environment and ecology – Page 47

Welcome to the Carbon COP

The first week here at the climate talks in Warsaw kicked off with the super typhoon Haiyan hitting the Philippines in a terrible tragedy, brought into the meeting by the country’s lead negotiator Seb Yano, whose fast has been joined by many from civil society. The plight of his people has been a rallying call around the world as we all look at the aftermath of this storm with horror. Is it a direct result of climate change? What we do know is that the sea surface temps were 1.5degC above normal, and that we can expect more intense cyclones as the earth’s temperature warms. But as NCAR’s Kevin Trenberth wrote:

“The answer to the oft-asked question of whether an event is caused by climate change is that it is the wrong question. All weather events are affected by climate change because the environment in which they occur is warmer and moister than it used to be….”

As we’ve been all walking around in circles of the Polish National Stadium, trying to stay sane, looking at the images from the Philippines and the campaigning by their government to get a stronger outcome, it seems several governments have kept their eyes firmly OFF the ball, instead taking the opportunity of the occasion to walk away from their commitments. Continue reading “Welcome to the Carbon COP”

Westward Ho: Day 4 – we wait, and wait…

We are now on Vega and Bunny and I have taken over as co-skippers. Vega is much smaller, older and wooden — a lovely craft but you feel the rolling much more than on Tiama. Fine if you stay up on deck. Very proud to be part of the tradition of peaceful protest on the waves. This is the boat that went to Moruroa in 1973 and helped create the climate of public opinion that stopped French nuclear testing there in 1996. We don’t have 20 years to stop this one.

We got the call at 5.20 this morning. A support boat had left New Plymouth late last night and was about an hour away. We confirmed our position and got ready. Soon we could see it on the horizon – not a graceful vertical line like our sailing boats but a square blob.

Then it turned around and left — back to New Plymouth we assume. A long way to come just to take a look at us over the horizon and run away. We have no idea how far away the Ignoble Bob is but when they get here we will be here.

Another gorgeous day and quiet sea but the time now passes quite slowly. A great morning tea on Baltazar who had made pinwheel cinnamon scones and good coffee where we all speculated on what was happening. Would be nice to have a bird’s eye view. Our radar goes 24 miles, which is enough, but only a dot in the ocean. These social gatherings are tough on the person left behind on each boat. Nothing to tie them up to!

I’ve done a media interview on Radio Live and Bunny has done one with the Waikato Times. We fooled around this afternoon getting the boats in various combinations for great photos — Pascale up the mast again.

If there’s no news tomorrow I probably won’t bother you – but hey, Harry, if you are reading this, it would be nice to hear from you!

Jeanette

Westward Ho: Day 3 – the reception committee

What a welcome. Another smooth night, up at dawn, then reached the spot marked ‘x’ at 8am to find ourselves encircled by a pod of at least ten Right Whales. They came really close, blowing and breaching as whales do and swam alongside us as though escorting us to the spot, then suddenly they weren’t there anymore. You can’t tell when they leave – you just realise they haven’t been to the surface for a while.

What an amazing omen. The guardians of the sea, right on the drill spot, then handing over to us. We all felt the thrill of their wildness, their hugeness, and their vulnerability,despite their grandeur, to the risk of an oil blowout and to the reality of climate change and acid seas damaging their food sources.

No sign yet of the Ignoble Bob.

As the morning went on we watched one after another, five sails appear on the horizon and move towards us – Baltazar, Vega, Ratbag, Friendship, Shearwater II. By the appointed 12 noon we were all on site – not bad for a bunch of small sailing boats over a wide ocean. Henk picked up folk off each boat for a lunch party on Tiama and James cooked up a pasta storm with a sauce of every conceivable vegetable and we all told stories about our various journeys.

Then our adventurous videographer, Pascale, climbed the mast for a few shots of all of us grouped around the “Free the Arctic 30” banner to send them some hope and support from the other side of the world. Different companies, different countries thousands of miles apart, but the same issue, the same oil risks, the same climate, the same planet.

I salute them; their course is so much harder than ours.

Jeanette

Westward Ho: Day 2 – the luxury cruise

What sacrifices, what deprivations we have to suffer to chase away the planet destroyers!

Woke to Mt Taranaki sharp against a clear sky. Breakfast in the sunshine on deck on a near flat sea after a night rocked to sleep by a gentle roll as we motored up the west coast from Wellington. Downside of so little wind was having to burn some fuel but it did give us time to get our sea legs. And the Ignoble Bob Douglas (did I tell you that is the name of the drilling ship? I added the Ig bit for truth enhancement) will be burning enormously more than we ever could.

Last night we picked up Niamh and James from Dunedin just off Mana Island. They had agreed at a few hours’ notice to join us on behalf of their generation, the twenty-somethings, and give us some age balance.They’ve been active in Oil-free Otago which will be the next recipient of Anadarko’s attention, in January – but 35 miles off their coast, compared with 120 miles off Raglan.They have the same concerns, the same issues as us – the potential for devastation of the coast, and the certainty of climate change if this crazy project goes ahead. So now we are seven.

Sipped excellent coffee (I said this is a luxury cruise) and watched a skua, several small albatross and huge flocks of maybe terns (that was the general consensus but none of us are ornithologists) wheeling and feeding as the water boiled with fish. Looking in vain, so far, for whales and dolphins. Tried to banish the mental image of them all spread out on the beach covered with oil.
This afternoon the wind picked up and we’ve had wonderful sailing at 6-7 knots past Cape Egmont and now veering out to sea. We haven’t even lost cell phone link with the mainland yet, but will soon. These sweet conditions may not last, but having been conditioned to expect storms and wet and cold I’m feeling very fortunate.

It feels very like the calm before the storm. We will sail all night and link up tomorrow with the other boats at “the spot marked x”. (You won’t find it on any map.) Then it’s anyone’s guess.

Jeanette

Lip service: NZ government infested with climate denial

Over the last few years I’ve documented the current NZ government’s lackadaisical attitude to climate change policy. They’ve gutted the emissions trading scheme and dismantled sensible initiatives, ensuring that NZ emissions are on course to grow steeply. Last night, TV3 News asked three senior cabinet ministers whether they believed in the reality of climate change, and two of the three couldn’t quite find it in their hearts to endorse simple reality. Here’s my transcription of their responses:

Gerry Brownlee (minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery, Transport, Leader of the House, #3 in the hierarchy):

Well, I think climate change is something that has happened always, so to simply come up and say, look, it’s man-made, is an interesting prospect.

Bill English (deputy PM, finance minister, #2 in the hierarchy):

There’s some impact… [edit] we should uncritically follow the Green’s extreme views about these things, well, many of us don’t.

By way of contrast, climate change minister Tim Groser was unequivocal:

Absolutely, the evidence is overwhelming — you’d have to be denying reality…

Given that I’ve been critical of Groser’s stance on NZ climate policy, it’s refreshing that he feels free to be so blunt in his acceptance of the reality of the problem. He is, after all, a skilled diplomat, and knows that if he were to tell the world that climate change was “an interesting prospect”, his peers in the international community would consider him to be a complete tit. It’s perhaps a good job that English and Brownlee don’t have to front up to the world on climate matters, or their self-esteem might suffer.

Continue reading “Lip service: NZ government infested with climate denial”