NETWORK

Newsletter for Greenpeace activists October/November 2009

© Greenpeace / Kristian Buus

www.greenpeace.org.uk/active
 INTERNATIONAL
© Ricardo Funari / Lineair
All Brazilian states should follow the lead of Mato Grosso by
identifying ranches that destroy forests.
Deforestation in the Amazon
Sarah Shoraka, forests campaign
JBS, the world’s biggest producer and exporter of
processed beef, has agreed to not buy from cattle
ranches that destroy the rainforest. JBS joins the
two other giant companies – Marfrig and Bertin –
that dominate the Brazilian beef and leather export
market, in calling for an end to the destruction.
Forests and their peatlands are critical carbon
stores, and their destruction accounts for nearly
20% of global CO2 emissions, so forest
protection is essential to tackling climate change.
Cattle ranching in the Amazon is the single largest
cause of deforestation worldwide. 80%
of the deforested land in the Amazon is now
occupied by cattle. The destruction of the
Amazon is largely responsible for making Brazil
the fourth largest climate change polluter globally.
The move by JBS is significant, as before the
announcement the company was expanding into
the Amazon, buying up slaughterhouses at the
frontiers of the forest in areas with very high
rates of deforestation. In only three months we
have shifted all the big export and processing
companies, bringing us much closer to our goal
of achieving a moratorium on new deforestation
for cattle, as we did for soya in 2006.
The next challenge for us is to get political
support for a moratorium to speed up the
process of registering and mapping ranches. The
Governor of the Brazilian Amazon state of Mato
Grosso, Blairo Maggi, has already agreed to make
high resolution satellite data of the forest cover
available so that companies can identify ranches
engaged in ongoing deforestation and not source
cattle from them. We need to make sure that
this happens in other Amazon states too.
© Christian Aid
Front cover and above: Active supporters across the country are testing Ed’s commitments to tackling climate change, and
encouraging more people to promise to take action if he consents new dirty coal in the UK.
Big IF pledgees confront Miliband
Leila Deen, climate campaign
Ed Miliband was confronted with his responsibilities twice in as many days in September
when activists handed him Big IF pledges to take nonviolent direct action to stop a new
coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth. Thousands of activists have pledged to take
action if new coal is given the go-ahead in the UK. The consultation period on new coal
closed on 9 September, and we are now waiting for the government’s decision.
In Doncaster, activists from our Yorkshire networks showed up to Ed Miliband’s
constituency surgery in Bentley. They built a giant IF out of cardboard boxes right
outside the door, and told Ed that this sort of action was a sign of things to come.
They handed the minister some of Greenpeace’s 6,000 pledges. Over 1,000 people
are promising to take nonviolent direct action to stop Kingsnorth going ahead.
Then, just two days later more Big IF supporters including Greenpeace met Ed outside
his Department of Energy and Climate Change in London. The RSPB, Oxfam, Christian
Aid, WWF and the World Development Movement joined in the anti-coal vigil. The
‘Disciples for Justice’ choir from Christian Aid kept the crowd singing in harmony to
encourage Miliband to come and talk to them. Ed still thinks we need new coal power
in the UK in order to test carbon capture and storage (CCS) for the sake of the wider
world. Several activists explained these tests could be done on existing coal plants,
should be tested in the countries that will need CCS, and that there was no need to
build new power stations in the UK. Whilst he respectfully resisted our points, it was
clear that the ongoing pressure we have placed on Ed is having an effect.
With the climate change summit happening in Copenhagen in December, we have to
ensure that the UK government cannot avoid links between domestic policy and
global policy, and proves to the world its commitment to stopping climate change by
making a strong decision against building new coal in the UK. To that end, we have to
keep the pressure up on Miliband until he goes to Copenhagen.
GET ACTIVE!
Make your Big IF pledge – say no to new dirty coal
Ask your friends to join over 6,000 others and tell Ed what you’ll do if he says yes
to new dirty coal www.greenpeace.org.uk/bigif
For inspiration watch www.greenpeace.org.uk/saying-no-dirty-coal
 SPOTLIGHT

© Andy Bodycombe / Greenpeace / and below

© D8 / Greenpeace
The costs of the F35b combat aircraft have risen $50m per aircraft since 2001. Despite these price hikes, the UK is still blindly Waveney Greenpeace also organise an annual winter fair and this
quoting 2002 estimates, and has not revised running costs either. summer took a phenomenal tea tent fundraising operation to
Latitude festival.

In the firing line: military spending Waveney Greenpeace’s 20th summer fair
Richard Martin, active supporters unit
Louise Edge, peace campaign
In Suffolk, Waveney Greenpeace’s fair was free for
The government is facing a massive national debt and a £35bn hole in the MOD’s thousands this year as the 20th anniversary marked
defence equipment budget, yet plans to build Britain’s largest ever aircraft a shift towards even more sustainability. Organisers
supercarriers and replace the Trident nuclear weapons system are still happening. charged cars an entry fee, but not people.

In September, amid heated governmental cost-cutting debates, Greenpeace published A specially registered bus service was quickly
In the Firing Line, an investigative report detailing the spiraling costs of the two biggest augmented with an extra bus to meet the heavy
military equipment spends on the horizon. demands of the GP1 bus route to the fair. Car
sharing was promoted for those who could not
arrive any other way.
Crunching the figures and examining new information revealed that the real cost of
building and operating a replacement for Trident would be close to £100bn – over
‘It was a But mostly, cycling was

£17bn more than the government’s figures. beautiful sight encouraged as a

sustainable transport
to see more vision for the future of
Investigating the supercarriers revealed that not only have they already gone £2bn bikes than cars the fair and the planet.
over their £31bn lifetime budget because of rising construction costs, but a 70% This year’s fair focused
increase in the costs of the US-built F35b planes that they are supposed to carry will
on the roads on Airplot and stopping
put them even further into the red. around the Fair.’ aviation expansion.
A team of 15 volunteers from London supported
The report lands as a growing number of ex-military and ex-foreign and defence
the Waveney Greenpeace network and together
ministers are advocating that these Cold War weapons should be abandoned, on signed over 500 new beneficial owners to Airplot,
strategic and cost grounds. And with Obama leading the charge for a world free of enlisted a substantial amount of new financial
nuclear weapons on the international stage, the opportunities for real action on supporters and engaged countless people in
disarmament are looking brighter than they have since the end of the Cold War. conversation about Greenpeace’s work.
Greenpeace is calling on the government to seize this opportunity and agree to:
• Suspend any further funding of the Trident replacement and aircraft Meanwhile, under the glorious early September
supercarrier programmes. weather, the tea tent did a roaring trade, the main
marquee showcased local bands and the beer tent
• Conduct a full foreign policy and strategic defence review that re-examines the
did both, featuring a wide range of local beers and
rationale for both the supercarrier project and Trident replacement and thoroughly musical acts. The 40+ traders at the fair had a great
examines the implications of climate change for global security issues. day too, selling everything from candles to cakes.

A huge thank you to everyone

involved. Waveney Greenpeace
GET ACTIVE! has become an institution both
locally, following in the
Promote peace and stop the MOD’s spending splurge footsteps of the Albion fairs,
Tell your MP you oppose £billions being wasted on Cold War weapons but also nationally as part of
www.greenpeace.org.uk/say-no-to-trident the Greenpeace calendar.
Read: www.greenpeace.org.uk/itfl Watch: www.greenpeace.org.uk/itfl-video Here’s to the next 20 years!
 TALK TALK

© Greenpeace / Paul Hlton

© Vicki Couchman

Activists dig in a sapling at the Airplot – Richard Cox created the Cox dessert apple around 1825 while cross-pollinating Crew from Greenpeace ship Esperanza take action in
trees in his garden just a mile away from Heathrow airport. the Pacific – home to vulnerable tuna stocks.

Bumper harvest for Airplot support SCOTTISH SKILLSHARE

Open to all – contact Jo
Vicky Wyatt, transport campaign 7 November, Subud Centre, Perth

Activities since Spring have been geared towards leaving all parties in no doubt as to the STREET CAMPAIGNING TRAINING
extent of opposition to a third runway at Heathrow– both from voters and politicians. If you’re new to local activism and want to
campaign effectively on the streets these
Spring: Last April, local councils, residents, Greenpeace and other green groups lodged workshops are just for you
papers in the High Court arguing that the government’s decision to expand Heathrow is 10 October, Nottingham – contact Jo
inconsistent with its commitment to tackling climate change. Last month, the High 18 October, London – contact Richard
Court announced that a judge would hear the case in more detail in the coming months.
SCREENING: A TIME COMES
Ultimately, it could lead to the government withdrawing support for the third runway.
Nick Broomfield’s film about the Kingsnorth
Six, with talks from activists – contact Jo
Summer: The Greenpeace field at Glastonbury festival was given over to 6 October, Duke’s Theatre, Lancaster
demonstrating the impacts of climate chance and airport expansion. Sipson, the village 15 October, Carriageworks, Leeds
that would be destroyed if the third runway at Heathrow goes ahead, was replicated in
real life scale and hundreds of festival-goers signed up to become beneficial owners of
the Airplot. This, and the stalwart efforts of active supporters nationwide has brought We are reviewing Network as a
the total number of beneficial owners to over 55,000. publication, so please email your views
to hannah.davey@greenpeace.org
Autumn: The birthplace of the Cox apple is next door to the Airplot and Sipson, so on
21 November we are planting an orchard on the Airplot. Each tree will be adopted by ACTIVE SUPPORTER NETWORK OVERVIEW
part of the diverse coalition against the third runway – politicians, businesses, scientists Greenpeace’s active supporter network is made up
of network coordinators, local networks and
and residents. Local networks will be inviting their MP to plant an apple tree in their
individual active supporters. Today we have 96
town. Each tree will be twinned with a sapling in Sipson – a symbol of growing network coordinators, 86 networks and 23,374
resistance. By putting down roots we are showing BAA and the government that the active supporters.
massive opposition against Heathrow expansion is here to stay.
CONTACT DETAILS
Winter: You have been meeting MPs and parliamentary candidates to ask them to become getactive@uk.greenpeace.org
beneficial owners of Airplot. So far over 70 MPs and candidates have signed up, but with Rachael King
the general election looming in 2010, we need to keep up the same 020 7865 8174
rachael.king@uk.greenpeace.org
Jo Melzack (Scotland, North England
& Northern Ireland) 0161 448 1929
GET ACTIVE! jo.melzack@uk.greenpeace.org
Malcolm Carroll (West)
Ask your MP to become a beneficial owner of Airplot 020 7865 8172
Visit www.greenpeace.org.uk/airplotmp then tell your local malcolm.carroll@uk.greenpeace.org
network coordinator when you get a response. Richard Martin (South England)
Organise a tree planting event and invite your local MP 020 7865 8178
Ask your local paper to cover the tree planting and opposition to the third runway. richard.martin@uk.greenpeace.org

Canonbury Villas London N1 2PN t 020 7865 8100 f 020 7865 8200 www.greenpeace.org.uk