June 2009

What do we say to bigger airports? © Vanessa Miles/Greenpeace

I decided to give Glastonbury a miss this year, but it looks like everyone currently stuck in a seven-hour tailback in the car park had a rollickin' good time. Not just because of the sunshine or Blur's barnstorming set last night (slightly jealous I missed that), but the Greenpeace field was once again a marvel to behold.

The MV Arctic Sunrise off Greenland © Greenpeace/Morton

Dave is onboard the Arctic Sunrise, heading north up the coast of Greenland.

Blue and white icebergs are looming through the sea mist as I write this, from the campaign office of the Arctic Sunrise, in Baffin Bay. Our ship - an old sealing vessel - is just south of the wonderfully named Disko Island, or Qeqertarsuaq, off the west coast of Greenland. A seal just popped its head up, to check out who is passing by. And we just crossed the Arctic Circle.

It's been a long time since there were polar bears at London Zoo, but the famous attraction still houses many other species which are threatened by the effects of climate change. So I can't help but wonder whether this fact registered with Gordon Brown (himself an endangered species) as he stood up at the zoo to present his blueprint for a global climate action plan.

Just a quick reminder of the sorts of things you'll be missing out on if you don't take that step through the grass arch to visit the ever-stimulating Greenpeace field at this year's Glastonbury festival.

So head on down to the Greenpeace field, where you can (in no particular order):

• sign up to become an Airplotter and help us create a spectacular aviation intervention to stop Heathrow expansion.
• scale the climbing walls of our action training centre
• conquer the famous Greenpeace skateboard ramp
• take a solar power shower
• feast organically at Café Tango
• get some expert advice about how to make your world a bit greener

See you there!

In this video interview, Bill discusses how the US politics of climate have changed with the election of Obama, how the UK government needs to respond, and whether he's optimistic about the future.

By the end of today, we will have seen two significant developments in the political landscape of climate change. First, the UK has indicated for the first time that it believes serious money will be needed from developing countries at Copenhagen.

Secondly, today will also see a vote in the US House on the Waxman-Markey bill, Obama's re-engagement of the US with climate. You may have seen Joss on Newsnight on Wednesday, arguing that the bill doesn't go anywhere near enough what we need to see from the US, and that Obama had effectively dropped the ball on the climate, but even if inadequate, it is still groundbreaking.

A good moment to get an insight into the interaction between science and politics over the pond. For the first of the Greenpeace meets series, occasional interviews in which we'll hook up with (hopefully) interesting authors, activists, scientists and policy wonks to download their wisdom, I went and had a coffee with veteran US environmental guru Bill McKibben.

With December's crucial Copenhagen climate change summit fast approaching, we talk to 350.org founder Bill McKibben about the politics of climate change in the US, the challenges of building a successful mass movement, and how we set about not only restricting the amount of new CO2 we're pumping into the atmosphere, but reducing the levels that are already there.

350 is the number that leading scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in our atmosphere - it's measured in "Parts Per Million". So below 350 ppm is where we need to be to avoid runaway climate change. Currently the figure is around 390 and rising.

350.org will coordinate an international day of action on October 24 at hundreds of iconic places around the world - from the Taj Mahal to the Great Barrier Reef - with the aim of sparking a global movement to unite the public, media, and our political leaders behind the 350 goal.

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Want to know more about the issues in this podcast?

Copenhagen Climate Summit »
350.org »
US Climate Bill »
Greenpeace meets Bill McKibben »

It'll look like this, but muddier, and with more men wearing dresses

It's difficult to know how to get people at Glastonbury to join in with the good work of saving the planet, but this year we reckon we've come up with a way to make it all fairly straightforward for those who are a bit 'festivaled out' to join in.

The Great White shark: more threatened than threatening © CC  hermanusbackpackers

A couple of stories in the press today caught my eye. Both are about what we internally refer to as 'charismatic megafauna' (the big animals people tend to be interested in and care about), but they are also both damning indictments of our failure to protect our oceans and the life that depends on them.

Firstly – in the week of the International Whaling Commission meeting in Madeira, Portugal – whilst lots of countries get together to talk lots and try not to upset each other too much,  the BBC reports that a highly-endangered species of porpoise is being pushed ever closer to extinction.