Our coal ship painting action the other day put both Queensland Premier Anna Bligh and Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett on the spot, forcing them to respond publicly about their plans to expand the coal industry. Both politicians used the development of so-called ‘clean coal’ technology as their defence.
‘Clean coal’, or carbon […]
Greenpeace activists finished their painting just moments before a police boat turned up this morning, with a final tally of 20 ships painted with messages like “Bligh exporting CO2”, “Coal is killing the Reef” and “Stop coal expansion”.
While 10 activists were taken into custody by police, Premier Bligh was questioned about the protest […]
As I write, 10 Greenpeace activists are painting the sides of coal ships waiting in a queue outside Hay Point terminal near Mackay. This is the largest coal port in Queensland and there are nearly 50 ships in line ready to be loaded.
I’m on board the Esperanza, which is anchored nearby. We’ve been out […]
A poll we released today shows that 4 out of 5 Australians want our export coal industry to be capped or reduced. Nonetheless, at both state and federal government levels, there are plans for the massive expansion of the industry. The Rudd government has plans to double our national export capacity, while just 2 weeks […]
It was sobering to have internationally-acclaimed reef scientist Charlie Veron on board the ship for the past few days. The campaigners and crew on board had the opportunity to hear from the man who has discovered 20% of the world’s coral species how dire the situation really is for the coral reefs of the worlds. […]
If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say that there’s no point in Australia doing anything about climate change because China and India are going to keep guzzling energy anyway, I could probably begin immediate construction of a baseload solar thermal plant. This refrain is commonly employed whenever the issue of […]
The latest evidence of the Queensland government’s blatant coal protectionism is a CSIRO report which has been sitting on Energy Minister Geoff Wilson’s desk for a year.
The report finds that large-scale renewable energy plants could provide ALL of Queensland’s electricity needs, and recommends that the Queensland government start funding renewable technologies with some of the […]
Cruising up the Whitsunday coast, it seems absolute insanity that anyone could think of endangering this incredible environment to profit from an excessively polluting rock-to-oil project, which would turn local shale reserves into synthetic crude oil to be further refined into diesel or petrol.
The local community at Airlie beach are running a well-established campaign against […]
It’s a balmy Saturday morning on the Esperanza and the sea is as calm as a lake. We are sliding past rugged southern Queensland islands and every so often a pod of whales breaches within a hundred metres of the ship. There’s a momentary illusion that all is well in the world.
However, as we near […]
Premier Anna Bligh chose to announce plans for the massive expansion of Queensland’s export coal industry at the same time as the Rudd government was releasing its so-called Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme earlier this week. In hindsight, it was easy to see there was no contradiction between the two, because Penny Wong’s policy more closely […]
Yesterday Penny Wong released the government’s not-so-Green Paper outlining their intended emissions trading scheme (ETS), or so-called Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. The ETS is the mechanism the Rudd government wants to hang its hat on as the mark of their commitment to climate change action. Although the signs so far have not been promising – […]
Once again the Esperanza is ‘fuelling’ debate about Greenpeace sustainability. It’s a question we’re often asked on open boat days: “why does the Esperanza run on diesel? Isn’t that hypocritical?” The question has stimulated a lively debate at the Herald Sun.
There are a few important points to note here. First and foremost, the Esperanza is […]
10am Sunday 13th July: 1000 people gathered at Islington Park in Newcastle for a rally and march to the Carrington Coal Terminal. It was a colourful and eclectic crowd of local residents, parents and children, percussionists, clowns, students, and concerned citizens from every state in Australia. Their message was simple and clear: let’s see renewables […]
Yesterday 300 people gathered on a football field near Climate Camp to create a moving human sign: a clock which ticked towards midnight… and then exploded!
As dawn broke over Swanbank Power Station this morning, 4 Greenpeace activists stirred from their cold, uncomfortable resting place at the top of one of the smokestacks and started painting “Go Solar” down the side. Meanwhile, 800 kilometres to south, 250 people woke to a field of frost at the Camp for Climate Action and […]
An editorial in the Newcastle Herald yesterday suggested that demonstrations like Greenpeace’s action at Eraring last week and the Camp for Climate Action which kicked off in Newcastle today merely “state the obvious”, because “most Australians now appear to accept the inevitability of industrial and lifestyle change”. This is music to the ears of those […]
Despite the G8 countries’ announcement this morning of their ‘vision’ to halve global emissions by 2050, there is a continuing reluctance on the part of the developed nations to take decisive action to reduce emissions and shift away from the global reliance on fossil fuels to renewable technologies. Kevin Rudd is speaking at the G8+ […]
Someone should explain to Michael Costa that the point of an emissions trading scheme is to reduce greenhouse pollution. It’s not a PR exercise so that it looks like we’re doing something about climate change. Because in the meantime, as Professor Ross Garnaut pointed out in his draft report on Friday, increased temperatures will wipe […]
Hundreds of Novacastrians visited the Esperanza this weekend to “get on board” the Energy [R]evolution. We’ve had so many conversations with residents of the Hunter Valley since we arrived here several days ago, and are amazed at the overwhelming support in the region for a shift to renewable energy. A Newcastle Herald poll last week […]
If you check out the comments on the live feed from our action yesterday, you’ll see we’ve received overwhelming public support for locking down Australia’s most polluting coal-fired power station. Australians recognise the urgency of the situation and the window of opportunity that’s available to us in making a timely shift […]