March 2011

Drilling in the Arctic is a risky business. So it’s a good thing that the only company with a license to drill in the Arctic isn’t comparing the whole endeavour to hanging out in Vegas and trying your hand at shooting craps.

Oh wait. That’s exactly what they’re doing.

In response to Rachel's recent blog about taking in part in direct actions in such a male-orientated world as Greenpeace, Esther explains that you don't necessarily have to climb tall buildings to have an impact.

Some women have a touch of the Lara Croft about them, but others - no matter how hard we try - would always prefer a nice bit of cake and a day out shopping to climbing up chimneys. Not that there is anything wrong with this – after all, there is more than one way to save the planet.

Jacob Namminga, one of our radiation safety advisors, spoke to Brian Fitzgerald at our international office, about the radiation monitoring that began on Saturday March 26, in a rural area of Japan to the north west of the Fukushima nuclear plant.

The trip's aim was to asses the true extent of radiation risks to the local population, which has reported radiation levels of up to ten micro sieverts per hour in Iitate village, 20km beyond the official evacuation zone - levels high enough to require evacuation. As told to Brian, here are Jacob's reflections on the trip.

So yesterday's budget was from the self-proclaimed 'greenest government ever', but was it the greenest budget ever? How could it be, when it has done nothing to break our addiction with oil, hobbled the Green Investment Bank before it's even started, and provided a windfall for nuclear power.