Greenpeace

Greenpeace is the largest independent direct-action environmental organization in the world. We do not take money from government or corporations. Our only bottom line is a green and peaceful future.

End the tar sands greenwash

Jun 172013

Take action!

Greenpeace counters tar sands ads with satirical commercials.

from Greenpeace Canada

The federal government’s “Responsible Resource Development” ads depict the tar sands as environmentally friendly and have been running since 2012. Recently, Ottawa announced it will spend another $16 million this year to keep the ads running on television.

What this ad campaign doesn’t tell you is how the Harper government gutted Canada’s environmental laws in order to fast-track new tar sands mines and pipelines as part of the omnibus budget bills. And it certainly doesn’t tell you that tar sands development has made Canada one of the world’s biggest polluters and contributors to climate change.

In response, Greenpeace has crafted three satirical commercials, of which this is the first. The 30-second ad stars comedic actor Peter Keleghan, known for his work on shows like 18 to Life and The Red Green Show, as Environment Minister Peter Kent. In the ad he says “being the kind of environment minister who makes big oil companies clean up their mess isn’t easy – but buying ads is!”

Send Fukushima clean-up bills to plant builders

Mar 112013

Take action!

Nuclear companies try to walk away from Fukushima disaster.

from Greenpeace

General Electric, Hitachi and Toshiba designed, built and serviced the reactors which directly contributed to the Fukushima nuclear disaster, yet these companies have not paid one cent of the cost for the reactor failures.

The cost of the Fukushima nuclear disaster is estimated at $250 billion US dollars.

All of the costs from the nuclear meltdown fell on TEPCO, the operator of Fukushima, which could not afford it and was nationalised. The costs of Fukushima are being paid by the Japanese people themselves, as taxpayers they are footing the bill for this nuclear disaster.

The situation in Japan is not an exception, if you live in or near a country with nuclear reactors, it is likely that nuclear companies could walk away from an accident near you without paying any of the costs. General Electric, Hitachi and Toshiba should pay for the damage caused by their reactors!

Add your name to the petition, which says:

Yes! I agree that nuclear companies like General Electric, Hitachi and Toshiba should pay for the damage their reactors cause in disasters like Fukushima.

Sign the petition online

Living with Geiger counters

Mar 112013

Features

Two years after Daichi disaster, Fukushima residents still on emergency footing.

from Greenpeace

TOKYO/NEW DELHI, March 11, 2013 — On the second anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, hundreds of thousands of people in Japan still lack the proper support, with the public forced to pick up the costs of the triple meltdown. People in any country with reactors would be left in the same troubling state after a nuclear accident.

Kumi Naidoo, Executive Director, Greenpeace International says, “This disaster rages on for more than 160,000 people who fled the radiation from the Fukushima meltdown and still cannot return home. Families and communities are breaking up, some are in financial ruin and the divorces and mental breakdowns are mounting. The companies that caused this nuclear crisis must be held fully responsible.

"Greenpeace stands in support of those who lost loved ones in the earthquake and tsunami, but also in solidarity with every Fukushima resident whose health is still at risk from radioactive contamination. They need proper compensation and support to rebuild their lives. More than that, it's time to phase out an industry that led to their suffering."

Fukushima residents talk about feeling trapped, abandoned.

Junichi Sato, Executive Director Greenpeace Japan says, “The Japanese government appears to have abandoned the people suffering from the triple meltdown at Fukushima. Its reckless push to bring dangerous and unnecessary nuclear plants back online shows it is out of touch with what its people want and that it has learned nothing from the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

"The people of Japan and elsewhere faced with the threat of nuclear disasters need support and protection and only a fundamental reform of nuclear laws will meet that need. It is absolutely unfair that the current system forces taxpayers and victims to pay for nuclear disasters, not the companies that cause them.

"Two years of struggle is two years too many for Fukushima evacuees. They must be compensated and the companies responsible for the accident held accountable. We must also move on with the inevitable task of phasing out nuclear power in favour of renewable energy, both in Japan and globally.”

Samit Aich, Executive Director Greenpeace India says, “The disaster at Fukushima is not only a grim reminder of how nuclear power can affect lives of millions of people in an adverse way, it also unfortunately shows how the legal system around nuclear power is skewed and goes on to protect the polluter – the company which in the first place was responsible for the accident.

"It is of paramount importance that we have laws which protect the people and not the industry. India has a strong supplier liability provision, which is under continuous threat of being diluted because of foreign pressure”

Greenpeace is calling on governments to reform the nuclear liability system to make nuclear operators and suppliers fully responsible for their failures.

Greenpeace petition

Tuna plunder to continue – Greenpeace

Dec 062012

News blog

from Greenpeace

MANILA, December 6, 2012 – Failing on their mandate to protect Pacific fish populations, governments of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) allowed on Thursday the continued plunder of the region's declining bigeye tuna stocks while also putting yellowfin, skipjack and albacore tuna at risk of overfishing.

Tuna populations are falling globally due to unrestrained growth in the industrial fishing industry and the use of harmful fishing methods.

"This meeting was a disaster for the Pacific. The governments here should be held accountable for failing to protect vulnerable species that form the backbone of many economies in the Pacific, and provide food and livelihoods to coastal communities across the region. The big corporate players won and will continue their plunder for short-term profits at the expense of our oceans’ health," said Lagi Toribau, head of the Greenpeace delegation to the WCPFC.

Among the WCPFC summit outcomes:

-Inaction to sufficiently halt overfishing of Pacific bigeye and yellowfin tuna, two of the most vulnerable Pacific tuna species.
Failure to fully close the Pacific Commons to all fishing – leaving the region vulnerable to illegal fishing activities as documented by Greenpeace's recently concluded Esperanza ship tour.
Failure to sufficiently extend a ban on the use of destructive fish aggregating devices (FADs) in purse seine fisheries. A one-month extension was added to the current three-month ban. A very weak management plan to attempt to bring this destructive fishing method under control was discussed.
The region's large and poorly regulated longline fleets were left with little controls and only the Chinese fleet was required to reduce its fishing activities by 10 percent in 2013.
Efforts to stop the landing of illegally-caught fish in ports were also rejected.

The WCPFC also failed to enact strong fishing limits and regulations to stop shark finning and the incidental catches of sharks in longline fisheries.

The meeting did agree to protect whale sharks from being used by purse seine vessels as living fish aggregating devices, through a ban on the setting of nets on whale sharks. The WCPFC also tightened monitoring and control rules by making it compulsory for fishing vessels to report data when transiting in exclusive economic zones.

But the WCPFC extended an exemption for 36 Philippine purse seine ships, giving them access to high seas fishing grounds that had previously been closed to fishing.

“Politics once again have failed our oceans. The onus now is on consumer markets to demand sustainable products on the shelves. By rejecting tuna caught by purse seiners using FADs and switching to more sustainable methods, consumer action can rescue our oceans,” said Mark Dia, regional oceans campaigner of Greenpeace Southeast Asia.

Greenpeace is calling for marine reserves to be established in four high seas pockets known as the Pacific Commons, and for these to be declared off-limits to fishing. It is also seeking a ban on the use of FADs in purse seine fisheries and a 50 percent reduction in the catch of bigeye tuna. Greenpeace is also campaigning for a global network of marine reserves covering 40 percent of the world’s oceans and for a more sustainable fishing industry.