Friday afternoon syndrome* has been at full strength at Greenpeace over recent weeks. It has become the time of the week where all planned work should be just set aside so we can react to whatever appalling or bizarre decision is announced, usually by a government body.
Last Friday it was the Victorian EPA keeping us on our toes as they gave works approval to a new coal-fired power plant in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley.
Exactly two months ago an earthquake and tsunami hit Japan. Together, they not only resulted in a huge natural disaster, but also triggered an unprecedented man made tragedy. The Fukushima nuclear power plant is still out of control, threatening thousands of people’s health and livelihoods.
Between 2000 and 2002, I was part of a Greenpeace team that mounted a global campaign to stop the transport of mixed oxide (MOX) plutonium based nuclear fuel and radioactive waste across the world, and through the Pacific.
We're getting into the meaty end of Professor Ross Garnaut's papers and presentations on carbon pricing. Today he released the seventh of eight papers, after which he will report to Prime Minister Gillard with recommendations about how to structure a carbon price policy.
On Friday it was revealed that for the first time, a bank had insisted on a confidentiality clause as part of a finance deal for a coal power station — so that its name could not be revealed for fear of reputational damage.
Shannon Lo Ricco, a lad from country Victoria, writes from his cabin on the Greenpeace Arctic Sunrise. Shannon is a logistics co-ordinator on board a ship tour in the Gulf of Mexico. Along with a team of scientists, Shannon is asking the million-dollar question – ‘Where has all the oil from the BP spill gone?’
On August 6, 1945, the city of Hiroshima was destroyed by a single atomic bomb. Upon impact, thousands of people were instantly carbonised in a blast a thousand times hotter than the sun's surface. Around 80,000 died instantly, while the final toll climbed to 250,000. On August 9, Nagasaki suffered a comparable fate.