Michael Franti at Glastonbury 2002
Glastonbury is one of the most spectacular events on Earth. It comes to you with a conscience.
The money you pay for a ticket does not line the pockets of greedy corporations! Instead, profits in excess of £500,000 are distributed amongst Greenpeace, Oxfam, Water Aid, and other good causes each year.
In 2002, the money Michael Eavis donated to Greenpeace contributed to our campaigns around the world, enabling us to draw attention to key issues and take action for change.
Greenpeace's flagship, the Rainbow Warrior, joined the clean-up after the Prestige oil tank disaster off the coast of Spain. Together with other organisations, Greenpeace mobilised hundreds of local people to help rid the beautiful coastline of oil. We continue to lobby world governments to tighten the laws over the use of ageing and decrepit oil tankers.
Our campaigning work in India led to thousands of women taking to the streets to demand justice for the victims of the horrific gas leak at a Union Carbide factory in. The disaster killed thousands of people and left a dreadful legacy.
We organised an international boycott of Esso, the only major oil company to dismiss the threat of global warming. Thousands of people across the USA, UK and Europe shut down Esso petrol stations on our international day of action. In Britain, 120 petrol stations were closed.
Early this year, leaders in the US and UK, inflicted war on the people of Iraq - even though successive UK and US governments had armed and supported the brutal Iraqi dictator for years. Millions of people voiced their outrage by taking to the streets. During the war, Greenpeace activists around the world peacefully took action to halt the rush to war. We protested against our dependence on oil, the cause of so much war and conflict, and called for peaceful means of dealing with weapons of mass destruction, by all countries possessing them - including the UK.
Greenpeace has kept the spotlight on the introduction of GM crops internationally while working to protect organic farming methods; this has included actually decontaminating farmland of GM crops. In the UK, this is a critical year in the campaign, as the government prepares to allow grow GM crops to be grown commercially. We will be stepping up its campaign to ensure our food and agriculture is "GM free".
Our work in drawing attention to the hazards of in the environment led to thousands of people opposing the building of new incinerators and demanding an increase in recycling within the UK. Several local authorities have made changes as a result.
And last but not least, we launched the groundbreaking Save or Delete campaign as part of our international work to protect the last world's remaining ancient forests. Our investigation of illegal imports of timber into the UK exposed the government using illegal and destructively logged wood from Africa's rainforest, home of the few remaining Great Apes, in the refurbishment of the Cabinet Office. As a result, the government has changed its buying policies. Save or Delete will continue this year, spotlighting the trashing of Indonesia's lowland rainforest for cheap plywood and paper imported to the UK. If forest destruction is not stopped the World Bank estimates that the rainforests of Indonesia will be wiped out within 10 years. The orang-utans that rely on these forests face extinction in the wild. We will be calling on citizens to take action with us. So if you want to know what Greenpeace is up to and how you can get active in our 2003 campaigns, please visit us at the Greenpeace Field.
