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I think that burning all the oil will return the pre-oil climate, with coal instead of forests. What was Earth like before forests ate the carbon from the air?

I envision vast veggie/algae plants. I read that Diesel intended his engine to run on veggie oil. It's still more compact than hydrogen sponges/beads or acid, and safer than radioactive balls.

It´s great c4t2007 !! But I think we should worry more about these measures are carried out. It's been several years since it was discovered that hydrogen was cleaner and more efficient than gasoline and is still rare to see people with hybrid cars. Now if it´s true what you say will take years to see cars using that measure. All these options are great, but should be accessible in every sense for the people. If they are inaccessible and expensive, people will continue to use gasoline.

What's inside your box of Kleenex?

United States — What’s it take to get the makers of Kleenex to protect forests as vigilantly as they protect profits? Kimberly-Clark, the parent company of Kleenex, Scott, Cottonelle, and Viva, will be holding its annual shareholder meeting in Dallas at the end of April 2009, and we plan to be there to push for forest protection.

In the run up to the meeting, we’ll be focusing a lot of attention on Kimberly-Clark's destructive business practices, starting with a video entitled "What’s inside your box of Kleenex?"

The answer, of course, is that every box of Kleenex is filled with ancient forests.

Kimberly-Clark doesn’t use recycled content in most of its consumer paper products, and the “What’s inside your box of Kleenex?”video shows just how much forest destruction Kimberly-Clark is packing into every box.



Tissue Guide provides consumers with alternatives to Kimberly-Clark’s forest destruction

We released the Greenpeace Recycled Tissue and Toilet Paper Guide in February to help consumers find alternatives to Kimberly-Clark’s forest-destroying products. The story was picked up by the New York Times, The Guardian and other media outlets.

Kimberly-Clark continues to wipe away ancient forests to make disposable products because the company does not have a comprehensive plan for protecting forests.

The company itself has admitted that recycled fiber can provide “the product softness and quality consumers have come to expect from the Kleenex brand.” So why doesn't Kimberly-Clark have a plan that ensures it's not buying any virgin fiber from the Boreal or any other endangered forests?

The suicidal tendencies of the Turkish tuna fishery

Karaburun, Turkey — The Turkish government has set its own catch limit for the endangered Mediterranean bluefin tuna - in total disregard for internationally agreed quotas and scientific advice.

The existing management plan for bluefin tuna is bad enough. By pressuring politicians to ignore the warnings of scientists, the Mediterranean tuna industry has created a suicide pact, not a management plan. Now Turkey, by objecting to even those inadequate restrictions, is telling its legal fleet to fish for everything it can before it's all gone. And to add insult to absurdity, there's still the illegal catch to consider -- and Turkey just got caught red-handed with an illegal landing of between 5 and 10 tonnes of juvenile bluefin tuna in the Turkish port of Karaburun. And this year's bluefin tuna fishing season is only just getting started!
Turkey currently operates the largest Mediterranean fleet fishing for bluefin tuna, an economically and ecologically valuable species facing imminent collapse as direct result of overfishing. Northern bluefin tuna have long been an important part of the Mediterranean economy and way of life. In ancient Rome, tuna fishing and salting were two of the empire’s most stable industries. Today, virtually all bluefin tuna from the Mediterranean is exported to Japan creating vast profits over the last decade, which have fuelled an industry with no concern for the future of a species that has been reduced to critical levels, threatening its own future and those of hundreds of fishermen.

An international disgrace

Management of bluefin tuna is entrusted to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), an intergovernmental organisation in which the European Union is an active and influential member. In September 2008, an independent performance review of ICCAT noted that the management of the bluefin tuna fishery in the Mediterranean was “widely seen as an international disgrace.” The Turkish government objected to the bluefin tuna quota that was agreed upon at the ICCAT meeting last November.

The last goodbye

Alongside ICCAT quotas, a minimum legal landing size is set at 30 kg to allow for at least one reproduction cycle before any catch. But catches below this limit have recently been reported by both Turkish and Italian media. Ignoring international quota limits means that Turkey will bring an end to the bluefin tuna business even faster through the commercial extinction of the species.

Since 2006, scientists have been sounding the alarm on the dire state of the bluefin tuna stock. They have advised not to fish above a maximum of 15,000 tonnes, and to protect the species’ spawning grounds during the crucial months of May and June. But the spawning grounds are ravaged by industrial fleets every year and the actual haul has been estimated at a shocking 61,100 tonnes in 2007, twice the legal catch for that year, and more than four times the scientifically recommended level. This year, a so called ‘recovery plan’ for bluefin tuna will legally allow fishing that is 47 percent above the maximum sustainable limit.

No fish, no future

Turkey, and all other fishing nations including European countries, should close the bluefin fishery immediately until management is in strict compliance with the scientific advice, fishing has decreased to sustainable levels and marine reserves are established to protect the bluefin breeding grounds.

Since 2006, we have documented at sea, and compiled numerous cases of illegal fishing in the Mediterranean, including fishing during closed seasons, catches of undersized tuna, illegal reflagging of fishing vessels, illegal use of spotter planes, unlicensed fishing vessels and tuna farms, unregulated transhipments, illegal landings and false declarations, substantial unreported over-catches and further increase of fishing fleet capacity. Since the fishing industry is now completely out of control and leading the bluefin tuna to near-extinction.

We're advocating the creation of a network of no-take marine reserves, protecting 40 percent of the world’s oceans, as the long term solution to the overfishing of tuna and other species, and the recovery of our overexploited blue planet.

Major brands implicated in Amazon destruction

Brazil — Just as protecting the world’s forests is rapidly becoming a recognized necessity for fighting climate change, we have discovered that major fashion, food and sports brand names are unwittingly driving the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest.

Our three-year investigation into Brazil’s booming cattle industry - the largest source of deforestation in the world and Brazil’s main source of CO2 emissions - has found that some of the brands that we all know and love could be implicated in the widespread deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. The investigation also uncovers how the Brazilian government is bankrolling the destruction and is undermining its own efforts to tackle the global climate crisis.

Dirty Farms

The new Greenpeace report Slaughtering the Amazon tracks beef, leather and other cattle products from ranches involved in illegal deforestation, invasion of indigenous lands and slavery in Brazil back to the supply chains of top brands such as Adidas/Reebok, Timberland, Geox, Carrefour, Eurostar, Honda, Gucci, IKEA, Kraft, Clarks, Nike, Tesco and Wal-Mart.

Greenpeace investigators found that the Brazilian government has a vested interest in the further expansion of the cattle industry; it part-owns three of the country’s cattle giants - Bertin, JBS and Marfrig - which are responsible for fuelling the destruction of huge tracts of the Amazon. That’s right; the Amazon rainforest is being wiped out to make room for the beef in your TV dinner and the leather on your sneakers. Humans rights abuses, deforestation and climate change seem to us like a pretty big price to pay for the trainers we put on before our morning run.

Lula’s loopholes

Brazilian President Lula’s government forecasts that the country’s share of the global beef market will double by 2018. 2018 seems to be a big year for the Brazilian government as it also claims this is the year by which it will have cut deforestation by 72 percent. The expansion of the cattle sector threatens to undermine the government’s ability to fulfill its pledge. Brazil is the fourth largest climate polluter in the world, with the majority of its climate emissions coming from the clearance and burning of the Amazon rainforest.

“By bankrolling the destruction of the Amazon for cattle, President Lula’s government is undermining its own climate commitments as well as the global effort to tackle the climate crisis,” said Andre Muggiati, Greenpeace Brazil, Amazon campaigner. “If it wants to be part of the climate solution, Lula’s government must get out of bed with cattle industry, and instead commit to ending Amazon deforestation. Otherwise it will be culpable in the global climate catastrophe that will ensue,” he added.

Greenpeace is calling for developed world governments to provide USD 140 billion a year to tackle the climate crisis, to fund both mitigation and adaptation measures in developing countries. Approximately USD 40 billion a year of this should be designated to forest protection. The funds would be provided in return for a commitment to stop deforestation by 2015 in the Amazon and globally by 2020.

World leaders must take personal responsibility to agree strong global deal at the UN climate summit in Copenhagen in December 2009 in order to avert catastrophic climate change. Tropical deforestation accounts for approximately 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than the world’s entire transport sector, so any deal must effectively tackle deforestation.

ok, thanks for your opinion. I´ll include source links in future adds.

Hi creepingdeathv2,

I have changed the news that have already posted and were included in this section and now, if you click on the title (green) you can access to the Greenpeace International´s site and see the information.

Thank you for your interest and spread.

Climate challenge even greater after UN meeting in Bonn

Bonn, Germany — As another round of Bonn climate talks limps to a close, and the UN Climate Summit to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December this year draw closer and closer, it’s a good opportunity to take a look at the progress that’s been made so far…

On the plus side, almost everything is now on the table. On the minus side, almost everything now on the table is still on the table, and doesn’t look likely to be going anywhere fast. In fact, one draft document that was 50 pages long at the start of the Bonn meeting is now closer to 300 pages long. Given that one of the purposes of this meeting was to narrow options down, it’s safe to assume that ‘progress’, therefore, has not been significant.

On the other hand, money from the industrialised world to help developing countries to switch to clean energy, keep tropical rainforests intact and adapt to unavoidable climate impacts is still missing from the table. But the biggest space of all is where the robust, effective emissions cuts for industrialised countries should be. The science demands that, as a group, these countries need to cut emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. So far they have offered - at most – 15 percent. Unless they raise their game considerably over the next six months, the world will be heading for a global temperature rise of 3° C and the distinct possibility of irreversible climate impacts.

We can’t carry on like this and still hope to get the outcome the planet needs at the Copenhagen Climate Summit. Something has to change.

Leaders need apply

The climate change issue has to be passed right to the top of the political ‘food chain’. Heads of governments must take responsibility for protecting the climate and, in so doing, protecting the planet and its people.

Think about it. There’s probably not a single ministry or government department that remains untouched by this issue; energy, environment, foreign affairs, treasury – the list goes on. And every single one of them will have its own perspectives and priorities. In every capital city around the world, the person who has the ‘big picture’ - the person who sits at the desk where the buck ultimately stops - needs to stand up, step up and lead.

Next chance for action

Next month, the heads of the world’s richest countries will get together in Italy for the G8 Summit. This will be an historical opportunity for these leaders to break the deadlock and send a strong signal of intent by agreeing deep cuts in emissions and putting money on the table for developing countries.

In December around 15,000 assorted politicians, negotiators, journalists, observers, caterers and cleaners will set up camp in the Copenhagen Bellacentre for the two week Climate Summit. We expect world leaders to be there, acting in our name and taking responsibility for our future.

First fin whales killed in Iceland

Iceland — The whaling boat Hvalur 9 dragged two massive fin whales up to the ancient whaling station ramp at Hvalförður in the early hours. If it were not for Iceland’s midnight sun the whalers would have been sneaking in under the cover of the night – a scene befitting the shameful hunt that can only do untold damage to Iceland’s reputation.

Slideshow of images of the first fin whales being brought to the Hvalfjordur-fjord.

The whales were killed on Friday morning, just days before the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meetings begin in Madeira, Portugal. The start of the hunt was clearly intended to deride efforts to modernise the Commission and stop the needless slaughter of whales.

The whales are the first of 150 fin whales Icelandic whaler Kristjan Loftsson plans to hunt this year, despite having no domestic market for the meat and no interest from importers in Japan. The hunt is part of a 5 year whaling programme agreed by the former Icelandic government, just hours before it collapsed earlier this year. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists fin whales as an endangered species globally that requires special protection.

Iceland’s new government “fallen asleep” on the issue

Iceland’s new government under Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir has openly voiced its opposition to whaling. Yet, by failing to stop the hunt it appears to have fallen asleep on the issue and allowed the whalers to dictate policy.

The government has not only failed to stop the controversial fin whale hunt from going ahead. It is also failing to stop a hunt of minke whales that started in May. Shockingly, the minkes are being hunted in the same areas as those visited by whale watching trips.

By not taking action to stop the hunts, the new government risks squandering a real chance to save Iceland’s environmental and international reputation, as well as hopes for speedy accession to the pro-conservation Europe Union.



No market for whale meat

There is no domestic whale meat market in Iceland. Loftsson justifies the hunt by promising to sell the meat to Japan, claiming it can help Iceland recover from its economic crisis.

We recently showed that this is absolute hogwash, when we released audio and an English transcript of a very interesting conversation we had with the Japanese trader who imported fin and minke whale meat from Iceland and Norway last year. The head of the Asia Trading Company in Tokyo told us very clearly that he will not take any more in the future, because there is no market for the whale meat in Japan. In fact, he only took it last year as a favour to Loftsson because he is a friend.

Iceland hunt starts on eve of IWC meetings

The fin whale hunt has started just before the IWC meets in Madeira, Portugal. The blatant disregard displayed by the Icelandic whalers for international agreements, economics and the environment is a prime example of why the IWC needs to put its own house in order and become an effective conservation body that works for whales, not whalers.

Madeira is a perfect setting for such change. In 1981, Portugal moved to protect all whales and dolphins throughout its territories, ending the island’s long association with whaling. Madeira’s fast-growing whale watching industry proves once again that whales are worth much more alive than dead.

Icleand is well positioned to follow this example. More than 115,000 people have already taken our Iceland Pledge, saying they would visit the country, and go whale watching, if the government ends whaling.

G8 countries urged to act

International — On the eve of the G8 summit in Italy - our activists have been beaming a message on the Kremlin and floating a life-sized iceberg past the Eiffel tower to call for urgent action from world leaders to save the climate.

On the evening of the first day of Russia-US summit being held in the Kremlin, we reminded Presidents' Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama of their responsibility to take leadership in agreeing plans to avert catastrophic climate change. Our activists used a laser projector to create a call to action visible from President Obama's hotel: "Leaders Act! Save Climate!"

Russian roulette?

We are demanding that Medvedev and Obama quit gambling with our future and take personal responsibility preventing runaway climate change and the massive social and environmental disaster that would ensue. We're asking them to personally attend the UN Climate Summit in December and to guarantee a good deal for the climate.

To avoid catastrophic climate change, developed countries must reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels and lower them as close to zero as possible by 2050. But, both Russian and the US emission plans are far from what is required to solve the problem. Currently Washington has planned cuts amounting to only 14 percent of their current level by 2020. And, in Russia, by 2020, the volume of greenhouse emissions would actually increase by a dangerous 36 percent from their current level.

At their first meeting in April this year, the Presidents of Russia and the US agreed to open a new page in their relationship. Tackling climate change must be on that page. We welcome any progress on nuclear disarmament during this meeting. But, the planet faces an additional human made threat - climate change. We must not only end the threat of a nuclear winter but avertcatastrophic global warming at the same time.

Ice, ice Sarkozy?

Early this morning, Greenpeace activists in France were highlighting the climate crises by floating a life-sized mock iceberg on the River Seine towards the Eiffel tower. They also gave a clear message to President Sarkozy and his counterparts by holding banners at the foot of the iceberg, stating “Sarkozy : climate leadership now” and “G8: climate leadership now”. With only five months to the UN Climate Summit, the G8 countries need to commit to serious and binding emission cuts.



The average global temperature is increasing to dangerous levels due to the release of hundreds of billions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere over the past two and a half centuries. Ice shelves are collapsing, glaciers are shrinking and sea levels are rising. Without strong measures from the G8 heads of state to keep temperature rise as far below 2 degrees Celcius as possible we will see mass migration, mass extinctions and mass starvation.

The clean energy and efficiency technologies needed to reduce emissions already exist and the world has enough financial resources to switch to these technologies. But the main block is the sheer lack of political will.

A million climate saving jobs

At a time of economic recession, G8 leaders are clearly reluctant to make dramatic changes. But, one million more jobs would be created in G8 countries by 2020 if the leaders of these wealthy countries agreed to switch from coal and other climate-destroying conventional energy sources to renewables, in order to help slash carbon emissions and avoid a climate catastrophe.

Our latest Energy [R]evolution research shows that this bold move would provide one million jobs in renewables alone -- 460,000 more jobs in the energy sector than would be available if they stay on the business as usual carbon-intensive path. This would cut power-related C02 emissions by 50 percent by 2030. The quickest way to get people back to work, kick-start sustainable economic growth is clear, G8 leaders must tackle the twin crises of global economic recession and climate change together. Continuing prosperity depends on preserving the environment and tackling climate change. It is not a choice of green jobs or dirty jobs, but green jobs or ecological and social collapse.

Watch this space

All eyes will be on the G8 summit this week - and we have policy advisers there to report back on how the meeting unravels. Meanwhile, in the Arctic, our scientific expedition team has already come across disturbing signs ofaccelerating climate change. Our ship, Arctic Sunrise, is in the Nares Strait, an area that is normally covered in ice until August, but already it is free of ice. In the words of one of the scientists on board, Dr Jason Box, it is “unprecedented that in an area of 450 km of open water we haven't even bumped into a single ice flow."

We're also documenting the impacts of climate change in the Pacific where another one of our ships, Esperanza, is on a tour of the Cook Islands, Samoa and Vanuatu. Both of these ship tours are highlighting the urgent need for world leaders to act now: to take personal responsibility for tackling climate change and guaranteeing a good deal for the climate in Copenhagen this December.

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