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SpyTalk - FBI Misled Justice About Spying On Peace Group
http://www.rawstory.com/images/new/EFF_Doc.JPG
There was a time in the 1960s when the FBI’s illegal surveillance of left-wing groups seemed, and maybe even was, sinister if not broadly menacing. Parts of today’s Justice Department report(http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s1009r.pdf) on its more recent activities, however, evoke that old saw about history repeating itself as farce.
The Inspector General’s report(http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s1009r.pdf) covered a number of FBI targets following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks: an antiwar rally in Pittsburgh; a Catholic peace magazine; a Quaker activist; and members of the environmental group Greenpeace as well as of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA.
My favorite story was about the rookie FBI agent who was dispatched to an antiwar rally in Pittsburgh with a camera and told to look for terrorism suspects.
It was “a slow work day,” the IG report said -- the Friday after Thanksgiving 2002.
The “possibility that any useful information would result from this make-work assignment was remote,” the report said. The sponsor of the rally was the Thomas Merton Center, named for the Catholic priest who advocated pacifism and interfaith dialogue.
“The agent was unable to identify any terrorism subjects at the event, but he photographed a woman in order to have something to show his supervisor,” the IG report says. “He told us he had spoken to a woman leafletter at the rally who appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent, and that she was probably the person he photographed.”
The agent’s report, described as “results of investigation of Pittsburgh antiwar activity,” characterized the Merton Center as a “left-wing organization advocating, among many political causes, pacificism [sic],” according to the IG report.
When the FBI activity surfaced in 2006, it caused a hullabaloo, of course. Activists raised the specter of a return to the bad old days, when the FBI was breaking into antiwar offices and fabricating poison-pen letters to create rivalries in the Black Panther Party, among others, in its infamous COINTEL program, which was designed to wreak havoc in left-wing groups.
The rookie agent’s post-Thanksgiving sojourn seemed nothing like that.
And compared with other, far more worrying invasions of civil rights by the government, such as its ongoing monitoring of Americans’ telephone calls and e-mails, it seems merely hapless.
But what came next is not.
According to the Justice Department’s report, FBI officials, including the Pittsburgh office's top lawyer, engaged in distinctly COINTELPRO-style tactics after the American Civil Liberties Union sued for the release of documents relating to the surveillance.
Boiled down to their essence, those tactics involved officials generating post-dated “routing slips” and other paper to create a terrorism threat that didn’t exist.
Or as the inspector general put it, the FBI's elaborate, “after-the-fact reconstruction” of the Pittsburgh events, designed to fabricate a counter-terrorism rationale for the rookie’s surveillance mission, “was not corroborated by any witnesses or contemporaneous documents.”
It was on the basis of their fabrication, moreover, that FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III gave “inaccurate and misleading” testimony to Congress, the IG said.
The IG’s recounting of the Pittsburgh events is lengthy and meticulous.
The FBI, however, continues to deny that bureau officials engaged in an elaborate and deliberate scheme to deceive investigators, Congress and the pubic about what was, in retrospect, one rookie agent's minor, misdirected surveillance of the Pittsburgh antiwar demonstration.
“Nobody," the FBI says, "had a motive to provide an intentionally misleading account of it.”
The IG found the agency's explanations, however, "unconvincing."
If the FBI punished anyone in its ranks, moreover, the IG makes no mention of it.
Now that is a return to the bad old days.http://www.rawstory.com/images/new/EFF_Doc.JPG There was a time in the 1960s when... more-
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Greenpeace continues independent investigation into Gulf Oil Spill
The oil gushing from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead may have stopped gushing, but no one is convinced the oil has disappeared. Searching for answers coming from someone other than BP or the government, Greenpeace has set out on a three-month research tour through the Gulf of Mexico. Their ice-breaking ship, the Arctic Sunrise, is functioning as a research conduit for experts studying the oil's effects on the ecosystem. From plankton to sperm whales, read here http://bit.ly/cnT3GV about the research they are doing to see what the future holds for the gulf.The oil gushing from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead may have stopped gushing, but no... more-
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Expose the Dirty Lie! Don't believe the Climate Change deniers!
Greenpeace needs your help to confront oil industry polluters and climate change deniers. Find out more at Greenpeace.org/DirtyLie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5sdsVAwou4Greenpeace needs your help to confront oil industry polluters and climate change... more-
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Despite Chinese Officials' Reassurance, Oil Spill Damage is Extensive and Enduring
The Chinese government is reporting that the pipeline explosion is "contained," but a closer look reveals how deep the trouble goes. Greenpeace activists are reporting that decontaminating beaches, water and wildlife will take decades.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-china-oil-spill-20100727,0,3917306.storyThe Chinese government is reporting that the pipeline explosion is... more-
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Vote for the new face of BP
Greenpeace UK organized some serious brand damage to BP with its "Rebrand BP" logo competition and now they want us to vote on the most powerful redesign of the Big Polluter's logo. The winners will be used in Greenpeace's ongoing efforts to hold BP and the rest of Big Oil accountable for the destruction they've wrought on the Gulf and the planet.
The categories are Best Rebranded Logo, Best Illustration, Best Wildlife, Best Slogan, and (my personal fav) WTF?!.
See my picks and more rebranded BP logos at the link:
http://members.greenpeace.org/blog/greenpeaceusa_blog/2010/07/22/vote-for-the-new-face-of-bp-1
Add your picks in the comments section below if you want!Greenpeace UK organized some serious brand damage to BP with its "Rebrand... more-
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China oil spill 'worse than thought'
China is increasing efforts to clean up a major oil slick off its north-east coast, following a pipeline explosion. There are growing fears that strong winds have dispersed the pollution more widely than previously thought.
Oil spilled into the sea in north-east China after two pipelines exploded on Friday night, resulting in a fierce fire.
The environmental group Greenpeace told the BBC the oil was up to 20cm thick along parts of the coast near the city of Dalian.
Officials say an area of ocean covering 430 sq km (165 sq miles) is now polluted - oil-eating bacteria and oil-skimming vessels are being deployed to remove the slick, which Greenpeace says is China's worst in recent memory.
Zhong Yu of Greenpeace told the BBC's Chinese service there was a heavy layer of oil covering the coastline.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-10708375China is increasing efforts to clean up a major oil slick off its north-east coast,... more-
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VIDEO New Infomercial Shows How to Clean Up Oil Spills!
It's called the "Scamwow" and whether you're in Louisiana, Alaska, Nigeria, or Ecuador, "Scamwow" will meet all your oil spill cleanup needs!!
New Infomercial!
Why spend millions cleaning up an oil spill when you can just use Scamwow!
Video at link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMQCj9UHCpMIt's called the "Scamwow" and whether you're in Louisiana, Alaska,... more-
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When the French Bombed (and sank) a Greenpeace Ship
In 1985, French secret agents bombed and sank a Greenpeace ship that was headed to peacefully protest France's nuclear testing in the South Pacific.
Do you remember when this happened? Read more below...
by Kumi Naidoo, executive director of Greenpeace International
Twenty-five years ago Saturday, two bombs planted by secret agents working for the French government sank the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior in Auckland Harbor, New Zealand, killing Fernando Pereira, a photographer and father of two. This was a desperate move by France to stop the activists on board from bearing witness to its nuclear testing in the South Pacific.
I remember hearing about the attack over my father’s transistor radio in our township outside Durban, South Africa. The apartheid government had recently imposed a state of emergency and it was not often that international news made its way to us. What had happened with the Rainbow Warrior was so outrageous that even we heard about it.
As a young anti-apartheid activist, I was particularly taken with two elements of the event.
The first was that a powerful, democratic government could feel so intimidated by a small group of peaceful men and women holding up banners on a boat that it would resort to violence. It was my first exposure to the Quaker-inspired tradition of bearing witness in order to shine a spotlight on injustices or crimes that might otherwise go unnoticed.
The second was the idea that there existed people who would eschew personal gain and dedicate their lives to the greater good of our planet. Coming from a place where the struggle was inherently personal, the fact that the Greenpeace crew was planning to sail out to the middle of the ocean to oppose nuclear testing, which would not touch them anymore than it would touch anyone else, was an epiphany.
Of course, Greenpeace is not alone in its struggle to save the planet. Nongovernmental organizations and civil society — trade unions, faith-based organizations, school groups and others — have been working independently or together for decades to promote the cause of social justice and fight the great threats of the day.
A couple of years after the sinking of the first Rainbow Warrior, Greenpeace volunteers bought a used trawler and transformed it into a new Rainbow Warrior. Many of the same crew then continued their struggle against the French government until it finally gave up its nuclear testing program in 1996. The saying of the day became: “You can’t sink a Rainbow.”
While the threat of nuclear destruction is not over, a danger barely recognized at the time has taken its place as the No. 1 threat to our planet. Climate change has now become the biggest threat to security and peace in the future. Kofi Annan’s Global Forum estimates that in 2008 alone, 300,000 people died of the consequences of climate change.
Unlike nuclear testing, climate change is difficult to “bear witness” to because its causes (carbon emissions) lie in so many different factors and its resolution will require major, international cooperation of business leaders, politicians and other decision-makers. This does not mean civil society can or should stop trying to hold leaders accountable for changes they are unwilling to make.
History tells us that whatever injustice we face — whether it was apartheid in South Africa, civil rights in the United States, a woman’s right to choose — it was only when determined men and women were willing to stand up and say, “Enough is enough, I am prepared to peacefully break the law and even go to prison to get our message across,” that change finally happened.
When all other attempts at discussion or negotiation have faltered, these organizations must have the option of turning to civil disobedience and nonviolent direct action.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, we have witnessed a dramatic shrinking of democratic space, with civil rights being curtailed beyond measure. In the past 9 years, 65 countries have passed laws cutting the rights of NGOs and dictating what they can and can’t do.
Speaking last week at an international conference on the promotion of democracy and human rights, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton put it well when she said, “Democracies don’t fear their own people. They recognize that citizens must be free to come together, to advocate and agitate.”
At Greenpeace we find that even the peaceful act of hanging banners now often comes with greater consequences. After last December’s failed U.N. climate talks, four of our activists were detained for 22 days after holding up a banner at a head of state dinner reading, “Politicians Talk, Leaders Act.”
Much has changed in the quarter century since the first Rainbow Warrior was bombed. Fortunately, the two elements that so impressed me at the time, are just as valid today as they were back then: the power of people to change the will of governments, and the dedication of those committed to saving the planet for future generations.
According to all those who knew him, Fernando Periera did not consider dying for his cause. Nor do the great majority of those who speak out against injustice today. All they ask is a space in which to be heard, a place to speak truth to power, when those who have the capacity to make the changes necessary to save our planet seem unwilling to do so.
Greenpeace was founded on a prophecy from Canada’s First Nation peoples which reads: “There will come a time when the Earth grows sick and when it does a tribe will gather from all the cultures of the world who believe in deeds and not words. They will work to heal it...they will be known as the ‘Warriors of the Rainbow.”’ If we are to be successful in our fight against catastrophic climate change then perhaps we all need to become Rainbow Warriors.
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More about the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior and the effort to bring the French secret agents involved to justice here:
https://p3-admin.greenpeace.org/international/en/about/history/the-bombing-of-the-rainbow-war/?id=18417
http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/image_full/international/photosvideos/photos/rainbow-warrior-sunk-by-two-u.jpgIn 1985, French secret agents bombed and sank a Greenpeace ship that was headed to... more-
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Jim Bohlen, guiding force behind Greenpeace, dies in B.C. at age 84
One of the original activists to launch Greenpeace on its journey to becoming the world's foremost environmental activist organizations four decades ago died earlier this week in a B.C. hospital. James "Jim" Bohlen, a native of the Bronx, veteran of the U.S. navy was one of a fledgling group that organized the 1971 Amchitka nuclear-testing protest that brought the environmental movement to the forefront of public awareness.
http://wp.me/pUo7o-CFOne of the original activists to launch Greenpeace on its journey to becoming the... more-
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Greenpeace founder Jim Bohlen dies at 84
The man who literally launched the environmental movement that would become today's Greenpeace organization died on Monday in Comox, British Columbia of complications arising from Parkinson's disease.
http://looncanada.com/2010/07/08/greenpeace-founder-jim-bohlen-dies-at-age-84/The man who literally launched the environmental movement that would become... more-
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Supermarkets are Carting Away the Oceans
This is the first post of "On the Hook," a five-part series focused on how consumers can help further the sustainable seafood movement.
If you want to know who's responsible for decimating the world's oceans, look no farther than your local supermarket. Throughout the world, grocery stores and restaurants continue to sell threatened fish species like Chilean sea bass, shark, bluefin tuna, and orange roughy, just to name a few. The situation's gotten so bad that experts say 75 percent of the world's fisheries have been pushed beyond their sustainable limits, while nine out of ten of the seas' large fish species have disappeared. At the rate we're going, years from now there really won't be other fish in the sea.
U.S. grocery stores are no exception to this fishing disaster. A couple months ago, Greenpeace released its 2010 "Carting Away the Oceans" report. The report ranked 20 national supermarkets' sustainable seafood policies, scoring the stores as "good," "pass," or "fail." Of the 20 grocery stores surveyed, only half earned passing marks.
The real problem here is that stores continue to sell fish listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. These 22 fish—like grouper, bigeye tuna, monkfish, and more—boast some of the lowest population numbers of all marine creatures. But despite their scarcity, in most cases these fish are afforded no legal protections, so fishermen keep on catching and consumers keep on buying. Even when there are catch limits in place, as is the case with bluefin tuna, many fishermen continue to catch the fish illegally because they rake in such huge profits.
And while most U.S. supermarkets could stand to improve their sustainable seafood policies, Costco reigns as the biggest offender. Everything at Costco is huge—the same is true of the store's environmental footprint. Of the 22 IUCN Red List species, Costco sells 15: Alaskan pollock, Atlantic cod, Atlantic salmon, Atlantic sea scallops, Chilean sea bass, grouper, monkfish, ocean quahog, orange roughy, red snapper, redfish, South Atlantic albacore tuna, swordfish, tropical shrimp, and yellowfin tuna. The store's fish coolers really serve as a one-stop shop for oceanic destruction.
Environmental groups have been pushing supermarkets to beef up their sustainable seafood practices, and Greenpeace recently launched a campaign specifically targeting Costco. The non-profit's "Oh-No-Costco" campaign asks the store to put three measures in place: One, implement an effective and publicly available sustainable seafood policy. Two, provide transparent labeling so consumers can know what they're buying and where it came from. And finally, Greenpeace wants the store to stop selling all Red List fish, beginning immediately with Chilean sea bass and orange roughy.
Fish haven't gotten the legal protections they deserve, so it's really up to consumers to help save the world's oceans. Shoppers use fish guides like Monterey Bay Aquarium's to make sure they're selecting only the most sustainable seafood choices. And consumers can take supermarkets like Costco to task for their unsustainable offerings. Sign Greenpeace's petition telling Costco it's time to stop filling its coolers with threatened fish.
Petition can be found at link:
http://food.change.org/blog/view/tell_costco_to_stop_selling_endangered_fishThis is the first post of "On the Hook," a five-part series focused on how... more-
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BREAKING: Ask BP Questions for LIVE VIDEO Interview
Google, YouTube and the PBS NewsHour are teaming up to bring you into BP headquarters in Houston, Texas for an exclusive interview with Bob Dudley, Chief Executive for BP’s Response.
Dudley will respond directly to your questions and concerns in a live session moderated by the PBS NewsHour’s Ray Suarez.
Starting now, submit your questions and vote the best ones to the top.
Then join us for the live interview tomorrow, Thursday, July 1, at 3:30 pm ET where you can watch the interview LIVE on NewsHour.PBS.org and YouTube.Google, YouTube and the PBS NewsHour are teaming up to bring you into BP headquarters... more-
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Play by Play of the G20
Toronto - world leaders are gathering today to discuss several topics, including how to implement their commitment at their last meeting to phase out fossil fuel subsidies worldwide. Below is a play by play, beginning with the most recent post.
12:26 PM
Here is an analysis of what the G-8 accomplished versus the four criteria for success:
* G8 leaders honor their promise to keep global temperature rise below 2°C.
Status: Incomplete
The G8 leaders have failed to commit to greenhouse gas emission reductions that would prevent run-away global warming. They have reaffirmed their commitment to keeping global temperature rise below 2 degrees celsius, but their support for the Copenhagen Accord sets us on a course for a three degree or worse world.
* G8 and G20 leaders phase out subsidies to the fossil fuel industry, something they committed to last year, and producing clear evidence that they are taking real steps towards this promise.
Status: Incomplete
While the G20 is expected to announce details on a phase out of fossil fuel subsidies in their communiqué on Sunday, the G8 today has instead announced new subsidies for dirty energy - more dirty coal and nuclear power.
* To lead the world in building a green energy future, the G20 must agree to create financial and regulatory conditions that incentivise a green economy.
Status: Failed
We need more than platitudes on building a green economy. We need targets and timetables; we need detail on programs; regulations; and price mechanisms. The G8 has delivered none of these.
* Developed G20 leaders switch subsidies for fossil fuels to providing resources to the poorest countries to adapt to global warming, switch to a clean energy economy and stop deforestation.
Status: Incomplete
The G8 has reaffirmed they are putting in place their fast-start climate contribution, but it is far from clear that these funds are new and additional. To rob development to fund climate is not progress. Furthermore, the global phase out of fossil fuel subsidies in wealthy countries is estimated to come to $100 billion annually. That is the exact same amount of money the Leaders committed to provide for climate finance and renewable energy developments by 2020. Clearly they have a source to make good on that commitment.
11:55 AM
$5 billion committed to children's health and maternal child development.
11:53 AM
G-8 Leaders release an agreed communiqué. Russian offshore oil drilling text didn't make it into the final communiqué. Coal did. Clean energy hard to find...
11:43 AM
Rumor has it that President Obama will commit to cutting $38.8 billion in fossil fuel subsidies over ten years, reflecting the cuts in the Administration's budget proposal to Congress. This would be a good first step. Oil Change International lists additional subsidies that President Obama could cut. Governments submit what they will cut tomorrow at the G-20.
11:32 AM
What would make the G-8 and G-20 a success?
* G8 leaders honor their promise to keep global temperature rise below 2°C.
* G8 and G20 leaders phase out subsidies to the fossil fuel industry, something they committed to last year, and producing clear evidence that they are taking real steps towards this promise.
* To lead the world in building a green energy future, the G20 must agree to create financial and regulatory conditions that incentivise a green economy.
* Developed G20 leaders switch subsidies for fossil fuels to providing resources to the poorest countries to adapt to global warming, switch to a clean energy economy and stop deforestation.
10:32 AM
The B-20, a gathering of CEOs hand picked to attend the G-20 by governments, is attending the G-20 in part to dissuade heads of state from supporting the Robin Hood Tax, which would create a small tax on banks to fund a clean energy transition, measures to adapt to the changing climate, and funds to protect global forests. One of the companies invited: HSBC, which has had a track record of financing the destruction of global rainforests. A second, Suncor, the company behind the Tar Sands in Canada.
10:09 AM
Proposed text from G-8 meeting calls for a green economic recovery and offers no details except building 20 new coal plants... in a meeting about phasing out fossil fuel subsidies... huh?
9:42 AM
President Obama and Prime Minister Cameron are meeting today to discuss whether calling BP "British Petroleum" rather than "BP" is offensive to people in the England as well as the war in Afghanistan.
Our sources say that Russia will submit text for all of the G-20 leaders to sign saying:
"Drawing the lessons from the recent catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico we recognize the need to develop international mechanisms and procedures in regulating activities on protecting marine environment, preventing accidents related to offshore exploration and development, and dealing with their consequences if they occur."
Russia, of course, has a strong interest in drilling in the deep water of the Arctic. The Coast Guard, by the way, says that an oil spill in the Arctic is their "nightmare scenario." Clearly, the only way to avoid such disasters is by banning all offshore oil drilling.
While President Obama and Prime Minister Cameron discuss the word "British," oil continues to gush into the Gulf and Russia is proposing policies at the G-8 that would allow offshore oil drilling while "dealing with their consequences if [accidents] occur."
This meeting is the moment for the U.S. and the UK to come together to spearhead an ambitious plan to move the world beyond oil, end of fossil fuel subsidies, and revive the global economy with green energy investments.
http://members.greenpeace.org/blog/greenpeaceusa_blog/2010/06/26/play-by-play-at-the-g-8-and-g-20-19
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Admin/BkFill/Default_image_group/2010/6/27/1277675732343/Protests-outside-the-G8-a-006.jpgToronto - world leaders are gathering today to discuss several topics, including how... more-
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The End of the Tuna Fish?
From the NY Times Magazine (June 21, 2010)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/27/magazine/27Tuna-t.html
Tuna's End
In the international waters south of Malta, the Greenpeace vessels Rainbow Warrior and Arctic Sunrise deployed eight inflatable Zodiacs and skiffs into the azure surface of the Mediterranean. Protesters aboard donned helmets and took up DayGlo flags and plywood shields. With the organization’s observation helicopter hovering above, the pilots of the tiny boats hit their throttles, hurtling the fleet forward to stop what they viewed as an egregious environmental crime. It was a high-octane updating of a familiar tableau, one that anyone who has followed Greenpeace’s Save the Whales adventures of the last 35 years would have recognized. But in the waters off Malta there was not a whale to be seen.
What was in the water that day was a congregation of Atlantic bluefin tuna, a fish that when prepared as sushi is one of the most valuable forms of seafood in the world. It’s also a fish that regularly journeys between America and Europe and whose two populations, or “stocks,” have both been catastrophically overexploited. The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, one of only two known Atlantic bluefin spawning grounds, has only intensified the crisis. By some estimates, there may be only 9,000 of the most ecologically vital megabreeders left in the fish’s North American stock, enough for the entire population of New York to have a final bite (or two) of high-grade otoro sushi. The Mediterranean stock of bluefin, historically a larger population than the North American one, has declined drastically as well. Indeed, most Mediterranean bluefin fishing consists of netting or “seining” young wild fish for “outgrowing” on tuna “ranches.” Which was why the Greenpeace craft had just deployed off Malta: a French fishing boat was about to legally catch an entire school of tuna, many of them undoubtedly juveniles.
Oliver Knowles, a 34-year-old Briton who was coordinating the intervention, had told me a few days earlier via telephone what the strategy was going to be. “These fishing operations consist of a huge purse-seining vessel and a small skiff that’s quite fast,” Knowles said. A “purse seine” is a type of net used by industrial fishing fleets, called this because of the way it draws closed around a school of fish in the manner of an old-fashioned purse cinching up around a pile of coins. “The skiff takes one end of the net around the tuna and sort of closes the circle on them,” Knowles explained. “That’s the key intervention point. That’s where we have the strong moral mandate.”
But as the Zodiacs approached the French tuna-fishing boat Jean-Marie Christian VI, confusion engulfed the scene. As anticipated, the French seiner launched its skiffs and started to draw a net closed around the tuna school. Upon seeing the Greenpeace Zodiacs zooming in, the captain of the Jean-Marie Christian VI issued a call. “Mayday!” he shouted over the radio. “Pirate attack!” Other tuna boats responded to the alert and arrived to help. The Greenpeace activists identified themselves over the VHF, announcing they were staging a “peaceful action.”
Aboard one Zodiac, Frank Hewetson, a 20-year Greenpeace veteran who in his salad days as a protester scaled the first BP deepwater oil rigs off Scotland, tried to direct his pilot toward the net so that he could throw a daisy chain of sandbags over its floating edge and allow the bluefin to escape. But before Hewetson could deploy his gear, a French fishing skiff rammed his Zodiac. A moment later Hewetson was dragged by the leg toward the bow. “At first I thought I’d been lassoed,” Hewetson later told me from his hospital bed in London. “But then I looked down. ” A fisherman trying to puncture the Zodiac had swung a three-pronged grappling hook attached to a rope into the boat and snagged Hewetson clean through his leg between the bone and the calf muscle. (Using the old language of whale protests, Greenpeace would later report to Agence France-Presse that Hewetson had been “harpooned.”)
“Ma jambe! Ma jambe!” Hewetson cried out in French, trying to signal to the fisherman to slack off on the rope. The fisherman, according to Hewetson, first loosened it and then reconsidered and pulled it tight again. Eventually Hewetson was able to get enough give in the rope to yank the hook free. Elsewhere, fishermen armed with gaffs and sticks sank another Zodiac and, according to Greenpeace’s Knowles, fired a flare at the observation helicopter. At a certain point, the protesters made the decision to break off the engagement. “We have currently pulled back from the seining fleet,” Knowles e-mailed me shortly afterward, “to regroup and develop next steps.” Bertrand Wendling, the executive director of the tuna-fishing cooperative of which the Jean-Marie Christian VI was a part, called the Greenpeace protest “without doubt an act of provocation” in which “valuable work tools” were damaged.
(This story is much, much longer and continues at the link!)From the NY Times Magazine (June 21, 2010)... more-
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Greenpeace and WWF give conditional support to commercial whaling
Plans to overturn the 25-year old global ban on commercial whaling in return for reducing the numbers of whales killed each year were in confusion today with governments and groups divided.
The 88 countries who are members of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) today agreed to meet in closed session for two days in Agadir, Morocco, to decide whether to adopt a draft plan which would allow Norway, Iceland and Japan to legally hunt whales around Antarctica and elsewhere for 10 years in exchange for a gradual drop in the number killed.
The EU, led by Britain, adopted a common negotiating position at the weekend which rules against the resumption of any commercial whaling. But the US and New Zealand have continued to strongly back the package of measures proposed by the chair of the IWC.
In a move that took many people by surprise, three of the world's largest international non-government groups, Greenpeace, WWF and the Pew Environment Group, today said they were prepared to see commercial whaling resumed if six conditions were met.
In a joint statement they demanded: an end to whaling in the Southern Ocean; an end to trade in whale meat and products; the elimination of unilaterally decided whaling quotas; an end to hunts of endangered whale species; putting science at the centre of IWC decisions and prevention of objections or reservations by IWC members if the moratorium is lifted.
"I urge the negotiators to take political risks to improve the current proposal, end the decades of IWC deadlock and bring it into the 21st century. The meeting in Agadir can and must save whales, not whaling industries reliant on bribery and embezzlement for survival," said Junichi Sato, programme director of Greenpeace Japan.
But this was immediately rejected by many other environment groups including the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society and the International Fund for Animal Welfare who said they were not willing to accept any return to commercial whaling.
"This weakens the EU position. It would be a fundamental mistake now to reward those three whaling nations who have continued to ignore the international consensus on commercial whaling and are opposed by millions of people around the world," said Nikki Entrup of WDCS.
"What kind of message does that give out to countries like Korea who used to whale? I urge Greenpeace to withdraw their position. They want to do the right thing in principle but more whales are killed in the northern hemisphere than in the south," he said.
Whaling kills up to 2,000 whales a year, including species on the verge of extinction. Since the ban was introduced 25 years ago, approximately 33,000 whales have been killed, according to the Animal Welfare Institute in Washington.
But there are fears that if no agreement is reached, the IWC as an organisation could collapse. The meeting in Agadir ends on Friday 25 June.Plans to overturn the 25-year old global ban on commercial whaling in return for... more-
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BP Oil Spill Kills its Largest Victim Yet
On Tuesday, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ship spotted the 25-foot animal due south of the Deepwater Horizon site. The water the whale was floating in was not oiled. The fate of the whales, which have frequently been spotted swimming in the oil by planes overhead, has been of intense concern to wildlife biologists.
Blair Mase, the Southeast marine mammal stranding coordinator for the oceanic agency, said that scientists were “very concerned” that oil was the cause of the whale’s death, but that the whale’s body was so decomposed and scavenged by sharks that it would be impossible to say for certain.
There are an estimated 1,700 sperm whales that live in gulf waters and they are known to congregate particularly at the mouth of the Mississippi River, a rich feeding ground. Unlike other whales, which travel long distances, these live full-time in the Gulf and do not usually mingle with sperm whale pods in the neighboring Caribbean and Sargasso Sea. Ms. Mase said that the dead whale was almost certainly a gulf whale.
Scientists will try to determine whether the whale had been swimming through oil by using a method known as hindcasting, which looks at how bloated an animal’s body is to calculate how long it has been dead, then retraces patterns in water currents to tell where the body might have drifted from. The whale’s condition suggests it has been dead for at least several days, Ms. Mase said.
Scientists are also taking skin samples from the whale, which will be tested for petroleum. The results of those tests, as well as tests on its skin and blubber to determine its gender, may take weeks to process, the oceanic agency said. Government workers are also trying to rule out other possible causes of death, like a ship strike or net entanglement.
“It is a relatively rare occurrence,” said Ms. Mase, who added that there have been only five or six whale deaths in the gulf in five years, “so we are studying this very carefully.” NOAA sent a research ship to the area around the Deepwater Horizon a few days ago specifically to learn whether the oil spill was changing whales’ behavior and if so, in what ways.
Because whales are large and very mobile, they are relatively less vulnerable to oil spills than other sea life. However, the whales are classified as endangered and the crude oil is toxic to them. Moreover, they prefer to dive and fish right off the continental shelf, where the Deepwater Horizon wellhead is located, and their sensitivity to the large plumes of oil droplets and the enormous amount of dispersants being used to combat this disaster is unknown.
Hal Whitehead, a biologist who studies at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, said sperm whales are highly social animals that live in matriarchal groups like elephants. They communicate through noises that sound like clicks, which researchers refer to as a dialect. They have also shown behaviors that resemble mourning. In one case, Dr. Whitehead said, when a young sperm whale died, its mother carried its carcass around in her mouth.
Sperm whales live anywhere from 60 to 100 years, scientists estimate. But they reproduce on average only every five years, which is why even a few whale deaths can be significant, Dr. Whitehead said.
Check out this blog about the death of sperm whales in the Gulf -- "Tony and the Whale," written by a Greenpeace Oceans Campaigner, John Hocevar:
http://members.greenpeace.org/blog/greenpeaceusa_blog/2010/06/21/tony-and-the-whale
"The whale's death puts the population of sperm whales that live in the Gulf at risk of extinction. US government scientists have estimated that the loss of as few as three adult whales due to the spill might be enough to cause them to die out in the Gulf of Mexico. Sperm whales produce only one calf every five years. Their slow rate of maturity and their low birth rate make them particularly vulnerable to things like oil spills - or commercial whaling, which nearly wiped out the entire species before the moratorium took effect in 1986."
(More at link)On Tuesday, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ship spotted the 25-foot... more-
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Drop into the Ocean [video]
Take a deep breath and imagine the oceans.... This disturbing video is a short Greenpeace documentary outlining the threats that humans pose to our oceans and a proposal for what we ALL can do to help restore their health.Take a deep breath and imagine the oceans.... This disturbing video is a short... more-
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Heart Breaking Video From The Louisiana Coast
Heart Breaking Video From The Louisiana Coast-
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