The Rainbow Warrior is on her way to the UK to give coal the boot »
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A history of the Rainbow Warrior, in pictures
Posted by bex on 10 October 2008.
With the Rainbow Warrior on her way to the UK, we thought we'd put together a slideshow to share a few of the highs - and lows - of her remarkable history. Our flagship, the Rainbow Warrior has travelled from South America to the South Pacific, the Antarctic to the Atlantic - an icon for environmentalists around the globe.
The ship coming to the UK is of course the Rainbow Warrior II; the original vessel was sunk in 1985 by French government agents trying to foil protests at their nuclear weapons testing in the Pacific. (The ship's name was inspired by a Native American prophecy which foretells a time when human greed would make the world sick, and warriors of the rainbow would come together to save it.)
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The Rainbow Warrior is coming to the UK
Posted by bex on 8 October 2008.
She's our world famous flagship, she's helped to win Greenpeace campaigns across the globe and now she's coming to the UK to persuade Gordon Brown to Give Coal the Boot.
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Rainbow Warrior heading to the UK to Give Coal the Boot
Enviornmental icon to visit London, Kent and Essex
8 Oct 2008
The Rainbow Warrior, Greenpeace's flagship, will be visiting the UK later this month.
The 55-metre vessel, one of the most famous ships in the world because of her environmental campaigns, will arrive in London on the 20 October as part of Greenpeace's ‘Give Coal the Boot' campaign.
She will then be visiting Kent, where the first coal power station for a generation is being planned at Kingsnorth, and welcoming onboard the heads of groups such as Oxfam, the Women's Institute and Tearfund.
These groups, whose combined membership numbers millions, will show their opposition to plans for coal power stations like the one proposed by Eon for Kingsnorth.
The Rainbow Warrior will then be welcoming visitors for a guided tour at Southend pier in Essex on Saturday the 25 and Sunday the 26 October. The tour is free, and will offer everyone a chance to learn more about the ship and about the campaign to ‘Give Coal the Boot'. (1)
Joss Garman of Greenpeace said: "There's a huge coalition building against planned coal plants, and they'll be joining the Rainbow Warrior to help give coal the boot.
"Faith groups, development groups, politicians of all shades, scientists and thousands of ordinary people are standing up and saying no to new coal."
Last month, ministers suffered a blow to their energy plans as six Greenpeace volunteers were acquitted of criminal damage by a Crown Court jury in a case that centred on the contribution made to climate change by burning coal.
The charges arose after the six attempted to shut down the Kingsnorth coal-fired power station in Kent last year by scaling the chimney and painting the Prime Minister's name down the side. The defendants pleaded ‘not guilty' and relied in court on the defence of ‘lawful excuse' - claiming they shut the power station in order to defend property of a greater value from the global impact of climate change.
Greenpeace press office: 020 7865 8255.
NOTES:
(1) Please register online to join a guided tour here. As a working ship, the Rainbow Warrior has some steep steps and narrow passageways, so unfortunately pushchairs, wheelchairs and dogs will not be allowed on board. But, although those people with limited mobility may not be able to get a full tour, they can of course see the ship and talk to the crew.
For more information on the Rainbow Warrior, go to http://www.greenpeace.org/international/about/ships/the-rainbow-warrior.
Greenpeace volunteers paint coal cargo ship in Israel
Posted by tracy on 9 September 2008.
Photographer Pierre Gleizes managed to get back to the Rainbow Warrior after his arrest and put together this set of pictures capturing the high tension moment of the activists arrests after painting a cargo ship carrying coal to the Ashkelon power plant in Israel. Great to have the master back on board and still going strong after over 25 years of making superb images for Greenpeace.
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Rainbow Warrior captain arrested in Israel over coal protest
Posted by tracy on 8 September 2008.
Israeli police boarded the Rainbow Warrior today to arrest captain Daniel Rizzotti after the peaceful action of activists from the ship who painted "Quit Coal" on the hull of a ship unloading coal at the Ashkelon power plant.
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The 'Quit Coal' tour in the Philippines
Posted by jossc on 20 June 2008.
Taking the message to the Philippines Department of Energy
Mareike, web editor aboard the Rainbow Warrior, give us an update on from the Philippines about how the 'Quit Coal' tour is progressing.
Burning coal accounts globally for over 70 per cent of CO2 pollution from power generation and is the greatest single threat to our climate.
That's why the Rainbow Warrior is on a global tour from New Zealand, via the Philippines and Thailand, to the UN climate panel meeting in Poland at the end of this year, promoting a massive uptake of renewable energy and energy efficiency and the phase out of coal.
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Update: Rainbow Warrior ends peaceful protest at Pagbilao
Posted by jossc on 27 May 2008.
The Rainbow Warrior's protest at the Pagbilao coal-fired power plant in the Philippines has ended on a high note. Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri sent a message of support to the crew saying, "I will file a resolution in the Senate seeking a halt in the construction of new coal fired power plants in the country."
The action ended on the eve of the G8 Environment Ministers Meeting in Japan, where the richest industrialised countries in the world gathered at the weekend to discuss solutions to climate change. Ending the use of coal needs to top the agenda.
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"Quit coal" tour gets underway in Philippines
Posted by jossc on 23 May 2008.
The crew of the Rainbow Warrior kicked off a month long "Quit coal" tour around south-east Asia today when they blocked a coal shipment at the Pagbilao coal-fired power plant in Quezon province, south-west of Manila.
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Rainbow Warrior in palm oil blockade
Posted by jamie on 15 November 2007.
View from the Rainbow Warrior of the MT Westama, laiden with 30,000 tonnes of palm oil © Greenpeace/Christian Aslund
Events in Indonesia have stepped up apace, and the Rainbow Warrior is currently blockading a tanker in the port of Dumai in Sumatra. The tanker, the MT Westama, is carrying 30,000 tonnes of palm oil and the Warrior is positioned so that tugs can't reach the tanker to assist it out of the port.
Exporting the palm oil is a company called Permata Hijau Sawit - their suppliers are known to be involved in the destruction of rainforests and peatlands in Riau province, temporary home of our Forest Defenders Camp.
I'll post back when I know how it turns out, but in the meantime read the full story on our international site.
Update: After two days, the blockade finally came to an end on Saturday.
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Mangrove planting on Sagar Island
Posted by tracy on 17 October 2007.
Tracy is on the Rainbow Warrior, which is in India to highlight the impacts of climate change and what we can do to stop it. You can follow all the tour updates on the Ban the Bulb blog, and we'll be posting tour highlights here.
We set off early for the southeast corner of Sagar Island, where the task today was to plant 8,000 mangrove seedlings along the shore to help hold back the advancing seas. This is an experimental plantation project started by Professor Sugata Hazra, head of oceanography at Jadhaupur University.
He says that the Sundarbans delta is already experiencing the worst of climate change. Sea levels are rising faster here than the global average and the intensity of cyclonic storms and monsoon rainfall has increased.
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