Chrissie Hynde performs on stage in Valencia to show her support for our ancient forests campaign

Chrissie Hynde, lead singer of rock group the Pretenders, joined crew onboard Greenpeace flagship the Rainbow Warrior in Valencia harbour this afternoon, to demand that the Spanish government free the ship.

The Rainbow Warrior was impounded following a Greenpeace action at the port on 13th June to block the import of illegal and destructively logged timber from Cameroon's rainforests. The Spanish Government have ordered Greenpeace to post a bond of Euro 300,000 in order for the ship to be released.

Chrissie Hynde, whose band played in Valencia last night, read out the following statement on the ship, in English and Spanish,

'The Greenpeace flagship, Rainbow Warrior, is now under arrest here in Valencia. Globally, we lose an area of ancient forest twice the size of this city every day. Yet, the Spanish government is more interested in persecuting the protesters, than the companies importing illegally logged wood. STOP THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ANCIENT FORESTS! FREEDOM FOR THE RAINBOW WARRIOR!'

During the action Greenpeace activists chained themselves to cargo ship MV Honour, to prevent it entering Valencia Harbour with a cargo of illegal and destructively logged timber from Cameroon's rainforests. As a result of the protest the Captain of the Rainbow Warrior, Joel Stewart and four other activists have been ordered to pay a fine totalling Euro 630 and the Spanish authorities have opened a case against the Rainbow Warrior.

'Not since the French response to Greenpeace's protests against the nuclear tests in Muroroa, has Greenpeace seen this kind of repression,' said Joel Stewart. 'The Spanish Government should be going after the real criminals who are destroying the world's ancient forests and not challenging the democratic right of peaceful protest.'

Note:
In 1989 Chrissie Hynde donated a track and time to the Greenpeace double-album Breakthrough the first pop compilation album ever released in the Soviet Union. The proceeds from that record album provided the start-up investment in rubles to begin Greenpeace Russia. She travelled to Moscow for the launch in March of that year and was an inspiring and outspoken champion of Greenpeace and the need to preserve Russia's vast natural heritage.

Celebrities join stop esso campaign

A national campaign to boycott Esso was launched in London today by the Stop Esso Campaign, an alliance founded by Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and People & Planet (1). Bianca Jagger unveiled a 'Boycott Esso' mobile billboard at the campaign launch. Annie Lennox, Ralph Fiennes, Jerome Flynn, The Body Shop, Damien Hirst and Keith Allen, along with several politicians have already signed up to the boycott.

The Stop Esso Campaign is calling on the public not to buy any Esso products until the US based oil company changes their stand on global warming. The campaign is targeting Esso as the world's leading global warming villain because:

1. Esso are the financial power behind George Bush - Esso donated more dollars than any other oil company to help Bush win the election and soon reaped the rewards when Bush ditched an international agreement to stop global warming. Esso have been the most active company undermining this treaty, the Kyoto protocol.
2. Esso refuse to accept the link between their oil and global warming.
3. Esso don't invest any of their massive profits in renewable energy or green fuels.

Pledge your support to Stop Esso

Greenpeace - campaigning against GM foods

On Sunday the 25th of July 1999 thousands of people, including many celebrities such as Emily Lloyd, Maryam D'Abo, Simon and Yasmin Le Bon, Ben Elliott and Jemima Khan, will express their support for organic food and opposition to GM food at Britain's largest ever organic picnic.

Channel 4 actor, Mat Fraser, will compere the event which is being held in the grounds of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London and is organised jointly by Greenpeace, the Soil Association and The Picnic. Entertainment will include live music performances, children's entertainment, displays and organic food tastings.

At 3pm there will be speeches about genetically modified food and organic alternatives. Speakers include: John Sauven, the campaign director of Greenpeace; Patrick Holden, Director of the Soil Association; Lizzy Vann from Baby Organics; and Zac Goldsmith, the Editor of the Ecologist.

At 3.30pm there will be a chefs' "master class" when celebrity chefs will attempt to make the world's largest ever organic fruit salad. The chefs and celebrities will then serve the salad to the public.

The Government itself has admitted that GM crops will contaminate organic crops because the pollen is carried by bees or the wind from GM crop sites to organic ones. The picnic, which is FREE to the public, will be a powerful display of public opposition to GM foods and will send a clear message to Tony Blair that a majority of people in the UK do not want GM food. (1)

"This is an ideal opportunity for people to express their concerns about the health and environmental impacts posed by GM foods and to celebrate the alternative - healthy, organic food," said comedian Matt Fraser.

Greenpeace campaign director, John Sauven added: "Despite overwhelming public opposition, the Government continues to allow the GM experiment to continue. This is our chance to tell Tony Blair that we want GM food and crops banned. It's our chance to tell him that we want the public money that is being wasted on GM technology to be ploughed into modern, organic farming instead."

Greenpeace and the Soil Association have issued a joint challenge to the Government to set a target for organic agriculture in the UK and to at least match the rest of the Europe where 30% of land will be farmed organically by 2010 if current rates of growth continue.

Lack of support from Tony Blair's Government means that the UK lags far behind the rest of Europe with less than one per cent of agricultural land currently farmed organically. This means that the UK is currently forced to import 80% of its organic food because demand is outstripping supply.