Week 3: Santa's Naughty & Nice List

The big day is getting closer but some people are acting like they don't want any gifts from Santa this year.  Santa is disappointed with a few people not wanting to play nice in the sandbox. However thoughtfulness is getting others on the Nice List just in the St Nick of time.

The Naughty List

1) Jonathan Pershing, US delegation leader at the Durban Climate Summit - Greenpeace, WWF and Oxfam are all asking the USA to move aside and let the rest of the world move forward if you cannot get with the programme. The USA if fighting for voluntary pledges rather than binding agreements. After eight years of the US denying Climate Change as a issue with President Bush, there were hopes it would be better under Obama. This is yet to seem the case.

2) Matthew Gonshaw - Unfortunately for this poacher Santa doesn't deliver to jails where he will be spending the next six months after being sentenced for snatched hundreds of eggs from the nests of rare birds including ospreys, avocets and golden eagles in the UK. When police raided his London home they found over 700 eggs. This is his forth jail sentence for egg theft.

3) Executive Director, President, and CEO of Paper giant Asia Pulp & Paper (APP)Teguh Ganda Wijaya - promised to move to 100% plantation sourcing of timber for major pulp mills four times several times but has missed their self-imposed deadlines to stop using native forest timber in 2004, 2007 and 2009. Their new dead line is 2015 but Santa is getting impatient considering they are cutting down trees in vital tiger habitat.

The Nice List

1) Nine Greenpeace activists - The Nimble Nine were able to break into a nuclear power plant in risk highlighting the lack of security. This has put the nuclear power debate in France back in the spotlight. This will be a key issue in the next election.

2) Denise and Daniel Villefort - a Malibu couple who have donated $2000 to the reward fund for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the death of a mountain lion in the Santa Monica Mountains. The Malibu City Council had offered $5000. The total is now $18,700 worth of donated funds. The mountain lion in question was a 7-year-old known to the National Park Service researchers as P-15 who had been fitted with a GPS device to research the animal's movements.

3) Clark Bunting, President of the Discovery Channel - Last week he was on the Naughty List but Santa is overjoyed that Discovery has announced that they will now show the finale of Frozen Planet which deals exclusively with the effects of climate change. Santa lives in the Arctic and is affected by Climate Change too!

4) Datuk Sam Mannan, Sabah Forestry Department Director - the department has recently awarded reforestation contracts to four contractors to restore degraded forest areas in North Ulu Segama, within the Ulu Segama-Malua Forest Reserve in Lahad Datu. This means about 800 hectares of land will be replanted with indigenous tree species and wild fruit trees in the next 12 months to ensure the survival of orang utans.

How to get on the Nice List

Buy yourself some real estate - You can buy an area of the Coral Triangle for as low as $US5 and help save the area. See http://mycoraltriangle.wwf.or.id/coralweb/about/saving.aspx for all the details.

Who has been naughty and who has been nice on Santa's List?

With the population reaching seven billion earlier this year Santa has his work cut out for him determining who had been naughty and who had been nice. I am good friends with Santa (click here to listen to our chat a couple of year's ago on Christmas Eve in iTunes) so he has asked me to help. Each week he has asked me to compile a list of who has been naughty and who has been nice and it would be helpful if you could check it for us twice. Of course I am sure Santa will double check it to see if they really deserve a gift on Christmas.

The Naughty List

1) The Pemberton Poacher - Although Santa knows who it is, the Pemberton Wildlife Association is still looking for and have offered a $1,000 reward for the killer of a 317kg grizzly bear who was found shot to death, with body parts missing, in the Pemberton Meadows area near the turnoff to the Hurley Forest Service Road on 17th November. If you have any information you can contact the B.C. Conservation Officer Service on 1-877-952-7277.

2) Lakshmi N. Mittal of Steel industry giant Arcellor-Mittal, Dr. Hans Engel of chemicals industry leader BASF, Dr. Marius Kloppers of mining giant BHP Billiton, Charles G. Koch of the US energy industry’s Koch and Brian Dames of South Africa’s electric utility Eskom – these five individuals are leaders of giant multinational companies who, along with others, literally spend “the equivalent of the GDP of entire nations to block progress on climate legislation and ensure that fossil fuel and nuclear subsidies continue to give unfair advantage to dirty energy, above the safe, clean renewable energy future the public demands.” as according to Greenpeace International executive director Kumi Naidoo and a new report.

3) Vincent de Rivaz, CEO of EDF - The French utility company has been fined €1.5 million for hacking into the computer networks of Greenpeace. Pascal Durieux, EDF's head of nuclear production security in 2006, was handed a three-year sentence with two years suspended and a €10,000 fine (about $13,000) for commissioning the spying.

The Nice List

1) Clement Kwok, The Chief Executive of the Peninsula Hotel Group - The luxurious hotel chain with nine hotels in Asia has taken shark fin soup off all their menus in a bid to help save the depleting numbers of sharks in our oceans. 73 million sharks are currently killed each year for shark fin soup.

Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent

2) Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent - who at a recent talk at the Lory Student Center Grand Ballroom on the CSU campus shared his belief that sustainability is currently the world's greatest issue and that corporate partnerships to promote sustainability, such as Coca-Cola's new deal with Coca Cola need to become the norm.

3) Japanese tuna boat captain Kazuhiro Yamazaki - has designed new fishing gear, called the ‘Yamazaki Double-Weight Branchline,’ which causes hooks to sink deeper into the water, out of site of hungry birds. The new invention reduced seabird bycatch by up to 90% without reducing fishing catches. The invention won the World Wildlife Fund’s 2011 International Smart Gear Competition.

4) Zhang Junming, Guan Jianhong, Li Shiheibu and the other members of a group a "panda seeking" team - they spent five days surveying panda habitat in the mountains of southwest China's Sichuan province, looking for traces of the endangered animals. "This place is known as 'China's Bermuda Triangle,' as several people were reported missing here in the 1960s and 1970s," said Zhou Longlin, deputy chief of the reserve's administration. Although they saw no pandas, they found evidence via droppings and foot prints and concluded 33 pandas reside in the area.

How to get on the Nice List

Join WWF's Living Planet Community at http://community.wwf.ca. It's a great way to get a whole bunch of green living tips and get a true measurement on your reduction green house gas emissions. Feel free to join my group Adam Barralet's Bloody Good Things To Do once you've open your account. I'll put in a good word for you with Santa.

Something New Zealand needs to give a sh*t about

Asia Pulp and Paper, also known as APP and based in Singapore, is one of the largest pulp and paper companies in the world. They produce paper and paper products in Indonesia, China, and India. A visit to their website http://www.asiapulppaper.com/ shows a green forest with sounds of wind blowing and birds singing with a slogan of "We support actions for economic, social and environmental sustainability". The soundtrack is quite soothing actually, I've been chilling out to it for about 45 minutes now. However looking through the rest of their site doesn't bring results as relaxing. Under the "Sustainability & CSR" section you find their sustainability reports. Interestingly the last one for Indonesia is from 2007  and they show none for China or India.

Recent Greenpeace investigations have shown APP to be involved in widespread rainforest clearance in Indonesia. Although APP deny these allegations, forensic testing of their products revealed the presence of mixed hardwood rainforest timber in some products. To see the full story of the investigation, please visit: http://www.greenpeace.org/new-zealand/en/news/blog/barbie-and-the-bog-roll-the-rainforest-connec/blog/37206/. It just so happens that APP owns a popular toilet paper brand called Cottonsoft sold at major New Zealand supermarkets including Progressives and Foodstuffs.

Greenpeace is now campaigning to have Cottonsoft taken off the shelves of the supermarket giants. Since the campaign started The Warehouse (similar to Wal-Mart in the USA) has suspended orders and Foodstuffs have ordered an independent audit of Cottonsoft's supply chain.

You can continue to help Greenpeace put pressure on the supermarkets by visiting this page: http://www.greenpeace.org/new-zealand/en/take-action/Take-action-online/Cotton-Soft/

Check out this video showing the impact of the Endangered Sumatran tigers of which less than 400 still live in these forests. Consider that even if a company is to replant trees later, the act of deforestation disrupts tigers and other wildlife's territories and general wellbeing.

Barbie goes green

Mattel, the toy giant and makers of the Barbie doll range have confirmed they will no longer purchase packaging for their toys. Investigations thanks to Greenpeace discovered that Mattel was using products from Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) who are responsible for deforestation around Indonesia.

Greenpeace led a campaign involving forging a break-up between Ken and Barbie (Ken doesn't date girls who are into deforestation) involving banners and twitter feeds as well as over 500,000 email being sent to Mattel by Greenpeace supporters. Click here to see the story. In response Mattel has now released a global policy that will keep rainforest destruction out of its supply chains. Their policy also involves moving towards using more recycled paper in their packaging and to boost the use of wood products certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

This is great news and proof that petitions, emails and letters do work. Donations to organisations such as Greenpeace also ensure these campaigns have the strength needed to make an impact.

Thank you Greenpeace and Mattel!

You can save penguins wherever you live with an iPhone App

It's funny the little memories that remain with you from childhood. I remember different toys I had, games I played and songs I listened to. One song I remember from my childhood was Don Spencer's "Fairy Penguin Strut". Putting my arms down straight, my hands out flat and shuffling around the lounge room in front of the television.



Penguins are fascinating animals. In my experience not everyone realizes that they are classified as birds. They have feathers, a beak and lay eggs as all birds do. Some species of penguin spend up to 75% of their time in water. Fiordland crested penguins sometimes grow barnacles on their tails, one clear indication that they are at sea for long periods. They are obviously faster in the water than on land they can swim about 24km/h (15mph). They have adapted over time to life in the water as their wings have become flipper like, their feathers are densely packed for insulation. They are one of the few birds to have solid, dense bones. This allows them to overcome buoyancy so they can dive to catch krill, squid and fish.

All penguins live in the Southern Hemisphere in Antarctica, around the coast of South America, South Africa, Galapagos, Southern Australia and New Zealand. Therefore Coke got in wrong in their advert as penguins and polar bears won't meet since polar bears live in the Northern Hemisphere.

Volunteering as a guide at the Toronto Zoo for the last year also assured me that children, as well as adults, today are still fascinated by these cute aquatic birds as I was as a child. In 2011 Toronto Zoo open a 60,000 square feet enclosure with underwater viewing area to house their new 12 African Penguins (also known as Jackass Penguins). African Penguins, like others of the 17 species of penguin,  are endangered. The African Penguin's present population is probably less than 10% of that in 1900, when there was estimated to be about 1.5 million birds on Dassen Island alone. By 1956 the population had fallen to roughly half that in 1900, and had halved again by the late 1970s, when there was an estimated 220,000 adult birds. By the late 1980s the number had dropped to about 194,000 and in the early 1990s there was an estimated 179,000 adult birds. Breeding no longer occurs at 10 localities where it formerly occurred or has been suspected to occur. The good news is that populations are now 19% larger then they would have been if conservation efforts had not started.

Habitat destruction is one of the threats to these African Penguins and if you don't live in South Africa it's easy to feel that there is little you can do. However another major threat to penguin survival is over fishing within the habitat. Over fishing not only affects the African Penguin but also many of the species living in Antarctica. The Circumpolar Sea, what some call the Southern Ocean, has a long history of human over-exploitation. Fur seals, elephant seals, and the great whales were all hunted to the brink of extinction. Now commercial fishing is threatening the penguins and other wildlife in the area. A great documentary was sent to me to preview before it's release a couple of years ago and if you haven't seen it, hunt it down. The 2009 documentary called "End of the Line" follows a group of people around the world exploring exactly the state of fish populations are around the globe as well as the happenings of the fishing industry.



Supporting sustainable fishing is something we can do in every country.

There are different organisations that have released guides to help you recognise fish from populations that are well managed and sustainable and avoid supporting companies that are still over-fishing. You can download the guides or even better, there are applications available for iPhones that are easy to use when out doing your grocery shopping or at a restaurant

While living in Canada and the U.S.A I use the Monterey Bay Aquarium App called Seafood Watch. To find out more visit http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/seafoodwatch.aspx


For Australia, Greenpeace has a great canned tuna guide at http://www.greenpeace.org/australia/en/what-we-do/oceans/Take-action/canned-tuna-guide/
The app I use when home in Australia is the Seafood Guide from Australian Marine Conservation Society. Check out their site for other versions of the guide at http://www.amcs.org.au/




For all other countries click here to have the comprehensive list of available guides for many countries at the WWF Global site.

If you adore penguins as much as I do, then making sustainable seafood choices is one simple action you can take, in every country in the world to ensure their food supplies aren't diminished. That way your children and grandchildren will also get to witness the funny penguin strut.

The Extinction of Fish - The End of The Line

Love Seafood? It may become a pleasure of the past soon. End of the Line is a documentary promoted by Greenpeace outlining how modern fishing techniques are destroying fish stocks around the world.

Click here to listen to the interview with Genevieve Quirk, the Ocean's Campaigner for Greenpeace Australia explain what is happening

Watch the trailer here:



Find out more at http://www.greenpeace.org.au/ and http://www.endoftheline.com/

The HDC keep you updated on Copenhagen

Delegates from around the world as well as scientists, NGO representatives and interested spectators have descended upon Copenhagen as the world attempts to plan how to tackle climate change. The Hump Day Crew keep you updated with our weekly interviews.

Click here to listen to David Hood of Greenpeace discuss the conclusions of the Copenhagen summit.

Click here to listen to what's happening in the first few days of the talks with Jonathan Larkin from the WWF.

Click here to listen to Luke Chamberlain discuss the other aspect of the Copenhagen talks getting less media attention then emissions reductions ie. saving world forests.

Click here to listen to Jonathan Larkin discuss the lead up to the Copenhagen talks.

For further information, please visit http://www.wwf.org/, www.greenpeace.org and http://www.wilderness.org.au/

The True Food Guide 2010

Australia currently has limited labelling laws for genetically engineered (GE) foods. That's where the Truefood Guide comes in handy. The Guide rates food brands and products as Green (GE-free) and Red (may contain GE ingredients).

You can browse or search for brands on the right-hand side. The Guide is also available for download or you can order a convenient wallet-sized hard copy. It's simple to use:

Buy Green. Companies and supermarkets listed as green have implemented policies and procedures throughout their supply chain to actively avoid ingredients derived from GE crops.

Avoid Red. The companies and supermarkets listed in the red section of the guide may have products that contain ingredients derived form GE crops.

Click here to listen to Laura Kelly from Greenpeace discuss the excitement of the new release.

You can download the guide from http://www.truefood.org.au/

Also take time to quickly sign the on-line petition at http://www.truefood.org.au/OurRightToKnow/

Stay posted with all Greenpeace initiatives at http://www.greenpeace.org.au/

Who Gives You Your Wood?

Australians use wood for hundreds of different things. But where does this wood come from? Is your beautiful dining room table the stolen home of an Orang-utan? Is your wood decking responsible for climate change? .

Australia imports products made from timber that is illegally harvested from the Paradise Forests of Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and Solomon Islands. This rampant and unregulated illegal logging is linked to corruption, environmental destruction and loss of livelihood for forest communities.

We now have the ability to make informed decisions when buying wood and knowing where it comes from...in other words, you can choose Good Wood.

Good Wood comes from ethically and ecologically sustainable sources. Buying Good Wood tells companies there is no market for illegal and destructive timber and forces them to act responsibly.

Click here to listen to the interview with Reece Turner - Forests and Whaling Campaigner for Greenpeace Australia.

Take the time to check out the following websites too!

http://www.goodwoodguide.org.au/
AND
http://www.greenpeace.org.au/

Climate Change in 2009

Climate Change was an issue in 2008 and will continue to be one in 2009. Adam Barralet took the time to chat with Greenpeace's Climate and Energy Campaigner, Trish Harrup about what still needs to be done.

Click here to listen to the interview.

For the latest news from Greenpeace, please visit http://www.greenpeace.org.au/

What's So Bad About GM Foods?

Who benefits from GM Foods? It seems only large, genetic engineering companies. Canadian Farmer Ross Murray grew GM canola for four years. He found that it did not live up to industry promises - it cost more to grow and yielded less than conventional canola. The guaranteed weed control worked in the beginning, but later the GM canola became a weed itself, and managing it increased costs and chemical usage.

NSW and Victoria are now growing GE canola for the second year running, and GE canola may be on supermarket shelves this year in the form of canola oil. The big issue for Greenpeace right now is the labelling of GE foods in Australia, and the contamination of GE crops into non-GE crops during harvest. Current food labelling laws do not require oils, highly processed foods and products derived from livestock fed GE feed to be labelled.

Greenpeace is joined by a growing chorus of opponents to GE foods including consumer, health and environment groups, over 170 leading Australian chefs, nutritionists, experts, and over 22,000 Australians who are asking for the labelling of all food containing GE ingredients, and for the proper safety testing of GE food.

What can you do?

1. Sign the current petition calling for adequate labelling of GE foods: www.truefood.org.au/OurRightToKnow

2. Write to their state and federal health minister requesting the government keep its promises and protect public health and consumer choice by introducing, and strictly enforcing, legislation to ensure that:
GM crops are only approved if they are proven to be safe 'beyond reasonable doubt' using evidence from independent, long-term, published studies - measuring indicators relevant to human health.
All GM foods are clearly labelled, including highly processed products such as oils, starches and sugars from GM crops; and meat, milk, cheese and eggs from animals fed GM feed.

3. Shop with the Greenpeace True Food Guide, a guide to shopping GE-free (get a free copy by phoning Greenpeace on 1800 815 151 or download from http://www.truefood.org.au/)Lousie Sales of Greenpeace Australia talks about what's wrong with Genetic Modified Food and why we need to push for improved labelling in Australia.

4. Enjoy this video from the Greenpeace International Website:


Click here to listen to the interview with Louise Sales of Greenpeace, Australia.

You can also find further information at the website www.greenpeace.org/australia/issues/GE and Greenpeace's consumer-focused website for the True Food Network: http://www.truefood.org.au/.

An Update on Whaling from Greenpeace

Japan and it's Whaling Efforts seems to have dropped from the media's attention recently but there is still a lot happening.

Click here to listen to the latest from Greenpeace Whaling and Forests Campaigner Reece Turner.

Find out more about Greenpeace at http://www.greenpeace.org.au/

Genetically Engineered Food

To meet the increasing food needs of a growing world population, science has discovered the technique of genetically modifying plants and crops to enhance crop yield and create superior and stronger varieties of crops and fruits.

The main method is to genetically modify the DNA structure of the crop or plant. These genetically-modified plants are used as medicines and vaccines, foods and food ingredients, feeds, and fibres.

Controversies surrounding GM foods and crops commonly focus on human and environmental safety, labeling and consumer choice, intellectual property rights, ethics, food security, poverty reduction, and environmental conservation.

Click here to listen to the interview with Michelle Sheather of Greenpeace.

For more information, please visit http://www.greenpeace.org.au/

The Violent Killing of Pilot Whales in the Faroe Islands

Below is a statement from Greenpeace's international office regarding the hunting of pilot whales in the Faroe Islands:

"Greenpeace works within the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to strengthen of the IWC's ban on commercial whaling. Unfortunately, the hunting of pilot whales is not yet regulated by the IWC. While Greenpeace doesn't have a specific campaign on pilot whales, we have for many years prioritised our campaign against large-scale Japanese whaling on the high seas. Greenpeace works on all levels to ensure that the IWC will in the future will protect all whales – including small whales, dolphins and porpoises and pilot whales."

Also below is a statement from the Humane Society about the Faroe Islands whale hunt and a contact for the Danish Prime Minister.

Q. Is it true that Denmark hunts pilot whales?

Yes, but the killings occur in the Faroe Islands, an autonomous province of Denmark. Many people have seen the graphic pictures portraying the annual drive hunt of pilot whales in the Faroe Islands.

During these hunts, pods of pilot whales are driven ashore and then brutally killed. About 950 pilot whales are killed every year during the killing season which generally takes place in the summer.

Pilot whale hunting is a part of the cultural heritage of the Faroe Islands and the locals have long depended on the pilot whale meat from these hunts as a source of sustenance. Because of this, most public attempts in the past by groups concerned with the welfare of the animals have only inflamed the situation and pushed the hunt numbers up. However, in recent years, the numbers of pilot whales killed have been in decline.

HSI works closely with the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) who is involved with this issue on a subversive level. Since the pilot whale hunt is conducted mostly for local subsistence reasons, WDCS works to discourage the hunt by showing the problems with eating pilot whale meat.

Scientific studies have shown that dolphin meat is seriously contaminated with PCBs, heavy metals, and other toxins. Pilot whales, being dolphins, are highly contaminated and when pregnant women and young children eat the meat, it can lead to learning disabilities and other health problems.

If you would like to take action against the hunt, you can write to the Faroese government and explain your concerns about the hunt and why you think they should stop it. For example, you could tell them that the hunts are no longer necessary to provide food for islanders and that new studies show that whale and dolphin meat contains toxins that are unsafe to consume.

Also, pilot whales are forced to endure sever physical and psychological suffering as they are brutally killed while members of their social groups bear witness. Additionally, the hunts tarnish the Faroe Islands' international image and discourage tourists from visiting.

Faroese Government Contact information:

Prime Minister's Office
Løgmansskrivstovan
Tinganes
P.O.Box 64
FO- 110 Tórshavn
Tel: +298 351010
Fax: +298 351015
E-mail: info@tinganes.fo

To find out more information, please visit:
www.earthfirst.com
and
www.animalcampaigns.com