Greenpeace New Zealand Weblog

Kristin - Deckhand (C) GREENPEACE / Sharomov

Kristin, is 35, born and bred in Gisborne, and a deckhand on board. He is actually very overqualified, having trained and worked as an aircraft engineer for 10 years after leaving school.

He has “travelled heaps” and over the years began take more interest in environmental issues, gradually discovering that his occupation conflicted with his beliefs. He eventually left engineering and went back to uni to study human geography, so he could “become a bit more educated about how the world works”. Read more »

Open boat talks (C) GREENPEACE / Sharomov

I take it all back! Gisborne is a meteorological chocolate box. I woke at 4:30am to pouring rain, an open cabin hatch and a developing puddle on the floor. And the rain pretty much didn’t stop.

Over breakfast we all cursed the weather gods and crossed our fingers that the Gisborne community would still brave our open day.

Luckily a team of volunteers had come down from Auckland to help set up for it. In howling wind we erected tarpaulins and ploughed on. Also, it was unseasonably cold. Hats off to our open boat coordinator Sheena, who was a picture of determination throughout (even when the awnings almost blew off into the Harbour). But the people came! Read more »

GRENPEACE / Sharomov

Maite (pronounced MY-TAY) is my cabin mate. She’s also a deckhand and she is always smiling. When I sat down to talk to her, I could have sat there forever. She is 100 per cent interesting. She’s from Spain. Formerly “many things” (including a lawyer and an English teacher), she has been sailing all her life, and volunteering with Greenpeace for 11 years. This is her seventh trip to sea with Greenpeace. She’s worked on all three of the Greenpeace ships (Rainbow Warrior, Arctic Sunrise and Esperanza), but the Rainbow Warrior is her favourite. “I love everything about it. I have been sailing for so m any years, but there is something special about this ship. There is a kind of warmth about it that you don’t get on other ships.” Read more »

The great pumpkin caper (C) GRENPEACE / Sharomov

Gisborne really is everything they say it is – hot, sunny and very friendly! Friendly incident 1: After a gallant entry into the Harbour, we were welcomed by members of a local iwi with a powhiri. We then retired to the mess for biscuits, a cup of tea and a chat. (The poor chef, Babu, had been a bit confused when the campaign director asked him if we had any “bikkies” on board. Being not familiar with this term, he was sure she had said something pertaining to the assistant chef. Confusion ensued, but all’s well that ends well and we had a very nice morning tea.) Read more »

(C) GREENPEACE / Sharomov

Evenings are when the Rainbow Warrior is in full glory. The late sun washes over the deck, the sea calms down and everyone wanders outside after dinner to behold the beauty of it all. Tonight was especially amazing because we were sailing! Which might not sound that unusual for a ship, (and I certainly don’t want to shatter anyone’s illusions about how the Rainbow Warrior gets around) but it takes just the right winds to go full sail with no engine running. We’ve had all four sails up all day, engines off, and it has been beautiful. Read more »

It was after about 11 hours of running between bunk and toilet late yesterday that I began to ask myself: “what the $%#@ am I doing? Is this really worth it? WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME????!?!”.

Which brings me to what I am doing. In fact, what we’re all doing. The main purpose of this ship tour is to talk climate change - to anyone who’ll listen really. Because there’s a sense in New Zealand that the climate problem is solved; that the government is doing all it can, and that on a global scale, we’re totally doing our bit. But a) this actually isn’t true and b) the risk with this attitude is that it leads to complacency, and people forget that we’re up against the biggest threat that civilisation as a whole has ever faced.

So we’re going out there to remind people that there is lots more to be done and that the time to do it is now. Read more »

Tapio - Chief engineer (C) GREENPEACE / Sharomov

NAME: Tapio

AGE: 61

NATIONALITY: Finnish

TITLE/JOB ONBOARD: Chief engineer

BACKGROUND

Ship building , ship repair dry dock , Commercial ships, Fair trade works .

WHY DO YOU WORK FOR GREENPEACE?

Drifted in from: Fair Trade and from peace movement.

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The ship’s engine (C) GREENPEACE / Sharomov

Joris is Dutch and an engineer onboard the Rainbow Warrior.

“I used to work on merchant navy ships, and at power plants. But that was too boring, and I always was curious how it would be to work for Greenpeace, so I applied for the job and now I am here.”

He prefers life on board Greenpeace ships. “The social life is much better than on merchant navy ships.”

Joris says the climate campaign is very important, particularly given the urgency of the issue. “I hope it makes people think and act.”

Johannes - deckhand (C) GREENPEACE / Sharomov

Johannes grew up in Japan and Germany (his father is Japanese and his mother is French/German. I asked him what he had wanted to be when he grew up. He pauses. “A policeman.”

Despite that lofty aspiration, he ended up studying IT and came to New Zealand one and a half years ago- “I needed a break and needed to do something different.”

One day he walked into the Greenpeace office in Auckland and said “hi, can I help?” And now here he is, doing night watch and power hosing the deck of the Rainbow Warrior.

He didn’t know much about ships, so the last three weeks have been a steep learning curve. “It’s been very interesting.”

Even though it’s not actually part of my job at Greenpeace, as a keen cyclist and climate change activist, I try to keep an eye on what’s going on with transport in NZ.

As you all probably know, if you’ve ever tried to take a bus or train in NZ, the transport sector in NZ is in a sorry state. Public transport is appalling, we have extremely high rates of car ownership, and greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector are skyrocketing.

However, the good news is there are lots of great campaigns being run by volunteers around NZ to try and get more sustainable transport. I mainly know about Auckland based groups although I’m sure there are lots of others going on. Read more »