Greenpeace Activist News, Vol. 3

Thursday, 8 May 2003, 10:24 am
Press Release: Greenpeace

Greenpeace Activist News, Vol. 3, No. 4

In this action packed issue, nuclear playing cards, a war update, attack of the speech bubbles, threats to African forests and beaches, a blubber victory, GE wheat in Canada, dirty oil in Australia, and ... have you cast your Webby vote for Greenpeace yet?

SUITS AND NUKES

Nuclear weapons and the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) are the topic being discussed this week by world governments meeting in Geneva. While much media attention has focussed recently on whether Iraq did or did not possess weapons of mass destruction, it is clear that the major possessors of these weapons, namely the US, Russia, the UK, France, China, Israel, Pakistan and India, have not made enough progress in eliminating them. When the NPT was agreed in 1968, there were approximately 38,000 nuclear weapons in the world. Today, there are still approximately 30,000.

After Greenpeace created a pack of playing cards showing the major leaders behind the global stockpiles of nuclear weapons and distributed decks in Geneva, the media and public response was overwhelming.

You can read more about the NPT and the playing cards here:

http://greenpeace.org/features/details?item_id=234491

Check out the nuclear solitare game in the box on the right (requires the latest version of Flash).

We may do a second larger printing of these playing cards. If you would like to register to express your interest in getting one (or more) decks, you can do it here:

http://act.greenpeace.org/col/get?i=770&sk=std2&la=en

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNITING FOR PEACE

Your overwhelming and record breaking response to the Uniting for Peace initiative during the war in Iraq had a great influence. Our lobbyists at the UN received lots of positive feedback from Ambassadors about the quantity of public support the initiative had, and although the Arab League DID in fact put in a call for a special General Assembly meeting on the war in the first week of April, events in Baghdad overtook the initiative, and it was withdrawn.

However, the struggle over this issue continues. The UN Security Council continues to wrangle over the role of inspectors, the transition in Iraq, the lifting of sanctions, the question of weapons of mass destruction, and the fear of who the Bush administration will target next. The call by the public, politicians and governments to uphold the UN Charter and the rule of law, and to oppose US unilateralism and the Bush doctrine continues. There is now an on-line petition supporting the principles that we continue to push for at the UN. Please sign today at:

http://www.uniting-for-peace.net

and add your voice to those who don't want to see another 'preventive war'!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ATTACK OF THE SPEECH BUBBLES

More than 1100 people have uploaded a speech bubble image attacking Esso/Exxon/Mobil for undermining action against global warming and climate change. You can visit the image gallery and upload your own image from:

http://www.stopesso.org

While you are there, you may also want to visit one of the many national Don't Buy Esso/Exxon/Mobil sites by using the drop down box at the top.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HELP BLOCK BLOODY TIMBER

The Liberian timber industry has been supporting arms trafficking and regional conflict through financial and logistical support since the diamond export ban. Because of overwhelming evidence, the United Nations Security Council has agreed to an export ban on Liberian timber to put an end to the active and violent destabilisation implemented by the Liberian government in the region. This ban does not come into effect until July and in the meantime this blood stained timber is flooding into markets.

Take action to support our efforts to stop the import of Liberian timber and urge German timber company Offermann to cancel all existing contracts for Liberian timber immediately:

http://act.greenpeace.org/ams/e?a=772&s=for

And get ready for many more forest actions to come!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ STOP SHIPBREAKING IN GUINEA BISSAU

The beautiful Bolama beach in the West African country of Guinea Bissau may soon turn into a scrapyard for old toxic ships, threatening nature and the lives of local people. The beach is part of the Bijagos Archipelagos, classified as a Biosphere Reserve by the United Nations (Unesco). Help to save the Bolama beach! Let the United Nations know they should protect the nature and people of Guinea Bissau. You can also send a beautiful e-card to tell your friends about this cyberaction.

http://act.greenpeace.org/ams/e?a=766&s=ship

Help Greenpeace spot toxic ships destined for scrapping

Are you connected to the shipping industry, a ship spotter, a harbourmaster, a crew member or in any other way able to localize the positions of ships that are destined for shipbreaking beaches? We need your help! Please visit the Greenpeace shipbreaking website:

http://www.greenpeaceweb.org/shipbreak/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BLUBBER VICTORY

Over the past two years, more than 30 thousand cyberactivists wrote to the Norwegian prime minister asking him to stop plans to export whale blubber to Japan and other countries. We now have a victory!

Here's the update from our whale campaign:

A committee of Norwegian scientists has formally recognised the high levels of toxic compounds in whale blubber produced by Norway hunt and recommended that human consumption of whale blubber be banned in Norway. Their tests showed that one gram of minke blubber had about 95 picograms of PCB-related pollutants, almost a tenth of the maximum weekly intake under European Union guidelines. PCBs build up in fatty tissues and have been linked to birth defects.

The recommendation to ban consumption of blubber in Norway ends the possiblity of export to Japan. This is a real blow to the Norwegian whaling industry whose expansion has been driven by hopes of increased profits through export.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HELP STOP MONSANTO GE WHEAT

Wheat is the single biggest food source in the world -- and the oldest. Canada and the US sell one fifth of the world's wheat -- second only to China. Now Monsanto is asking for permission to sell genetically engineered wheat in North America.

Take action today by signing this petition urging the Canadian government to ban GE wheat:

http://www.greenpeace.ca/e/action/wheat/index.php

For more information, watch "Slice of Life", a 9-minute video documenting just how much is at stake, for our food supply and for our farmers. You can see the video on-line here:

http://www.greenpeace.org/multimedia/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HELP STOP DIRTY AUSTRALIAN OIL

At the end of April an obscure US private energy investment fund, Sandefer Capital Partners, agreed to invest A$52 million in Australian shale oil company Southern Pacific Petroleum (SPP).

See

http://www.greenpeace.org.au/climate/causes/criminals/shaleoil/overview.html

for more information.

Sandefer's investment is crucial for SPP. Sandefer has said it will also consider arranging the A$600 million needed to expand the pilot plant to commercial scale.

Please email Sandefer's President and call on him to withdraw Sandefer's investment in SPP and dirty shale oil.

http://www.greenpeace.org.au/climate/takeaction/sandefer/stop_shale.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HELP GREENPEACE WIN A WEBBY

Have you done your part to make sure we win a webby? You've been meaning to do it, but you just haven't had the time, right? Well take a moment now!

We're currently the front runners, but only by a slim margin, and voting closes very soon. If you've enjoyed being a part of victories such as our successful cyberaction protecting the ancient Finnish forest from logging this year, or our on-going work against destructive corporations such as Dow, ExxonMobil or Monsanto, and want more people to join us in online activism in the future, vote for Greenpeace. It's a vote for online communities like ours, and the future of activism on the web. Follow the link below, pick up a password in your mailbox, and vote!

http://www.webbyawards.com/peoplesvoice/

© Scoop Media

Greenpeace

Greenpeace exists because this fragile earth deserves a voice.

Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning organisation that acts to change attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace.

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