May 2006

If there has been one day out here that has reflected the spirit and passion of all the diverse groups fighting to get soya out of the Amazon, it was today. We joined a march of nearly 1000 people from indigenous and local communities throughout Santarem who are trying to stop Cargill destroying their livelihoods and way of life.

It's been a long day and its not yet 4pm. Worse still its been violent and the fear is things could get much worse.

Today, shortly after dawn, we launched three inflatables from the Arctic Sunrise, raised the anchor and steamed over to Cargill's illegal export facility. Our intention, to peacefully shut down the complex for as long as possible and prevent the unloading of rainforest soya from farms complicit in illegal land grabbing and slavery.

You may never have heard of Cargill, but they are the largest privately-owned company in the world. They also happen to be one of the major culprits in the continuing destruction of the Amazon rainforest, driving deforestation to make room for soya plantations. That soya is then shipped out to Europe for animal feed.

A secret document has revealed that the new breed of nuclear reactor Blair is considering building is highly vulnerable to terrorist attack.

The Electricite de France (EDF) document looks at the vulnerability to terrorist attack of the new European Pressurised Reactors (EPR). These reactors are already under construction in France and Finland and may be built in the UK if Tony Blair has his way.

The view of the Amazon from the air is spectacular. A broad river winding its way through dense jungle back to source, giant lily pads sit like stepping stones across its tributaries and above, white egrets floating in the breeze. Dotted along the riverside, people can be seen fishing in canoes or transporting produce down river.

by Oliver Knowles, Oceans campaigner

Earlier this year I attended the Brussels Seafood Expo - the world's largest seafood and fishing exhibition. Held in 10 enormous exhibition halls over 3 days, retailers, processors, fishermen, exporters, importers and many more from around the globe come to buy, sell, talk about and eat massive quantities of seafood. And it's quite an experience.

Tony Blair has announced that nuclear power is now "back on the agenda with a vengeance".

Speaking at a CBI dinner last night, Blair made his strongest admission yet that the Energy Review is a smokescreen for a decision that has already been taken: to build a new generation of nuclear power stations.

As we revealed in early April, McDonald's have been implicated in the clearance of the Amazon rainforest to grow soya for animal feed and, thanks to the thousands of emails and letters you sent, they're talking to us about how they can get out of the Amazon.