Feature story - May 16, 2007
Greenpeace activists have started construction on a replica of Noah's Ark, 2,500 meters (8,200 feet) above sea level. Many people believe that Mount Ararat is the place where Noah's Ark landed after the floods. The replica ark is designed to be a symbol of hope and dramatic plea to world leaders to take far-reaching and urgent action to avoid catastrophic global warming.
A caravan of 40 horses hauled twelve cubic meters of prefabricated wooden sections to an elevation of 2,500 meters, where work has now begun on constructing supports as well as the keel and ribs of the boat.
Recently, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) confirmed the potentially catastrophic impacts of climate
change caused by human activity and detailed the possible
consequences if we fail to act immediately. While the picture they
paint is a dire one, there are concrete steps we can take now to
avoid the more nightmarish scenarios.
Building the message
The 10m x 4m x 4m (32ft x 13ft x 13ft) wooden ship, being
constructed by Greenpeacevolunteers, will send a strong message to
leaders of all nations that we must act now to tackle global
warming and the impendingclimate change crisis.
A caravan of 40 horses have hauled the prefabricated wooden
sections up Mount Ararat, where work has now begunon constructing
supports as well as the keel and ribs of the boat. Over the next 2
weeks, a team of 20 German and Turkish carpenters willcomplete the
construction of the boat, which will be turned over to thepublic in
an official ceremony on May 31, 2007. A day before the ceremony,
activists will climb the 5,137 metersummit of Mount Ararat and call
on the leaders of all nations to makeclimate protection a
reality.
Building towards a solution
Greenpeace recently launched the Energy [R]evolution, a
blueprintfor avoiding dangerous climate change and keeping global
warming tounder two degrees. The Energy [R]evolution
sets out a detailed plan up to2050 showing how to make reductions
in greenhouse gases - which IPCCprescribes can be achieved using
current renewable energy technologyand energy efficiency measures -
without harming economic growth andtaking into account population
increases.
"At the upcoming G8 summit, many announcements will be madeon
climate protection, but they must be followed by real action,"said
Andree Böhling, a Greenpeace energy campaigner, "Otherwise, theG8
summit will pay only lip service to climate change and ahistoric
opportunity will be lost."
Climate change could mean a future with huge coastal flooding,
drought,extreme destructive weather events and massive increases in
disease anddisplacement of hundreds of million of people. That's
why millions of people around the world are already mobilizing.
They'relobbying politicians, changing what they buy and making
smart energychoices.
Sign up
Sign up to be part of this energy [r]evolution. We'll send you updates on what you can do to help - plus practical energy saving tips.
Donate
Greenpeace depends on your contributions. In order to ensure that we remain an independent voice for the planet, we don't accept corporate or government funds: we rely on the small donations of millions of supporters. Donate today.