Shell has ducked out of the major international trial it faced over human rights abuses in Nigeria, and last night opened its wallet to fork out $15.5m (£9.6m) in a last minute settlement. After 13 years of bringing this case to court, it's a relief for the relatives of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others executed for campaigning against Shell's human rights abuse and environmental crimes in the Niger Delta.

Whatever it is that makes an environmentalist is the same, fundamentally, as that which makes a human rights activist. I would have disagreed with this thought until not so long ago - before joining Greenpeace, in fact. Fresh out of University College London with a Masters in Human Rights, I was out to change the world. Only when I joined Greenpeace did I realize that there was no point changing the world if we cannot sustain one in the first place.

Here's the latest in the Deep Green column from Rex Weyler -author, journalist, ecologist and long-time Greenpeace trouble-maker. The opinions here are his own, and you can sign up to get the column by email every month.

The dispossessed

In 1969, Marie Aimee took her two children for medical treatment, a six-day voyage across the Indian Ocean from their home on Diego Garcia island to Port Louis, Mauritius. Her husband, Dervillie Permal, stayed behind to work at a coconut oil factory and tend the family garden and animals.

After visiting the doctor and picking up supplies in Port Louis, Marie and her children arrived at the quay for the trip home. However, a British Government agent refused to allow them onto the boat, stranding Marie and her children in Mauritius. Throughout the following weeks, other marooned islanders appeared, congregating in a local slum, living in boxes or tin shacks. Two years later, Marie's husband arrived in Port Louis with one small bag and a chilling story.

In a story not as weird as the environmentally-friendly bullets one but still somewhat unnerving, it appears the US military is gunning for an increase in the amount of energy it derives from renewable sources. Military chiefs want to see 25 per cent come from the likes of wind, wave and solar by 2025 and while it accounts for 1.5 per cent of US energy consumption, the biggest impact could be the civil application for military developments in technology and efficiency so the rest of the country could be following in its khaki-coloured wake.