Not just not dead - but still inspiring ...

I get very irritated at the apparent need of many activists to worship heros. I don't understand how undemocratic oil man Chavez, say, can be misunderstood by so many as the new grand hope of the Left (though, yes, I'd rather have him than some US drone running Venezuela) ...

But the man on this picture, well, he is my hero and the hero of many I know. His name is Steve Sawyer. Steve has already done more for the planet than most of us can hope to achieve in a lifetime. And such diverse stuff too. He led the evacuation of Rongelap Islanders in 1985; he ensured Greenpeace documented climate change impacts in the Arctic when these were not yet Hollywood material; he played a vital role in getting Antarctica protected; I could go on ...

I met Steve in one of his most frustrating fights - the attempt to get global binding renewable energy targets to be agreed at the World Summit on Sustainable Development. That plan was foiled by Bush and his OPEC allies. But the boom of the renewables industry is happening all the same, and Steve will continue to drive it in his new role as wind energy chief on planet earth.

Last Friday in Amsterdam, a fascinating group of people came together to celebrate almost 30 years of Steve Sawyer at Greenpeace. What united us, I felt, was that we were all inspired by Steve in some way at some point. I, for one, would not have joined Greenpeace in 2004, if that had not meant having Steve as my boss. Seriously. And that even though Steve tells me, that in June 2002 I screamed at him: "I will never work with Greenpeace again". I certainly remember being angry, as things had not gone as planned at a joint NGO protest. But such are NGO friendships and alliances. Trust and respect are often built on the back of disagreements ...

So long may Steve live, sail, play guitar and whinge. And inspire.

Baumfaellung verhindert!

Am Samstag sollten die Baeume am Kanal fallen. Dies wurde verhindert. Durch 50 Leute, die gesagt haben: Nein. Ich war leider nicht in Berlin - aber ich danke meinen Nachbarn!

Dank an Robin Wood - Kein Baum darf fallen!

Super Aktion. Das Wasser- und Schifffahrtsamtes Berlin will Kahlschlag am Landwehrkanal betreiben. Wunderschoene alte Baeume sollen fallen. Gestern hat Robin Wood einen Banner ueber den Kanal gehaengt um den lokalen Widerstand zu unterstuetzen. Als Anwohner, der diesen staedtischen Naherholungsraum liebt und meinen Kiez fuer ein Vorbild zukunftsfaehiger urbaner Struktur haelt, sage ich: DANKE.

Fun, flying and equity

It's ironic, but before I started working for an environmental organization professionally, I was a much better environmentalist. In my private life, that is. Especially in the way I managed to avoid the worst environmental sin any of us commit: flying.

I remember calling in to a BBC Scotland radio show expousing the virtues of travelling between Edinburgh and Germany by train, as I used to do regularly - for some years even exclusively. I argued that it is more fun and that I can't understand anyone that would travel by plane... I think of this often, as I sit bored in some airport lounge ...

I still travel a lot by train - whenever I can I do. I cover distances such as Berlin-Geneva or Berlin-Amsterdam regularly, that many think are way too far to even consider the train. I even travelled to London by train for the first time in ages this April. It was actually quite exciting to use the Eurotunnel again. I was reminded of the hilarious BBC news item on the night when it opened. The presenter managed to look straight into the camera and announce that the tunnel "ends centuries of isolation of the Continent from Britain"... I was also reminded how I got stuck in the tunnel on a nightmarish trip one christmas...

But the reality is: I fly a huge amount. Mainly for work. But not exclusively. I went to an international school. And so keeping in contact with some of my closest friends, does require me to fly. On this blog you will soon see me recounting the joys of backpacking in Canada...

And, yet, the reality is, we all know that there can be no justification for flying. If we are to share the earth resources equitably, we may just about be allowed one long-haul flight a decade. I was reminded of this yesterday, when I was discussing climate change and equity with some university students. They said "the demands of equity are unrealistic", which my gut told me I must argue against. And yet, we all find flying normal. (Even I usually avoid arguing with friends over their own 'flying habit'.) And even I, trying to argue that equity is not a pipe dream, was genuinely surprised when a student told me: "I am 25 and I have not yet been on a long-haul flight." This guy should be my hero. We need way more like him if equity is indeed supposed to be realistic. And yet, even I caught myself thinking: "That's strange" ...

Genuinely depressed I get, when even environmentalist friends tell me, that flying is a "need" that it will be impossible to make people do without. I simply am not willing to accept that. If it is possible, as a society, to convince (most) people not to murder and not to drink and drive - it must be possible for us to reduce our serial killer habit - flying. I therefore applaud my colleagues in the UK, who have decided to not accept that nothing can be done, and are offering people train tickets in exchange for domestic flights.

As so often, George Monbiot is one of the few in the environmental movement who dares to speak truth to power, to us and to himself. So let me end with a passage from his book Heat, which moved me when I read it ... most ironically on the flight back from the World Social Forum in Nairobi this January:

"A 90 per cent cut in carbon emissions means the end of distant foreign holidays, unless you are prepared to take a long time getting there. ... It means that journeys around the world must be reserved for visiting the people you love, and that they will require both slow travel and the saving up of carbon rations. It means the end of shopping trips to New York, parties in Ibiza, second homes in Tuscany, and, most painfully for me, political meetings in Porto Alegre - unless you believe that these activities are worth the sacrifice of the biosphere and the lives of the poor. But I urge you to remember that these provocations affect a tiny proportion of the world's people. The reason they seem so harsh is that this tiny proportion almost certainly includes you."

I have been blogging just not on this site ;-)

I was joking about mostly talking about work on this blog anyway. Well, even worse, I have not been blogging here at all as I have been too busy anoying the G8 and the World Bank - and blogging about it.

So, for now, if you are interested you can read:

- my take on the G8 outcome
- and my take on a document that reveals the real "climate agenda" by George W. Bush ...
- my take on Zoellick, the likely next President of the World Bank
- and on who I would have liked to see at the World Bank instead ...

all on the Greenpeace blog ... Hope it's of interest.

I am now off for a long weekend at the North Sea. I need it.