Posted by jamess — 17 August 2010 at 10:33am
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While our ship the Esperanza is busy confronting the oil industry, our colleages in the US are on the Arctic Sunrise in the Gulf of Mexico, researching the effects of the Deepwater Horizon spill. Paul - a longtime Greenpeace campaigner and campaign director at TckTckTck - updates us on how it's going.
It is just after five o'clock in the morning. I've just had a slice of
toast and a cup of tea. The decks are wet from a recent downpour that
has cooled the air somewhat. It is quiet, the ship and crew sleep. The 4
to 8 is the best watch. You get to see the sunrise and the sunset. But
just now it is the darkness just before the dawn – just the harbour
lights and the occasional lightning flash in the darkness.
Posted by lisavickers — 17 August 2010 at 10:02am
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Ben Stewart, comms officer onboard the Esperanza writes...
Well I have to say, I didn’t expect that. Yesterday afternoon I was
on the rowing machine at the back of the ship as we bobbed along
somewhere north of Scotland when Helena tapped me on the shoulder and
told me there was a journalist asking for me on the satellite phone. I
made an undignified attempt to get to my feet but my legs didn’t work,
then I realised my shoes were still strapped into the machine but I
couldn’t reach them so I sort of flapped around a bit like an Emperor
penguin on an iceberg until I managed to slide along the floor and out
of the door.
A minute later I was in the campaign office on the
top deck, phone plugged to ear, heaving for breath with a ruddy red
face. It was Radio Faroe Islands on the line and they wanted our
reaction to the news that the Danish government has sent a team of
special forces navy SEALS to the islands to ‘take on’ the Esperanza.
Posted by lisavickers — 15 August 2010 at 10:22pm
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Anais from Germany writes from the Esperanza...
And as the lockmaster is unveiling the curtain we are putting out to
sea - leaving behind murmur, feet scraping and rustling plastic bags of
the overcrowded cinema. it's the curtain call for sea monsters, herds of
white horses riding on top of giant waves, jack o' lanterns and other
strange weather phenomena.
Posted by lisavickers — 14 August 2010 at 5:59pm
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Victor, an activist on board the Esperanza, wrote a blog for us yesterday -- while most of us were all feeling too seasick to look at a
computer screen - let alone type.
We left the harbour in London on Thursday at 2:30pm local time.
No problems there. I don’t know if it’s normal, but we were escorted
by a large inflatable. I’d guess they were the water police checking up
on us so we didn’t make any surprise action in their jurisdiction. The
mood on board was great, and we were all happy being on our way out at
sea. The grand adventure was waiting around the corner.
I'm
a Swedish activist for Greenpeace, living in Denmark. The ship we’re
on, Esperanza, is the biggest of Greenpeace’s three oceangoing ships. On
board we are about 35 people from various parts of the world. English
is the official language on board, but you hear Spanish in various
places on the ship. A fantastic mix if you ask me.
Posted by lisavickers — 13 August 2010 at 10:04am
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A view from the bridge of the Esperanza as it leaves London.
Hi, I'm Lisa - I'm the webbie on board our ship Esperanza currently sailing out into the North Sea from London - to confront the oil industry that's scrambling to get into the planet's last oil reserves - further away in riskier places.
Being a webbie means I'm responsible for making sure you can join us without actually having to join us, if you get what I mean. I'll be sharing every part of our journey online and offering you the chance to be part of our virtual crew. And I'm getting seasick and homesick so you don't have to!
The Greenpeace ship Esperanza will set off from London later today to confront
the oil industry's 'reckless pursuit' of the last drops of oil on the planet,
but campaigners are refusing to reveal the eventual target until later in the
voyage.
The environmental group pledged to meet the industry head-on as
it rushes to drill for oil in ever more difficult and dangerous environments
(1).
Aerial view of the MV Esperanza in the Pacific ocean
I’m on the Greenpeace’s ship Esperanza and we're leaving London today. I can’t tell you where we’re going yet, but I can tell you that we are off to confront the oil industry’s reckless search for the last drops of oil on the planet.
Posted by jamie — 3 August 2010 at 3:04pm
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The BP stations we closed down last
week have all long since opened again but the effects our thirst for oil is
having on the planet continue. The oil spill in the Gulf is now officially the
largest accidental spill ever, and the environmental havoc being wrought in China, Nigeria and elsewhere doesn't get
the same news coverage but is just as disastrous.
Meanwhile, lobbyists working for BP
and other oil pushers are busy trying to hobble laws and legislation which
could set us on the road to reducing our oil dependency and making the
transition to a cleaner energy future. One such piece of legislation is the Fuel
Quality Directive and if its full potential is realised, it could prevent fuels
from dirty sources like tar sands being sold in Europe.
Posted by jamess — 2 August 2010 at 11:27am
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Three months ago we asked you to help rebrand BP and design them a logo better suited to a company responsible for a string of environmental disasters, including the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
After more than 2,000 submissions, over 2,000,000 hits on the Flickr group and more than 25,000 votes, we have a new logo for BP.
Posted by victoria.chan — 29 July 2010 at 9:59am
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Guest blogger Laura Kenyon from our international office reveals the latest evidence we've collected showing how Sinar Mas breaking its own commitments on protecting rainforests and peatlands.
The short answer: not likely.
In fact, not only will they not be likely to come 'clean', but today we are releasing fresh evidence that Sinar Mas's notorious forest-destroying practices continue unabated and in direct violation of the company's own environmental commitments on protecting forests and peatlands.