Greenpeace New Zealand Weblog

Be The Change visits a school in Port Chalmers.

By Francisca Galvez

The issues of sustainability and environmental protection have been gaining greater worldwide attention from the 1990s. New Zealand has acquired a reputation around the globe since then, being perceived as clean and green by other countries.

Even though in many ways this is not so true, we have produced some really good initiatives that worth celebration and imitation by others in the world community. One of those good clean and green ideas is the concept of Enviroschools. Read more »

Got an old beer fridge sitting out the back, slowly rusting while it keeps a few odd brews chilled?

David Suzuki has a good idea for you…

Fridges are on 24/7 and use up to 10% of all energy consumed in an average house. Recycle your old beer fridge and you could save $150 on your energy bill a year.

A story that could seriously damage the credibility of a broad swathe of climate change sceptics has blown up, in the wake of a new Heartland Institute list of 500 scientists whose work allegedly “undermines the idea of human-induced climate change”.

The list is an attempt to deflect the idea that there is no real science behind the deniers, however, it did not take long for many of those named on it to come forward claiming their work had been grossly mis-represented.

Five New Zealanders appear on the list, namely Associate Professor Chris Hendy (University of Waikato), Dr Matt McGlone (Science Team Leader, Landcare Research), Dr Neville Moar (retired DSIR,), Dr Jim Salinger (Principal Scientist, NIWA) and Dr Peter Wardle (retired DSIR, FRSNZ). They and a significant portion of the list are very upset at their inclusion and have requested their names be removed. Read more »

Climate Change Minister David Parker defends the Labour party’s climate credentials at a recent debate onboard the Rainbow Warrior. Unfortunately for David, Helen Clark’s recent announcements have made the job all that much harder.

…in which our mighty leader - the Lady in Red – begins to crumble in the face of smoke stacks, cow sheds and men in Working Style suits.

New Zealand’s response to climate change is at a crossroads, and all indications are that the Labour-led government is so engrossed in election panic that it’s going to sacrifice taxpayer money and the planet to curry favour.

Unfortunately for the Government, this is likely to play perfectly into the hands of the National Party which will be quick to claim the credit for the policy shift, while shrewdly leaving Labour to shoulder any fallout.

New Zealand’s flagship climate policy is the emissions trading scheme (ETS), which is currently under scrutiny by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee. In its current form, the scheme suffers serious shortcomings, and desperately needs to be strengthened (see Greenpeace’s comprehensive and easy-reading report into the scheme, which was released to much fanfare in March - www.greenpeace.org.nz/ets-report)
Read more »

Greenpeace activists take on controversial Taiwanese longliner, Ho Tsai Fa 18, in the Pacific Ocean, 03 May 2008. Greenpeace wants this area of the high seas to become part of the first marine reserves in international waters. Greenpeace/Paul Hilton

It’s been an eventful weekend in the Pacific Ocean, with Greenpeace activists taking on longline fishermen, saving turtles and more. Dean reports from the Esperanza…

As the sun rose across the Pacific Ocean, the crew of the Esperanza were already awake and so was the crew of the Ho Tsai Fao 18, a Taiwanese longliner. We’d spotted the longliner as the light was fading the day before and stayed with her throughout the night.

We’d been on board a Taiwanese tuna longliner earlier in the expedition and filmed 12 sacks of shark fins and tails (most were small and wouldn’t have reached breeding age yet). Our research showed this vessel had a controversial shark finning past in Costa Rica, so who knew what it was doing? Read more »

Dove advert

The Greenpeace campaign in Europe (that started with the Dove parody) to get Unilever to stop using the rainforest damaging palm oil has returned quick results.

Despite insisting a week ago that they wouldn’t be bounced into taking action, Unilever boss, Patrick Cescau performed a swift about turn today and announced that his company is supporting our call for a moratorium – a complete halt – on rainforest destruction in Indonesia. Read more »

From the Esperanza in the Pacific …

Family members sell tuna at the market in Honiara © Paul Hilton/Greenpeace

The Esperanza has just left Honiara in the Solomon Islands where I joined the ship so that we can keep you up to date on all of our adventures in the Pacific. I have replaced Jess, the webby from the Greenpeace USA office, who has reluctantly returned to her desk in Washington DC. If you’ve missed whatś been going on in the Pacific over the past few weeks you can check out her blog here. Read more »