Another year over, and a new one just begun...
So, what kind of a year was 2007?
It began with
good news and bad news. The bad news was new evidence that
polar bears are under threat due to the meltdown of their sea-ice
habitat as a consequence of global warming. The good news was that
the US Fish and Wildlife Service acknowledged their plight and
proposed to officially list them as a "threatened species." With
last summer seeing the smallest amount of Arctic ice cover ever
recorded, a
whole host of countries sought to drill for oil and gas once
protected by the ice - and the more oil and gas we burn the
faster the Arctic melts, a vicious circle bringing our planet
closer and closer to catastrophic climate change.
It wasn't a great year for our seas and oceans in general, as
overfishing, pollution and climate change vied with each other as
to what would cause the most harm to the marine environment and the
life inhabiting our oceans. The world once again failed to stop the
decimation of fisheries across the globe, with
tuna in particular taking a battering.
Neither was it a good year for our forests. Illegal and
destructive logging was still widespread -
in the Democratic Republic of Congo, part of the second largest
tropical forest in the world after the Amazon, and in the Paradise
Forests on the other side of the planet, companies tore up pristine
forest and drained and burned peatlands to make way for
palm oil plantations.
It wasn't all doom and gloom, though, and 2007 saw some great
victories, thanks to the work of Greenpeace activists - both online
and on the ground - some great Greenpeace actions and as the result
of long but strong campaigning.
Life on the ocean waves…
Unlike many governments we're not about to stand by while our
oceans are plundered. Eight of Europe's largest and most
influential
seafood companies, including McDonald's and Bird's Eye, agreed with
us. After four years of campaigning to bring an end to deep-sea
bottom trawling,
an international agreement was made, protecting just under 25
percent of the high seas from this incredibly destructive fishing
method. In a
major victory for whale conservation, a 34-7 vote for a
resolution strengthening the commercial whaling ban at the 2007
International Whaling Commission Meeting was followed by
Iceland's announcement that they would not issue any further
commercial whale-hunting quotas. Finally, just weeks ago, Japan
caved in under international pressure and confirmed that they have
abandoned plans to kill humpback whales in the Southern Ocean -
at least for this season, anyway.
Little green apples
We love our Apples, and our
Green My Apple website won a webby last year for its new brand
of online activism. Then, in May, we saw something we'd all been
wishing for when the words
'A Greener Apple' appeared on the front page of the Apple
website. With a message from Steve Jobs saying, "Today, we're
changing our policy," Apple pledged to remove the most dangerous
chemicals from its production line. Our
'Guide to Greener Electronics', published quarterly, continues
to encourage manufacturers of electronics - TVs, computers, mobile
phones, and
now including televisions and games consoles - to strive
towards cleaner and greener products, and we showed them that
this possibility was within their grasp.
Unrest in the forest, trouble with the trees
Soya and other agricultural products are key drivers for
deforestation, threatening huge loss of biodiversity and
contributing to climate change. The
suspension of soy multinational Cargill's port activities in
Santarem, Brazil, was the culmination of years of demands by
local communities and people fighting the expansion of soya
cultivation in the Amazon. There was also a
victory for forests in Argentina; dressed as jaguars,
Greenpeace activists took to the trees, camping in the treetops in
a bid to save them from the bulldozers - meanwhile, we joined
forces with other environmental groups, got 1.5 million signatures
of support and pushed through Argentina's first federal forest
protection law, including a one-year moratorium to avoid a rush of
deforestation while forest management regulations are put into
place. In December, Olam - a major trading company - found its
World Bank funding cut, after we revealed its involvement in
illegal logging in the Congo Basin Forest.
Charge of the Light Brigade
A
decade after the Kyoto Protocol was signed, climate scepticism
finally got beaten back in 2007 when the International Panel on
Climate Change issued its sternest warnings yet. We even heard
France's new president, Nicolas Sarkozy, call for
an environmental "revolution", declaring that every decision
his government makes from now on will be made in light of its
impact on the climate. Among other measures, he promised to outlaw
energy-wasting lightbulbs by 2010. In December, the Irish
government announced that they'd be going one step better,
banning energy-wasting incandescent lightbulbs by 2009. This
simple but historic step came as governments
met in Bali to discuss next steps on tackling the global
climate emergency.
Resolutions and [R]evolutions
Soft drinks giant Coca-Cola has already announced a commitment
to use coolers and vending machines free of HFC gases in
all official venues of the 2008 Olympic Games, demonstrating
climate-friendly technology developed by Greenpeace.
That the Japanese government has resolved that no humpback
whales will be hunted down and killed in the Southern Ocean Whale
Sanctuary in 2008 is good news indeed - a victory for Greenpeace
supporters the world over. Pat yourselves on the back all of you
who joined with us in demanding actions from our governments,
participated in promoting non-lethal alternatives to whale research
through our
Great Whale Trail, and questioned the Japanese Government
directly about plans to expand the whale hunt through the
building of a new whaling ship (not to mention all of you who
told your friends to Vote
for Mister Splashy Pants in our whale-naming competition!).
While many are predicting that the three R's - reduce, reuse and
recycle - will be joined by a fourth R for regulation in 2008,
Greenpeace believes that manufactures need to add a fifth one - the
R for responsibility; responsibility in ensuring the proper
recycling of their products at the end of their lives, and
responsibility for phasing out the use of hazardous materials right
at the design stage! More and more electronics companies are
already committing to eliminating hazardous chemicals from their
products, and in 2008 we've extended this challenge to Sony,
Nintendo and Microsoft, makers of the world's most popular games
consoles - check out the
'Clash of the Consoles' to see how they perform!
Greenpeace launched a
landmark proposal for reducing, and ultimately stopping, tropical
deforestation while preserving forest biodiversity and
respecting indigenous peoples' rights at the Bali Climate
Conference. The world has the resources to stop deforestation -
what is needed now is the political will. Governors from Papua and
Brazil's Amazonas State have shown that will, and now world
governments must resolve to follow - no money, no forests, no
future!
Tackling climate change remains the biggest challenge facing us
all. Fortunately, there is an answer to this challenge -
our report, 'Energy [R]evolution', details how to halve global
CO2 emissions by 2050, using existing technology and still
providing affordable energy and economic growth. In short, a
revolution in energy policy and an evolution in how we use energy.
Governments the world over need to resolve to quit the use of
fossil-fuels and fake alternatives such as nuclear power and turn
to renewable and sustainable energy sources to live up to the
requirements of the Kyoto Protocol.
And Greenpeace resolves to continue acting to change attitudes
and behaviours, to protect and conserve the environment and to
promote peace; and we couldn't do that without your invaluable
support. So, let's raise our glasses to the New Year - with your
help, we can make it a good one!
Check out our
most popular website content from 2007.
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