Greenpeace New Zealand Weblog

Everyone loves the forests … but you might be surprised to know just how far some people are willing to go. Greenpeace International have just released a rather raunchy spoof of a video put out by the European Commission.

To get you up to speed, the European Commission has recently delayed a vital vote on protecting forests from illegal logging till September. The forest campaign team up in Amsterdam have been thinking about what we could do to make sure the commissioners don’t forget about it during their summer holidays when Tom spotted a video on youtube made by the Commission with 7 millions views! Perfect for spoofing.

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Forests are the lungs of the Earth, we know that. But, the world’s ancient forests also provide the world with water, shape the world’s climate and support as much as 90 per cent of the earth’s land-based plant and animals. They are also home to millions of forest dependent people.

Today, less than 20 per cent of the earth’s original forest cover remains intact and what remains is under threat from continued deforestation. Deforestation also contributes around 20 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, as carbon dioxide that is stored in the trees is released when the trees are removed.
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To the quarter of a million people who sent messages asking for the release of Junichi and Toru the Greenpeace japan office says thank you!

But now we need your help again! When appealing against the release of our scandal-busting activists, Junichi and Toru, the public prosecutor argued that the more than 250,000 people who sent emails to the Japanese government was “questionable” - this despite the fact that every single email was double-checked by you. In other words, the Japanese Government doesn’t believe all of you exist! We need you to give them unquestionable proof of support for Junichi and Toru. The quarter of million emails you sent to get them released worked like a dream - after 26 days in custody, they were released - Junichi and Toru have now been reunited with their families and are now awaiting trial.

So, what would happen now if Japan’s Supreme Public Prosecutor’s office was inundated by actual, physical letters calling for the whale meat investigation to be re-opened? On this page we’ve prepared a card you can print, stick and post yourself, and a list of talking points you could use if you prefer to write a personal letter instead. Be creative!

Download the letter here (PDF) »

More updates on Whale meat scandal and freeing the Tokyo Two »

Whale meat scandal: Many questions »

MACKAY AUSTRALIA - Greenpeace activists in inflatables targeted a queue of almost 50 coal ships at Hay Point port in Queensland and are currently painting them with climate change protest messages such as: ‘RUDD EXPORTING CO2′, ‘BARRIER REEF GONE’, ‘ICE CAPS GONE’ and ‘STOP COAL EXPANSION’. The peaceful action is to highlight the Rudd Government’s plans to rapidly expand coal exports, when the world is trying to cut global emissions (c) Greenpeace 2008

Greenpeace activists are currently painting queued coal ships at Hay Point port in Queensland with messages for the Rudd Government to make a serious commitment to a renewable energy future for Australia.

The activists came from the Greenpeace ship the Esperanza and drove up to the coal ships in inflatable boats while they were anchored in the queue, painting the messages along the sides.

The action highlights the Rudd Government’s plans to rapidly expand Australia’s coal exports when the world is trying to cut global emissions.

Update: Police have arrived on the scene and have boarded one of the inflatables.

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Raech wrote a great blog last week about a nail-biting Saturday, wetsuit clad and on stand by to save a whale from beaching. helping with whale rescue. It’s serious business. A lot of whales die after stranding but this little video takes a look at the lighter side of whales on beaches …

One ship from SOF’s flotilla on July 20

After the USA company Queensland Energy Resources (QER) announced its proposal to build a shale oil mine in Whitsunday, Australia, Save Our Foreshore (SOF) - a local community group aiming to protect foreshore land in the area - launched a campaign against this destructive initiative.

QER is an integrated resources and energy company owned by the Manhattan-based investors, Ziff brothers, which also owns most of Queensland’s known oil shale resources.,

Created in 2004, SOF says that informing people is crucial in this kind of fight, and to this end it organised a Boat Rally and a public information day on Airlie Beach, on Sunday 20 July.

It is common knowledge that fossil fuels are a short-term, dirty solution to a large problem, and squeezing oil from stone (shale is basically oily rock) is an incredibly polluting and energy-intensive operation. That this operation should be contemplated in one of Australia’s most pristine marine environments is perplexing. Read more »

After 26 days in custody, Greenpeace Japan anti-whaling activists Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki have been released on bail and are back home with their families.

There was significant international outcry over the arrests, and around the world upwards of 250,000 people wrote letters to the Japanese Prime Minister and Foreign Minister calling for Junichi and Toru’s release.

Here in New Zealand, Greenpeace activists delivered a crate containing 1,700 letters from New Zealanders to the Japanese Embassy in Wellington.

Only 10 per cent of bail applications are successful in Japan, so it is a relief that Junichi and Toru were part of this 10 per cent. Read more »

Battening done, floor grinded and sealed…

Acceleration in the works programme over the last couple of weeks has been spectacular. All the groundwork laid in the preparation of the re-fit while we were waiting for building consent to come through has now started to see things really change on site at Akiraho St.

Chris and his team of builders have now completed almost all the framing and battening of the first floor, mezzanine floor and basement meaning now that the building focus switches to the ground floor area offices and reception. As this has been completed several other teams have been moving behind them completing the large pre-wiring job that needs to be. This involves a substantial electrical rewiring of the whole building with new distribution boards, power into all the office areas and the lights and all associated switches. Nicholas from Anything Electrical and his partner Jim have now completed all pre-wiring elements of these areas. Read more »

Pirate fishing vessel

An illegal fishing ship whose captain is rumoured to have been murdered has thrown plans for the World Surfing Championship in Bali into chaos by running aground on the island’s best surf break and it turns out to be  the longliner (Ho Tsai Fa 18) - which we recently confronted in the Pacific Commons not once but twice .

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Last week we called out Apple on the lack of any environmental info on the new iPhone 3G. Pre-launch publicity and specs for the new MacBook Air and iMac included info on how Apple was making progress on eliminating the worst toxic chemicals by the end of 2008. There was none of this for the iPhone, but last night we noticed a late addition to the iPhone tech specs:

iPhone 3G embodies Apple’s continuing environmental progress. It is designed with the following features to reduce environmental impact:

- PVC-free handset
- PVC-free headphones
- PVC-free USB cable
- Bromine-free printed circuit boards
- Mercury-free LCD display
- Majority of packaging made from post-consumer recycled fiberboard and biobased materials
- Power adapter outperforms strictest global energy efficiency standards

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