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The Mili-band Live!

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Racing icebergs at the top of the world

Arctic Sunrise off Greenland

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.

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Brown sets out his climate stall for Copenhagen

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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. Read more »

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Greenpeace meets Bill McKibben

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.

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Greenpeace podcast: Bill McKibben on Obama, 350 and Copenhagen

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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 »

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You may remember us from such Big No’s as…

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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. Read more »

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Exposing climate fugitives in Hong Kong

Greenpeace volunteers hang a large banner outisde Hong Kong government offices, saying 'Wanted: Climate Fugitive'

Greenpeace volunteers in Hong Kong have been protesting about the lack of effort the territory's government has put into tackling climate change. On Monday, a team dropped a huge, seven-storey banner down the front of a government office building marking out chief executive Donald Tsang as a 'climate fugitive'. Read more »

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Video: 20,000 tonne coal shipment stopped from reaching Kingsnorth

Last night Greenpeace volunteers boarded E.ON's moving bulk freighter Sir Charles Parsons, carrying thousands of tonnes of coals to restock the Kingsnorth coal-fired power station.

They intercepted the freighter using rigid inflatable speedboats just after midnight as the ship sped up the River Medway towards Kingsnorth, then attached climbing ladders to the vessel and scaled the 15 metre hull. Three teams comprising nine people succeeded in boarding the ship. They then scaled the ship's huge funnel and the towering foremast to stop the ship from unloading.

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Swimming towards a coal ship - Greenpeace campaigners block coal delivery to Kingsnorth

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Update: After a 19 hour stand-off the climbing team on the mast of the E.on coal ship have been served an injunction and are now coming down.

Around midnight three of my colleagues eased themselves off one of the Greenpeace inflatable speedboats and into the cold water of the river Medway in Kent.

It's difficult to imagine what must be going through your mind in that situation - in the dark, in the cold water, with the looming lights of a large ship getting closer. But however difficult to imagine it is, it must have been even more difficult to do, because Cathy, Emma and Hannah knew that they were swimming out into the channel to block a coal freighter carrying twenty thousand tonnes of coal from docking at the Kingsnorth jetty.


Audio interview: Sarah, one of the activists aboard the coal freighter gives us an update on what's been going on (apologies for the poor sound quality) - just click the play button below.

Video: Watch the video highlights from the ship boarding and an interview with volunteer Sarah Shoraka from the mast of the E.on ship.

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Will Ed make Britain a global leader on climate change?

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Ed Miliband today announced the details of his new coal consultation. While recognising the need to reduce emissions from coal-fired power stations, as promised, it places equal emphasis on maintaining a "diverse, secure energy mix". Read more »

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