Greenpeace Blog

Leave it in the ground!

Posted by jossc — 13 June 2008 at 4:21pm - Comments

Coal protesters stop a train of the black stuff on its way to Drax, the UK's largest coal plant

Thirty climate campaigners today stopped a coal train on its way to Drax power station in Yorkshire, Britain's single largest source of CO2 emissions. Dressed in white overalls and canary outfits, they used safety signals to stop the train at a bridge on a branch line used exclusively by the power station, before jumping aboard and shovelling coal off onto the tracks. Some used climbing ropes to suspend themselves under the bridge from the train, making it impossible to move the train while the protest continues.

Article tagged as: climate camp, climate change, co2 emissions, coal, drax, eon, kingsnorth

Big fat bribes for anyone willing to live with nuclear waste

Posted by jamie — 12 June 2008 at 3:01pm - Comments

We've known for quite some time that the government's preferred solution to that nagging problem of all the nuclear waste currently lying around the place is to dump it in a big hole in the ground. Nice. However, they've had trouble finding anywhere in the country which has been willing to live with this waste bubbling away beneath their feet but now they've come up with the perfect solution: bribery!

Article tagged as: bribery, NDA, nuclear power, nuclear waste, nuclear waste white paper, sellafield

World's whales and dolphins may face growing sonic threat

Posted by Willie — 12 June 2008 at 2:06pm - Comments

A dead dolphin - the victim of bycatch - lying on a beach

In Chile, the world's scientists are already meeting in advance of the 60th International Whaling Commission (IWC), which will be held there in late June. At this time of year, the eyes of the world turn to the deadlocked struggle between pro-conservation and pro-whaling countries as they clash over the future of whaling at the IWC meetings. And recent events have not been going well for the whalers - in recent weeks we have seen just how desperate the pro-whaling nations are to play down not only the recent scandal of stolen whale meat in Japan, but also the saga of exporting whale meat from Iceland and Norway. Both stories highlight the extent to which the whalers are routinely flouting not only international opinion but also the global ban on commercial whaling and the trading of whale meat.

Article tagged as: cetaceans, chile, cornwall, dolphins, iceland, IWC, japan, madagascar, norway, oceans, whales

Everything's lovely in the Glastonbury garden

Posted by jamie — 10 June 2008 at 4:10pm - Comments

Visitors to the Greenpeace field at Glastonbury festival sitting in a hammock

I still have to get hold of some wellies (my trusty pair is elsewhere right now) and a tent, but things are starting to fall into place for Glastonbury. The team working hard to bring the Greenpeace field to life are not far from my desk and I haven't heard any raised voices yet which has to be a good sign. But for those out there with tickets (if you don't have them yet, you can still win a pair with our Greener Glastonbury Giveaway on Facebook), exactly what is being cooked up?

Article tagged as: competitions, festivals, glastonbury, one planet living

Who should I cheer for in Euro 2008?

Posted by jossc — 9 June 2008 at 3:14pm - Comments

Swedish flag
Sweden has the best overall record on a range of environ- mental and social issues

As Euro 2008 kicks off in Austria and Switzerland this week with no British teams involved, a new quick web guide has appeared to help us decide which of the remaining 16 competing nations most deserves our support. Who should I Cheer For sensibly ignores footballing talent and instead ranks each country by ten criteria including spending on health, aid and the military, carbon emissions and renewable energy production.

Figures for the UK are also included in the list for comparative purposes and, guess what, we don't come out too well, particularly on the key climate change factors. The UK has the third highest carbon emissions (10.2 tonnes per person) behind the Netherlands and Germany, and comes joint last in terms of electricity generated from renewables (just 4 per cent).

Article tagged as: climate change, co2 emissions, energy efficiency, renewable energy

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