Thanks to our supporters, we've raised almost £470, 240 towards building the the Rainbow Warrior III. As it nears completion, our new ship featured in Sunday's Observer magazine at the weekend.
The heart and soul of Greenpeace campaigning for over 30 years, the current Rainbow Warrior is nearing the end of her shelf life. So the Rainbow Warrior III is being built to replace her, with a plethora of new features and technology to help us save the planet and she featured in the Observer magazine, as Tim Adams witnessed the world's most environmentally advanced being built:
Everything about it, from the paintwork to the insulation, has been designed with sustainability in mind. Each component comes with transparent ethical sourcing. Below deck the ship will house one of the most sophisticated communications operations anywhere on the ocean. As well as all this up-to-the-minute kit, the boat is required to have something that is not mentioned in the hundreds of pages of specification: a soul...
...The Rainbow Warrior III project is being overseen in Bremen by William Sykes, a 6ft 6in Glaswegian second-row forward, who points out to me some of the ship's more unusual features – the advanced technology that will drop smaller inflatable speedboats from its sides at record speed for the quickest possible advance or getaway; the helicopter pad that can be created on deck; the below-deck radio room with its reinforced door built to allow at least 30 minutes transmission time in the event of the ship being boarded – as it has been in the past – by SAS-style commandos wielding axes.'
Much more than just a ship, it's a research hub, a home for long term crew members, education centre and a universal symbol of our work in peaceful activism - so vital today as the Arctic and our ocean ecosystems are under perilious threat.
In the UK we've set ourselves the goal to raise £650,000 for Greenpeace's new aquatic HQ - and, while we're close thanks to our brilliant supporters, we still have almost £200,000 left to raise. Check these new images of progress so far on our incredible new Rainbow Warrior - and please do make a donation and help us go on making waves.
Find out more about the Rainbow Warrior III and how you can help here: greenpeace.org.uk/rainbowwarrior
