Our Ship’s Cook Casts A Wish Upon A Star
Mili Vuki, from Fiji, is a volunteer cook on Greenpeace’s ship, the Esperanza. She’s be on board for the recently finished tour of Pacific Island nations that was documenting climate change impacts and activism in the region.
Here’s a blog post from her.
As the spray from the ocean hits the deck I know we are getting closer to Cairns.
My two months on the Esperanza has been amazing. I have been blessed and lucky to be given the opportunity to join the Climate Warriors in the Pacific – the first activists on climate change in the world. Being part of the crew and one of the seven Pacific Islanders on the ship, I am proud to say that I have taken action for my fellow Pacific Islanders, and will continue to do so.
I am the assistant cook on the ship and my role is simple – assist the chef on board. It’s an easy job when the crew are so friendly and welcoming and so grateful for their food.
Most of the crew are from other parts of the globe like France, India, Alaska, Bulgaria, Malta, Italy, Germany and Russia. It is so touching to see that we have people from different nationalities caring about us Pacific Islanders and the effects of climate change in the Pacific.
During the Esperanza tour, we visited many small islands being affected by climate change and learnt how Pacific Islanders are adapting to them. The islands are paradise; white sandy beaches, creamy blue waters, lovely and friendly people. These are the natural treasures that we Pacific Islanders should be proud of. It would be sad if it all goes under water, something none of us want. So my plea to all the big countries that are causing ice to melt and seas levels to rise in the Pacific is to cut down their emissions.
Last night, I gazed up to the skies and saw a falling star. I did not know whether it was for real or whether my eyes were playing tricks on as me as I’d been staring at the stars for so long.
I made a wish on the star. My wish was that Australia and New Zealand right their wrongs when they meet with Pacific leaders at the Pacific Islands Forum in Cairns.
We have not caused climate change. Developed countries like Australia owe it to Pacific Islanders to right the wrong and prevent further impacts.
Stand up and take action John Key and Kevin Rudd – the Pacific Climate Warriors have spoken.
Vinaka,
Mili
July 31st, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Given that Australia only contributes 1% of global CO2 emmissions, what we do or don’t do is largely irrelevant.
I think the protests should be targeted at the USA, China, India etc etc from which the greater share of emissions come from … however, since the Indian government does not believe CO2 is the culprit (and let’s face it, there is no direct evidence that CO2 is the driver of global temperatures which, incidentally, have flattened out over the last decade) not a lot is going to get done at all.
I notice that a recent peer reviewed paper by McLean, Frietas and Carter in the Journal of Geophysical Research indicate nature is the cause of 20th century warming and not man.
The extract can be found at:
http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2009/2008JD011637.shtml
August 5th, 2009 at 12:54 am
Dear Mr. Woodman,
I invite you to join us in this century where 90% of the scientist point to CO2 as a result of global warming. The leading scientific body on Climate Change, IPCC, has said the same thing. Just because your source does not agree with the majority of the science, that doesn’t mean it is not happening.
Australia contributes about 1.5% of the total global net emissions, but it contributes more when assessed based on per capita, and thats what matters. You will be surprised to know that Australia has a lot of power to make a difference if it commits to ambitious targets. USA, China and India are not considered big brothers in the Pacific region so while we also ask of them to take deep emission cuts, we expect Australia as our neighbor and a self proclaimed regional leader to be a genuine leader and do the right thing. Make us proud Mr. Kevin Rudd.