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Is there anybody left who wants new coal for the UK?

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I'd love to be a fly on the wall at E.on's HQ at the moment. When the head of the Women's Institute - along with heads of other groups representing four million people in the UK - boards the Rainbow Warrior, signs a declaration, climbs into a Greenpeace inflatable boat, drives up to Kingsnorth coal plant and hand delivers a declaration saying no to new coal to E.on staff, the company must, surely, be sweating it a bit:

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People, politics and passion: 24 hours on the Warrior

Survival suit

Nick, in a survival suit. © Will Rose / Greenpeace

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I'm not sure where to start. In the past 24 hours, I've watched senior advisers to the shadow cabinet take a ride in one of our inflatable boats (wearing Greenpeace-branded dry suits); mopped, swept and wiped all manner of surfaces; talked to artists, designers and film producers about our work and the coal campaign; learned how to coil rope properly; donned a survival suit during safety training (see the picture of Nick, resplendent in similar garb, above); helped to take down a giant banner; eavesdropped on energy policy discussions with advisers at the heart of Labour's government; and cleaned a lot of toilets.

I think I'd better start with the Tories, who visited the Warrior this afternoon. They were here not to have the mickey taken out of them as they got into the inflatable boat ("when we get to parliament, you three unfurl that banner and the rest of you storm past the guards" etc) but to talk about energy policy with our chief scientist, energy campaigners and policy wonks - just as Labour advisers did this morning.

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Message from the Rainbow Warrior: stop coal and kick start clean energy

Kick start clean energy

"Kick start clean energy" written on the side of the Rainbow Warrior in LEDs, with London buildings behind. © Will Rose / Greenpeace

See all Rainbow Warrior tour updates or get them by email.


Captain MikeThe Rainbow Warrior is a ship full of stories; everywhere on the ship there are photographs of the non-violent direct actions Greenpeace has taken over the years, artefacts from our campaigns, painted totems donated by Native Canadian people, pictures drawn by visitors to the boat, and portraits of crew members past and present. And every time you talk to someone who knows the ship and her history intimately, like the captain, you get the chance to hear more.

There's no way I'd have time to pass on all the stories I'm hearing but I am going to try and record a few of them for you, starting with Mike, the Captain (pictured), telling last night's guests the story of the Rainbow Warrior sailing into the Moruroa test zone. It's quite a story - have a listen to this mp3:

But our visitors last night didn't just hear stories from the past. They also got to hear - and see - a good deal about our present campaign: to give coal the boot and kickstart a clean energy revolution.

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Greenpeace podcast: another nuclear consultation was fixed

In this edition of our podcast we bring you far-flung forest news from Indonesia, where Jamie reports from the Esperanza on the 'Forests for Climate' tour, plus another Amazon update from James. But first, closer to home, nuclear campaigner Nathan Argent gives Greenpeace's reaction to the news that the government tried to fix another public consultation on new nuclear power, and ponders the implications for UK energy policy.

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Want to know more about the issues in this podcast?

Another nuclear consultation was fixed »
Nuclear Rhetoric vs reality »
Greenpeace ship in Indonesia to investigate forest destruction »
Greenpeace Forests for Climate blog »
Amazon deforestation »

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Broken promises in Papua New Guinea

Following the recent fun with a timber cargo ship in Papua New Guinea, the Greenpeace team on the Esperanza has sent through some more material which throws the spotlight on what's happening in the country's forests. The video below explains how local communities are being short-changed by logging companies, with things like schools and medical centres promised by these companies simply not materialising:

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Sticky, noisy and remarkable: working in the Amazon jungle

I've just returned from a two week trip to Greenpeace's Amazon office where we were discussing future plans to protect the rainforest. The office is based in a city called Manaus which, despite its position in the heart of the jungle, is far from a provincial backwater - with over two million people the city keeps up a frenetic pace, despite the baking equatorial sun and exhausting levels of humidity.

The job that our campaigners, logistics experts and policy thinkers are doing to protect the Amazon biome is simply inspirational. Many of them have made real sacrifices to work there, moving away from family and friends and the giant cities of Brazil in order to work at the front line of climate and forest protection.

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Greenpeace podcast: Coal gets the boot at Climate Camp

Slightly later than planned (blame summer holidays and technical snaffus) but in the latest edition of our podcast we take a trip to the recent Climate Camp. Somewhere in the region of two thousand people pitched up for ten days in the shadow of Kingsnorth power station in Kent, where plans to build a new coal-fired plant are afoot - with climate change in mind, this is probably not the wisest thing to do.

In between helping with activities like shifting hay bales and washing up, we talked to some of the other people from all over the country to find out what brought them to the camp. We also caught up with Dave Douglas of the National Union of Mineworkers who was there with Arthur Scargill to get involved in the debate, plus we hear from Jim Footner, one of our campaigners working on the issue, to find out why a coal-powered future is unrealistic.

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Jellyfish and chip supper?

Mauve stinger and chips, anyone?

A new report by the Institute of Marine Sciences at the National Research Council in Barcelona links the rapid growth of jellyfish populations throughout the world's oceans to overfishing of their natural predators such as tuna and as a result of global warming.

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Greenpeace podcast: Fish fanatics and pod people

In this edition, Greenpeace goes to a North London pub. For a change. But this time we're there to talk to the pub's owner about her pioneering sustainable seafood menus and how restaurants can influence their suppliers. We also head down to the Greenpeace field at Glastonbury festival to meet the designer of Eco Hab, a new kind of energy efficient home.

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Want to know more about the issues in this podcast?

Seafood See Life
Seafood: what not to buy

Duke of Cambridge, Islington
Eco Hab homes
Greenpeace at Glastonbury

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Greenpeace podcast: The problem with palm oil in Indonesia

In this edition, we about the Indonesian end of our palm oil campaign from Hapsoro, one of our campaigners in Jakarta, and why getting Unilever on our side is a good start but not the whole answer. We also take a trip to the wilds of Middlesex where opposition to Heathrow's third runway is turned into a celebration with bands, costumes and performers to send a resounding 'No' to the government. And we hear from Bruce Nilles of the Sierra Club in the US about how potential changes on the political scene could nip the resurgance of coal in the bud.

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Want to know more about the issues in this podcast?

The problems with palm oil
Unilever, palm oil and the proposed moratorium
Amy Winehouse says 'No, NO, NO!' to a third runway
The Sierra Club: Moving beyond coal