Here’s the text of a speech that Greenpeace International Executive Director Gerd Leipold gave at the Public Eye Award ceremony at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. The Public Eye on Davos grew out of a public demonstration first organised in 1997 to voice opposition to the WEF and denounce the negative effects of globalization.
Tackling dangerous climate change is the biggest challenge facing us all. Fortunately there is an answer to this challenge. Our report: ‘energy [r]evolution’, details how to halve global CO2 emissions by 2050, using existing technology and still providing affordable energy and economic growth. In short - a revolution in energy policy and an evolution in how we use energy.
In Iceland we have discovered an unprecedented amount of the whale meat from the recent hunt has not been used. Even whaling captain Sigurður Njálsson has said the meat is unfit for domestic consumption. 200 tonnes of the meat is in storage with a further 179 tonnes of entrails buried at a landfill site. But despite demand for whale meat plummeting, Japan and Iceland continue to hunt whales.
The spectre of a nuclear war 60 years ago was what created the “doomsday clock,” the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’(BAS) cold war chronometer. The closer the clock to midnight, the closer the world was creeping toward disaster.
These days, the superpower polarisation of the world may be gone, but the threat of nuclear conflict remains. And added to that, a new doomsday force is moving the clock hands: global warming.
The good news is the polar bear is likely to given extra protection under US law. The bad news is its home is disappearing faster than ever. With 2007 predicted to be the warmest year on record it looks like they’ll need all the protection they can get.
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