Filed under: Greenpeace, Volunteers | Tags: Activism, John Key Lucy Lawless, Mining, New Zealand, protest march
Biggest protest march in living memory - March Against Mining
We expected 20,000. We HOPED for 30,000. We got nearly double that. In the biggest protest march in living memory in New Zealand, 50,000 turned out in Auckland to march against Government plans to mine coal and other minerals in national reserves.
When the New Zealand Government announced its intention to open coal mines in the country’s prime conservation land, including some of its matchless National Parks, Greenpeace New Zealand set about mobilizing supporters, celebrities, and opposing politicians to say “no.”
Lucy Lawless, best known for her role as Xena the Warrior Princess, teamed up with Robyn Malcolm, a popular television and theatre actress, to call the decision “19th century thinking in a carbon-constrained world” and created a video of tourist reactions to the proposal in one of New Zealand’s parks.
Filed under: Eliminate toxic chemicals, Project Clean Water | Tags: Activism, Chao Praya, Mekong River, Thailand, World Water Day
Two rivers, two activists
The theme for this year’s World Water Day, celebrated last week, is “Clean water for a healthy world.” It’s a theme that nicely slots into one of Greenpeace’s most important campaigns in the region: protecting our water.
Here in Thailand our water campaign is focused on the Chao Phraya River which runs through the country’s central plains, through Bangkok, and several other towns before it reaches the gulf of Thailand. But as much beloved as the Chao Phraya is to Thais is the Mekong which runs through five countries and defines the border north and northeast Thailand. Greenpeace visited the Mekong recently to look at drought-affected areas in the vicinity.
The Chao Phraya and the Mekong are perhaps Thailand’s two most iconic rivers. This blog is about two people, both activists, who are working to protect these two rivers.
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Filed under: Greenpeace | Tags: Activism, greenpeacebuzz, Reader's Digest, Trust Poll, Von Hernandez
“It’s an honour to receive the recognition and trust of the people in one of the world’s most vulnerable regions to climate change. The work to protect and conserve our fragile environment never stops. We cannot afford to give up fighting for our future” - Von Hernandez
Greenpeace Southeast Asia Executive Director Von Hernandez is among the top 20 most trusted Filipinos, according to poll results recently presented by the magazine Reader’s Digest this week. The nationwide survey is the first Asian Reader’s Digest Trust Poll which asked respondents to rate 80 influential Filipino personalities on their trustworthiness. The list included celebrities, artists, scientists, philantrophists, journalists and politicians.
The ranking, which placed Von on the 18th spot, is the latest recognition given to one of Asia’s leading environmental activists. Von was hailed as one of Time Magazine’s Heroes of the Environment in 2007. In 2003 he received the Goldman Environmental—the Nobel Prize equivalent for grass-roots environmentalists—for his work against
waste and incineration.
Von started working with Greenpeace International in 1995 as coordinator for the environmental group’s toxics campaign in Asia. As an environmental activist of more than fifteen years he has initiated a number of environmental campaigns and projects in the Philippines such as the campaign for the rehabilitation of the Pasig River, and the crusade to clean-up toxic contaminated sites in the former US military bases in Clark and Subic. He is also a founder and key driver of various environmental initiatives and coalitions both at the national and international levels including the Global Anti-Incineration Alliance (GAIA), Waste Not Asia, Lakbay Kalikasan, the Ecowaste Coalition, the Sagip Pasig Movement, and the People’s Task Force for Bases Clean-up.
Since 2008, Von has been at the helm of Greenpeace Southeast Asia, steering the environment group in its work to campaign for solutions to climate change, protect the region’s ancient forests, eliminate water pollution, and promote sustainable agriculture.
Lea Guerrero
Filed under: Eliminate toxic chemicals, Life at work, Philippines | Tags: Activism, Cancer Warriors Foundation, Facebook, greenpeacebuzz, Step Juan, Tomas Leonor, volunteerism
When longtime Greenpeace volunteer Tomas Leonor told us about Step Juan, I thought it was a brilliant idea. Step Juan, which was co-organized with the Cancer Warriors Foundation, was meant to raise awareness and funds for children with cancer by walking the island of Luzon from North to South.
Filed under: Greenpeace, Greenpeace Core Values, Life at work, Philippines | Tags: Activism, Cancer Warriors Foundation, Facebook, greenpeacebuzz, Step Juan, Tomas Leonor, volunteerism
The 7x9 feet three panel mural painted by the University of the Philippines Artists’ Circle Fraternity to commemorate the 20th anniversary of SV Rainbow Warrior’s bombing.
To the dismay of my colleagues here in the Philippine office I am licensed to surf the web and even log on to this pesky website called Facebook –and come to think of it is indeed really interesting what you can find over there, as a few minutes ago I was able to come across Greenpeace International’s profile picture on their page and seeing it again (although technically I see it everyday as it is one of the first things that will always greet me as I enter the office) reminded me of the my first assignments when I started to become a part of Greenpeace, fulltime, not to mention one of the first people that I’ve been glad to call a comrade in the cause who is none other than —Tomas Leonor.
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Filed under: Greenpeace, Life at work, Volunteers | Tags: A People's History of the United States, Activism, Howard Zinn, Tribute
From Making Waves
Yes, I did feel a bit silly asking Howard Zinn to pose for this souvenir picture, but if it bothered him he was kind enough to pretend it didn’t. Zinn is of course the handsome white-haired man on the left, I am the woman in purple on the right and my friend Philippe the man in the middle.
Filed under: Defending our Oceans, Greenpeace Core Values, Stop climate change, Volunteers | Tags: Activism, c2c, Copenhagen, non-violence, Red Carpet 4, Sea Shepherd, Whaling
Coverage in Spain and European free dailies continued yesterday on the campaign to release the four red-carpet activists in Copenhagen. Spanish news documented the condition of Juan Lopez de Uralde in prison as “thinner than usual”, with a quote from Kumi Naidoo referring to conditions as “harsh and disproportionate”. Reports described a cell with only a mattress and security camera.
Filed under: Stop climate change | Tags: Activism, Arctic Sunrise, c2c, COP15, Copenhagen, Kumi Naidoo, Rainbow Warrior
With the Copenhagen talks going nowhere fast, a leaked document (pdf) has caused some excitement here in the Greenpeace office and throughout the campaigning fraternity here in the Danish capital. Actually, that’s probably an understatement, and Greenpeace ED Kumi is calling this “the single most important piece of paper in the world today”.
What’s worth such claims? The document, dated this Tuesday 15 December, is a UN memo analysing the pledges made by developed nations and some others in the run-up to Copenhagen. From this information they’ve calculated that if that’s all that comes out of the deal tomorrow, we’re on track for global temperatures rises of around 3C.
Filed under: Life at work, Stop climate change, Volunteers | Tags: Activism, climate justice, Conpenhagen, rainforest
Posted by Lisa at 3:06 PM
Ben Jasper is international projects co-ordinator at Greenpeace Czech Republic. Pictured above – occupying the top of the smokestack at Prenerov II coal fired power plant. Below he shares some encouraging news on how a small Pacific Island State is taking a stand against this plant.
Filed under: Arctic Sunrise, Rainbow Warrior, The Greenpeace Fleet, Volunteers | Tags: Activism, Arctic Sunrise, c2c, COP15, Copenhagen, Kumi Naidoo, Rainbow Warrior
Our Executive Director and chair of the tcktcktck campaign, Kumi Naidoo, writes from the Rainbow Warrior II in Copenhagen. Kumi is pictured above (second from the left) with the ship's captain and crew.
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
Sitting in the Rainbow Warrior, which is presently anchored in Copenhagen, I am pleased to mark my first month with Greenpeace. I can think of no better place to do it, on board a ship that is synonymous with hope. I feel pleased, proud and privileged to be spending the night onboard with the crew, and earlier this evening I also met and talked with some 150 dedicated Greenpeace volunteers camped a few metres away from the ‘Warrior’. Tomorrow, I look forward to spending the night with the crew of the Arctic Sunrise, also docked in Copenhagen.
It is a refreshing break from pacing the halls of the Bella Center, an all-too-brief respite and opportunity for reflection.
We are all here to bear witness to the momentous events unfolding at the Copenhagen Climate Summit. The summit has thrown me into the middle of the biggest challenge we face, it has thrown me into a maelstrom: the struggle to avert catastrophic climate change. A baptism of fire, but also an incredible opportunity for me to meet so many more Greenpeace people, all of you doing what you do best.
Greenpeace Southeast Asia 