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Links for 2008-05-16 [del.icio.us]

Sat, 17 May 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Terms of Endangerment: Politics & Power: vanityfair.com
Fish stocks are crashing everywhere, and restaurants must decide whether to be part of the problem or part of the solution. What are the world’s influential chefs doing? Our correspondent decided to sample some important menus.

Final findings for the Faslane Five

bex — Fri, 16 May 2008 11:49:42 +0100

A Greenpeace volunteer on the boom at Faslane nuclear submarine base in Scotland

I don’t know if your remember our Trident Tour last year - that five week frenzy of Faslane blockading, crane climbing, arrests, solitary confinement, losing a ship, getting it back again, bearing witness, gigs, press conferences, political events and rallies.

Well, it’s been a long time coming but, over a year after the event, I can give you the final results of the legal wranglings that ensued.

If you remember, we were on a mission to stop an increasingly maniacal Tony Blair from spending £76 billion of taxpayers' money on indulging his fetish for weapons of mass destruction (and building a new generation of them). We took our ~~floating washing machine~~ ice-breaking ship, the Arctic Sunrise, to the nuclear weapons base at Faslane, blockaded it and got a flotilla of inflatable boats and canoes into the water.

One intrepid volunteer successfully made it onto the boom protecting the base (see the picture) before being arrested and, thanks to the wondrous manoeuvres of Captain Waldemar, the Sunrise blockaded the base for a full 14 hours before being boarded by the MoD (listen to the boarding). Pretty much everyone involved was arrested and held in cells for three days - where we survived on a diet of powdered tea, deep fried grease and pea basketball.

The authorities didn't pursue charges for most of us; only Captain Waldemar and an apparently random selection of five volunteers had their charges pursued. (When I say pursued, I don't mean to imply any sense of speed; the cogs of Scottish justice have turned pretty slowly for us.)

Captain Waldemar’s charges were dropped in January and finally, this week, the last of the charged activists were found (in their absence) not guilty of byelaw breaches, and their plea of guilty to breach of the peace was accepted. The last of our boats should be released from detention at Her Majesty’s pleasure and making their way back to us soon.

So it's finally all over. Although, of course, the Sunrise’s adventures continue as ever (and she now has her very own webcam to prove it). And here’s another chance to watch the wonders of Inflatable Cam, and the 24-hour protest at Parliament in the run up to the Trident vote:

The Faslane blockade:

Protest at Parliament:

Vanity Fair: Terms of endangerment

jossc — Fri, 16 May 2008 10:44:30 +0100

Crew caught stealing the best whale meat from 'scientific' programme

jossc — Thu, 15 May 2008 10:43:53 +0100

Crew members from the factory ship at the heart of Japan's so-called 'scientific' whaling programme have been stealing and illegally selling off the best cuts of whale meat. Our four-month investigation uncovered disturbing evidence of an embezzlement ring operating on board the Nisshin Maru, the floating factory ship which processes the whales caught by the whaling fleet's hunting vessels in the Southern Ocean.

Today we displayed a cardboard box filled with the best cuts of whale meat, smuggled ashore by the crew of the Japanese whaling factory ship, Nisshin Maru, for illegal trade and personal gain, at the Japanese taxpayer's expense. The box, along with videotaped testimony and other evidence, suggest widespread embezzelment of whale meat has been occuring for decades under the noses of the public officials who run the whaling programme, and are allowing it to happen.

Our activists delivered the evidence, including the whale meat, to the Public Prosecutor's office in Tokyo, calling on it to make a full public enquiry into how deep the corruption runs with the whaling programme.

Read our 'Whale Meat Scandal' dossier
(Adobe PDF format)

Stake outs, testimony from informers, hidden cameras and tailing trucks full of stolen goods - it reads like a Hollywood movie, but it was an every day experience for Greenpeace activists in Japan, who have spent four months cracking open a major conspiracy of corruption at the heart of Japan's government-backed, sham scientific whaling operation.

The four-month Greenpeace investigation employed undercover tactics to reveal dramatic evidence of an embezzlement ring involving crewmembers on board the Nisshin Maru. Informers who spoke to the activists claim that senior crew and officials from Kyodo Senpaku turned a blind eye to the whale meat theft, allowing it to continue for decades. One informer associated with Kyodo Senpaku told Greenpeace that officials from the Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) - the agency that carries out the so-called "scientific research" work on board the Nisshin Maru - are most likely aware of the thefts as well.

"The information we have gathered indicates that the scale of the scandal is so great, it would be impossible for the ship's operating company, Kyodo Senpaku, not to know," said Junichi Sato, Greenpeace Japan whales campaign coordinator. "Kyodo Senpaku is turning their back on large scale corruption and theft of taxpayers' money. What we need to know now, through a full public enquiry, is who else is profiting from the whaling programme? Who else has allowed this fraud to continue?" Sato added.

Tracking the stolen whale meat

Working from information given by former and current Kyodo Senpaku employees, the Greenpeace investigators secretly documented the offloading of smuggled whale meat into a special truck, while Kyodo Senpaku officials and crew members stood by, following the Nisshin Maru's return earlier this year, on April 15th. Greenpeace then tracked the consignment from the ship to a depot in Tokyo.

One of four boxes destined for the same private address was then intercepted, to verify the contents and establish the fraud. The consignment notes claimed the box contained "cardboard" - but in reality held 23.5kg of salted 'prime' whale meat, worth up to US$3,000, hidden beneath overalls. One informer told Greenpeace that dozens of crew take as many as 20 of these boxes each, and said he overheard one crewmember claim to have built a house from the proceeds in stolen whale bacon alone.

To track down the final destination of this meat, activists visited pubs and restaurants in a number of different locations around Japan where they requested "special" meat and filmed the responses using hidden cameras. Traders and restaurant owners confirmed that they were expecting the imminent delivery of whale meat from this year's hunt, despite the fact that the Japanese Fisheries Agency and the Institute of Cetacean Research do not release the whale meat for sale before the end of June, 2008.

What you can do

We're now asking for a full public enquiry to ascertain the level of corruption within the whaling programme. We're also calling for an end to taxpayer subsidies for the programme, and for the license of the company operating the whale hunt to be withdrawn.

Help us create an outcry for a full investigation and demand the permits of the whalers be revoked. Write a letter to the Japanese Prime minister. It will only take a minute.

The prince and the rubber tapper: stop trashing rainforests

bex — Thu, 15 May 2008 10:38:01 +0100

Yesterday, the 'guardian angel' of Brazil's environment, Marina Silva, threw in the towel and quit her post as Brazil's environment minister. She told President Lula that her efforts to protect the Amazon "were being thwarted by powerful business lobbies".

Her frustration must have been immense; protecting the Amazon has been her life's work. Before becoming environment minister, Silva grew up tapping trees for rubber in the Amazon to support her family, before teaching herself to read, putting herself through university and working alongside Chico Mendes to stop deforestation and create sustainable reserves.

Eking out a silver lining, maybe her resignation will be a wake up call; without her, the Brazilian government's green credentials are thin on the ground. Exposed like this, the government may now have to prove it values the Amazon as much as agri-business interests.

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic - in a different hemisphere and from the opposite end of the social spectrum - another voice called for a complete halt to deforestation. In an interview (listen again) on the Today Programme, Prince Charles said "if nothing is done seriously in the next 18 months, we are in severe danger of losing the battle against climate change."

He repeatedly made the point that "halting deforestation would be the easiest and cheapest way of halting climate change" and made an astute observation about ancient rainforests and new carbon sequestration technologies. We already have an amazingly sophisticated carbon storage technology: the world's forests. And we're killing them.

It's 'Amazon Day' at BBC World today, so keep your eyes and ears peeled for more.

Unilever takes the lead to stop deforestation in Indonesia

tracy — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:28:10 +0100

You may have noticed that we had quick win in our campaign to stop deforestation from palm oil a couple of weeks back. Unilever made an announcement that they would support a moratorium to protect Indonesia's rainforest from destruction just ten days after the launch of our campaign.

During our research into palm oil and forest destruction in Indonesia we discovered that Unilever is one of the biggest buyers of palm oil, and it is used in several of their products like Dove soap, Persil and Flora. So we started targeting Dove with a cheeky campaign subverting their campaign for real beauty with Orang-utans on billboards, on flyers, online banners and on the Unilever's headquarters in London and their factory in Liverpool.

Meanwhile, we received well over a thousand photos of people sending their messages to Dove from our local groups and individuals - check out our map to see some of them.

The agreement with Unilever is now starting to take shape, but this is just the first step in our campaign to get a moratorium on forest destruction in South East Asia in place within what we hope will be months.

Unilever is supporting our call for a moratorium on the ground but even through they are the biggest buyer they represent only 3 per cent of the palm oil purchasers and the moratorium will need a lot more support from other companies before we see real change on the ground in Indonesia.

Unilever have agreed to take up the challenge by leading the way and building a coalition of allies to support a moratorium and put pressure on their suppliers in Indonesia to agree to a moratorium on further destruction of rainforests for palm oil. This includes them lobbying all the major players in the industry like Kraft, Nestle, Procter & Gamble and Cadburys. They also agreed to put substantial pressure on their suppliers in Indonesia to stop destroying rainforests.

This is a really big first step and we're pretty chuffed, and while it won't be as glamorous as the campaign for real rainforests, we now have a lot of work ahead to make sure that Unilever holds up their end of the agreement and together we get more companies on side and get a moratorium in place.

Over the coming months we will be meeting with companies and lobbying them to support the moratorium alongside Unilever. This coalition of influential players in the palm oil industry is key to getting a moratorium in place as soon as possible to stop deforestation and the release of greenhouse gases that fuel climate change.

And there is no time to celebrate (ok, we did just a little) - next week campaigners will be speaking at the World Palm Oil Summit in Jakarta to talk about the need for a moratorium with buyers and suppliers. And we will also be speaking at an investment seminar on palm oil in London in June with F&C Asset Management and McDonalds.

We will do our best to keep you posted, but because of the nature of many of these meetings we will have to keep a pretty closed lip. We will also let you know if we need your help again in the future to put pressure on any companies that may need a bit of an incentive to support the moratorium. In the meantime please join Greenpeace to help support our ongoing work.

Thank you for all your help and support so far, it has been an incredible response for the first step in this campaign to save Indonesia's rainforests.

CO2 concentrations - Greenpeace response

bex — Mon, 12 May 2008 17:52:33 +0100

Reacting to the release of new figures showing that the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is at its highest level for at least 650,000 years, head of Greenpeace's climate change campaign Robin Oakley said:

"We're now witnessing a key moment in the climate change story and it's not good news. The last time the atmosphere was this choked with CO2 humans were yet to evolve as a species. To even consider building new runways and coal-fired power stations at this juncture in history is an unpardonable folly, but Gordon Brown seems determined to stumble forward regardless with his ill-conceived plans in the face of the science and widespread public opposition."

Scientists say atmospheric CO2 levels now stand at 387 parts per million (ppm), up almost 40 per cent since the industrial revolution.

The figures, published by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on its website, also confirm that carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas, is accumulating in the atmosphere faster than expected. Scientists say the shift could indicate that the Earth is losing its natural ability to soak up billions of tons of carbon each year.

For more information, contact the Greenpeace press office on 0207 865 8255.

EC sounds alarm bells over GM crops

jossc — Mon, 12 May 2008 16:12:06 +0100

GM food producers are reeling after new investigations by the European Commission (EC) uncovered problems with three new types of genetically modified crops. The Commission raised concerns over a new type of GM potato and two types of GM maize, all of which had previously been given the green light by European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). For the first time, Europe's most senior lawmakers are publicly questioning the safety of GM crops.

Potential problems with the three new GM strains first came to light last year when leading experts from the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Pasteur Institute and the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) expressed fears about the impact of German chemical giant BASF's GM potato on human health. Their research found that the crop could result in people and animals developing resistance to certain types of antibiotics which are used to treat diseases. Data on Syngenta's two types of GM maize (Bt 11 and 1507) wasn't much better, with scientists concerned that they could harm wildlife such as butterflies and other insects.

"That policy makers at the very highest levels are now questioning the safety of GM crops is very significant."
Geert Ritsema, Greenpeace International

Matters first came to a head last October when, after taking these concerns into account, European Commissioner for the Environment Stavros Dimas stood up to big agribusiness and refused to allow cultivation of the two varieties of GM maize. BASF and Syngenta challenged the decision and threatened legal action, leading the EC to order a second investigation into the safety of the new strains. During this process we kept up the pressure by posting comments on Commission blogs and sending numerous emails and petitions. Many thanks to the 130,000 of you who took part in our email action to remind the Commissioners of their responsibilities.

Now the results of that research are in, and while it makes unhappy reading for the biotech companies, it's great news for all of us who oppose the genetic modification of our food in pursuit of a quick profit. A pat on the back is definitely in order for the Commissioners for standing up to intense industry pressure and applying the precautionary principle.

Although, having said that, you have to wonder why the Commission asked the EFSA to look again at the crops when it had showed itself completely incapable of doing so the first time round? There is no escaping the facts. The impact on the environment and on human health of GM crops that produce their own insecticides is completely unknown. In truth the Commission should have recognised this and rejected the new crops outright first time around but hey, at least they got there in the end.

GM Podcast: the Celcias Show

An unrelated but equally welcome piece of news on the GM front aired last week when the residents of Montville, a small community located in Maine in the US became the first town outside of California to ban the cultivation of genetically engineered crops. To do so, they had to take on the deep pockets and misguided motivations of corporations such as Monsanto, the Halliburton of the farming industry. In this podcast from The Celcias Show Leslie Berliant speaks with some of the courageous farmers and town residents of Montville who helped to make this ban a reality.

Czechs Son of Star Wars protest set to enter third week

louise — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:54:09 +0100

A group of Czech Greenpeace activists are set to begin their third week occupying the site of a proposed US 'Son of Star Wars' base in the Czech republic. About 20 Greenpeace activists broke into the Brdy military zone south of Prague on April 28th. After establishing a base camp in nearby woods, they entered a wooded area inside the military installation and hung a 60 ft banner carrying the message "We don't want to be targets" across a series of tree-platforms.

The US want to build an X band radar at Brdy - like the one the Labour government controversially gave go ahead for at Fylingdales in Yorkshire - as part of the European end of their proposed 'Son of Star Wars' missile defence system.

"If you look at world history, ever since men began waging war, you will see that there's a permanent race between sword and shield. The sword always wins."
Jacques Chirac, former President of France

The plans have sparked major opposition in the Czech Republic - where polls have repeatedly shown that more than six out of 10 Czechs oppose hosting the US facility. The Greenpeace occupation is one of a whole series of protests against the plans over recent weeks and months.

Despite this opposition the Czech and US governments still appear to be closing on a deal to place the radar base in Czech territory, although the last minute cancellation of the signing ceremony by US Secretary of State Condolezza Rice earlier this week have raised hopes of opponents. Although officials explained the delay as 'a matter of logistics', the strong Czech public opposition to the plan, which is also strongly opposed by Russia, is likely to have played a strong part.

We oppose the US 'Son of Star Wars' system as we believe that it will trigger another arms race. The only people who will benefit from Star wars are giant arms contractors, such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing who will build develop both the shield and then profit from building the new weapons designed to evade it. As former French President Jacques Chirac put it:

"If you look at world history, ever since men began waging war, you will see that there's a permanent race between sword and shield. The sword always wins. The more improvements that are made to the shield, the more improvements are made to the sword. We think that with these [anti-missile] systems, we are just going to spur swordmakers to intensify their efforts."

The programme will also be hugely expensive - diverting tens of billions away from tackling the real problems our planet is facing, like tackling the effects of climate change.

You can watch live coverage of the site occupation on www.greenpeace.cz. Or you can help internationalise the protest by posting your photograph and a personal message at www.fotoblokada.cz.

To find out about ongoing protests against son of star wars sites in the UK checkout www.yorkshirecnd.org.uk/ and the campaign for the accountability of US bases at www.caab.org.uk/

Let them eat yellowcake

nathan — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:42:27 +0100

Today is the deadline for bids to takeover British Energy, the country's beleaguered nuclear operator. Leading the pack of foreign companies hoping to get their hands on BE's nuclear sites is the French government owned Electricité de France, or EDF as they prefer to be known on this side of the Channel.

Now, EDF is hoping to bag large tranches of UK land at nuclear sites - not for BE's financial integrity or for operational performance, but to add the UK to its nuclear catalogue. Put simply, they reckon building a new reactor on British soil will pull punters into their atomic showroom.

Flogging BE has been heralded as a sure step forward in the fight against climate change and a way of getting some much needed money back in to the Treasury coffers after the UK taxpayer bailed them out in 2002. But look a little closer and, not surprisingly, it is anything but.

The expected takeover by EDF (a notion which would have Nelson turning in his grave) will come at huge financial cost, do very little to help the UK reduce its carbon emissions and lead to continued confusion over who picks up the tab for the radioactive legacy.

Only this week, the CEO of E.oN, one of the worlds' largest power providers, said that any replacement programme of nuclear reactors, including the cost of BE, could cost up to £60 billion.

£60 billion! That's twice the amount this muddling government stated only months ago. And it would only deliver a paltry four percent reduction in emissions. When you consider the kind of return you'd get if you invested this in renewable technology and energy efficiency it's rather like comparing a radioactive Dairy Lea Triangle with a vintage Comté Extra Vieux.

To put it more bluntly, nuclear power is a multi-billion dollar blocker to actually getting the much more effective and cheaper alternative solutions up and running. If you find yourself tempted to scoff at this, ask EDF's CEO Vincent de Rivaz. He recently declared at the Adam Smith Institute that if the UK meets it renewables targets, the role for nuclear power will be marginalised.

The French takeover of British Energy also raises the question of just who is going to pay the massive bill for cleaning up the toxic legacy of spent fuel once the keys to our reactors settle next to Citroen's on the key fob. Since the beginning of 2005, the UK government has been legally committed to dealing with all the spent nuclear fuel on these sites, and this commitment will continue even when the sites are sold.

So instead of that money going back to the taxpayer, at a time when we are facing economic crisis, we will be subsiding French profits and accommodating increased fuel bills.

So, les incompetents in Westminster have once again undermined efforts to deliver meaningful reductions in carbon emissions and further burdened the tax payer with a legacy that will remain much longer than the memory of a Brown government that once again got it wrong.

At last some action on bottom trawling

jossc — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:05:52 +0100

Bottom trawling, possibly the most destructive fishing method yet devised by man, is to be regulated across the whole North Atlantic ocean. The process, which involves dragging nets weight down by metal girders across the seabed, is notorious for its wastefulness. Besides legitimate target species such as cod, plaice and sole, vast quantities of corals, sponges and other deep sea creatures are destroyed as bycatch. The devastation caused is so great that Greenpeace has been calling for some time for a moritorium (suspension of activity) on bottom trawling. Now it looks as though some progress may be being made.

The Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO), whose members include Canada, the European Union, Norway, Iceland, Russia and the US, yesterday announced plans to regulate the activities of its fleets in line with a 2006 United Nations resolution. The resolution calls for urgent action to protect deep-sea corals and other vulnerable ecosystems from the impacts of bottom trawling on the high seas. The UN originally set a deadline for all regional fisheries treaty organizations to fully implement its plans by December 2008.

NAFO, whose members have the largest fleet of bottom trawlers in the world, is the first to start complying. It has agreed that all high seas bottom fishing within its areas will be subject to impact assessments by the end of 2008, and that fishing areas should be closed or fisheries prohibited where damage to corals, sponges and other deep sea species cannot be prevented. NAFO has set itself an ambitious work schedule over the next several months to complete the assessments and begin identifying areas on the high seas that require protection.

If, as NAFO promise, they implement the majority of UN's recommendations it would be good news, setting a precedent for protection of deep-sea ecosystems across the whole of the North Atlantic. Crucially, it would also be an acknowledgement that our seas are not a limitless resource which can be endlessly exploited without any consequences, but one which must be carefully and sustainably managed if we want to continue to harvest their bounties.

Video: Bottom trawling

Links for 2008-05-08 [del.icio.us]

Fri, 09 May 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Third runway is a flight of fallacy
A third runway at Heathrow is against Britain’s economic interests. It is being driven by BAA, the Spanish-owned airport operator, and the misguided aspirations of British airlines. It is likely, in the long term, to prove a costly mistake.
Wall Street Journal: Parody ad flips Unilever
Eco-Geek on a Wall Street Journal story, which says that the Greenpeace Dove ad campaign flipped Unilever.

Links for 2008-05-01 [del.icio.us]

Fri, 02 May 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Nuclear's CO2 cost 'will climb'
The case for nuclear power as a low carbon energy source to replace fossil fuels has been challenged in a new report by Australian academics.
Turning over an old leaf
Only 24 books are produced for every tree felled. But book-swapping websites could provide a solution for the eco-aware reader. Charlotte Northedge reports

Links for 2008-04-29 [del.icio.us]

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Let them eat biofuels!
Food riots? Rationing? Governments overthrown?

Links for 2008-04-14 [del.icio.us]

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0500

The Five Best Arguments for Coal (And why they’re still really, really bad.)
From the excellent folks at The Coalhole.
Cops and Former Secret Service Agents Ran Black Ops on Green Groups
Meet the private security firm that spied on Greenpeace and other environmental outfits for corporate clients. A tale of intrigue, infiltration, and dumpster-diving from Mother Jones.

Links for 2008-04-07 [del.icio.us]

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Climate target is not radical enough
James Hansen of Nasa says the EU's emissions target needs to be slashed to 350ppm - and a moratorium on coal plants is the way forward.

Links for 2008-04-03 [del.icio.us]

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Coal power policy under attack from top scientists
Britain's leading scientists have told ministers that plans for a new generation of coal power stations pose an unacceptable climate risk.
Why are we going back to coal?
"If we burn all the coal that is in the ground, and let its filthy emissions out into the atmosphere, we won't be feeling genteel guilt in 20 years' time, but raw fear," says The Times.
Sun sets on cosmic rays theory
It has been said before, and it's being said again: The New Scientist puts the final nail in the coffin f the cosmic ray theory.
The Green Scare
Why is the Bush government intent on casting 'eco-terrorists' as public enemy number one?
The clean energy scam
The Amazon is threatened by an intricate network of economic priorities, including biofuels, cattle ranching and agriculture.