08
December 2008 - International — People across
the world took to the streets for a Global
Day of Action on Saturday, to tell the governments
meeting in Poznan, Poland for crucial UN
climate negotiations, that the world is
watching them.
Greenpeace volunteers
in 23 countries from Australia to Italy
to Mexico to the Philippines to Turkey to
the US joined or led a series of protests,
demonstrations and outreach events to ensure
that Ministers arriving in Poznan listen
to the will of their citizens, and get serious
about climate action. Here’s a video of
the action day in Poznan itself.
"The world is watching
governments in Poznan" said Mareike
Britten, Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner.
"Saturday’s actions clearly show that
people across the world recognise that it’s
time for governments to get serious about
climate action."
From a flash mob of
people in swimming gear in Amsterdam, to
protests in Red Square, Moscow to banner
messages on Aztec pyramids in Mexico, to
installing solar panels in Thailand, and
giving a solar powered Parol (a Filipino
Christmas lantern) to the Philippine senate,
to a giant postcards reading "Dear
World Leaders, we are ready to save the
climate" in Boston, Chicago, New York
and San Francisco, to a boat protest on
the Ganga River in India, our map below
highlights key Greenpeace activities across
the world.
Take action! The global
day of action is over, but it’s not too
late for you tell your government you are
watching them. Join activists from around
the world by uploading your photo to be
projected at the Poznan meetings.
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Nuclear renaissance
meets reality at UN climate talks
Mickey Mouse power exposed
- 10 December 2008 - Poznan, Poland — The
nuclear industry has had fifty years of
massive subsidies and state help – but has
delivered only unsafe, expensive power,
contamination and waste that will last for
thousands of generations.
In Poznan, over 350
non-governmental organisations including
Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and WWF
told delegates at the UN climate talks that
nuclear power is not a climate solution
but a dangerous distraction from investment
in renewable power and energy efficiency.
Representing millions of members in 48 countries,
the organisations have proclaimed nuclear
power a “Mickey Mouse climate solution”
and delivered a global call to keep it out
of the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development
Mechanism (CDM).
Unable to pass up the
chance of ever more state support and win
more taxpayers’ money, the nuclear industry
is presenting itself as a practical solution
to climate change. One of the privileges
this dirty and dying industry wants now
is to become eligible for support under
Kyoto Treaty mechanisms. If that goes through,
a country such as France could finance the
construction of a reactor in a developing
country by a French firm - giving money
to its own companies and claiming “emission
allowances” for itself so that it doesn’t
have to reduce its own domestic greenhouse
gas emissions.
The proposal to include
nuclear power in the Kyoto Protocol CDM
is currently being discussed at the UN Climate
talks in Poznan These talks coincide with
a run of bad news for the nuclear industry
that makes its claims of clean cheap power
even harder to justify. Following the news
of soaring costs for the European Pressurised
Reactors (EPRs) in France and Finland and
in the estimated budgets for reactors planned
in the US, came the news that South-Africa
– till now seen as one of the most promising
candidates for a so-called nuclear “renaissance”
– is backing off for a while: the planned
French reactors are simply too expensive.
When the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) presented its
pro-nuclear case in Poznan last week, we
were there to confront them with reality.
And the IAEA had no defence other than to
say that things would get better in the
future! This is something that we and our
parents have been hearing for fifty years
now. The IAEA needs to stop dreaming - the
climate will not wait and we need to get
serious about combating climate change.
In order to bring some
facts to the debate, Greenpeace has prepared
a briefing. Together with other NGOs, we
also organised our own official “side event”
in Poznan - a specialised session that exposed
the facts behind the nuclear “renaissance”
smokescreen: nuclear power has been in decline
in recent years, with more reactors being
closed than built; escalating costs combined
with the recent financial crisis are having
a devastating effect on the nuclear industry's
reputation with financial institutions and
bankers. We were delighted to see a crowd
of over 100 press and country delegates
getting detailed facts on the poor performance
of the nuclear industry, something the nuclear
industry has been trying to hide from them.
This side event alone
isn’t going to stop the nuclear lobby trying
to sneak in by the backdoor to get its grubby
hands on climate mitigation funding. But
it’s clear there’s a very depressed mood
in the nuclear industry’s camp, and that
negotiators and press from all over the
whole world are beginning to understand
that the nuclear “renaissance” hype is over.
