Greenpeace New Zealand Weblog

Part 1

Part 2

2009 has been a hard year for everyone, and we wouldn’t have made it without our supporters. We would like to thank you for sticking with us through the tough times, and hope you’ll be staying with us in the future. You can read the wrap-up from the Copenhagen climate summit here. World leaders walked away without a treaty that protects the climate. They’re not done yet, but neither are we so waych this space!

On behalf of all Greenpeace:  Thank you.

Late last night, after the results of negotiations by the world’s leaders became known, Kumi Naidoo – Greenpeace International executive director – took part in a press conference organised by the Climate Action Network. There he spelled out what the announcement meant and how we must keep on pushing for a Fair And Binding (FAB) deal beyond the climate summit.

It’s over. The fifteenth session of the Conference of the Parties has this afternoon officially drawn to a close (or rather all but collapsed), but what are we left with? Very little is the honest answer and, no matter how the politicians spin it or how the media interprets it, it sucks.

Obama called it a “historic first step” and it’s neither historic nor a first step. The Kyoto Protocol was both, yet in the 12 years since it was laid down, we’ve barely progressed – the increasing severity of climate change impacts and the urgent warnings from scientists should have had leaders scrabbling for solutions. Instead, yesterday a small group of these leaders flew in, claimed the deal was done and flew out again, leaving chaos in their wake – and other leaders outraged.

Just how feeble is this so-called ‘Copenhagen Accord’ (which, incidentally, has not even been formally adopted by the climate summit)? Let’s see.

Read more »

Spontaneous demonstration by NGOs outside the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen, after world leaders failed to agree on a fair, ambitious and binding treaty. © Greenpeace/Myllyvirta

The following piece is written by one of our UK climate campaigners, Joss Garman, and published in the Independent

The most progressive US president in a generation comes to the most important international meeting since the Second World War and delivers a speech so devoid of substance that he might as well have made it on speaker-phone from a beach in Hawaii. His aides argue in private that he had no choice, such is the opposition on Capitol Hill to any action that could challenge the dominance of fossil fuels in American life. And so the nation that put a man on the Moon can’t summon the collective will to protect men and women back here on Earth from the consequences of an economic model and lifestyle choice that has taken on the mantle of a religion. Read more »

(Thanks to Nick Anderson for the use of his cartoon.)

Like a bad smell, the theft of emails from the Climate Research Unit (CRU) hangs around the Copenhagen conference and threatens to distract people from what really needs to be discussed. Suddenly, everyone seems to be a scientific expert ready to denounce a global conspiracy but you don’t have to dig down far to see just how misinformed some people are willing to be. Read more »

Greenpeace International ED, Kumi Naidoo, delivered a passionate speech at the launch of the Global Day of Action March in Copenhagen 12 Dec. 2009. “Yes we can, yes we must and yes we will deliver a fair efficient and legally binding treaty to protect the future of our children!”

Why is Microsoft – one the world’s biggest corporations – having such a struggle pulling up its pants on climate change policy?

Oh Ballmer.

Love him or hate him, those who recognize Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer can’t help but marvel as one does over sixties B-horror movies – with a mix gruesome wonder and amusement. One thing we know for sure is that he loves the spotlight (and has the sweat stains to prove it). If only he could infuse his stand-up performance with a little vision and take a real position on climate change.

I’m willing to bet there is only so long a media persona like Ballmer’s can run on sweaty exuberance alone. Microsoft’s business needs this cherub to put on green wings and fly to Copenhagen.

Read more »

Today almost 100,000 people around New Zealand received an email from a future self in 2020 courtesy of Greenpeace.

Judging by the responses we’ve had so far, (and there has been an avalanche), a lot of people were a little startled, many were really quite chuffed, a few were a little offended and some were simply outraged … but clearly the message got through!

This is the most important year for the most important campaign Greenpeace has ever run, so we are communicating the urgency in ways we might not have tried before – like sending emails from the future.

Amidst all of the advertising and other messages we’re bombarded with on a daily basis (especially at this time of year) it can be difficult for us to give the climate crisis, and the action we need to take, the attention it deserves.

This was one way of trying to address that.

It’s essential that world leaders make a strong commitment at Copenhagen and it’s vital that we get out on to the streets and let them know we’re expecting bold action. We are the last generation with a chance to make a difference … let’s not waste it!

What do you think?