TL: GREENPEACE CAMPAIGN UPDATE: SUMMER 1993 SO: Greenpeace Canada (GP) DT: July 1993 Keywords: greenpeace newslettters gp canada digests / CLAYOQUOT SOUND -- NOT CLEAR CUT SOUND! Logging protests heat up as arrests begin Arrests have already begun at the blockades on the access roads into the ancient forests of Clayoquot Sound on Vancouver Island. July 5th marked the first day on the blockades for environmentalists, supported by MPs from Canada and Europe. Dozens more arrests are expected this summer. Yet, protesters are standing firm, intent on preventing clearcut logging in one of the world's largest remaining temperate rainforests. British Columbia's government recently issued a decision giving MacMillan Bloedel and International Forest Products (Interfor) the right to log 74% of the forests in Clayoquot Sound. The move came just weeks after the B.C. government purchased some $50 million in MacMillan Bloedel shares. The road blockade follows an International Day of Action on Canada Day, July 1st. Greenpeace joined environmentalists in 12 countries in a worldwide condemnation of the logging decision. Help save the Sound! If you're concerned, speak out about it. Write to: Mike Harcourt Premier of British Columbia Legislature Buildings Victoria B.C. V8V 1X4 Avoid purchasing all wood and paper products from Clayoquot Sound. And let MacMillan Bloedel know. Send your messages to: Mr. Robert Findlay President MacMillan Bloedel Ltd. 925 West Georgia St. Vancouver, B.C. V6C 3L2 Australian rock band Midnight Oil kicked off the Canadian leg of their '93 tour in mid-July with a show of support for the Clayoquot Sound protest. Before their premiere concert in Victoria, the band members visited with environmentalists on the blockades. Midnight Oil will be touring throughout Canada this summer. Look for Greenpeace displays at their concerts. NAFTA SIDE-LINED Environmental Impacts Lead to US Court Decision The campaign to stop the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) received its biggest boost to date in July. A United States federal court blocked NAFTA's passage until the Clinton administration carries out an Environmental Impact Assessment. The assessment could take anywhere from a few months to years to complete. The U.S. government can still appeal the decision. Cam Duncan, co-ordinator of Greenpeace's NAFTA campaign, praised the court ruling as the first responsible step that's been taken to put environmental protection above the corporate profits that go hand in hand with the deal. NORWAY IS WHALING At the end of their meeting in May, the International Whaling Commission agreed to accept in principle the creation of a whale sanctuary in the Antarctic. However, the move towards protecting whales in the Southern Ocean did nothing to protect those that are being hunted by Norway right now in the Northeast Atlantic. In May, the Norwegian government unveiled plans to kill 296 minke whales in a commercial hunt. Despite Greenpeace's continued efforts to stop the kill, whales are being hunted, harpooned, and sent off to market. Some of the whale meat will likely be exported to Japan and served up as a delicacy food dish. Greenpeace is in the midst of a vigilant campaign to end Norway's whale killing. According to our campaigners in Europe, the Norwegian government and media have been closely tracking the level of international outcry over their country's actions. We're urging anyone and everyone to write to Norway and tell them to stop! Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland P.O. Box 8001 Dep N-0030 Oslo 1 Norway Mr. B. Cristvik Norwegian Ambassador to Canada Royal Bank Centre 90 Sparks Street, Suite 532 Ottawa, Ontario K1P 3B4 Phone: (613) 238-6571 Fax: (613) 238-2765 FISH CRISIS UN Conference to examine global overfishing The collapse of the Atlantic cod fishery threw Canada's east coast into a tailspin -- 20,000 jobs lost and coastal communities in an economic quandary. Yet Atlantic Canada may not be alone: their plight risks being repeated around the world. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Association has reported that EVERY current commercial fish species in the world is either depleted, fully-exploited or over-exploited. "Globally, fish stocks and the fishing industry are either in, or on the brink of, a total crisis," says Catherine Stewart who works on Greenpeace Canada's Fisheries Campaign. "The ecological, economic and social impacts of this crisis could reach unimaginable proportions." Stewart points out that, as is the case in Canada, the roots of this global ecological problem lie in: government mismanagement of fishing quotas; a growing and over zealous fishing industry; large scale fishing technologies; and the complete lack of regulations and monitoring of the high seas fisheries. Greenpeace campaigners in Canada and around the world have been lobbying governments, writing briefs and developing alliances in preparation for a United Nations conference in July that could prove to be the first step towards viable international solutions. The Atlantic cod will certainly be under scrutiny at the UN's Inter-governmental Conference on Highly Migratory Species and Straddling Stocks. The conference has come about largely as a result of the catastrophic consequences of Canadian and foreign overfishing of the Atlantic cod -- a stock which "straddles" the boundary between Canada's economic zone and the high seas. The July conference in New York offers governments the opportunity to take bold action to protect the oceans and all marine species from the devastation of overfishing. And perhaps most importantly, it offers nations the opportunity to commit to reforms and standards for high seas fishing that are binding rather than voluntary. Greenpeace is releasing a new 20 page report at the UN conference. For your copy of It Can't Go On Forever, please send your name, address, and $10 to Greenpeace, 185 Spadina Ave., 6th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5T 2C6. BAN CHLORINE Greenpeace's Chlorine-Free Campaign is mobilizing public support for an important meeting of the International Joint Commission (IJC) this October 21st to 24th in Windsor, Ontario. The IJC is a Canada-U.S. advisory body that recently called for a phase-out of chlorine-based industrial chemicals in the Great Lakes -- chemicals at the root of persistent toxic poisons such as dioxins and furans. The chemical industry will be lobbying hard at the IJC meeting attempting to turn back the clock and silence the call for a chlorine phase-out. Greenpeace and other concerned people who live in the Great Lakes basin plan to be there to counter the industry greenwash. For more information on events at the IJC meeting or to get involved in the campaign, contact: Jay Palter or Yvette Ali at 185 Spadina Ave., 6th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5T 2C6. (416) 345- 8408. A FOSSIL FREE FUTURE This April, Climate Change Campaigner Kevin Jardine moved his office to Alberta. Jardine marked the opening of Greenpeace's Climate Change Campaign Office in Calgary with the release of a new report appropriate for his new home in the oil patch -- Fossil Fuels in a Changing Climate: How to Protect the World's Climate by Ending the Use of Coal, Oil and Gas. Billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, released each year by the burning of fossil fuels, are building up in the atmosphere and gradually changing the Earth's climate -- threatening to cause increased drought, massive forest decline, sea level rise, and more frequent hurricanes. This frightening scenario of climate change prompted Greenpeace to gather a team of scientists and energy modellers to study the future of our current energy path. We found that there is enough renewable energy in the world to:  phase-out nuclear power by 2010;  cut fossil fuel consumption in half by 2030; and  phase out fossil fuels completely by the end of the next century. The study promotes a switch to technologies like solar panels, wind turbines, biomass plants and energy efficient products. When Greenpeace Canada released the study in April, we also sent copies to all of Canada's environment ministers, along with three steps to a cleaner energy future: Cut the billions of dollars in subsidies for dirty energy -- fossil fuel and nuclear industries. Ban inefficient products like gas guzzling cars and inefficient appliances. Reform electric and gas utilities to invest in energy efficiency and renewable energy. For a copy of the study, please send $15 to: Greenpeace Canada, Climate Change Campaign, 223 12th Ave. S.W. Calgary, Alberta T2R 0G9. (403) 261-1630.