Greenpeace Blog

Greenpeace versus the Pirates, now showing on TV

Posted by Willie — 20 February 2009 at 2:16pm - Comments

Pirate vessel grave yard off west Africa
Pirate vessel grave yard with wardens on board 60 miles off Guinea Conakry. © Pierre Gleizes/Greenpeace

When we mention pirates, the most common image that springs to mind is of something comical, stereotyped, and fanciful. 'Pirate' has become synonymous with kid's cartoons, swashbuckling movies, and far-too-many fancy dress outfits. Beyond the likes of Johnny Depp and Captain Pugwash we might just associate piracy with illegal DVDs.

But increasingly real-life modern day pirates are making the news too, with dramatic confrontations in the waters off Africa

Article tagged as: oceans, overfishing, pirate fishing, pirates, west africa

Less peatlands, more palm oil, says Indonesian government

Posted by jamie — 20 February 2009 at 1:12pm - Comments

Greenpeace supporters remind Hillary Clinton during her visit to Jakarta to 'cut emissions now'

Volunteers in Jakarta get the climate message to Hillary Clinton's convoy (not pictured) © Greenpeace

Our colleagues in Indonesia have been very busy this week - with visiting foreign dignitaries and an outrageous decree from their own government following in quick succession.

Article tagged as: forests, hillary clinton, indonesia, palm oil, rspo, south east asia

All aboard the Arctic Sunrise in Brazil

Posted by jamie — 20 February 2009 at 12:42pm - Comments

One of the great things about working for an international organisation is that my inbox is constantly filling with emails from around the globe detailing what other Greenpeace offices are working on. A thread I've been following particularly closely is the stream of messages coming from the Arctic Sunrise which is currently back in Brazil on a two-and-a-half month tour of the country.

The purpose of the tour - which goes under the name of 'Save The Planet Now... Or Now!' - is to highlight the important role Brazil (as the fourth largest emitter of greenhouse gases on the planet) can play in fighting it in the lead-up to the UN climate change negotiations in Copenhagen this December.

Article tagged as: amazon, arctic sunrise, brazil, climate change, forests, ships, south america, videos

How your TV could end up in Nigeria to be illegally dumped

Posted by jamie — 18 February 2009 at 11:18am - Comments

Television are shipped from the EU to Nigeria to be sold, scrapped or illegally dumped

Television are shipped from the EU to Nigeria to be sold, scrapped or illegally dumped © Greenpeace/Buus

As you may have seen on Sky News or the cover of the Independent this morning, our researchers have been conducting a three-year investigation in what really happens to electronic waste. The results show that, instead of being recycled responsibly like it's supposed to be, e-waste is being disguised as second-hand goods and being shipped of to (in this case) Nigeria. There, it's sold, scrapped or illegally dumped.

Acting on a tip-off, we launched our operation in collaboration with Sky Television to see just where some electronic waste was ending up. We took an unfixable TV, fitted it with a tracking device and brought it to Hampshire County Council for recycling. Instead of being safely dismantled in the UK or Europe, like it should have been, the council’s 'recycling' company, BJ Electronics, passed it on as 'second-hand goods' and it was shipped off to Nigeria to be sold or scrapped and dumped.

Article tagged as: africa, e-waste, nigeria, sky tv, toxic chemicals, toxics, TVs

Nuclear waste company says, "Whoops, some of our files are missing"

Posted by jamie — 17 February 2009 at 2:12pm - Comments

Greenpeace volunteers protest about plutonium shipments between the UK and Japan

Back in 1999, Greenpeace was protesting about plutonium shipments destined for the Mox plant at Sellafield. Now the plant may have to close © Greenpeace/Sims

In the 'funny if it weren't so scary' category we have the advert which ran last week in the Whitehaven News, the local paper for west Cumbria where Sellafield is to be found. As reported in the Guardian at the weekend, LLW Repository Ltd - the company which has recently taken over managing the site - have found there are significant holes in records detailing what radioactive waste was dumped in the repository at nearby Drigg; so they're appealing for people who worked at Sellafield in the 60s, 70s and 80s to rack their brains and fill in the gaps.

Article tagged as: mox fuel, NDA, nuclear power, nuclear waste, sellafield, videos

Yorkshire says no to new coal

Posted by jamie — 12 February 2009 at 12:16pm - Comments

Ferrybridge coal power station in Yorkshire

The cooling towers of Ferrybridge power station

The decision on a new coal power station at E.ON's Kingsnorth facility in Kent is still expected later this year - the current rumour is around June but as with all government pronouncements you should take that with a very large pinch of salt. Whether it gets the go-ahead or not, it will have ramifications for the other proposed coal developments - including opencast mines - elsewhere in the country.

One of these is at Ferrybridge in west Yorkshire where half of the power station is due to go out of service in 2015. A more immediate threat is the opencast mine planned for the area, which will sit next door to an RSPB nature reserve at Fairburn Ings, and the group Yorkshire Against New Coal (Yanc) is standing in opposition to both plans.

Article tagged as: climate change, coal, emissions, energy, ferrybridge, kingsnorth, YANC, yorkshire

Which way now for Iceland's whaling?

Posted by Willie — 9 February 2009 at 2:27pm - Comments

Whale watching

What with the effective collapse of their economy, you might be forgiven for thinking that people in Iceland have more pressing things to worry about than whaling, and undoubtedly you'd be right. Yet, in the midst of economic and political turmoil, whaling has been thrust back up the agenda by the outgoing fisheries minister's parting shot - granting a commercial whaling quota for up to 100 minke and 150 endangered fin whales per year, supposedly for export to Japan.

He did so knowing that he wouldn't be around to have to deal with the aftermath. It's scandalous that the Icelandic government are even considering exporting whale meat. Lest we forget, fin whales are still listed as endangered, meaning that trade in products from the species would generally be illegal. Unfortunately, such is the weakness of international agreements on conservation that a simple ‘objection' or ‘reservation' to the listing seems to let Japan and Iceland off the legal hook.

Article tagged as: fin whale, iceland, japan, whaling

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