25
March 2008 - Lyttelton, New Zealand — Today
the Rainbow Warrior blocked a shipment of
export coal from leaving the Port of Lyttelton,
New Zealand.
For several hours today,
the Rainbow Warrior blocked a shipment of
export coal from leaving the Port of Lyttelton,
New Zealand.
Just as the coal ship
- Hellenic Sea - was due to depart, the
captain of the Rainbow Warrior moved our
ship into position and set two anchors –
effectively blocking the larger ship in.
Police arrived quickly
and boarded the Rainbow Warrior, but three
activists managed to slip over the side
into a waiting boat and speed over to the
Helenic Sea. Once there they climbed onto
the hull, attached themselves to the ship
and deployed a banner reading: Target Climate
Change.
Double standards
When fully loaded the
Hellenic Sea would carry up to 60 thousand
tonnes of export coal mined on the West
Coast by state owned enterprise Solid Energy.
At the same time as
the New Zealand Government is so eagerly
trying to show the world that it is serious
about addressing climate change, it is allowing
Solid Energy to proceed with an aggressive
expansion of both coal mining and exportation.
While it trades on New
Zealand’s clean green credentials the country's
Government is making millions of dollars
from Solid Energy peddling coal on the world
market - quite literally stoking the fires
of climate change.
The New Zealand Government
has put some commendable climate policies
in place, such as a renewable electricity
target, but the good of this is undone if
we're still making millions of dollars exporting
the problem to others.
What's the harm?
Also today, Greenpeace
India published a report showing 125 million
people in India and Bangladesh alone could
be displaced if global temperatures rise
between 4-5°C.
The report was commissioned
by Greenpeace and co-authored by Dr. Sudhir
Chella Rajan, professor of Humanities and
Social Sciences at IIT Madras. Effects of
climate change in the region are expected
to include rising sea levels, droughts associated
with shrinking water supplies and changes
to the monsoon season.
“This is a reality in
my lifetime. I don’t want to see the day
I lose my home to the sea, and saline deserts
where people have live without clean water,"
said Mohon Kumar Mondol, executive director
of the Bangladesh organization LEDARS. “It
can be prevented and we are the last generation
that can stop it, governments across the
world have no choice but to stop this nightmare
from becoming reality.”
In a week, world governments
will meet in Bangkok, Thailand, for another
round of climate change talks.
