Greenpeace

How I wish I lived in Cape Town....huh?.....It's windy, smelly, full of Capetonians, bad drivers, snotty waitrons and expensive bistros....oh yeah and when global warming raises the sea level a couple of metres they are absolutely farked...so why do I want to live there....in a word....Esperanza

What type of word is that? Well it's the name of the ship on the 'Defending our Oceans' voyage. The single largest expedition Greenpeace has ever undertaken. Currently she is docked in Cape Town and if you can get there they have time for 40 visitors this Saturday.......<pause of 3 minutes>......sorry I'm back....just been throwing myself on the bed and kicking my legs in frustration at living so far away in Jozi....(Joburg/Johannesburg/eGoli for the uninitiated...and if you still don't know what I'm on about <shrug>)...boy I wanted to meet those guys.

I've been following the voyage on the Ocean Defenders weblog. It has been traumatic and exciting. Since November they have harried, obstructed and generally been a nuisance to the Japanese whaling fleet down in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. They've been sprayed with hoses and rammed by a factory ship.....but they have stuck it out, saved some whales and got the pictures.

How do the Japanese get away with slaughtering 1000 minke whales in a whale sanctuary this season...."Sorry sir this 5000 tonnes of whale meat and blubber in my hold is an unfortunate byproduct of bona fide scientific research". Riiiggggghhht. Greenpeace have been "bearing witness" and taking pictures. What "scientific project" are the Japanese working on "How long it takes a Minke whale to die once being struck by a grenade tipped harpoon". That's sure to get someone a Nobel prize. (Andrew, the webmaster aboard Esperanza, posted on seeing a whale taking 15 minutes to die even after being harpooned, grenaded, shot and hauled out of the water.)

Did you know surplus whale meat is being used as petfood...WHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYY?

After Cape Town Esperanza is off to the West Coast of Africa to expose pirate fishing ships, I am particularly interested it what they witness here. Seems like a double injustice is being done, firstly against the environment and secondly against communities who depend on these resources but who do not have the means to protect them. The UK Department for International Development estimates that the revenue-starved nation of Guinea in West Africa loses US$100 million each year simply from pirate fishing vessels operating in their waters.

Anyway one of Greenpeaces goals is to get 1 million cyberactivists signed up as Ocean Defenders before the completion of their voyage in early 2007. That at least is something I can do from my home in Joburg.

There are pictures, screensavers and even an amusing Greenpeace Valentine card on the site. They also have a list of actions you can get involved in today as a cyberactivist.

Visit the site...sign up...make a link....come back and leave me a comment.... so I can check you did it....and if your still not tired after all that run around the block once.

BTW I think that 1 million can be grossly exceed...there are 28 million blogs on Technorati. Come on guys signup. It easy, painless and doesn't cost any money.

BTWBTW didn't mean to like...you know...shhewww...aggravate the dudes in C-Town...just a bit of poetic license. Sure man I know...like apart from the bad shit you like also have The Mountain, The Wine and the Franschoek Cheese Festival...oh yeah and the Good Sheet.

 

Comments

[MacLord]

Greeting from Portugal.
Nice Blog keep it rolling.

[Big Rich]

All done ... I signed up and figured out how to get the link up and working. Check it out while you look at the Tassie pictures.

[Ang]

done.

[Dave]

Hi Monkey Boy - this is Dave, webbie on the Esperanza for the Pirate Fishing leg of Defending our Oceans. We're currently between Ascension and St. Helena. How are you doing?

Thanks for the magnificient write-up!