Latest Pix: Activists Occupy Coal Export Terminal
Greenpeace and Pacific activists have shut down Abbott Point coal export terminal in Queensland in protest over the impacts of climate change on Pacific islands and crazy plans to massively expand the terminal.
It’s all ahead of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s attendance at the Pacific Islands Forum in Cairns tomorrow. He’ll be talking to leaders of countries already affected by climate change. Rudd has a choice — stand by our Pacific Island neighbours and stop coal expansion or commit Australia and the Pacific to even greater climate change impacts.
Here are the first set of photos in.
© Greenpeace/Pratten.
August 4th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Fantastic action Greenpeace!! Australia has to move on from Coal.
August 4th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Way to go!!!! Kev - stop the expansion of coal exports in Australia and stand by our Pacific Island neighbours.
August 4th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
Awesome! and well done everyone there.
August 4th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Way to go Green Peace. Stop the expansion of coal terminals and you stop a quarter a percent of australia’s ecconomy. Smart Choice.
August 4th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
great work,
keep your eyes peeled for when a bunch of community folk get active at the Hazelwood power station in the Latrobe Valley of Victoria, Sept 13. Telling Kev we have to Switch off Hazelwood so we can Switch on Renewables and transition out of coal - its the only way to power into the future.
go greenpeace for doing the action - shows the community that what we need is more of it - but more action from community. that is when Kev and Co will really sit and up take notice.
www.switchoffhazelwood.org
August 4th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
Awesome guys! Wish i could be a part of all this!
August 4th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
you gutsy bastards.
August 4th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
go guys!!!
if given a chance, i`d like to do such too! you have my support…. God bless greenpeace!
August 4th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
we are with you,all the time.GO ON!
August 4th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
kevin needs to stop listening to big coal and start listening to his pacific island neighbours. Great Greenpeace action to really highlight the problem in Australian climate politics.
August 5th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Great work! Take that Kevin Rudd and those evil corporations and engineers profitting off our environment!
August 5th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Pity there was nothing actually happening at the time to “shut down”…no boats either in port or due, and the trains just kept loading…
August 5th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Hurray!. Thank you Greenpeace. Our beautiful wetlands at Abbot Point and our wonderful Reef are in grave danger from not only massive increases in coal exports but the Qld State Government planned heavy industry proposals such as an aluminium refinery, chemical plants etc in this pristine environment. Local residents in Bowen applaude the Pacific cause but desperately need your help to save our wetlands and Reef. Please help us get rid of heavy industry. We grow fabulous fruit and vegetables including the Bowen mango and could desperately do with green jobs in our region to stop the obsession with heavy industry. The port could be put to better use with ‘green’ exports.
August 5th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Just what will it take for our Federal Government to embrace fully and sincerely a policy that will save not our Pacific neighbours but also the rest of the planet from the fatal damage caused by carbon emissions?
August 5th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
How dare you people force your views on us.
I reside in Bowen and work in an industry that utilises coal to generate electricity. At the moment coal is the most efficient energy source for large scale electricity generation. Notice I said “at the moment”. Until a viable, efficient and eco friendly energy source is found or developed coal is it. I don’t see any viable alternatives to coal being developed in the near future that will supply our ever growing energy needs, on the scale required, to maintain our current standard of living. Or do you people want us to regress to the dark ages?
Do you currently use electricity generated from coal fired power stations or do you use electricity generated in another way? If you use electricity generated in another way (which I doubt) perhaps you should share your wondrous knowledge with the rest of us.
Coal is also used to produce steel. I would speculate you use steel in every aspect of your daily life, just like the rest of us. Oil by-products (a close cousin to coal) are also used by every single person every single day. I wonder what powers the ship used to blockade Abbot Point, fuel oil I bet.
Are you not being hypocritical by trying to stop the export and use of coal and yet you are a consumer of coal for power and steel? Perhaps you and your ilk would have a little more credibility if you really did practice what you preach instead of just preaching to us.
A very angry local who is disgusted by the grandstanding used by organisations such as yours and others.
Mark
August 5th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
Nisey, please do not purport to represent my views on any subject. I am quite capable of speaking for myself. Blanket statements such as “Local residents in Bowen applaude the Pacific cause but desperately need your help to save our wetlands and Reef” create the impression that there are a majority of residents in our town who support this action. I speak to many, many people in and around this area every single day and I have yet to find someone who supports the current activities taking place at the port. Perhaps I dont move in the same circles as yourself which may account for my previous statement. Just because I have different views or values to yourself doesnt mean I am any better or worse than you or anyone else. It means just that, I have different views or values to yourself which I believe is my constitutional right. I would defend anyones right to have their own views and values. It is the manner in which they may express those values and views that sometimes offends me greatly.
August 5th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Hey Mark
Renewables can replace coal - and that process can and should begin now. The question isn’t whether coal is a part of the energy we use in our daily lives - it is - but whether we can make the transition to renewables and do it in as early and rational a way as possible. That means investing in renewables, stopping the billions in subsidies to fossil fuels, and giving training for the thousands of jobs in renewable sectors. It also means governments need to start acting as though they are serious about climate change. Rudd is undermining the renewable industry - and throwing money at coal. It is possible to do it differently. In fact, we have to do it differently. We don’t have to be captives of coal. I refuse to be! Go Greenpeace!
August 6th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
I agree with “Angry Local” Mark - and also wonder how the “local residents in Bowen” would like to be without the benefits of the heavy industry which is clearly so deplored there. Just imagine: no power, phones, nothing to buy in the local stores, no cars to drive (and if there were, no petrol, diesel or oil to put in them), no medical equipment at their hospital…and the list goes on (not to mention that there would also be no way of getting the fabulous Bowen fresh fruit and vege’s to market, thereby also putting the local farmers out of work!). Clearly a case of “not in my back yard”.
August 6th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
I’m also led to wonder exactly what Chris Woollard means in his comment…what exactly is it that Kevin Rudd is supposed to take?? A port that wasn’t actually working at the time being boarded by a couple of protesters?! He may also like to consider that those “evil corporations” supposedly “profitting off our environment” support any number of Australian and intenational charities, not to mention supporting the entire Australian community through their taxes…
August 6th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Evan Says:
August 5th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Hey Mark
Renewables can replace coal - and that process can and should begin now.
Okay, tell me what renewables we are talking about here. Tell me which renewable energy source would be acceptable to people such as yourself. Tell me if it is an energy source in sufficient abundance, that is easily accessed, is non polluting in any sense and can supply our current and future energy needs. If it is not current technology, who pays for the research and development required to get it to the point where it is a viable alternative? Would you be prepared to pay 10% more for you energy needs, 50%, 100%, 1000%. At what point do we, as a society in general (remember we live in a democracy), say it is costing too much for our energy needs. Give me a viable alternative that meets all the criteria currently met by coal fired power generation and I will support it.
Evan Says:
August 5th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Hey Mark
We don’t have to be captives of coal. I refuse to be! Go Greenpeace!
So you do not consume any form of coal generated energy in your life at all? Just how did you post your comments on this blog?
August 7th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
No, I didn’t think I would get a reply. Mouthing platitudes is easy, coming up with viable alternatives is a little harder. Too bad the time and expense some people put into protesting for protestings sake was not put into a more useful purpose. Perhaps then we may have an alternative.
August 7th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
Kind of interesting, isn’t it Angry Local…you ask ‘em a serious question and they just don’t seem to have any answers - go figure!
August 8th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Yep, I didnt really expect any answers because there are no serious alternatives except one which is very expensive to set up and maintain. But that will not be an alternative because Greenpeace or another like them will pull stunts like this to have it stopped.
My house is 3m above sea level so anything that affects the Islanders affects me too.
August 13th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
I think you both didn’t get yet what’s goig on, We’re destroying the world, and you guys are worried with what, hot water, electricity for your tvs and videogames? So, lets take cold showers, turn off our tvs and videogames even our computers!How many computers you have? How many freezes? (Its made steel) !! The human being will consume everything that are avaialable and will demand for more and more if we don’t stop how is it going to end? We need coal for produce steel, so don’t change you car every year for a new one. You know? The litle things make difference when we talk about bilhoes of people! I prefer live on the dark as see everything ending.
August 17th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
Scra, I completely get what’s going on - and you’re right, Greenpeace really should practice what they preach if they want to be at all credible. As for us destroying the world, I suggest you review the fossil record and learn some geology and climatology - you’ll realise pretty quickly that this is the biggest myth of our time…unfortunately, those who can’t exist without a populist cause in their life choose to ignore the evidence.