Greenpeace balloon on target

Press release - March 6, 2008
This morning Greenpeace launched a giant, planet-replica hot air balloon from Bastion Point in Auckland, with the wording: “Target Climate Change.”

A giant Greenpeace hot-air balloon over Auckland City, to mark the start of a six-week national tour aboard the Rainbow Warrior and draw attention to the lack of an emissions reduction target in New Zealand.

The activity ties in with the start of a six week ship tour aboard the iconic Rainbow Warrior, which is currently in port in Auckland. The theme of the tour is also targeting climate change, in reference to New Zealand's lack of an overall greenhouse gas emissions reduction target.

"The issue of climate change is not solved in New Zealand. The single most important thing we could do as a country is set a domestic emissions reduction target of 30 per cent by 2020," said Greenpeace Campaign Director Carmen Gravatt. "Without this target, you cannot say we're taking the problem seriously."

The tour will take in the ports of Auckland, Gisborne, Lyttelton, Dunedin and Wellington. There will be public open days during which people can have free tours of the ship, meet the crew and talk to the campaigners. See www.greenpeace.org.nz/rainbow-warrior for more details.

VVPR info: Contact Greg McNevin on 021577556 if you have any questions about footage. Or Carmen Gravatt – Campaign Director - 021 302 251, Kathy Cumming – Communications 021 495 216

Notes: High resolution images and video of the balloon activity will be available free of charge at: http://www.greenpeace.org.nz/media (Multiple images can be added to the 'lightbox' and downloaded as a single zip file).

Exp. contact date: 2009-06-08 00:00:00