At the end of 2006 Greenpeace joined other environmental and campaigning groups to push for government action on climate change - under the name of the I Count campaign. At the time, the reality of global warming was only just being accepted by mainstream politicians, but through Stop Climate Chaos' I Count campaign thousands of us lobbied our MPs and helped to persuade many of them that the situation was serious and that genuine action was needed. Last month the positive results of all that effort were seen when a much beefed-up Climate Bill was passed by Parliament.

All of us who took part in I Count can be proud of our contribution to three major victories in the climate change debate, which have now been incorporated into the Bill.

The whalers' factory ship Nisshin Maru leaving Innoshima on Monday

Japan's whaling fleet slunk out of port earlier this week under a cloud of financial crisis and scandal, with none of the elaborate parades and marching bands of previous years' departures. This time the Nisshin Maru left the port of Innoshima with no triumphant fanfare, after the cancellation of the usual traditional departure ceremony in its home port of Shimonoseki. Word has it that this time, only a small group of 30 or so saw the whalers off - along with a hardy bunch of activists who protested with banner saying "whaling on trial" and one highlighting the whaling operation’s multi-million dollar drain on Japan’s taxpayers.

The past few weeks have not been good ones for the whalers - first of all was the deflagging of the support ship Oriental Bluebird. Japanese newspapers reported that, for the first time since the nation began 'scientific' whaling in the 1980s, the self-appointed quota would be decreased. Then we heard of the announced closure of Yushin (Toyko's largest whale meat shop), and news that for the first time, the whaling ships wouldn't be 100 per cent crewed: many former crew members were reluctant to sail again, following the whale meat scandal uncovered by a Greenpeace undercover investigation.

OK so I'm a day or two off the pace with this story (courtesy of a long weekend - well even we need a day or two off once in a while), and didn't find out about Monday's tuna direct action in Paris until I showed up at the office again today. So what did I miss? Well, our French colleagues took the opportunity to protest against France's leading role in decimating Mediterranean bluefin tuna stocks by dumping five tonnes of tuna fish heads outside the door of the French Fisheries Ministry.

Timed to coincide with coincide with the opening of the annual meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), in Marrakech, the action targetted France (as opposed to Italy or Spain, the two other worst offenders) in this instance because French Premier Nicholas Sarkozy currently holds the EU presidency. He has been using it to shape the EU position in favour of the short-term interests of his fishing industry above the need to save the Mediterranean bluefin tuna stock from collapse.

Yushin, Tokyo's official whale meat shop, is closing down © Dave Walsh

Probably better to whisper it at this point, at least if you're a bit superstitious like me, but it has to be said that our much criticised plan to focus all our anti-whaling efforts in Japan, rather than out in the Southern Ocean, is beginning to yield significant results. Even before the whalers prepare to leave port for their annual hunt in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, new revelations of financial and image problems are adding to the woes of the scandal-plagued industry.

Indonesia: oil palm saplings are still replacing peatlands and rainforest

Cooking oil, chocolate, soap, washing powder, cosmetics and biofuels are just a few of the hundreds of products reliant on one key ingredient - palm oil. Demand for this versatile oil is rising rapidly. Today 80 per cent of world production comes from plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia. Palm oil is the leading cause of destruction in Indonesia, where it is spelling disaster for local communities, biodiversity, and climate change as palm plantations encroach further and further into rainforest and critical peatland areas.

These issues are meant to be addressed by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the self-regulating industry body created in 2001 to develop sustainable solutions to palm oil production. To date, despite seven years of existence, no "sustainable" palm oil has entered the market place appearing in products of its members (who include household names like Boots and BP). But that's supposedly now about to change as the first certified palm oil shipment from Malaysia arrives this week in Rotterdam.

Greenpeace Canada exposed the country's largest grocery store chain's claims to be a 'green' grocer as false this week, after an investigation into how they source their seafood. Loblaws, whose stores account for nearly a third of all groceries sold in Canada, were found to be selling 14 of the 15 species on Greenpeace's 'Redlist' - made up of those species that are most destructively fished or farmed.

To get 'redlisted' a species must be in serious trouble, usually defined as facing a 90% reduction in numbers. Currently top of the Canadian list are Atlantic bluefin tuna, Atlantic cod, sharks, skate, shrimp and orange roughy - all of which are sold by Loblaws.

The good folk at the Public Interest Research Centre (PIRC) recently made an inspired contribution to the anti-coal crusade that's springing up around the country - they've just launched an online map of all the places that the coal industry is planning to dig and build new opencast mines and new power stations. It's interactive, zoomable, and full of information about the sizes of the mines and power stations being planned. Worryingly, there are more than a few.

Flashmob at Heathrow's Terminal 5.

Upcoming events for all those opposed to further airport expansion:

• 16 Nov: Direct Action Training in West London

• 17 Nov: Public Meeting in Chiswick

• 29 Nov: 'Are you listening Gordon?' Stunt in Hounslow

• 6 Dec: National Climate March

"Yes Mr Brown, we're afraid it really is that serious..."

Much as Gordon Brown would like to pretend otherwise, getting the go-ahead for Heathrow's third runway is still far from a done deal. With the Tories and Lib Dems having already rejected the proposal, the PM is now facing a growing rebellion from within his own party. Labour MPs, privately egged-on by cabinet ministers, have tabled a motion opposing Heathrow expansion in a last ditch attempt to persuade Mr Brown to change his mind - reminding him that not only will the third runway make it almost impossible for the government to hit its climate change targets, but that it is deeply unpopular with voters.

45 Labour MPs have already signed up to an Early Day Motion expressing their opposition. If this figure continues to rise, as it easily could with two weeks still to go before the motion closes, then the PM will find it increasingly difficult to defy opinion within his own party.

Oriental Bluebird, left, refuels the whaling factory ship Nisshin-Maru in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, 2007

The Japanese whaling fleet's key supply vessel, Oriental Bluebird, has been de-flagged and fined following a legal ruling by Panamanian authorities, where the ship is registered. The owners of the former oil tanker, used to refuel the fleet in the Southern Ocean and to ship whale meat back to Japan, were fined the maximum penalty after being found guilty of:

• using the ship for purposes it was not licensed for (ie carrying whale meat rather than oil)
• violating the MARPOL convention (a treaty designed to eliminate the deliberate, negligent or accidental release of oil and other harmful substances from ships into the marine environment) after illegally refuelling whaling vessels in Antarctic waters.