So far on this tour we’ve done a lot of work to highlight the destructiveness of fish aggregating devices (or FADs) – and we’ve even confiscated a few as well, as there was a 2-month ban on their use in the high seas that evidently did not stop many commercial fishing vessels from using them. There's a pile of five of these things on our deck. One member of the crew described them to me as looking like giant, rusty crayons, but they're nothing nearly as benign as that.

The use of FADs results in the bycatch of many juvenile tuna and other species like sharks, turtles, and reef fish, contributing to the depletion of fish stocks and threatening vulnerable marine life.

To really show the diversity of marine life being threatened by FADs, our divers captured some footage and we’ve put together this short video:

In an absolutely heartbreaking turn of events, the European Union on September 22 refused to support Monaco’s proposal to award the northern bluefin tuna the protections of CITES Appendix I. 

I am gutted.

Even though a majority of countries within the EU – specifically those of Northern Europe, Scandinavia, and the British Isles – voted to co-sponsor, an uncompromising and hostile block of Mediterranean countries were able to defeat the process.   Because of convoluted EU law, these southern countries were able to demonstrate enough dissent within the Union that the mighty juggernaut of European bureaucracy creaked to a halt.

While 21 European nations seemed ready to support the ban, the unceasing whine generated by six short-sighted members – Spain, France, Italy, Malta, Greece, and Cyprus – was able to derail the process.  Without EU backing for Monaco’s proposal, it becomes increasingly unlikely that the bluefin tuna will find succor.  Rather, it will probably fall back under the domain of ICCAT – the very organization through whose lack of potency this magnificent fish has found itself in such dire straits.

This is not progress.

Want to point the finger at someone in particular?  No problem.  This nauseating story boasts a villain.

Remember all that nice stuff I said about Sarkozy a couple months ago?  I take it all back.  France’s first citizen has proven himself the worst type of turncoat; a traitor to his people and his planet.  France was the first country to step forward and support Prince Grimaldi’s proposal, but in recent weeks, Sarkozy has reversed his position and allied with the Mediterranean states.  If France had not switched camps, the proposal would have most likely been endorsed by the EU.  From a certain perspective, the actions of one individual may have doomed the world’s largest bony fish to an ignominious demise.

Want to tell Sarkozy what you think of his actions?  Sign Greenpeace’s petition. It's in French; Greenpeace UK has kindly provided an English translation.

Fortunately, all is not lost.  We can still save this animal – but yes, it is going to be more difficult that in otherwise would have been.

First of all, there is a chance that Europe will reverse its position.  Lobbying efforts are underway in France and other key countries, and if the balance of power can be swung away from the Mediterranean, the European Commission may vote in favor of the proposal after all.  Unfortunately, we most likely won’t know how this will fall out until early next year.  So, in the interim, Monaco’s proposal needs a new champion.

 

 

There is a meeting in Brazil in November that will revisit this issue.  Before it kicks off, we need to convince the government of a major world power to take a stand on this – and frankly, the best candidate is the United States.  If we can get Washington to step up, we can still save the bluefin tuna from extinction.

We’re gaining momentum here in the States.  The Coastal Conservation Association, a major recreational fishing association, has taken up the banner and is pushing to have Northern bluefin listed under CITES Appendix I.  President Obama’s Ocean Taskforce is traveling about the country holding open hearings on ocean issues, and the administration seems receptive to the idea of pushing this issue and creating marine reserves in the Gulf of Mexico to protect the bluefin spawning grounds.  And numerous environmental groups and activists soldier on, waving the flag and shouting to the rooftops.

Please, spread the word and get involved.  Tell your friends and co-workers about this critical issue.   Support Greenpeace’s actions in France and help us get Paris back on track.  Avoid sushi restaurants like Nobu that serve endangered bluefin tuna.   Most importantly – don’t give up on this amazing animal just yet.  We can still turn things around.

As you might have noticed, Newsweek ran a special issue this week with the cover story, "The Greenest Big Companies in America." The feature ranks the S&P 500 according to each company's environmental impact, policies and reputation. Dirt Diggers Digest points out that the list "has more validity than the usual exercises of this sort, which tend to take much of corporate greenwash at face value." But also notes "the magazine could have easily turned the list upside down and headlined its feature 'The Biggest Environmental Culprits of Corporate America'."

The web version of the Newsweek issue has a nice sidebar dedicated specifically to greenwash, which includes these snipits: 

"Many corporations ... don't do much of anything to change the way they do business, but make a big show of their dedication to Mother Earth. It's usually easy to spot these companies: They make their customers do the work, and then take the credit. In the name of saving the planet, my cable TV operator keeps asking for permission to stop sending paper statements in the mail each month. Instead, I'm supposed to check my statement online. The real reason, of course, is that doing so would save them paper, printing and postage. This is a perfectly legitimate reason for them to want me to switch. But when they pretend that it's all about the environment, it just makes me hate my cable company even more than I already do. Despite this, I would still consider switching to online statements if they would agree to use the money they save to hire cable TV repairmen who know how to repair cable TV."

"Sometimes a good ad campaign does a better job of enhancing a company's green reputation than going through the expense and hassle of adopting actual environmentally sound practices. Billboards in Washington implore me to join the cause. "I will unplug stuff more," reads one. Another says, "I will at least consider buying a hybrid." These ads are the work of Chevron, the giant oil company, whose "Will You Join Us?" ads try to convince people that saving the planet is at the top of their list. You might think that if Chevron was really worried about problems like global warming, they would spend some of those p.r. dollars lobbying Congress to adopt stricter gas mileage requirements for automobiles. They do not do this. Instead, I'm apparently supposed to praise them as environmental heroes because they tell me to unplug my toaster and think about getting a Prius. Yet ad campaigns like these work. Chevron lands at No. 371 out of 500 companies on Newsweek's green rankings."

 

 Read the full article and sidebar.

Ahoy there! I’m blogging from the Greenpeace ship Esperanza out here in the Pacific. We’ve just embarked on the second leg of the Defending Our Pacific 2009 tour, which is aimed at getting all four of the high seas pockets you see on the map below (marked in orange) designated as marine reserves – which is to say, closed to ALL fishing.



We left Port Vila, Vanuatu just a few days ago, and are currently in transit, headed back out to the high seas to continue our quest to stop the pillage of international waters by longline and purse seine fishing vessels.

A transit generally means a bit of down time, so I’m taking it upon myself to document some ship life for you. Check out these pics:


Our captain, Madeleine (with binoculars), and second mate, Nadia, on the Espy's bridge, charting a course out of Port Vila Harbor.


After taking my turn on "whale watch" yesterday evening, I stepped out onto the deck and noticed this high seas sunset. Pretty nice, eh?

For a bit of recent history, check out the blog posts by Mary Ann (here, here, and here), the intrepid webbie who I have replaced onboard (actually I only replaced her as webbie, she’s still onboard as a deckhand and is taking care of our waste and recycling in the role of "chief garbologist" — a noble and selfless job, I can tell you, having helped with the compost yesterday morning). As you can see from the blogs, the first leg of the tour was spent patrolling the first and second high seas zones to help enforce a temporary ban on fish aggregating devices (FADs) – highly destructive devices that catch EVERYTHING indiscriminately. FADs are commonly used by purse seine fishing vessels. We took direct action against those violating the ban. For instance, you can see the crew hauling a FAD we confiscated up on to the Espy here:



On the second leg of the tour, we’re going to continue searching out the pirates and the pillagers, and stand in solidarity with the Pacific island countries who are seeking a closure of the high seas pockets. We are also pushing for the implementation of sensible, sustainable fishing practices rather than longlines, purse seines, FADs, and all the other highly destructive fishing practices that are currently in use. Stay tuned.

This past winter Greenpeace partnered with the Collegiate KiteBoard Association to promote the use of Marine Reserves to help protect our oceans and its wildlife. It was fabulous to work with these energetic college students. I was especially grateful that they were putting their talents towards a cause that I hold close to my heart – saving the oceans. 

One part of this collaborative effort was to collect letters to President Obama from beach goers and ocean users expressing their sentiments about needed ocean protection. As we traveled from Jupiter to Key West, across central Fl to St. Pete, it was encouraging to see that so many people cared about the oceans and wrote short messages to President Obama. 

Everyone is well aware of how busy our new President has been since taking office and between the economy, 2 wars, healthcare and other issues there has been little time in the White House for our ocean agenda. Oh how we have might underestimated Pres. O's love and concern for our oceans.  

The President has directed his staff to work on creating a National Ocean Policy for America and restructuring the decision-making authorities of our Government to implement it. To this end he's created an ocean task force and put the Council of Environmental Quality (CEQ) in charge of coordinating this historic effort. CEQ is an executive arm of the White House that deals with environmental issues including oceans. 

We now have an Obama ocean team and yesterday Greenpeace, along with other non-profit organizations, were invited to come to the CEQ office and discuss our, under development, new National Ocean Policy. It was also an opportunity to for me to give President Obama all of the letters from concerned ocean lovers collected this past winter on the beaches of FL.

The comments were so wonderful, that I wanted to share them with you. 

• Keep the earth around for our kids!
• I love Turtles!
• Help save the reefs! Make some change! You rock!
• Please take care of our oceans – I love seahorses
• Please help to preserve our natural resources – ocean, world, air
• Nobody likes a dirty beach
• Healthy oceans help keep a healthy planet

Thanks to everyone that was involved. 

-- Phil

The banner has come down. Greenpeace activists are safe. And, after two hours hanging from the West End Bridge, the 80x30-foot banner spoke to world leaders meeting in Pittsburgh at the G20 summit.

"Why am I here today?" The activists share their story in this inspirational video.



I get goose bumps every time I watch this video. The line that sticks in my head each time I watch is, "as Americans we need to do the right thing, especially when it's hard."

It's not easy to change the way the world operates. There is no "easy button" to turn off all the pollution and resource destruction. But, the reality is—burning fossil fuels for energy is destroying our planet. We need a fundamental switch to clean, renewable energy in order for future generations to have, well, a future.



I realize that's not easy. It will take all of us working together, building "green" infrastructure. But, I believe that fighting for a clean healthy future for my son is worth it. I want to be able to look him in the eyes and tell him I did everything I could to make sure he could touch a 1,000 year old tree, swim in pollutant-free rivers, breath fresh air and see glaciers.

I'm not a climber, but I was able to hang my very own Greenpeace banner—on Facebook! There is a really neat new app, try it out.

And, if you haven’t taken action yet, please do. President Obama needs to hear from all of us that we are ready for a strong world climate treaty. Together, we can do great things.

--Michelle

Greenpeace activists are hanging off a Pittsburgh bridge with a massive banner displaying our message to G20 leaders gathering for tomorrow's summit. The banner takes the form of stylized "road sign" that warns of the political maneuvering and delay that have put a international climate treaty in jeopardy as the world enters the final stretch on the road to Copenhagen.

An update I just read on the Pittsburgh Business Times said, "Security personnel surrounded the area, with a bomb squad car directing traffic, and Army Corp., state police and city of Pittsburgh boats located in the water near the bridge."

We are all gathered here at the office watching a live video feed of activists repelling from the Pittsburgh bridge. We are all biting our fingernails, waiting to see what happens next.

Watch with us!

And, when the video gets taken down – you can follow live updates on the Greenpeace website.

The reason Greenpeace hung this massive banner is because world leaders need to work towards global warming solutions NOW!

World financial representatives and leaders of the G20 (19 of the world's largest national economies, plus the European Union) are meeting in Pittsburgh to discuss both the global financial crisis and the global climate crisis.

It is important for G20 leaders to kick-start economic recovery through clean energy investment. These elements are vital to achieve a good deal in Copenhagen and avert catastrophic global warming.

Are you ready to step up to the plate? Join us in pressuring world leaders to act now before it’s too late. We can show world leaders the impact that civil society can have on solving the world’s challenges when we are unified.

Now more than ever, we need President Obama's leadership to stop global warming, and he needs to hear from YOU! 

Sorry, folks, the Supreme Court must have been wrong about CO2 being an air pollutant.  I stumbled upon the Truth in the form of this half-page ad in Monday’s Washington Post:

Not only is there no scientific evidence that CO2 is a pollutant, higher CO2 concentrations actually help ecosystems support more plant and animal life… Higher levels of CO2 result in more plant growth as well as less water being required for plants to grow faster and larger.  In fact, we all exhale CO2 and enjoy it in our carbonated beverages.

This blows my mind.  I don’t even know how to categorize this latest piece of big-oil-funded misdirection. Junk science? Botany for third graders? Blatant untruthiness? 

CO2isgreen, Inc., the non-profit “with questionable parentage” that funded the ad, has already been called out twice in the blogosphere - once by Grist.org and again by Scienceblogs.com.  Miles Grant correctly points out H. Leighton Steward’s position as an honorary director at the American Petroleum Institute, recently in the news for staging astroturf campaigns, as well as his connection to numerous big oil companies:

He’s also a director at EOG Resources, an oil and gas company, a position in which he earned a whopping $617,151 last year. Steward is formerly head of Burlington Resources, now a part of ConocoPhillips) and former Chairman of the U.S. Oil and Gas Association and the Natural Gas Supply Association. Not a word about any of that in his bio on the site.

The one connection that Grant missed is that Steward is currently Chairman of the Board of The Institute for the Study of Earth and Man at SMU, which has received $76,500 since 1998 from everybody’s favorite greenhouse gangster, ExxonMobil.

James Hrynyshyn paints a softer picture of Steward after talking to him on the phone, describing him as “earnest,” and insisting:

…he's not a dupe of Big Oil trying to pull the wool over our eyes. At least, not consciously… He simply doesn’t doesn't accept the mountains of evidence that carbon dioxide is a significant greenhouse gas, and that small changes in its atmospheric concentration can have a big impact on climate.

Forgive my cynicism, but if it looks like big oil, works for big oil and gets paid by big oil, then it must be an earnest Joe with a penchant for taking out half-page ads in major news publications.

If we are going to base our science on experiments carried out by 8-year-olds, let us discuss these carbonated beverages that we so much enjoy.  It has long been known that carbonated beverages rot your teeth, due primarily to the carbonic acid, which forms when CO2 is dissolved in water. More CO2 in the air means more CO2 in the water.  The resulting acidification is rotting our oceans:

Almost half of all the carbon dioxide emitted since industrialization has been absorbed by the ocean. [Acidification] deprives animals like hard corals and certain mollusks and plankton of the raw material for their calcium carbonate shells and skeletons. This may ultimately cause the world’s oceans to become corrosive to such animals, and coral reefs to dissolve.

The science of our carbon burden is clear.  What is unclear is whether world leaders gathered in New York for a UN summit on climate change can be convinced to act in the interest of the many and the future rather than the few and the now.

Watching The Age of Stupid reminded me of one of my favorite movies, The Usual Suspects. It also starred actor Pete Postlethwaite. "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist." This quote the Usual Suspects was dancing around in my head as the movie showed the year 2020, a world where global warming effects is at its peak and devastation is all around. We have spent so much time and energy convincing all the nay-sayers that global warming truly exists, that we have precious little time to enact solutions that will address issues before it's too late.

The movie is about an archivist in the devastated world of the future, asking the question: "Why didn't we stop climate change when we still had the chance?" He looks back on footage of real people around the world in the years leading up to 2015 before runaway climate change took place.

Last night, the movie premiered in New York City. Politicians and celebrities strolled the green carpet past paparazzi into a truly low-carbon solar-powered movie theater.


Hip Hop Artist, David Banner

The premiere was broadcast live last night to 440 movie theaters across the United States. And, today, the global premier3 continues on over 330 movie screens in 63 nations around the globe. The total audience watching this event well exceeds one million people.

Actress, Heather Graham on the green carpet

Check your local theater to see if this movie is playing in your community. And, take action to tell world leaders that you’re ready for a meaningful (with sharp teeth) global climate treaty, now while we still have the chance.

Greenpeace activist Ashley Mirabile travels in a 'you-turn-the-earth' globe

 

Today, Hundreds of volunteers form a human countdown in Central Park as Climate Week kicks off in NYC. Global leaders have only three months to get their act together and sign a strong Climate Treaty in Copenhagen. Take action today and help show our leaders that this movement is massive and unstoppable.

Image © Avaaz

This week, Planet Green's Focus Earth program airs an episode on greenwash. In the episode Bob Woodruff interviews environmental and corporate watchdog expert Kenny Bruno, author of Greenwash and Corporate Environmentalism, and myself from Greenpeace, to answer the question: are corporate green efforts for show only, or can they actually make amends for decades of un-sustainable, even downright harmful, business choices? Woodfuff also gets up close with leaders from Royal Dutch Shell, Ford Motor Company and Duke Energy to examine their environmental statements and actions. 

Watch clips from the show and find airtimes here.

Four courageous, inspirational women from around the world are in New York right now to urge President Obama and heads of state from over 100 countries to take action against climate change. These women have either lost their homes, jobs or food supply to flooding, droughts and other disasters. But they are taking action to rebuild their lives and they are now speaking out for their communities - their family. They are from Mississippi, Uganda, Papua New Guinea and the Cook Islands in the Pacific. In facing incredibly desperate situations - all of them have developed a strong voice for action climate change.

 

 

Mary Ann Mayo was the webbie onboard the Greenpeace ship Esperanza during the first leg of the Defending Our Pacific 2009 tour.

The last refuge of the last relatively healthy stocks of tuna is found right here in the Pacific. Scientists have been warning for years that the fishing pressure on Pacific tuna must be reduced, yet the Taiwanese-owned, American-flagged super-seiner the American Legacy left the shipyard in Taiwan only last year. Amidst warnings of overfishing and calls for restraint, this brand new super-seiner joined the already vast number of fishing vessels out at sea that are chasing fewer and fewer fish.


© Greenpeace/Paul Hilton

The number 8 in the Chinese culture is considered a lucky number, as the word for eight sounds similar to the word for "prosper" or "wealth." I am pretty sure the Chen family, which owns a network of Taiwanese companies, had this in mind when they included the triple 8 in the name of their fuel tanker, the MV Fong Seong 888. Good fortune and prosperity. However, the ship's high seas activities mean bad fortune and poverty for Pacific nations.

The MV Fong Seong 888 was refueling the purse seiner American Legacy in the high seas, near the waters of Kiribati, when we found them.


© Greenpeace/Paul Hilton

The ownership of both vessels links back to the Chen family. Even though these two ships share an owner, they fly under two different flags: the Fong Seong 888 is flagged to Panama while the American Legacy is a US-flagged purse seiner.

Strange to hear, you might say, that these Taiwanese-owned ships are using another country’s flag? The practice of using or flying the flag of another country other than the country of ownership is what is known as ‘flags of convenience’ (FOC). This is done for many different reasons, including cheap registration fees, low or almost no taxes, and the freedom to employ cheap labor. But to the fishing industry, flying flags of convenience also makes it possible to artificially increase the fishing quota from what is assigned to individual nations. And what does this mean? They can fish more than they would be allowed to if they flew the flag of their real country.

Under an agreement called the US Treaty, the United States is entitled to fish in the waters of 16 Pacific nations with up to 40 purse seine vessels. In recent years, the country has had fewer boats than that, but new vessels are being added, flying the US flag even though they're linked to a major shipbuilding and fishing conglomerate in Taiwan. Fresh from the biggest shipyard in Taiwan and flying the flag of the country with the greatest access to Pacific tuna resources comes the American Legacy. What hope do the tuna have with an alliance like that pitched against them?

Now let’s turn to the Fong Seong 888, one of many tankers operating in the Pacific. These tankers, along with the refrigerated “reefer” vessels that transfer fish, enable fishing fleets to stay at sea for extended periods. Without having to come into port to refuel, take on supplies, and land the fish they have caught, it is much more difficult for authorities to monitor tuna catches in the region. These supply vessels open a gateway for illegally caught fish to leave the region untraced – they are literally fueling and fostering the continued plundering of tuna from the Pacific.

To show our protest for this shameful practice, our Greenpeace activists painted "Fueling Plunder" and "Tuna Plunder" on the hull of the MV Fong Seong 888. It was one of the fastest ship painting actions I have ever seen! And with good cause: having already finished their refueling, we barely had time to paint the campaign message when the purse seiner, MV American Legacy, broke away from the starboard side of Fong Seong 888, and headed away at speed.


© Greenpeace/Paul Hilton

Maybe they were afraid we would "dirty" the fresh new paint on their hull. They should be worried that they're onboard a brand new industrial fishing vessel, which has added to the bloated fishing capacity in the region even though scientists are warning of overfishing and countries are agreeing to show restraint.

As I look back at the 3 weeks we have been here in the international waters of the Western Pacific, we have come across FADs, documented an illegal transshipment at sea, confiscated longlines and escorted several vessels out of the high seas (read all about it here). This latest deplorable activity - a brand new fishing vessel being refueled at sea - was perfectly legal, yet illustrates the problem of countries building yet more ships when there are already too many. It also raises the issue of flag state responsibility, and the curse of refueling and transshipment at sea. It is amazing just how many loopholes these companies find through which to carry out their operations. If only the fishing nets were this full of loopholes – I doubt that a single tuna would be caught!

With all the resources at their disposal and the capacity to circumvent, exploit and abuse bans and treaties, what will it take to stop these distant fishing nations from robbing the Pacific nations of their own resource?

While our activists painted the hull of the Fong Seong 888, I was watching all the activity from the bridge. As the purse seiner American Legacy broke away, the horizon where she was headed was dark with rain clouds, while amazingly at the stern of the Esperanza, the sun was shining at its brightest! In my mind’s eye I could see the two roads that the Pacific fisheries are facing at the moment: one heading towards a dark future of the continued plunder of the Pacific until this ocean is fished to death, while the other holds a bright future of a healthy and sustainable tuna fisheries.

Which road will the world take?

And America, which would you like to see as your “Legacy” for the Pacific?

-Mary Ann

Check out video of a press conference the team over at CROC just did. They're getting pretty desperate. They claim to have been endorsed by a "prominent environmental organization:"


There’s a bunch more of this type of insanity going on over at TheCROC.org. They have an “Earned Devastation Calculator” that lets you compute how much environmental devastation you’re “entitled” to based on the good things you’ve done for the environment. (Then you can Tweet the results or sending them to Facebook. It’s utterly shameless.)

A few days ago I wrote about carbon offsets, the push from corporate polluters to include them in the  American carbon market that would be created by ACES, and why that’s such a bad idea. I also posted the PSA from a new organization called the Carbon Regulatory Offset Committee (CROC), which advocates expanding the offset program to individuals.

CROC is not promoting the voluntary offsets you might purchase to offset the carbon emissions from flying in a plane or powering your home. CROC is determined to give Americans the “right” to do harm to the environment in return for the good things they do for the environment – using the very same logic coporate polluters use when they argue that they should be allowed to continue dumping carbon emissions into our air in exchange for purchasing offsets to protect forests somewhere else in the world. The bottom line is that emissions must come down. Corporate polluters shouldn’t be able to buy their way out of it with offsets – which aren’t even a reliable trade-off by any measure.

Not only do offsets allow polluters to continue business as usual, but they’re difficult to measure reliably – especially over the long-term. In fact, the largest auditor of clean-energy projects in the world was just suspended by UN inspectors "after it was unable to prove its staff had properly vetted projects that were then approved for the [European] carbon-trading scheme."

Of course, the folks at CROC responded with a blog titled “The UN needs to take a chill pill."

Greenpeace activists have already made the point by occupying a Shell tar sands mine in Alberta that "climate leaders don't buy tar sands."

Because Canada is America's largest supplier of oil, the elephant in the Oval Office, when Harper and Obama met at the White House in Washington on September 16th, was Alberta's tar sands.

The tar sands are the reason that Canada has become the largest single national supplier of oil to the United States – exceeding Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Nigeria.  The tar sands are Canada's fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions... production of synthetic crude oil from tar sands results in three to five times more greenhouse gas than conventional crude.

In parliament on September 15th, Stephen Harper said that he is committed to "clean development" of the tar sands, but the reality is that there is no such thing – the tar sands produce the world’s dirtiest oil.

The official statement from Harper/Obama meeting contained no mention of tar sands; no mention of caps on greenhouse gas emission reductions for the medium-term (2020); and no indication of any progress on national or international emissions trading programs. Yet they had the temerity to say “they reiterated the urgency of taking aggressive action to combat climate change”.

The only justification for any mention of climate and energy was the release of a document entitled: “US-Canada Clean Energy Dialogue Action Plan” [PDF].

This document claims that "The United States and Canada have announced ambitious emissions reduction goals for 2050..." That’s simply not true. The Canadian target for 2050 is only 50 to 60 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050. Scientists have called for a minimum reduction 80 per cent by industrial countries, and as close to zero as possible.

The Harper government's target for 2020 is only 3 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020. The KYOTOplus Campaign, supported by Greenpeace and more than 80 other Canadian organizations, calls for a minimum reduction of 25 per cent.

The main thrust of the so-called “Action Plan” is the promotion of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). The oil and gas industry touts CCS as the silver bullet solution to the massive greenhouse gas emissions from the tar sands and from coal-fired electricity. There are only four test sites in the entire world that are actually sequestering carbon dioxide underground. Aside from numerous technical and environmental problems, we can be sure of only one thing — CCS is prohibitively expensive and can only be realized with massive government subsidies... therefore the Clean Energy Dialog!

By pushing Carbon Capture and Storage, the Clean Energy Dialogue is only putting a fig leaf over the huge environmental impacts of the tar sands. It will ultimately be too expensive and come too late to make a serious impact on the climate crisis. Worse, the huge expenditures on the CCS will prevent investment in the truly effective solutions for global warming – renewable energy and energy efficiency. The Alberta government has already committed about $2 billion in provincial taxpayer subsidies to CCS, and the Harper government has committed about $1 billion... of OUR money.

The bottom line is that the Harper government has refused to take the climate crisis seriously. The fate of the earth is going to be decided at the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen in December 2009. It’s time to get serious.

Dave Martin is the Climate and Energy Coordinator for Greenpeace Canada

 

Traitor Joe here. Some people think what I do to the ocean is bad. I have a nasty habit of selling red-list seafood in my stores and then deceiving my customers about the truth. I know it's bad for the ocean ecosystem, but I just can't help myself. It's an addiction to being bad and harming critters big and small.



After you watch my karaoke video I'm sure you'll agree that I can keep being as bad as I want to. Don't bother taking action to try and stop me. It'll be a giant waste of your time. 

Insincerely yours,
Traitor Joe

                                                                                                                                                    This fall, the Greenpeace Student Network is fighting for our planet’s future and demanding climate action now. All across the country, student activists are holding their first meetings of the semester, having kickoff events, and turning up the pressure on decision makers to implement science based solutions to global warming.

Here are some highlights of what's been happening across the country:

At Iowa State, student activists began their semester by gathering hundreds of petitions and rallying against a dirty coal plant on campus. They even made headlines!

In Atlanta, Georgia State student activists are planning a huge rally for the October 24th International Day of Action on Climate. They are expecting hundreds of people with prominent guest speakers, media, and a unified message that world leaders must act now on climate.

In Virginia, student activists at James Madison University are mobilizing their campus to take on climate this semester. They are doing a large recruitment drive and getting new volunteers each day! A movement, like none before, is growing on campus.

While Congress and President Obama have failed to be leaders on climate, our current generation is stepping up to the plate to deliver results! I am so inspired by the amazing work already underway this semester. Working with student activists has taught me one thing: they are a driving force for positive change.

Are you inspired like me? Are you ready for climate action? Then don't miss a second of the action! Stay in the know about important updates with the Student Network. Join us on Facebook and on Twitter.

To get involved with the Student Network, email us!

Get ready for a movement like you've never seen before!

David

If you do something good for the environment, does it make any sense that you should then be entitled to do something bad to the environment?

Of course it doesn’t. And yet that is basically what corporate polluters are pushing for as climate legislation makes its way through Congress. Rather than making required pollution cuts, they want to use “carbon offsets,” which would essentially allow them to continue their dirty, polluting business as usual while outsourcing green jobs and cleaner skies elsewhere…mostly overseas!

Amazingly, despite the fact that offsets could totally undermine our efforts to combat global warming –letting polluters increase greenhouse gas emissions for years to come – there is now a group out there advocating carbon offsets be made available to individuals, so that regular folks can also be entitled to do something bad to the environment if they do something good for it. The group is called the Carbon Regulatory Offset Committee (CROC). Check out this video from their charismatic spokesman, Carl Cordova:


Offsets work like this: rather than making required emissions reductions, polluters outsource their obligations – paying others to protect forests overseas, for instance. The flaws in this scheme are manifold. Aside from allowing polluters to evade their responsibility to reduce their emissions as quickly as possible in order to prevent runaway global warming, offsets are difficult to measure and verify.

How much forest, a living ecosystem that is constantly changing, do you have to protect to equal a ton of carbon? How do you make sure it gets protected over the long-term? If it burns in a totally natural forest fire, does it still count as an offset? Most importantly, how do you make sure the same amount of deforestation doesn’t just happen somewhere else instead?

You really need to check out TheCROC.org to appreciate just how insane offsets are.

It was on this day, in 1971, that the first Greenpeace crew unfurled their triangular green sail, emblazoned with the peace and ecology symbols, and set out from Vancouver to change the world.  

Their mission was to sail into the heart of a U.S. nuclear test zone and peacefully prevent the destruction of Amchitka, a pristine island ecosystem off the coast of Alaska.  In their rusty little fishing boat, the 12 activists stood up to the greatest military force on the planet... 

...What followed was a wave of public support that ultimately shut down the U.S. nuclear testing program, won Amchitka designation as a wildlife sanctuary, and gave birth to the Greenpeace movement.

From our humble beginnings nearly 40 years ago, Greenpeace has grown into one of the largest and most respected environmental organizations in the world.  Today, Greenpeace operates in over 45 countries and commands a fleet of research and activist ships, which have sailed against environmental destruction on all of the seven seas.  We employ world-renowned scientists, policy experts, and grassroots strategists to lead our campaigns.  Greenpeace even has official standing at the United Nations.

But unlike other non-profit organizations, Greenpeace remains an independent citizens’ movement at its core.  We accept no money from governments or corporations.  That’s why we’ve been so successful in bringing about real change for the planet.  That’s also why your support is so critical.

PLEASE CLICK HERE to rush a special birthday donation to Greenpeace, as we gear up for a major campaign against the greatest environmental threat of our generation: global warming. 

From all of us here at the Greenpeace Headquarters, thank you for your continued support. These past few decades would not have been possible without you. 

I leave you with a transcript of Ben Metcalfe's transmission from the ship, which was broadcast on the CBC radio the night of Greenpeace's maiden voyage...

We call our ship the Greenpeace because that’s the best name we can think of to join the two great issues of our times: the survival of our environment and the peace of the world…

We do not consider ourselves to be radicals. We are conservatives, who insist upon conserving the environment for our children and future generations… If there are radicals in this story, they are the fanatical technocrats who believe they have the power to play with this world like an infinitely fascinating toy of their own. We do not believe they will be content until they have smashed it like a toy.

The message of the Greenpeace is simply this: The world is our place … and we insist on our basic human right to occupy it without danger from any power group. This is not a rhetorical presumption on our part. It is a sense and idea that we share with every ordinary citizen of the world…

If you haven't already seen the 2008-2009 Annual Report for Greenpeace, please explore it! After months of working on it, picking the highlights from 2008 and trying to pick out a few photos from the amazing ones we have,  like this one:

The Annual Report is done! I couldn't be happier! 

One week from today, the largest live film event in the world will take place for the global premiere of The Age of Stupid. As you no doubt have inferred from the many tweets and blogs we've posted, Greenpeace has partnered with the filmmakers to promote the film, mobilize moviegoers, and make the global premiere a green event to be remembered for all time.

The Age of Stupid has been called a docu-drama-animation hybrid, which probably means nothing to you, but there it is. It's also been called "the next, far hipper An Inconvenient Truth." The movie stars Oscar-nominated Pete Postlethwaite as an old man living in the global warming-ravaged world of 2055, watching archive footage from 2008 and desperately wondering: Why didn't we stop climate change while we had the chance?

Here's a sneak peek at one of the coolest animations from the movie:

On September 21st, communities around the world will be gathering in movie theaters, community centers, stadiums, and even on beaches where makeshift screens will be set up so that people can view the movie and be inspired to call on their leaders to act.  In New York City, a "green carpet" premiere will take place, with celebrities arriving by sustainable transportation (bike, rickshaw, train, boat, etc.). There are also several cities around the US having "simulcast" events, you can find locations and buy tickets here.

To give you a small taste of what you might expect at the premiere events, as well as the reason we think this movie is so important, here's a video of Eric Philips, polar explorer on board the Arctic Sunrise, which was used to open the Australian premiere of the film:

Mary Ann Mayo is the webbie onboard the Greenpeace ship Esperanza, which is currently in the South Pacific for the Defending Our Pacific 2009 tour.

Just two days ago, the Japanese purse seiner, Fukuichi Maru, was pulling in its purse seine net, heavy with freshly caught tuna, when we found them fishing in area 2 of the Pacific high seas. Floating in the water and attached to the ship's left side (or port side as we refer to it in nautical terms), was a FAD made of a very long log with a radio beacon on it. It was the first time that we caught a fishing vessel in the act of purse seining from a FAD.


You can see the FAD on the left of this pic. © Greenpeace/Paul Hilton

Seeing this made me shake my head in disbelief. There is a two-month ban on FADs declared by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Conference (WCPFC) currently in place. But a major loophole in the ban is being exploited by Japan to continue their high seas plunder of the Pacific. (*See note below.)

The Fukuichi Maru finished its hauling operations and headed away. Two of our inflatables caught up with the plundering purse seiner. Upon reaching the ship, we delivered a letter and information about our campaign on tuna in Japanese. Two of our Pacific Activists, Anna Jitoko and Josefa Nasegui, showed their indignation by unfurling banners reading "No return from overfishing" and "Marine Reserves Now."

© Greenpeace/Gabriel Vianna

Witnessing this Japanese purse seiner using a FAD to catch tuna makes me feel sad, given how many of our global stocks of tuna are already in a state of collapse. The northern bluefin tuna population is severely overfished and has possibly already collapsed, and some Pacific tuna are in danger of heading the same way. The FAD ban was put in place to protect the tuna from being fished out during their August-September spawning season. But in the last two weeks, we have seen no less than ten FADs scattered in the Pacific high seas.

It seems that despite the laws that are in place, Japan is still using loopholes to get around this restriction. There are no boundaries too great, no territories too taboo, and no laws too strict, to prevent them from their high seas plunder in the Pacific.



The sea may appear to be as vast as we see them, but they have lost much of the rich marine life that helps sustain life on Earth. Like every resource that we use, tuna is also finite. If we do not manage this resource properly, and respect the laws in place to prevent its abuse and safeguard its very survival, our seas will just be a great big tub of salt water, empty of life.

Tuna is a resource that is NOT for one country to plunder. Why should one country continue to fish using fish aggregating devices — plundering not just tuna but juvenile fish and sharks, turtles and other marine life — while every other country is bound by a ban on this wasteful form of fishing? What hope can we expect for the tuna to survive? And what chance can the Pacific nations have for their own survival when these distant fishing nations outfish them of their own resource?

It reminds me of low-budget travelers who snap up budget travel packages advertised on the newspapers back home: FLY NOW! Pay Later! Satisfy instant gratification and worry about the cost later. Here we have it: FISH NOW! pay later! But for low-budget travelers that get carried away, it's their own credit cards that suffer. And when we are talking about fishing a shared regional resource, any one country's excess has impacts for all.

Japan is the world's largest consumer of tuna and if Japan and other countries continue to relentlessly fish tuna to the point of collapse and continually make a mockery of such laws, not only will sushi trains grind to a halt, but it will be the end of the line for Pacific nations: the loss of a vital resource and the end of a way of life.

- Mary Ann


* Paragraph 15 of the WCPFC’s Conservation Management Measure which sets the conditions of the ban provides such exemptions as follows: “As an alternative to the high seas FAD closure…members may adopt measures to reduce their catch by weight of bigeye tuna in the purse seine fishery in the area between 20°N and 20°S by a minimum of 10 percent relative to 2001-2004 average levels…. This alternative shall only be available to members identified by the Commission in advance as having demonstrated a functioning capacity to implement such measures in an effective and transparent manner including through: an established and functioning port monitoring program that allows monitoring of bigeye landings for each trip by each vessel; a commitment to carry on board observers from the Regional Observer Program….”

 

As a Senator and as a candidate, President Obama championed legislation to eliminate the consequences of a catastrophic terrorist attack or accident at chemical plants across the US. The bills he sponsored, supported and voted for in the U.S. Senate and championed in his campaign for President are exactly what is needed to address these vulnerabilities.  

However, the Obama Administration has yet to support the chemical security legislation now pending in Congress.

As we observe the eighth anniversary of 9/11 we cannot think of a better time for President Obama to clarify the administration’s support for this legislation, H.R. 2868 & H.R. 3258 as introduced.

In the coming weeks, the House Energy and Commerce Committee plans to take up these bills. The ultimate test of their success is whether they will require security measures that protect neighboring communities in the event of an attack on a chemical plant.

With time running out, a coalition of environmental, labor, health, and environmental justice groups (including Greenpeace) has sent a letter to President Obama calling on him to show leadership on an issue vitally important to the safety and security of communities across America. To Read the letter for yourself, click here.

Traitor Joe here. I have two words for you—Re.Diculous. That’s how I’d describe the video I just watched. A lonely fish singing karaoke—it’s ridiculous!

You have to see it to believe it.



Actually, watching that video over and over again just makes my mouth water. That orange roughy looks like a tasty dinner. He’s endangered, one-of-a-kind and I bet he’d taste good with a nice side of cole slaw.

If I could only get my hooks into that orange roughy my day would be complete. He’d be singing the blues and I’d be laughing all the way to the bank. Like I’ve said before, if it’s good for my wallet, I don’t care if it’s bad to the ocean or environment.

Just try stopping me! I’ll find that orange roughy and any other sea life that I can sink my hooks into.

Insincerely yours,
Traitor Joe

One of the biggest issues being brought before the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) during its quarterly meeting on October 1 – 9, 2009 at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Anchorage has a really long title. It is Proposed Ammendment 94 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area to Require Trawl Sweep Modification in the Bering Sea Flatfish Fishery, Establish a Modified Gear Trawl Zone, and Revise Boundaries of the Northern Bering Sea Research Area and Saint Matthew Island Habitat Conservation Area 1. Wheww. That is long. The long and the short of it are this.

The yellow fin sole and other flat fish fishery wants more area in the Bering Sea to fish in. This because they say that the fish they want to catch is moving north due to climate changes in the Southern Bering Sea. We have a different opinion. And they want to use a “modified gear change to their fishing gear” that a scientist from the National Marine Fisheries Service says, “will lower the substrate destruction in this fish prosecution.” This is the “modification” that they are talking about. They are putting rollers on the cable that drags along the bottom of the ocean to lift that cable two inches off the bottom so “other life on the bottom” will not be disturbed. To be fair, they said the other life will not be destroyed as much as they would be if the rollers were not put on this really large and long heavy cable used to drag the bottom. Well this is going to destroy the bottom of the Bering Sea in any event. Now we must ask some questions about this proposed change in the Bering Sea Fishery Management Plan.

One is; on the research done to determine that this practice will do less harm, was there any peer review done to verify this data? The second question is; when the NPFMC is proposing to open up a here-to-fore Northern Research Area right next to Saint Matthew Island probably the size of Rhode Island, are there any other oversight issues and Federal and State Agencies that need to be consulted?

And finally; do the people who are to be most affected by this change need notification and consultation before a final rule is made? Just looking at the issue of the research and its findings, I am wondering why a "peer review" process was not done before the findings are made public. According to a news release in 2003 from the Office of Management and Budget, OMB, whenever any Federal Agency is involved in any research the size of this one, OMB says, "...all significant regulatory-science documents will be subjected to peer review by qualified specialists in appropriate technical disciplines." (Emphs my own). In a discussion I had with the researcher, there was none. Also the Data Quality Act passed by Congress states further: "...requires federal agencies to issue information quality guidelines ensuring the quality, utility, objectivity and integrity of information that they disseminate and provides..." (Emphs my own). I am wondering if this has been done.

It is time for the owners of this most precious resource, We The People, to ensure that how these resources are used to line the pockets of a few multi-national big business companies do so while following the laws we all have to follow. And to ensure that any Federal Agency responsible for any research done to seemingly support these big business companies, do the same. Can there be conflict of interest? Sure.

Mary Ann Mayo is currently the webbie onboard the Greenpeace ship Esperanza. You can read the posts we've already put up (here and here) featuring the amazing work the crew on board the Esperanza is doing as part of the Defending Our Pacific 2009 tour.

I just wanted to share this video with you, as well as a backgrounder on fish aggregating devices (FADs), which you can find below the video.

A Growing FAD

A few days back, we hauled on-board a Fish Aggregating Device (FAD), a device used by purse seiners to attract tuna. A lot of marine life was spared from certain fishy death that day.

We were pleased to see that our FAD expose generated positive comments (after all, we are in the middle of the two-month period when FADs are banned in this area of the Pacific). We also received a few inquiries on how FADs really work. Why are fish attracted to them? What are they made of? Are tuna the only fish that aggregate around these FADs?

So we ´fished´ out some FAD facts and figures. Our ‘haul’ revealed a pretty grim picture. For every 10 kilos of tuna caught, 1 kilogram will be unwanted catch, consisting of juvenile tuna, sharks, turtles, rays and other marine species. In 2005, that amounted to a staggering 100,000 tonnes of by-catch!

In addition, a recent study revealed that these deadly fish magnets affect the behavior of fish, essentially over-riding their natural instincts and even distracting them from their normal migratory paths.

To give you, our readers, a better understanding and additional information about FADs I’ve asked Genevieve Quirk, Greenpeace Oceans Campaigner based in Australia, to explain. Genevieve attended the meeting of the Pacific Tuna Commission scientists last month, and here she shares with us some insights on what transpired at the meeting, and her take on FADs:

Bad, bad FAD

It was astonishing to bear witness to the dirty laundry of the scientific meeting of the Pacific Tuna Commission.

Huge industrial fleets, having fished out their own waters, are now plundering the Pacific. Nets the size of city blocks are used to haul in schools of tuna. High-tech equipment now makes finding fish easy and longlines can extend over 100km!

In this type of fishery, huge amounts of bycatch are caught and thrown back dead or dying. These include endangered sharks, turtles and seabirds.

What a combination — record catches and a projected failure of the conservation measures for the Western and Central Pacific Fishery. It is scandalous that the tuna fishery recorded its highest catch on record this year, when the scientists have been recommending cuts to the overfishing in this fishery for years.

After hours of argument the scientists agreed that 34-50% cut in fishing is needed to protect bigeye tuna stocks. The biggest cut ever!

The raging debate was, however, quiet at one point in the meeting. The scientists were in awe of the research showing climate change would seriously decrease the habitat suitable for survival of tuna. Clearly, a more precautionary cut is needed to conserve the species, and in turn protect the millions of people who rely on them for food and livelihood.

A key solution to combat overfishing is to create marine reserves. They provide a refuge for stock recovery and the preservation of genetic diversity. A global network of marine reserves covering 40% of the world’s oceans is needed to preserve the integrity of our marine ecosystems.

Catching fish the way we do now — through purse seining, longlining and FADs — undermines the viability of the fish stocks, their ecosystem and the fishery itself. The Pacific Tuna Commission must cut fishing by half and set targets that secure a future for stocks, especially, as in these waters pirates take an additional 21-46% of the tuna.

Finally, the scientists presented the alarming facts on Fish Aggregation Devices (FADs), the newest and perhaps the most dangerous new threat to tuna. FADs are fast eroding overfished stocks before they even breed! Smaller yellowfin, bigeye and skipjack tuna were recorded to be caught more with FADs than regular FAD-free purse seining. Yellowfin tuna caught around FADs were, on average, less than half the size of yellowfin netted away from these devices.

It’s not science-speak, but Charles Clover — author of the book (and now movie) “The End of the Line” — summed it up perfectly:

”Killed alongside the skipjack tuna that finds itself in your tin is almost the entire cast list of Finding Nemo”.

An immediate ban on FADs is needed to protect stocks and let tuna live to grow and breed.

What is a FAD?

Blue water or oceanic species have a challenging lifestyle. Unlike most animals they have no shelter from which to hide from predators. They are vulnerable all of the time. Ocean species have many different ways to adapt to the constant threat of predation. Whales are large, jellyfish are transparent and tuna and sharks are fast.

Here’s one of the FADs we pulled out of the water. These devices attract a whole range of marine species, which are then indiscriminately netted.

Objects in the ocean present an opportunity to feed or shelter. Ocean species are biologically programmed to seek both. This is where a cruel trick is played upon the animals in our seas.

FADs can take any form. A log, a piece of net, weighted fishing gear. Any new addition to the ocean domain is attractive.

Fisheries use FADs to attract fish and then encircle them with a net called a purse seine. The net can have an area of multiple city blocks. All species that have sought the shelter of the FAD will be caught. FADs attract not just the target species like tuna but any ocean species.

FADs are often lost and abandoned and can entangle and kill animals. Ghost FADs present an ongoing threat to marine life and also a navigational hazard.

That's why Greenpeace demands a global ban on FADs: A threat to both the sustainability of fished stocks and the blue water species we love.

Hope this info helped. If you have any questions, ask away in the comments!

-Mary Ann

Once you’ve witnessed a wildland fire, you’ll never forget it.  The haze that filters sunlight, casting a strange, darkened light.  The dramatic flare-ups that consume trees like matches.  The massive plumes of smoke that mimic mushroom clouds.  And maybe most of all, the pervasive smoke that gets everywhere, creeping beyond closed doors and sticking to clothes.

While fires are an important part of the natural balance in some American ecosytems, scientists tell us global warming is setting up hotter, drier conditions that could lead to more large, dangerous fires. Weather and climate are very complicated phenomenon, so there's plenty of science being to understand this; you can read more here and here.

This means more people and property at risk, more firefighter lives on the line, and more taxpayer dollars sapped by expensive emergency responses.

What can be done?  Fire experts tell us we need to spend more money on preventative measures – things that improve our safety, save money, and lower the likelihood of dangerous conflagrations in the future.  There is a long list of those measures, from creating fire-resistant “defensible space” around buildings, to the controlled burning of fire-dependent wildlands.

However, one of the most important preventative measures is receiving less attention: fighting global warming.  We can, and should, stop run-away temperature rise from making droughts, heat waves and fires worse.

The moment to do this is now.  Away from the smoke-shrouded mountains of southern California, international leaders are struggling to create a climate treaty.  The deadline for this is rapidly approaching in December when UN climate talks wrap up in Copenhagen.

The main problem preventing progress is a lack of leadership from developed countries in two key areas: (1) commitments to serious cuts in pollution and (2) substantial funding to fight global warming and its effects in developing countries.

The first one is pretty straightforward.  In order to fight global warming, developed countries need to cut climate pollution aggressively.  So far, few have shown any real commitment to this.  Instead, countries like the U.S. have set weak targets, then filled them offsets to outsource green jobs, cleaner skies elsewhere.  In a recent media interview, Representative Rick Boucher (R-VA) summed up the effects of offsets on pollution reductions succintly: “…an electric utility burning coal will not have to reduce the emissions at the plant site.  It can just keep burning coal.”  Needless to say, loopholes and outsourcing won’t get us where we need to go.
 
The second commitment, providing funding, does not mean another big bailout fueled by taxpayer dollars.  If properly designed, cap and trade systems make big polluters pay for their pollution instead of lining their pockets with windfall profits.  For a total of $140 billion worldwide, this funding would allow us to protect the world's most vulnerable people from the worst impacts of climate change, help developing countries “leapfrog” dirty energy development and stop deforestation (a leading source of climate pollution).

Now is the time for President Obama to step up and provide leadership.  In gatherings later this month at the United Nations in New York and the G-20 in Pittsburgh, world leaders will have an historic opportunity to make real progress towards a climate deal.  If they act like poll-watching politicians instead of real leaders, our future may be left out high, hot and dry.

As world leaders prepare to meet at the United Nations in New York on September 22nd to discuss the urgent issue of climate change, Greenpeace and other groups are working on an event to show these leaders that time for action is running out.

On September 20th, thousands of citizens from all walks of life will gather for a creative action in Central Park — a Human Countdown. This international media photo opportunity will demonstrate to these world leaders that the time to act is running out and call for necessary steps by President Obama and others to bring about a new climate deal.

To join us in Central Park: RSVP

This is a critical time — climate change is happening right now. Our world leaders can choose a safe and stable climate, or they can choose more natural disasters, famines, and climate refugees. It is imperative that world leaders agree on a global climate deal that is fair, ambitious and binding in December 2009 in Copenhagen.

The Human Countdown is the flagship event kick starting the Climate Wake Up Call, a series of coordinated events happening around the world.

WHEN: Sunday, September 20th @ 1:00 PM

WHERE: Trump Wollman Ice Rink, Central Park

Best Entrance: Central Park South (59th Street) and 6th Avenue. Wollman Rink is a two minute walk into Central Park from this entrance. Follow the footpath directly into the park.

RSVP HERE

See you there!

Eva Erbskorn
Field Organizer
Greenpeace USA

Mary Ann is the webbie onboard the Esperanza right now. The Espy is on a two-month tour in the Pacific to help enforce a ban on destructive fishing practices.

A black dot.

Peering through the binoculars, thats how the Taiwanese fishing vessel appeared, silhouetted against the horizon.

The past few days' activities have been like tricks from a magician’s hat – you never know what your hand will pull out. Just yesterday, we fished out a banned fish aggregating device (FAD). Yesterday, during a routine reconnaissance, we chanced upon two fishing boats transferring tuna from one to the other!

The ships, Her Hae and Jia Yu Fa (pictured above), two Taiwanese longliners, were caught RED-HANDED by the Esperanza trans-shipping in the high seas between Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM)! They were photographed transferring tuna from one to the other as well as having shark fins on-board.

However, as soon as they saw us, they both stopped operations, hurriedly disengaged from each other and the larger of the two, Her Hae, sped off.

Jia Yu Fa was left alone bobbing in its wake. The order of the day was to catch up with the ship and relay our appeal to stop trans-shipment at sea and check if they were illegal or legal. Steaming at 13.5 knots, the powerful engines of the Esperanza were making the bridge door rattle beside me at the campaign office. The whole ship was humming as we pursued the fishing boat.

We came alongside the Jia Yu Fa, delivered information about our campaign, and questioned the crew about their fishing activities. The captain said they were transferring fish to the other ship because… they had a broken freezer. They also claimed to have a permit to trans-ship at sea from the FSM authorities.


Note the sharkfins on deck, bottom left corner of the green cover.

Upon checking, we discovered that both fishing boats did indeed have licences to fish. Her Hae (the larger of the two) has a licence under the WCPFC list and Jia Yu Fa, under FSM. However, under FSM’s fishing license conditions, as we discovered, trans-shipment at sea is NOT ALLOWED. Since this was the case, their activities were deemed illegal: Jia Yu Fa for transferring fish at sea against the rules of their fishing license, and Her Hae for receiving fish from a vessel that was not allowed to do so.

Having confirmed the illegality of this monkey business at sea, the Esperanza peacefully escorted the Jia Yu Fa out of the high seas and into the waters of FSM, where they hold a license to fish and their activities can be better monitored.

Trans-shipment at sea is but one fish hook on a long line of fishing woes for Pacific islanders. Until such time as the Tuna Commission starts listening to the Pacific nations’ request to close the high seas to all forms of fishing, this dubious practice will never stop. Trans-shipment at sea is stealing a precious resource, what little is now left of the tuna stocks, from Pacific nations. Their lifeblood is sucked away with every illegal, unregulated and unreported tuna catch, not to mention the by-catch of sharks, sea turtles and other fish species that needlessly die in longline and purse seine fishing.

This was just our third day in the high seas, and we’ve already found fish aggregating devices that are supposed to be banned at this time. We’ve also witnessed one of the most elusive fishing activities, illegal trans-shipment in international waters. Imagine the other 362 days of the year that go unchecked for this type of theft and plunder? Finding these two fishing boats represents just the tip of the iceberg of pirate fishing in the Pacific.

How many Her Haes and Jia Yu Fas do we need to catch before the Tuna Commission, and the world, wakes up and acts?



When will it stop?

It’s not just a matter of strong political will on the part of the Pacific nations and the Tuna Commission to protect and replenish the tuna. This is a matter of urgency that everyone — every government, every fishing company, retailer, dealer, and last but not least, every consumer — needs to act upon now. The Pacific tuna catch must be reduced by half, the high seas must be closed to all fishing and declared marine reserves, and FADs and trans-shipment at sea must be banned.

There is no time to waste, the time to end the plunder of Pacific tuna is now.

Images © Greenpeace/Paul Hilton

The Arctic Sunrise left Kangerdlugssuaq Fjord on August 30 and has been motoring north up the east coast of Greenland since then. It's been a palette of greys outside — grey water, grey sky, grey fog. It's nothing like the unbroken weeks of sunshine we experienced in northwest and southeast Greenland. Here on the northeast coast all we've seen since leaving Kangerdlugssuaq Fjord is shades of grey. We haven't seen any clear skies, sea ice or icebergs to break the monotony of greys.


Click the image to view more "Climate Impacts" pics from the Arctic Expedition 2009 on Flickr.

Until this afternoon, when Arne, our ice pilot, alerted us to the presence of an “ice blink” on the port side of the ship. An ice blink is a bright stripe of white on the horizon between sea and sky that indicates sea ice, it’s actually the reflection or glare from sea ice onto low clouds. I have no idea why it’s called an “ice blink,” and neither does Arne, who is a walking dictionary on sea ice. Perhaps it has something to do with shutting your eyes most of the way — as if you’re blinking — and only having a thin strip of vision? Or maybe the word is derived from a Norwegian or Danish term that has to do with ice or glare? I have no idea. All I know is that the ice blink means sea ice, and sea ice means happiness.

Why does sea ice mean happiness? Because it tamps down ocean swells and waves and guarantees the Arctic Sunrise can motor along without the trademark rolling, pitching and corkscrewing of this keel-free icebreaker. This ship is built like an egg, and it's famous for making even the heartiest sailor seasick. For some reason I avoided getting seasick since leaving Amsterdam on June 12, but all that ended on August 31 when the ship hit some swells and winds that caused her to corkscrew – a motion that caused just about everyone on board to succumb to seasickness.

And seasick I got. In spades. At one point I could not even make it to the toilet down the alleyway, I just hunkered down on the floor of my cabin with a bowl. It was miserable, I tell you, and I swore to myself that I would never, ever step foot on a Greenpeace ship again. If there was a way to jump ship and get to land I would have taken it, I felt that wretched. It kept up through lunchtime yesterday, September 2 when the seas flattened out and, in the words of our Russian doctor on board, Valeriy, “I finally found the meaning of true happiness.”

The appearance of the ice blink this afternoon signals calm seas and means the worst of the transit from Kangerdlugssuaq Fjord to 79 Glacier is behind us. It also means we’ll soon arrive at 79 Glacier and the independent scientists on board will be able to continue their research on the complex interactions between climate change, oceans and glaciers in east Greenland. It also means we’ll soon be able to send more pictures, videos and eyewitness accounts of the impacts of climate change on Greenland’s glaciers to the public, media and policy makers, which in the end, is what keeps us all going. We can’t expect world leaders to come up with a fair, ambitious and binding climate policy in Copenhagen this December without us, the public, putting pressure on them to deliver the goods. And bearing witness to the Arctic meltdown provides the impetus for the pressure.

With so much at stake and so many people all over the planet doing so much to pressure their heads of state to make the right decisions in Copenhagen, the least I can do is to put up with a bit of seasickness. Looking back, it was over in a blink, anyway.

A few months back, I was lucky enough to enter our archives.  The temperature controlled room, deep in the heart of the office, is a highly organized system housing every imaginable artifact of Greenpeace US history.  From crew members' photos aboard the Phyllis Cormack to the latest newsletter, the archives tell the story of how a few brave activists setting sail for Amchitka in 1971 grew to be the leading independent environmental organization today. 

I could spend days upon days browsing the immense collection of records, and scratching my head: fanny packs? visors?

but not having endless time to hang out in the archives and ponder some Greenpeace attire, I sat down with our archivist Nikolas.

Describe your role as archivist:

• My job as GP archivist is to preserve and document GP's history and historical documents and artifacts, and maintain the organization's institutional memory.  As an organization with a 40 year history, it's important to preserve our history because our foundation is a critical part of who we are and shows that we have long-standing expertise and credibility on environmental issues.  When people talk about saving whales, we can show that we essentially started the movement.  When people debate global warming, we can prove that we've been on the right side since the 1970s.  We've exposed scams, lies and crimes for decades and the archives is the record of those successes.

Do you have a favorite record?

• Telexes from the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior.  When French agents bombed the ship in 1985 in New Zealand, messages were sent from Auckland to other offices, giving a minute-by-minute account of the aftermath of the attack and the realization and shock of losing one of our crewmembers.  Oh, and I like buttons.

Many thanks to Nikolas for keeping the archives in top shape!  If you ever come across an old Greenpeace article and have a question about it, you can bet Nikolas will be able to tell you more about it!  For example, when I forwarded an e-mail that read: At a cafe in Porstmouth, NH I saw a poster in the men's room entitled, Stepping Lightly on the Earth: a Minimum Impact Guide to the Home, Nik appeared leaflet in hand within the hour.

In addition,  we have a bare bulletin board over here that could really benefit from some supporter pictures!  Whether wearing a vintage tee, personal photos from a volunteer action, or even an old article found way back in the kitchen drawer, we'd love to see it!  You can e-mail us attachments at info@wdc.greenpeace.org or mail them to the below address.  I mean, how cute is Zoe in her Mom's childhood "Save the Seals" tee?!

 

As you have no doubt heard by now, a variety of conservative organizations led by a Big Oil industry group are staging Astroturf rallies around the country to "protest" global warming legislation. What you may not know is that a self-proclaimed eco-friendly company, Verizon, is co-sponsoring a rally in West Virginia. And not just any rally, but the "Friends of America" rally, which is organized by Massey Energy, a union-busting coal company that's a major force behind mountaintop removal in Appalachia.

Verizon is always asking, "Can you hear me now?" So call Verizon and make sure they can hear YOU. Tell them that their support of this global warming denial rally is unacceptable. Here's what to do:

1. Call 908-559-2000 (Verizon's executive offices - you can probably leave a message)
2. Tell them you have a complaint you want to register with the company. If you're a customer of Verizon, mention that fact.
3. Here's what to say:

I just heard that Verizon is a sponsor of a rally THIS LABOR DAY in West Virginia that is denying the reality of global warming and obstructing climate solutions. This is outrageous and unacceptable. Global warming is important to me because XXXX. I demand that Verizon withdraw sponsorship of this rally immediately.

You can also mention that unless Verizon pulls out of this rally, you will (choose whichever applies to you):

a. Drop your Verizon service (or will likely drop your service)
b. You will tell your friends to drop their Verizon service
c. You will never be a Verizon wireless customer

If that first number doesn't work, try these:

845-365-7700 Verizon Executive Services
908-717-3115 Verizon Escalation Hotline
240-568-2459 Verizon Executive Relations
908-559-7000 Verizon headquarters

After you make the call, you can go here and let us know how it went. Thanks for taking the time to make your voice heard and let Verizon know that we can hear them, and we don't like what we're hearing!

Last Thursday, the Esperanza left Suva, Fiji and embarked on the Defending Our Pacific 2009 tour. During the two-month tour, the Espy will patrol international waters in the Central and Western Pacific Ocean and help ensure that international tuna fleets adhere to the two-month ban on purse seine fleets using.

I realize that was a lot of technical speak and campaign jargon, and that I should really explain what all that means, but there is a much more pressing matter at hand: The tour has already scored its first victory against the commercial fishing fleets who are brazenly violating the ban and using highly destructive FADs!

But I’ll let our webbie onboard the Espy, Mary Ann, tell the story:

FAD Watch (And It’s Not About Trendy Fashion)

Date: Tuesday, 31 August 2009
Location: High Seas Area 1, Western Pacific Ocean
Weather conditions: Sunny day, clear skies, light breeze
Objective: To look out for FADs

A few days ago, we arrived in the High Seas of the Pacific. Since yesterday, we have been on constant watch, scanning the horizon by day, the radar by night, diligently on the look-out for FADs and fishing boats.

Up in the bridge, Gabriel (one of our dive team, and resident shark expert) was the first to go on FAD watch at 8 in the morning. And, lo and behold, you guessed it … he spotted the very thing we were looking for — a FAD!

What’s a FAD, you ask? For the unfamiliar, FAD stands for Fish Aggregating Device. Like a magnet, FADs are designed to attract tuna into an set area. The fish are then caught by industrial purse seiners. These devices not only attract tuna, but also a host of other species such as sharks, turtles and other fish.

These FADs float at sea until they have attracted a sizable enough population of tuna. Once enough tuna are attracted, the fish and all other accumulated marine life is scooped up in a huge net, in one fell swoop. It’s a very wasteful way of fishing.

The irony of the situation is that we have found this FAD right in the middle of a two-month ban, from 1 August to 30 September. The ban was declared by the Pacific Tuna Commission, which manages tuna fishing in the international waters of the region.

So there I was walking around, a sleepy zombie, until I snapped awake when someone told me we’d found a FAD. There was a general hubbub going on around me. Deckies were by the inflatables, getting ready to launch them. The divers were checking their dive equipment and gearing up in the wet room. Breakfast was a distant memory of wolfing down one buttered toast as I hurried to catch the action. It was the same general excitement when I went up the bridge, the campaign team were complete and two binoculars were trained on the bobbing FAD.

The African Queen (one of our inflatable boats) sped to the bobbing FAD. Our divers soon discovered that schools of fish had already gathered around it.

As well as sharks, some of them juvenile too!

Normally, these FADs act like deadly fish magnets. But these critters were spared the usual fate that befalls the marine life lured to them. Instead, it was the FAD itself that we fished out of the water. It turned out to be a floating drum, looking very much like a huge brown crayon, caked with rust, barnacles and containing some small fish annoyed to be (temporarily) taken out of the water.

Finding this FAD was both good and bad at the same time. Good, because we were able to find one and confiscate it, but bad because this is a wasteful practice used by industrial fishing companies to increase their tuna catch, and despite the ban in place, we still found one. If the use of FADs continues, tuna stocks face a grim future in the region, and other marine life (such as sharks and turtles) will continue to become the unintended casualties of industrial fishing.

For Gabriel, the reward for his early-morning FAD spotting was the chance to get into the water with some of his sharky friends, and to know they are — at least for now — safe from harm.

-Mary Ann

Images: © Greenpeace/Hilton

I’m especially excited about this tour because, in addition to the many great stories and amazing images I’m sure we can expect for the next two months, I get to take over from Mary Ann at the end of September as the onboard webbie!!! (In case my gratuitous use of triple exclamation points doesn’t convey this to you: I’m ridiculously excited.)

Mary Ann will keep posting updates here throughout the next month, until I take over. So keep tuning in right here to the GPUSA blog for more updates, more amazing images, and more successes in defending the Pacific!

Greenpeace's icebreaker-class research ship, the Arctic Sunrise, is currently on an expedition to document the impacts of global warming on Greenland's glaciers, polar bears, and native peoples.

But, as California burns and another major hurricane barrels toward the West coast, we can say with some certainty that we are already witnessing the effects of global warming in our very own backyard.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared states of emergency in several counties as eight separate wildfires continue to ravage The Golden State.  One of the fires in the mountains north of Los Angeles has exploded to more than triple its size since Sunday, scorching over 121,000 acres of forest and putting at least 12,500 homes at risk.

The governor has ordered mandatory evacuations in all of the affected areas as thousands of firefighters work to contain the wildfires.  Many have been injured and, over the weekend, the inferno claimed the lives of two men who were bravely battling the flames.

 

 

While the causes of the California wildfires remain unknown, their unrelenting ferocity is being blamed on recent temperatures, which have been in the triple-digits in some inland Los Angeles areas. Hundreds of thousands of acres have already burned this summer, the worst damage in years, and researchers expect that figure to rise well above average before the season is over.

California is also in the middle of one of its most active hurricane seasons in decades.  There have already been ten named storms this summer, seven of which have occurred during the month of August.  As thousands flee the wildfires, Hurricane Jimena is spinning its way toward the Baja California coastline.  The storm is currently listed as a Category 4, with powerful winds over 155 miles per hour, but some are predicting that Jimena will reach Category 5 before it hits land.

Scientists have been telling us that, as the planet continues to get warmer, we can expect an increased frequency and intensity of both summer forest fires and hurricanes.  It is now painfully clear that global warming is upon us, whether we like it or not. 

We have been warned that the only way to stop runaway climate change and prevent the worst impacts of global warming is with a new international climate treaty that would reduce global warming pollution 25-40% below 1990 levels by 2020.

But, despite his inaugural pledge to “return science to its rightful place,” President Obama has put the full support of his administration behind a climate bill that gives billions to the coal industry – the number one source of global warming pollution in the U.S. – and only calls for a 4% reduction in emissions by 2020.

We now have less than 100 days until the U.N. Climate Convention in Copenhagen, where the new international climate treaty must be agreed upon.  Please TAKE ACTION now, and tell the President to become a leader in the battle against global warming.

I consider myself a daring individual. I like karaoke, I am willing to try new things and take risks. I enjoy non-violent direct action as a way to bring about change in cultures, societal norms and political climates.

No one can compare to these Greenpeace Activists in India though. These activists scaled a thermal power plant in Kolaghat, India 2 days after the Kingsnorth 6. They, unlike the K6, are still waiting to have their charges dropped. (It's been two years.) See their video talking about why they took action:

 

So inspirational. So amazing. The physical, emotional, and mental strenth of these activists is nothing to shake your fist at - they are working hard to change their community, country and world!

You know that Inspi(red) campaign to help AIDS? Well, I have always felt that really - the campgin should be Inspi(green). Okay, I admit... it's definitely not as catchy, but that's what should inspire people. The natural things around you are where you came from, and continues to support life on this planet. That should inspire you.  These activists from India should inspire you. They have done it for me. Keep on the look out for Inspi(green) bags at a store near you! All proceeds will go back to the earth. 

My point is, not all of us have what it takes to be arrested. That is okay! But that doesn't mean we can't change ourselves and the world around us. So, take action, talk to someone about what you believe and stand up for it! The planet needs you!