's poetry, so it made me pretty proud to find this out, and I thought I'd share this picture of Ginsberg reading "Plutonian Ode" at a disarmament rally back in the 70s.

I'd also like to give a little plug to the fantastic book in which I found much of the info for the Treehugger piece as well as both pics you see here on this post. It's by Rex Weyler, a journalist and one of the first Greenpeace activists, and it's called Greenpeace: How a Group of Ecologists, Journalists, and Visionaries Changed the World.

Here's a little taste of the many photos awaiting you on the Treehugger post. This is my personal favorite: Jerry Garcia playing to a sold-out crowd at a Greenpeace benefit concert right here in San Francisco, on Pier 31, in front of the Greenpeace ship James Bay:



The story of how this benefit concert featuring the Jerry Garcia Band came about and was pulled off in just five days is pretty fascinating. You can get a bit of it from my Treehugger post, but you'll have to pick up Rex Weyler's book to read the whole thing!

Photos © Rex Weyler

This morning, several Greenpeace activists laid down some astroturf (the real kind) in front of the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the American Petroleum Institute (API), and erected a sign that read "CLIMATE FRAUD, FUNDED BY BIG OIL." The sign and astroturf were also accompanied by the logos of oil giants ExxonMobil, Shell, BP and Chevron, all of which are members of API.



The action was meant to protest the US oil industry’s plans to have oil company employees attend anti-US climate action rallies while masquerading as concerned “Energy Citizens.” This Energy Citizens campaign is an attempt to use a tactic known as “astroturfing,” in which they give the appearance of a genuine grassroots movement while hiding the fact that it is actually a well-funded effort coordinated by large multinational corporations with a vested interest in preventing any new regulations of their dirty energy business.

The astroturf got laid pretty thick today in my hometown, Houston, where the first Energy Citizens rally occurred (showing just how non-grassroots this campaign is, Chevron apparently bussed many of its employees to the event).

The API memo (available here, along with Greenpeace's response to API), leaked to colleagues of mine here at Greenpeace last week, called on the CEOs of some of the world’s biggest oil companies to “indicate to your company leadership your strong support for employee participation in the rallies.” The API’s President, Jack Gerard, further warns the world’s oil barons to treat the memo as “sensitive,” arguing that “we don’t want our critics to know our game plan.”

Had it not been for the leaked memo, these Energy Citizens events might have been just another of Big Oil’s dirty tricks intended to thwart real public debate on global warming policy. But by recognizing what we’re up against and mobilizing a response, we can ensure that the debate about how best to kickstart a clean energy revolution is not sullied by purveyors of dirty energy.

The concern here absolutely needs to be what’s best for the environment, not what’s best for the oil industry’s bottom line. Global warming is the most pressing environmental crisis of our time. But that doesn’t phase Big Oil, or many other dirty energy providers, for that matter. So far this year, over  $82 million has been spent on corporate lobbyists to argue against climate change legislation, not only by Big Oil, but also by King Coal and gas companies across the US.

Whether you support the Waxman-Markey legislation or not, it is imperative that you get involved, get vocal, and be part of the real grassroots movement calling for science-based policies to deal with the severity of the climate crisis. Let’s make sure Big Oil’s employees are offered new employment opportunities as part of a green energy revolution so that they no longer have to fear for their job if they refuse to attend some bogus “Energy Citizen” rally.

One of the most important things that we can do for the planet this weekend is as simple as treating ourselves to a movie.

The United States is dotted with parks and facilities that ostensibly exist to celebrate the beauty of the ocean and its inhabitants. While I won't name names, I'm talking about those grandiose, concrete-bunker tourist abominations that allow patrons contrived splash-zone experiences with kidnapped cetaceans. Porpoises, dolphins, and even orca are included in these marine circus acts. We watch the animals leaping through hoops and frantically clicking for their daily mackerel fix, all the while remaining blissfully ignorant of how these animals came to arrive in their current situation.

There is a ghastly, bloodthirsty force behind this calliope-and-carousel facade: the dolphin capture industry. It operates in a small, hidden bay outside Taiji, Japan, and it has finally been exposed for the monstrosity that it is by Louis Psihoyos' new crime flick-cum-documentary, The Cove.

Winner of numerous Audiences Awards around the world, including the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, Silver Docs and Hot Docs, The Cove follows an Ocean’s Eleven-style team of underwater sound and camera experts, special effects artists, marine explorers, adrenaline junkies and world-class free divers as they carry out an undercover operation to expose unspeakable cruelties that, in this tiny Japanese bay, have become a way of life.

Utilizing state-of-the art techniques, including hidden microphones and cameras couched in fake rocks, the team uncovers how this small seaside village serves as a horrifying microcosm of massive ecological crimes happening worldwide. The Cove is the result of the team’s journey to Taiji: a provocative mix of investigative journalism, eco-adventure and arresting imagery that adds up to an urgent plea for hope.

I urge all readers of this blog to see what the New York Times calls "one of the most audacious and perilous operations in the history of the conservation movement," and what Rolling Stone describes as "a cross between Flipper and The Bourne Identity."


Witness the truth behind dolphin captivity, and help us bring this reprehensible, barbaric industry to its knees.

For a complete listing of showtimes and locations, please click here.

Bottom trawling has gotten served again by Greenpeace!

If you haven't seen my post about My favorite Greenpeace video — head on over and watch it! It's a video about how bottom trawling is "laying waste to the precious ecosystems of the deep sea."

Last year, Greenpeace dropped boulders in the North Sea to protect the region against bottom trawling. This year we struck again in Sweden, yah!

So in love with this — a great way to mess with a truly destructive practice!

Check out this video from Reuters:

The WSJ recently reported that Big Oil, eager to avoid new regulations of its dirty energy supply, is going to take a cue from the health care reform protesters who have resorted to intimidation tactics like shouting down members of Congress at their in-district town hall meetings.

Click this button to get involved and make your voice heard!

Early confirmation of Big Oil’s plans came in the form of a memo from the American Petroleum Institute (API) that was leaked to colleagues of mine here at Greenpeace. According to Kevin Grandia, writing on Huffington Post, the memo details how, “Taking a page from the playbook of Astroturf campaigners currently crashing health care town hall events across the country, API hopes to similarly sully productive communications between Congressmembers and their actual constituents at public events scheduled for the coming weeks.”

Greenpeace does not support the Waxman-Markey bill that API is attempting to "organize" against, but that’s no reason to let bullies hired by API dominate the debate and drown out rational voices calling for science-based climate policy. So it’s more important than ever that we keep the pressure up and make as loud a call as possible for an aggressive response to global warming.

Greenpeace has organizers around the country who’d be happy to help you get involved with actions and protests in your community. Check out greenpeace.org/volunteer to find an organizer near you, or to sign up to get more information from one of our national organizers if you’re not near one of our field organizers.

The important thing is just that we all get out there and make sure that corporate-backed astroturfers don’t hijack this debate. The time for real global warming policy is now, let’s make it happen.

Our Greenpeace Organizing Term students have just returned from their expedition north of the border to a place named Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada. One of their reasons for traveling was to ‘bear witness’ to the environmental destruction of this region.

Connor, who has been working with the students this semester, sent me his account. He writes:

The US gets more oil from Canada than any other country, if you haven’t heard, and more and more of it is coming from the largest industrial project in the world, probably the world’s largest environmental disaster site.

Now that it is obvious that peak oil is upon us, meaning that we have reached the peak of easy oil extraction, alternative forms of obtaining oil are becoming economically viable. One such form is the mining, filtering, upgrading and refining of Alberta’s tar sands into synthetic oil.

Getting oil from tar sands is environmental genocide. These deposits are located in three main chunks of Alberta, and are altogether the size of Florida. To get at the tar sands, the ancient boreal forest that naturally covers the landscape is completely leveled, and all of the land is dug up.

Let me emphasize that- a 10,000 year old forest ecosystem is rapidly being transformed into a desert. As the trees are cut and the soil dries, stored CO2 is released into the atmosphere, habitat for both animals and people is wiped away, and global climate change gets that much closer to the tipping point we’re desperately trying to avoid. The tar sands compounds the problem through an overwhelmingly intensive mining process that poisons everything for miles and miles around.

Recently, I went to the main site of tar sands mining operations, which as stated above takes place in the Fort McMurray area in the Athabasca river region. Along the way, I finally was able to see and appreciate the beauty of the boreal forest, a vast expanse of distinct, deep green conifers. From the road, I knew that there was no way for me to fully appreciate the seemingly endless miles of this gorgeous forest that spans the entire continent, but I got a taste, and it was delicious.

The flavor turned more than sour pretty suddenly. Eventually, the boreal disappears and the landscape turns gray and dead. Tailing ‘ponds’ (the size of lakes), full of the industry’s toxic chemicals, replace the trees. Scarecrows are placed along the edges, and propane cannons are constantly blasting in order to keep wildlife from venturing into these deadly lakes. The smell of pollution is overwhelming- I could feel an unsafe burn from the acrid air with every breath. A dirty haze covers the sky, billowing from smokestacks all along the landscape and invading the territory of clouds. Piles of black sulfur, discarded sand, and other desolate material is scattered as far as the eye can see. No more green boreal. This place has been completely transformed into something more barren than the moon. The tar sands have brought new meaning to the word ‘rape’.

Seeing this was more than I could stand, and I wish I could fully describe what it is like to stand there, in a place that is devoid of any feeling. It looks, smells and sounds like a war zone, with the constant blasting of propane, thick smog in the air, and dead landscape. All I could think was, “I can’t believe this used to be the boreal forest,” and “I can’t believe that people could do this.” It was a truly horrifying place to be; it made the bottom of my stomach drop out, and I don’t know if I could have kept from crying even if I tried.

It is important for me to try to get this reality out there to people- I knew about the tar sands long before visiting it, saw the awful pictures, read the awful facts and got angry, but none of that could get the desperation of the situation across to me. My account won’t have any sizeable fraction of the impact of actually seeing that deathly landscape, but I can at least try to add a more personal touch to the situation. Please check out a couple of the links and videos here and familiarize yourself with the problem. With a climate that is already spiraling out of control, the tar sands is the most disheartening thing to see for anyone trying to protect what is left of the planet as we know it.

You can go here to find out more and take action: Greenpeace Canada Tar Sands campaign

After spending more than five weeks at the Petermann Glacier, the Arctic Sunrise began its transit down the west coast of Greenland at around midnight Wednesday night. Our primary goal at Petermann Glacier was to document the calving of the glacier — an ice island about 100km2 is expected to fall into the sea any day now — with remote time-lapse cameras perched on 1000 m cliffs overlooking the glacier. Even though the ice island has not yet calved, our time-lapse cameras remain in place, ready to document the glacier's disintegration should it happen this summer.


The Arctic Sunrise reaches 'the ice bridge' in the Robeson channel, at 82.4 North, near the border between Greenland and Canada. This is the Southernmost extent of the summer sea ice which usually extends much further south into the Nares Strait, but has receded dramatically in recent years. © Greenpeace/Nick Cobbing

People have been asking if I’m disappointed that Petermann Glacier did not calve a large ice island while we were there. My honest answer is no.

From the early stages when we first started planning this expedition, I was keenly aware that ice conditions in Nares Strait meant that the ship had only a 50/50 chance of reaching Petermann Glacier in the first place. In reality, our passage north was virtually clear of sea ice – we sailed right to the top of the strait, reaching the ice bridge that is holding back the Arctic Ocean’s thick, multi-year sea ice on June 29th, just 445 nautical miles from the North Pole. The fact that we actually reached Petermann Glacier at all, and then had more than five weeks to conduct research into the dynamics that influence its (and nearby Humboldt Glacier’s) sensitivity to global warming, was truly an unexpected bonus. Together, Petermann and Humboldt glaciers drain a full ten percent of the ice that flows from the immense Greenland Ice Sheet into the sea, with serious implications for sea level rise the world over.

The independent science team on board the ship gathered a lot of important data in a part of the world that is remote and challenging to reach. With the support of the Arctic Sunrise and her crew, the scientists were able to conduct glacier and oceanographic studies that will help fill the gaps in their own and the greater scientific community’s understanding of how Greenland’s glaciers and the ice sheet react to global warming. In the last seven years, the Greenland Ice Sheet's contribution to sea level rise more than doubled, due to a surprisingly rapid and unpredicted loss of ice. There is still so much that scientists do not understand about how Greenland’s glaciers and ice sheet are reacting to global warming. It’s a stunning example of how the impacts of global warming on the ground are outpacing scientific models, which is the case throughout the Arctic and in much of the world.


The 'whirlpool' and crack on the Petermann glacier. Geophysicist Dr Richard Bates, of the Scottish Oceans Institute at the University of St. Andrews, takes 'casts' of temperature pressure current and salinity. © Greenpeace/Nick Cobbing

Ironically, while the Arctic Sunrise was conducting research on glaciers in northwest Greenland, the Waxman-Markey bill was being further weakened by Congress and fossil fuel industry lobbyists whose goal is to protect business as usual at the expense of protecting the climate. The bill reflects a huge gap between what US lawmakers are willing to do and what climate science is saying the planet needs. It’s clear that no one in the US government, including President Obama himself, is prepared to do what’s necessary to prevent climate catastrophe.

Any bill that does not include science-based targets of at least 40 percent reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 falls far short of what is needed. Even emissions reductions of 20 or 30 percent by 2020 won’t cut it; it’s just not possible to save the climate a little bit at a time. Obama and Congress can’t shut their eyes and hope this issue will somehow go away. It won’t. In coming years and decades we will all wonder what the heck they were thinking when they failed to address the problem with meaningful action.

I know it’s naïve, but I wish President Obama could spend just one day with us on board this ship, talking with the independent scientists on board about how climate change is affecting Greenland’s glaciers and ice sheet, and in turn, what it means for the US and the rest of the planet. He would leave the ship understanding that anything less than science-based targets in US and global climate policy condemns the world to the worst impacts of climate change, which, by the way, will ravage the economy and health care system in incalculable ways. The economic problems caused by sub-prime mortgages, irresponsible lending and bank failures will seem like child’s play compared with what continued and unabated global warming will cause.

The Arctic Sunrise is now heading south toward the next stages of this expedition. Independent science teams will be joining us to conduct research on Greenland’s east coast glaciers as well as sea ice. We will continue our work here in Greenland, using every tactic we can to amplify the voices of scientists who are on the cutting edge of global warming research. Our hope is that both their work and voices will form part of the impetus for Congress and President Obama to take real action on global warming in the four months that remain before the Copenhagen climate talks in December.

Good news!

Today a federal court reinstated the Roadless Area Conservation Rule.  This means about 40 million acres of pristine roadless forests are protected from destructive logging and road-building.  Greenpeace was part of the successful lawsuit supported by many conservation groups and several western states.

Read more about the case here.

This is great news, but it is not the end of the story.  Because of a complicated legal and administrative history, the roadless wildlands in America’s largest forest – the Tongass in Alaska – and National Forests in Idaho, do not benefit from this court decision.

Created in 2001 by the Clinton administration, the “Roadless Rule” is extraordinarily popular with Americans.  Support for roadless conservation isn’t a partisan issue: polls have shown Americans from all backgrounds supported the protection of our last best wildlands.  And, as the Roadless Rule was being created, they spoke up in record numbers in favor of it.  But, it didn’t take long for the Bush administration to join with industry groups to attack the rule and attempt to make it a divisive political issue.

 In 2005, the Bush administration replaced the Roadless Rule with a watered-down version requiring governors to “petition” the federal government to protect Roadless Areas in their state.  This allowed partisan state governors to tamper with protections for public lands belonging to all Americans.  In addition, pro-roadless area governors were saddled with new red-tape and expensive bureaucratic requirements to essentially beg for forest protection.  Even if a governor filed a petition, the Bush administration – and the former timber industry lobbyist overseeing the Forest Service – reserved the right to turn down requests for roadless area protection.

The Bush administration did this switch without conducting required environmental review.  They claimed it was merely a “paper” exercise that had no effect on endangered species or the habitat they depend on.  The three judge panel today slapped down that ridiculous assertion, saying they had violated the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act.

To me, this is more than an abstract legal case.  I watched roadless forests in Oregon’s North and South Kalmiopsis Roadless Areas fall to the saw during the Bush administration.  When you feel the earth shake when a huge tree hits the ground, and see messy stump-fields replace beautiful wildlands it’s hard not to be moved.  These forests are real places important for clean water, wildlife, recreation and local communities.  And they deserve real, permanent protection.

 

I've witnessed brave activists stand in the way of roadless area logging, putting their bodies and freedoms on the line to call out Bush admininstration policies that turned out to be illegal. Dangling from bridges and blocking logging roads, their courage moved faster than the courts.  In the meantime, forests that should have remained standing fell to the saw.

Now the big question is: what will Obama do?  While candidate Obama made commitments to “support and defend” roadless forests, his administration has a mixed record.  Earlier this year, the administration declared a one-year “timeout” on destructive activities in roadless areas, barring logging and roadbuilding without case-by-case approval by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.

Unfortunately, Vilsack recently used his power to green-light the Orion timber sale in the Tongass National Forest.  That logging project includes road-building and clearcutting in temperate rainforests bordering the Misty Fjords National Monument.  While chainsaws move in on the rainforest, Greenpeace is challenging the project in court.

Enough already.  It is clear Americans want their last roadless forests protected, and it is clear these pristine forests need help to keep them standing for future generations.  Now is the time for Obama to put petty politics and court battles behind us and ensure protection for all of America’s Roadless Areas.

-Rolf

In my day to day work, I frequently think about the vital role student activists have played in social movements throughout history. Yet, when talking to individual students (which I have done a lot of in the past 7 years), I often hear them express doubts about their own power. Some feel as if student power peaked in the 1960s and has only waned since then. Others think that today's students have little to no ability to influence the multinational corporations that are the typical players at most universities.

Well, guess what? To those who may have doubted the ability of today's students to be powerful actors in their communities, today's Kleercut victory speaks volumes to the current strength of student activism!

Since 2004, countless student activists have asked Kimberly-Clark to save the Boreal forest. Hundreds of students hosted events on their campuses, and 22 colleges and universities took action by canceling contracts, phasing out products, and writing letters of concern to Kimberly-Clark. As a result of this and other work, the company that makes Kleenex, Scott, and Cottonelle announced a new policy today that places it among the industry leaders in sustainability.

That's right, students have been integral players in our Kleercut campaign over the past several years, and today we're announcing the successful end of our campaign!

This is a tremendous victory for ancient forests, including the North American Boreal, and it would not have been possible without dedicated student activists. Schools that took action on the campaign include the following: American University, Skidmore College, Harvard University, Rice University, University of Miami, University of Central Florida, LaSalle University, Northern Arizona University, University of Vermont, UC-Berkeley, Wesleyan University, Principia College, the University of Florida, Purchase College, Regis University, University of Indianapolis, Lakehead University, St. Mary's College of Maryland, Goucher College, Kalamazoo College, Mercyhurst College, and Tulane University.

So if you are a student activist, take a minute to congratulate yourself as well as your fellow student activists. Just as importantly, please take a minute to thank Kimberly-Clark for its new policy that helps protect ancient forests!

Kimberly-Clark has set a goal of obtaining 100 percent of the wood fiber for its products – including its flagship brand, Kleenex – from environmentally responsible sources. By the end of 2011, the company will no longer use any pulp from the Boreal Forest unless it is Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified. The policy also prevents the company from cutting Endangered Forests, and increases the company’s use of FSC-certified pulp and recycled fiber globally. Read more at www.greenpeace.org/kleercut.

Thanks for all your hard work, and congratulations on a hard-earned victory! Continue building power in your community and on your campus with the Greenpeace Student Network - check out ways to get or stay involved at www.greenpeacestudents.org.

We're all still riding high on the big victory for ancient forests today thanks to Kimberly-Clark's new policy that sets the goal of getting 100% of the fiber for Kleenex and the company's other products from sustainable sources. Just wanted to share a couple cool videos with all of you so you could share in the good times.

The first is a funny little video we made about making up with the company:


This one, courtesy of my colleagues in Canada, has some beautiful shots:


I love the smell of recycled tissue in the morning. Smells like... victory.

First and foremost, a big "thank you" to Kimberly-Clark, the world's largest manufacturer of tissue paper products and the proud owner of a new fiber procurement policy. We pledge to work cooperatively to help implement that policy.

Hey Proctor & Gamble (maker of Charmin and Bounty) and Georgia Pacific (maker of Angel Soft and Brawny), you reading this?

Lest I forget: Thank Kimberly-Clark now for helping protect the world's ancient forests!

K-C's new policy

No over-the-top celebration here (kind of promised not to) — but folks here are feeling very good indeed. Here’s the deal:

• Kimberly-Clark now has a goal of obtaining 100 percent of the wood fiber for its products — including its flagship brand, Kleenex — from environmentally responsible sources (that means recycled or FSC).
• By the end of 2011, the company will get out of the Boreal Forest and only buy pulp that is Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) -certified.
• The policy pledges to protect the integrity of High Conservation Value Forests and will keep Kimberly-Clark and its suppliers out of Endangered Forests.

Today is definitely a day for celebrating the new protections provided to our world’s ancient forests by the world’s biggest tissue makers. The Kleercut campaign was what we call a “market campaign,” so I thought it would be interesting to look back on the strategies and tactics that made today’s victory for ancient forests possible.

Market campaigning, the Boreal, and Kleercut

Forest “market campaigns” typically start in a forest. In fact, right now in countries all around the world Greenpeace staff are meticulously documenting forest activities — logging, mining, road building, damns, agricultural expansion, you name it.  In addition to physical mapping (where’s the forest, what condition is it in, what species exits, etc.), our teams conduct social mapping to identify and reach out to communities in the effected region to understand competing or conflicting issues, such as land ownership or tenure rights and displacement.  

Obviously we also focus on major commercial activities to better understand who is acting responsibly and who is not. For example, in any given region a logging company may be acting responsibly while another is blatantly breaking the law, disrespecting human rights, or otherwise causing sever environmental destruction. I have no problem with the forest products sector, but you’d be truly shocked what some people are getting away with... And too often you end up buying it at your local store and never know it!
 
So once again, our story today began in the forest. Prior to the launch of the Kleercut campaign, well before we even thought about Kimberly-Clark, Greenpeace Canada was busy documenting what, when, and how the logging sector was clearcutting the Boreal forest. This is the largest intact forest in North America and is home to woodland caribou, lynx, grizzly bears, and wolverine, to name but a few. Birds? Forget about it! Over 1 billion migratory song birds call the Boreal home for part of the year.

The Boreal is also home to nearly a million aboriginal peoples. On top of this, it is the largest storehouse of terrestrial carbon on the planet. Did you know that worldwide forest destruction release more CO2 into the atmosphere than all cars, planes and boats combined?

What we're stopping: Destruction of the Boreal

Most of the destruction in the Boreal is taking place in the southern frontier, which is also where the most productive wildlife habitats are. In these areas, over 90% of the forest is being clearcut, with individual cuts sometimes extending over 24,000 acres. These are some of the largest clearcuts in the world. Point is, the place is important and it’s getting trashed.

In Canada, Greenpeace focused on documenting the ongoing history of massive forest destruction and the social unrest left in the wake of the logging industry. Once the playing field is documented (i.e. the physical and social mapping stuff), we begin the painstaking task of documenting the chain-of-custody – the often lengthy and convoluted pathway that forest products travel from the stump to the store shelf. Along the way, economic value is “added” through various processing points, which obviously differ if the tree is destined for a 2x4 or toilet paper. Yes, Virginia -- toilet paper and tissues are still commonly made of 100% virgin fiber, from ancient forests and old-growth trees.

Anyway, we traced fiber from these highly destructive logging companies to end-customers all over the world, including — you guessed it — Kimberly-Clark, the makers of Kleenex.

Our first face-to-face with K-C

As we do, Greenpeace sent letters requesting a face-to-face meeting with large customers to present our facts. There are plenty of examples where corporations react responsibly once the information is on the table. Let’s be honest: A lot of companies are huge, even transnational, and (until recently) it is understandable that top management may be blissfully unaware of the procurement consequences made at lower levels. Some guy in middle management in a windowless office may have no idea that his purchasing contracts can taint the reputation of their company or for that matter may not even care that the implications can have huge impacts on critically endangered ecosystems. “I just work here, don’t bother me.”

These first face-to-face meetings are a key moment and fraught with peril, as most corporations speak Greek, while most environmentalists speak Latin. Thus, on some occasions, we may not know how close or far apart we are on any given issue. Too may Greeks instinctively mistrust Latins (and I guess vice versa).

Sadly, let’s just say our first meeting with K-C was a lost opportunity. Maybe we didn’t make our case well enough — NOT.  Maybe the company was not about to let some hippies tell them how to run their business. Maybe some public relations firm was advising them to hunker down, promising that we’d go away. Either way, after that meeting Greenpeace decided to launch a campaign against Kimberly-Clark, the world’s largest tissue paper products manufacturer — the same company that had somehow convinced my 4-year old to ask for a Kleenex instead of a tissue. The prospect was daunting… but once you see what’s happening in some of these Boreal forests, suddenly motivation is not the issue.

YOU made the difference

The smartest thing Greenpeace ever did with this campaign was to decentralize and “let it go.” We turned our facts over to activists from around the world. From there it took on a life of it’s own. Yeah, yeah, Greenpeace did a lot too. We planned, wrote reports, organized, protested, met with customers large and small, hung off of buildings, created YouTube videos and mock newspapers, worked with shareholders and the media and argued amongst ourselves, etc., etc. etc. A core group of Greenpeace people in the U.S. and Canada worked their butts off (and nothing but love here to the international Greenpeace offices who worked on this too). To all of you: I will be eternally grateful and am thoroughly impressed. I hope to talk soon to many of you individually.

But the truth is that the best ideas and activities came from volunteers, students, retirees, Greenpeace canvassers, and some guys answering the phone in Greenpeace’s supporter services department. So to the businesses, campuses, and individuals that made this happen — this is your moment.  This is your achievement. Remember that. No one can ever take that away from you. Trust me, this victory never would have happened if individuals like you had not taken action.

Buy me a beer and I’ll bend your ear with some of the most inspirational, innovative, dedicated and downright hysterical things that happened during this campaign… and all staying within our core values of peaceful protest. Marshall McLuhan and the Quakers would be proud.

More than two months before 9/11, President Bush was warned that al Qaeda was plotting an attack within the United States. He failed to act. President Obama knows all too well that chemical plants represent one of the country's biggest security vulnerabilities. But the question remains: will he learn from his predecessor's mistake?

In a July 29th speech at the Council on Foreign Relations, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, described the risk. "We may be better prepared as a nation than we were on 9/11," she said. "But we are nowhere near as prepared as we need to be...a key piece of this is securing our nation's critical infrastructure...These are commercial facilities, chemical plants, emergency services..."

Three years ago, as a member of the Senate, Barack Obama understood these vulnerabilities and the risks that communities near chemical plants face. Ignoring intense pressure from the chemical industry, he led efforts in Congress to protect people working and living near these facilities. "We cannot allow chemical industry lobbyists to dictate the terms of this debate," he urged his colleagues.

Here's a video of President Barack Obama arguing passionately for stronger chemical security legislation as a Senator:

Unfortunately, the chemical industry prevailed and Congress rejected comprehensive legislation that would eliminate these risks and instead passed a temporary but fatally flawed law. That law actually prohibits the government from requiring the use of safer alternatives to dangerous chemicals. Although this law expires in October, it will be extended for one year to give Congress and the President time to make things right. The next step for Congress is in September when the House Energy and Commerce Committee expects to vote on a bill that is nearly identical to those authored by President Obama in the Senate.

The real test for President Obama is now. Unlike his leadership on health care, the president has been deafeningly silent on an issue that he and Vice President Biden championed in the Senate. This same "I'll sit it out during the season and maybe break a sweat in the last minutes of the finals" approach to legislation is dangerously similar to his approach to global warming legislation. That strategy resulted in coal and oil lobbyists hijacking the process and undermining the president's promises for clean energy jobs, world leadership, and meaningfully reducing global warming pollution. Will President Obama replay his global warming misstep with chemical security legislation?

No one doubts the magnitude of the risks. As President Obama once said, "these plants are stationary weapons of mass destruction spread all across the country." Chemical plants that store and use large quantities of poison gases in populated areas are especially big risks. According to industry's own reports to the Environmental Protection Agency, more than 100 million Americans live in "vulnerability" zones surrounding just 300 chemical plants. A catastrophic release of a gas like chlorine would form a toxic cloud or plume that would be hazardous for up to 20 miles downwind. According to a U.S. Naval Research Lab report, an attack at just one of these plants could put 100,000 people at risk of death or injury within the first 30 minutes of the incident.

Since Sept. 11th, scores of organizations representing a broad range of interests, including the Steelworkers, United Auto Workers, Teamsters, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Sierra Club, U.S. Public Interest Research Group, and Greenpeace have been pushed for stronger security standards at the country's chemical facilities.

While in the Senate, both President Obama and Vice President Biden authored, spoke out for and voted for several bills that would have ensured the use of safer chemical processes. In a 2006 floor statement introducing one of his bills Senator Obama said, "by employing safer technologies, we can reduce the attractiveness of chemical plants as a target... Each one of these methods reduces the danger that chemical plants pose to our communities and makes them less appealing targets for terrorists."

A growing number within the industry agree. Last year, the Association of American Railroads, which is the largest shipper of poison gases and is very concerned about its liability, issued a statement saying, "It's time for the big chemical companies to do their part to help protect America. They should stop manufacturing dangerous chemicals when safer substitutes are available. And if they won't do it, Congress should do it for them."

But, time and again since the 9/11 attacks, the chemical industry -- led by giants Dow and DuPont -- has shamelessly killed attempts to improve chemical security. In 2008 alone, the industry dispatched at least 169 lobbyists to kill comprehensive legislation.

The industry finds any requirement to use safer alternatives objectionable. They insist on the right to use any chemical or poison gas they deem best -- despite the risk to people working, living and going to school in the vicinity of their plants. The cost of converting these plants is relatively small. A survey of the 287 chemical plants that voluntarily converted to safer alternatives since 1999 found that 87 percent did it for less than a million dollars and one-third a reported a savings. As a result, more than 38 million Americans are no longer at risk from those plants.

In June, Democratic leaders in the House introduced legislation to require high risk chemical plants to assess safer alternatives. It would also conditionally require the highest risk plants to implement the safest and most cost-effective processes where feasible. When the bill was voted on in the House Homeland Security Committee, Republicans offered and won four amendments on behalf of the chemical industry to limit or prevent the use of safer chemical processes. As the Energy and Commerce Committee prepares to take up the bill in September, similar attacks on the bill are expected. The ranking Republican on Energy and Commerce, Representative Joe Barton (R-TX), has long opposed this legislation. In 2003 he told National Journal, "I don't see a burning need to legislate."

Eight years after the worst terrorist attack on American soil in history, our most vulnerable targets remain at risk. Simple, inexpensive, and common sense changes, like substituting or reducing the amount of lethal gases stored on-site, would protect millions of people from harm. As Senator, Barack Obama took on the chemical industry to protect our health and security. We need him to take the same stand as President and tell Congress to pass the strongest chemical security legislation possible this year. As he said in the Senate, "We cannot allow our security to be hijacked by corporate interests."

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This post originally appeared on Huffington Post.