Greenpeace Blog

Following our action in France last month - when the crew of the Arctic Sunrise blocked a shipment of timber from the Brazilian Amazon - efforts have been stepped up in the country of origin to prevent illegal timber being exported in the first place.

The Brazilian government's environmental agency, Ibama, has seized a shipment of timber in the first check on exports by authorities in two years. The cargo vessel in question - the BSLE Express - would have been en route to Europe but has been detained in Santarem since March 27. So far, inspectors have confiscated 732m3 of wood which were travelling with false papers; papers that were economical with the truth when it came to the species of timber present in the shipment.

Woo! We've just heard that our film The Convenient Solution has been chosen as an Official Honoree in Public Service and Activism category of The 12th Annual Webby Awards (aka "the Oscars of the internet").

Apparently, being an Official Honoree means we "scored in the top 15% of all work entered into the Webby Awards. With nearly 10,000 entries received from all 50 states and over 60 countries, this is an outstanding accomplishment for you and your team."

We had Fossil Fool's Day last week with plenty of action around the country to highlight the dangers posed by coal, but the dreadful punning doesn't stop there. Continuing the theme, next Tuesday is April Biofool's Day which admittedly falls on the 15th rather than the 1st, but that's because the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) - which will overnight increase our consumption of biofuels - begins to make its presence felt.

On the day, the good folks at Biofuelwatch and the Campaign against Climate Change are organising a protest outside the home of a certain Mr Gordon Brown, Number 10 Downing Street. You can join the crowds outside Number 10 from 6pm and further details are on the websites of both organisations. If you can't get there, you can still do something - write to transport secretary Ruth Kelly with your concerns about this rush towards biofuels.

Meanwhile, concerns about biofuels are rising up the political ladder, as last week UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon called for a review on global biofuel policies. Our government currently has the indirect impacts with biofuels under review but the results aren't due for some time, and certainly not before Biofool's Day next week.