Greenpeace New Zealand Weblog

Kila Oumabe shows Greenpeace China forest campaigner Yi Lan how a local medicinal plant has a painful sting. This stinging nettle is used to take away the pain of childbirth by application to the small of a woman’s back.

IN PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea activists from the Esperanza have stopped a ship loading piles of logged timber from the Paradise Forests of Papua New Guinea. The peaceful direct action was supported by many local people who joyously watched from boats, amidst much singing and dancing.

Three activists from Papua New Guinea and one from New Zealand are still harnessed to a crane in the dark and have been there for over 8 hours.

Another Kiwi, Dean Baigent-Mercer on board the Greenpeace ship Esperanza writes this update:
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Originally posted by Lisa on making waves

Greenpeace Australia-Pacific has launched our Forests for Climate tour with a colourful welcome in Papua New Guinea. Our ship, Esperanza, will tour the region protecting forests and highlighting the effect of deforestation on global warming.

To the sounds of beating drums and singing, the Esperanza docked in the tropical heat of Port Morseby. The ship’s crew was welcomed by traditional Huli, Kairuku, and Oro dancers along with Asaro mud men from coastal and highland regions. Dancers’ costumes were made from the fibres of tapa and pandanus trees, leaves, bird of paradise feathers and, naturally, mud.

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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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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 »

This video supports a campaign being run by Greenpeace in Europe against the use of palm oil by Unilever, the makers of Dove beauty products.

Unilever are buying palm oil from suppliers who destroy Indonesia’s rainforests….

Talk to Dove before they destroy Paradise Forests: http://www.greenpeace.org/dove

Read the full article on the Greenpeace International website.

The video is a parody of the Dove ‘Onslaught‘ ad.

The Forest Friendly Furniture guide released last month has made a splash almost straight away - and that’s before we’ve sent it out to the 40,000 Greenpeace members.

The Warehouse scored well and lost no time on making sure that fact didn’t escape their customers.

Smiths City on the other hand didn’t score so well and initially cried foul but they have since moved forward with a change to their wood product buying policy.  As well, in a meeting with Greenpeace they have committed to stock only FSC certified outdoor furniture by 2009 and they will start making those changes in 2008.

This will see Smiths City move from up to a C+ (on the improve) rating and a new position in the guide just above BBQ Factory and just below Placemakers. That’s a good start and a great result! Read more »

Ever wonder where your beautiful BBQ table came from?

Today Greenpeace NZ along with the Indonesia Human Rights Committee released a new ‘Guide to Forest Friendly Outdoor Furniture Retailers‘. It shows that the majority of outdoor timber furniture sold in New Zealand is contributing to the destruction of tropical forests in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

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