Greenpeace leads steady attempt to banish coal into insignificance

Hooray Greenpeace!

http://weblog.greenpeace.org/makingwaves/archives/2007/06/coal_industry_put_on_notice.html

June 25, 2007
Coal industry put on notice
Posted by Andrew at 6:54 PM

The latest Platts International Coal Report ran a story about our work in Asia. Although I wouldn't call the article "favorable", it's always great to see an industry publication covering our work, and they did give fair comment to Greenpeace staff. Plus, you've got to love that headline:

Greenpeace leads steady attempt to banish coal into insignificance

Largely considered a hard-line, fringe group until more than a decade ago, global environmental advocacy group Greenpeace is now looming large over the coal industry, arguing that increasing coal usage is not a cheaper or a strategic option in the long-term even for developing countries in Asia as the fuel becomes increasingly regulated amid a climate change debate.

Greenpeace campaigners and their supporters are veterans at hogging the media spotlight, even as critics dismiss them as a bunch of noisy dullards who have to speed read about climate change science. Greenpeace demonstrators have brandished combative anti-coal banners to protest coal meetings in Asia, occupied helipads of power company headquarters, disrupted annual general meetings of energy firms, and helped to organize tens of thousands of people to halt proposed power projects.

Greenpeace is now part of mainstream consciousness such that even cinema sensation Hugh Grant, in the 2003 movie "About A Boy," acting as a wealthy deadbeat in his mid-30s, pretended to have volunteered for Greenpeace in his attempt to woo his latest target, a single mom (Rachel Weisz) with a 12-year-old son.

In 2005, one of Greenpeace’s three ships, the Rainbow Warrior, whose name the group said was inspired by a North American Indian prophecy which foretells a time when human greed will make the earth sick, blockaded the world’s largest coal harbor, Newcastle, in Australia, the world’s largest coal exporter.

<snip>

Greenpeace is the main reason we still use coal.

Their critics do not regard them as a bunch of noisy dullards. Rather we regard them as uneducated boobs who mumble loudly. They would have to move up a few rungs on the ladder to be noisy dullards.

If the coal industry doesn't already fund Greenpeace, they should.

Really?

I invited Dr Doug Parr of Greenpeace to give a presentation to the UK Met Office a year and a half ago, and he gave an excellent talk on the relationship between science, the media and politics.

That's not to say they get everything right, but on many of their campaigns they're ploughing a lone furrow, and they can rightly point out their successes, which have helped many of the world's environments and animal species a hell of a lot.

I agree with you that they still do good work in many areas but
I was yet another one who left Greenpeace due to their fanatical
opposition to nuclear power.

I joined them largely for their opposition to nuclear weapons
combined with protection for wildlife but their preference for
coal-fired power generation outweighed their benefits for me
so I moved to other nature charities instead.

:shrug:

(Edited to point out that this *was* several years ago and it's
nice to see that they're eventually catching up even if they
haven't yet managed to drop their boat-anchor core belief.)

Note from the opening post they are talking about prophesies. In fact, Greenpeace is a religious organization that thrives on predicting the future. They are uninterested in the present and have a poor understanding of the past.

The fact is that Greenpeace is a force for ignorance in the world. They have no approach to banning coal and after 30 years of ignoring the problem and now, decades late, all they can come up with is prophesy.

If you would like to point me to an example of Greenpeace "science," - and I'm not looking for a bunch of self referential links to their website - but to peer reviewed studies by Greenpeace, do so.

For my money they're consumerist illiterates chanting the religious mantra "renewables will save us." It's pure nonsense.

Now there is a hard-liner if I ever met one. Anyone who wants to actually make a difference to this planet should put their money on Watson and his hardy band of direct action deep ecologists. Greenpeace and the Birkenstock Brigade? Don't make me laugh.

Would love to meet the guy (and his crews).

:woohoo:

Still, at least donations help them with their good work in the meantime.

I have defended them a number of times on DU.
They are also opposed to nuclear power - Hooray!
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Paul+Watson%22+%22nuclear+power%22