Downtown Sacramento with 100 mile visibility behind to the Sierras panoramic  Tower Plaza construction cranes on J Street  Tower Plaza construction cranes on J Street Tower Plaza construction crane and foundation work Tower Plaza construction crane and Golden 1 Center. Tower Plaza construction cranes on J Street Golden 1 Center Construction off 5th Street Tower
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As 2015 draws to a close, we reflect back on some of the people powered moments that pulled our heart strings, filled us with passion or simply inspired us.

Here are a few of them, from Greenpeace and beyond...

1. Imagine if we all did this just a few times a year

Tommy Klein cleaned up a heavily polluted waterfront on his way to work in a week of half hours. He filled up one garbage bag at a time until the work was done.

2. Can you help make your country next?

It caused a mini meltdown in England when it was introduced spawning countless hilarious tweets. But many countries and cities, including Hawaii, Rwanda, and Montreal, have started to ban plastic bags. Do you think your country could be next?

3. "The biggest environmental crime of the 21st century"

It's been labelled so many names by news reports: from a "crime against humanity" to the "greatest environmental disaster this century".

Indonesia's forest fire crisis has affected several neighbouring countries, from Singapore to Thailand and as far away as the Philippines.

There have been 500,000 reported cases of acute respiratory tract infections since 1 July… and up to a third of the world's orangutan habitat has been threatened with destruction.

Since 2007, Greenpeace Indonesia has been building dams in peatland canals to restore the dried-out wetlands and prevent future fires. 

4. I am his hands. He is my eyes

Jia Haixia and Jia Wenqi are two 53-year-old men from China who have faced incredible challenges in their lives. Haixia is blind and Wenqi lost both of his arms.

Together, the pair have managed to plant over 10,000 trees over the past 10 years.

5. This story broke our hearts, not just the internet

Captured in July 2012 at Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, park ranger Patrick Karabaranga was seen consoling a mountain gorilla whose mother was killed by poachers.

6. Because to change everything, we need everyone

The most beautiful thing about this movement is that different individuals are taking spontaneous action as they see fit.

This moment leads us to one of the biggest victories this year...

7. Goodbye Shell! The Arctic won't miss you

In an extraordinary display of people power, Shell succumbed to global pressure and pulled out of Arctic drilling after spending more than US$6 billion over three years.

Give a big WHOOP! This moment is for the 7 million people worldwide who've stood in defence of the Arctic, the polar bears, the whales and the walruses.

8. I am woman. Hear me roar

From Sri Lanka to South Africa, women are on the front lines leading fight in the poaching wars.

9. Demanding justice

In November 2015, two mining dams collapsed in Mariana, in Minas Gerais state, Brazil. This environmental disaster is the one of the worst in Brazil's history.

River Doce, the largest in the southeast region, is at risk of death. Thousands homes are destroyed and lives were lost.

Greenpeace aims to expose the disaster's impact on the environment and demand justice!

10. Leaving nature to do what it does best

An abandoned fishing village in Shengshi was reclaimed by nature and the result is stunning.

11. It's only the beginning, not the finish line...

As the final details of the Paris climate agreement were being hashed out, Greenpeace France activists used eco-paint to create a shining sun around the Arc de Triomphe.

It always seems impossible until it's done and we're not done yet. We, the people, have the power to change the world!

Join the movement here.

Stefanus Wongsodiredjo is a Content Editor at the Asia Pacific Communications Hub.

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It may have been the warmest year on record, but one thing’s for sure: 2015 signalled hope and change for the enviro-movement.

Here are 9 things you helped happen in 2015.

A large scale message made by hundreds of people during the COP21 climate summit

1. You helped accelerate the end of coal!

From the tiny village in Turkey that took on a “land grab” by a major power plant; to BOTH sides of the Norwegian parliament agreeing to divest from coal, the big ol’ black rock had a pretty terrible year.

In Australia, approval of a major coal project that planned to be right on the doorstep of the Great Barrier Reef was overturned by the Federal Court. This was followed by major banks pulling out their investment leaving Adani, the company behind the mine, in a major ditch. But the fight isn’t over - Adani has been persistent - and the power and passion to protect the Reef will continue to grow.

Over 145,000 have signed the petition to #SavetheReef, that led to major banks pulling out of investing in a coal project that would have endangered Australia’s rich marine life and made serious carbon emissions. 

2. You joined Greenpeace activists to say #ShellNo!

Slacktivism is lazy right? WRONG!

When 13 Greenpeace USA activists suspended from St. Johns Bridge in Portland to block a Shell vessel from leaving port for Alaskan waters, you supported them with your Tweet love, Facebook shares, petition signing, and all the encouraging messages that poured into our inbox. Because of your support, the ship was forced to turn back to port temporarily.

13 climbers vs 1 giant ship. But in the end #PeopleVsShell won!

In the UK, Aurora our giant polar bear was erected outside Shell’s headquarters and refused to move until they agreed to pull out of drilling in Arctic. And then…they did!

Actor Emma Thompson and Greenpeace activists with Aurora, the polar bear. In September, Shell quit drilling in the Arctic.

3. You saved the little guys…

…like the vaquitas. These rare species of porpoise are on the cusp of becoming extinct due to them being caught up in nets intended for another endangered fish - the totoaba.

But 100,000 of you stood up and demanded the vaquitas be protected. USA and China agreed to tackle the smuggling of the totoaba fish, and Hong Kong fined the operators of two dried seafood shops that sell bladders of the endangered fish.

These totoaba bladders can fetch up to USD 645,000. But you’ve helped pressure governments to end trafficking this product. 

Mexico announced a temporary ban on fishing nets in the vaquita habitat. Though the rare marine mammals need more protection from all countries involved, we’re closer than ever to protecting them.

Only 57 vaquita are left in the world. Thanks for helping protect them. 

4. …and the big guys too.

Indonesia’s forest fires have been labelled a “crime against humanity”, driven by companies clearing land for palm oil and endangering the lives of the orangutan.

But hundreds of thousands of you took action to force major brands including Nestlé, Unilever, P&G and Mattel to cease buying the products linked to deforestation. As a result, Indonesian paper giant APRIL this year agreed to stop pulping the rainforest.

Thanks for help protecting the home of the orangutan!

As the fires continued throughout the year, you also helped us pressure President Jokowi to stop the fires for good, and we delivered over 250,000 of your messages to the man himself.

At the COP21 climate talks in Paris we handed over a petition signed by 253,800 people around the world to halt forest and peatland destruction. Thank you!

5. You lent a small hand in a big fight

Russia also suffered from fires and land clearing, and your support helped us send firefighters out there to battle the blazes.

In November, the Russian government banned the burning of dry grass on agricultural land and conservation areas.

Stopping dry grass fire took 6 years, and this year it finally happened!

In the Amazon, you stood with the Ka’apor indigenous community by working with  them to monitor and protect their lands from the invasion of illegal loggers.

Also called “forest dwellers” the home of the Ka’apor has been strengthened by technology to document the invasion of logging trucks inside their territory. Here, a trap camera is being set up to monitor the indigenous territory in areas used by illegal loggers. 

And in India, a disputed forest block that was up for auction was given back to the community after years of campaigning by Greenpeace India!

6. You said NO to cheap throwaway clothing

Major retailers like Aldi, Lidl and Tchibo listened to your demands for a toxic-free world and committed to eliminate all hazardous chemicals from their textile products by January 1st, 2020.

Thanks for helping to build the #detox movement

7. You pressured Internet giants to go renewable

If the Internet were a country it would be the 6th largest power consumer. We’ve pressured Google, Apple, and Facebook to go renewable, and in June Korean Internet giant Naver committed to 100% renewable energy.

Almost everything is online these days. That’s why we need to pressure data centres like, this one in North Virginia to be powered by renewables.

8. You scared off fossil fuel companies

It’s time for climate justice! This year, we supported island nation Kiribati to call for a moratorium on all new coal mines.

During the Paris climate talks, the Philippines Commission on Human Rights announced it will investigate major polluters like Exxon, following a global people powered petition, gathering over 100,000 signatures.

The Philippines launched the world’s first ever national human rights investigation into 50 big polluters.

And in the US, a fight that had been raging on for years finally came to an end when expansion of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the United States was flat-out rejected by President Obama. Yes, people power won!

9. You cared about changing the out-of-control tuna industry

The world’s tuna stocks are decreasing, fuelled by an industry using slavery and aggressive fishing methods to clear out the ocean. Greenpeace ships have been out in the sea keeping an eye on the practices of the tuna industry; and in China we exposed and stopped the dodgy actions of a company that was trying to raise millions of dollars to fish for some of the most vulnerable species in the Pacific.

Slavery and overfishing - the tuna industry is out of control, but your consumer choice and voice is helping to change that.

World leaders are paying attention to the threat of climate change, renewables are on the up, and around the world the environmental movement is strengthening. There’s a global shift happening, and YOU are at the centre of it!

Bring on 2016!

Shuk-Wah Chung is a Content Editor at Greenpeace East Asia. Follow her on Twitter @shookiewah

Want to help make 2016 an even better year for the world we live in? Join us! 

 

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Since the Tianjin accident, workers have been laying out fresh turf next to the centre of the blast site. There are plans to build a 43 hectare harbour eco-park, as well as a primary school, kindergarten and other public amenities.

Just before midnight on August 12 2015, two chemical blasts ripped through Tianjin, a major port city in northeastern China, about two hours away from the capital Beijing. So powerful were the explosions they could be seen from space, and terrifying footage of the accident was circulated around the world.  203 people lost their lives that night and thousands more were left homeless, injured, shocked and afraid.

Triggered by a concoction of flammable chemicals that ignited at a warehouse run by Ruihai Logistics Warehouse, the impact was equivalent to detonating up to 20 tonnes of TNT, blasting windows out of frames and flattening rows upon rows of shipping containers.

People living in residential compounds, Harbour City and Qihang Jia Park - both around 300m from the blast site - had no idea that they were living under the shadow of a ticking time bomb. Despite pressure from media and the public, the investigation report of the Tianjin chemical accident still hasn’t been released, and neither have full details of the safety assessment of the Ruihai Logistics Warehouse.

All across China, there are facilities just like the Ruihai warehouse, housing dangerous chemicals in residential areas. This means that right now there are more ticking time bombs, located next to schools, homes and office buildings, that could go off any time.

Two months after the explosion, the people whose homes were destroyed that night are still struggling to piece their lives back together. Greenpeace East Asia, Beijing spoke to five families about how the experience has changed them, and their hopes and concerns for the future.

“I thought it was the end of the world”

Qing Ying was asleep when the blast shook her apartment, sending shards of glass from shattered windows into her thigh.

By the time the second explosion occurred she had already grabbed her son and bolted out of the building. Due to her injuries she could barely walk, but her son forced her to keep going. As soon as she got outside, her neighbour helped her find a car amongst all the chaos and took her to the hospital.

“For me, the most precious thing were the relationships between neighbours. It’s unusual to find such a close-knit community nowadays, but we had that,” recalls Qing Ying.

“I was so happy to finally have a place to call home. I never expected that after two years it would be completely destroyed.”

Chen Qiang and Fang Li moved into their new apartment in 2013, a prized possession after working hard to save and borrow money to make a purchase together.

Fang li and their daughter were out of town on the night of the explosion, but Chen Qiang was home. Glass from his window pierced his left eye when the first explosion happened. By the time his wife arrived at the hospital his eye had already been removed.

 “Everyone is slowly forgetting about what happened...but we can’t.”

Chen Qiang and Fang Li are now facing a future of uncertainty. They have moved closer to the city center to make it more convenient for Fang Li to get to work, as she now shoulders more of the responsibility for providing for the family.

Even now, Chen Qiang doesn’t feel safe. “It happened once, so it could happen again.”

“If anyone had known that the container yard stored hazardous chemicals, we would have acted to change that.”

Song was at a conference in nearby Tanggu district on the night of the explosion, but his father was staying at his house. When Song heard about the explosion he rushed home to find his father, who fortunately was fine apart from a few cuts and bruises. 

“I used to worry about small things. If I went away for a trip I would think, ‘who will look after my plants while I’m away?’ Now there’s nothing to take care of.”

Like any first-home buyer, Song did thorough research before buying the apartment. When the building was under construction, he made sure to investigate the structural safety of the building. “I checked and double checked. I thought this place was safe.”  

 He knew there was a storage area close to the apartment building but he had no idea it was used to store enormous quantities of dangerous chemicals. “If anyone had known that the container yard stored hazardous chemicals, we would have acted to change that.”

“The doors and locks are gone, but it’s a symbol of trust.” 

“Just when we had started a family, settled down and were ready to have a future, the explosion happened.”

 Baozi’s family moved into Harbour City in April 2013. Under his roof lived three generations - his parents, him and his wife, and their child.

“It was such a lively neighbourhood before the explosion. There were a lot of young families here - at night teenagers would play basketball, elderly people would dance in the square and there was a place for the kids to play.”

Now, the once bustling community is like a ghost town.

Baozi showed us his neighbours’ keys that he kept as a memento of his lost neighbourhood.

“The keys are useless now, because the doors and locks are gone, but it’s a symbol of trust.”

Many of his neighbours had scrimped, saved and sacrificed to build a life in this place.

“We have friends who used up their parents’ entire savings to move here. Some couldn’t afford any furniture when they first moved in. They just arrived with a mattress and slowly purchased the things they needed one by one.”

“All of a sudden you can lose your child or your home.”

The Chen family had only been living in Harbour City for three months before the explosion happened. On that night they went to bed early, but were suddenly woken by the first blast. Glass from the windows imploded, falling on 14-year old Xiaofeng. His back and legs are now covered in scars.

As Xiaofeng ran from the building, he saw a young woman on the phone to her husband.

“We don’t have a home anymore!” she cried.

Since the explosion, Xiaofeng’s parents now think differently about life and expectations of their son.

“Being alive is the most important thing. All of a sudden you can lose your child or your home. The government can rebuild our houses, but they can’t return a life that’s lost.”

Qian Cheng is Assistant Campaign Manager for Greenpeace East Asia's Toxics Campaign

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Dear Friends,

As I look out my window here in Amsterdam, winter is nearly here, and with it comes the retreat of another year, and the passing of what has been to make way for the spring and the new. As the days get shorter and the weather colder, I'm thinking ahead to days of renewal and new beginnings.

As many of you know, I'm soon moving on from my post as Executive Director of Greenpeace International. I don't think of it as leaving Greenpeace, however. I think of it as exchanging my lofty title for a far more powerful one: that of a Greenpeace Volunteer. It's been an amazing journey with all of you, and I've loved every minute of challenge, every day of struggle, every week of progress, every month of triumph, every year we've been building a better world together.

It's hugely gratifying to be able to depart knowing the Paris climate agreement unanimously signalled the end of the era of fossil fuels by 2050. As imperfect as the agreement may be in how we get there, it marks a stark contrast and a huge advance over my first days with Greenpeace at the Copenhagen climate summit, and it gives me some small notion of closure: the world has taken an important step down a very long and difficult road, but the journey has now unquestionably begun.

Greenpeace had me stepping out of my comfort zone many times. And that, of course, is the place where you learn the most about yourself, when you stand at that line between courage and fear, weighing personal risk against what you believe to be right. I've spoken to so many of you who have had the same experience. People who spoke out, or stood up, who volunteered or took some small step or giant leap for the sake of a better future. So often those steps and leaps take us beyond what we thought we'd ever do – either because we were inspired, or angered, or feeling a bond of unity with others. If anything Greenpeace has ever done has catalysed one of those moments, we're doing our job. We're setting off a chain reaction of contagious courage.

For me, a series of ever escalating life choices eventually led me to a moment I will always cherish from my time at Greenpeace: the boarding of an oil rig in the Arctic, having an icy water cannon trained on me as I struggled to climb a ladder to oppose the absurdity of Arctic oil drilling. Experiences like that change you. And by “like that” I don't necessarily mean that extreme form of activism: I mean any action that disrupts your sense of self or your idea of who you are and puts it in a larger context of the human journey and the future of our world. It resets your notion of what you're capable of. And in so doing resets your notion of what humanity is capable of. And in so doing redefines your sense of what's possible.

I came to Greenpeace wanting to break the dichotomy between the environment and development. I knew, rationally, that there is a link between addressing poverty and human rights and addressing environmental injustice and climate injustice. But my time with Greenpeace drove this awareness deeper into my heart. Once you see it, you can't stop seeing it. From the woman who can no longer fish the African coasts for her family because European factory trawlers have emptied her seas, to the child in India choking on ash and coal dust in a village pillaged by the coal industry, to the infant breathing in toxic fumes in an electronic waste dump in China while his mother sets fire to a circuit board to scavenge components, to the devastated family living in a cardboard box after their home was destroyed by typhoon Hagupit in the Philippines: the people who pay the highest price for overconsumption and pollution are those who see the least benefit.

Greenpeace strengthened my belief in the power of nonviolent direct action and my conviction that civil disobedience is essential to addressing this core injustice, to bringing about a truly transformational change not only in the way we feed and fuel our world, but in how we think about wealth, growth, and value – how we reinvent the future in the face of what Naomi Klein has described as an incredible opportunity disguised as a crisis.

In the six years I've been with Greenpeace, we've secured so many victories – from Shell's decision to abandon Arctic Drilling to Italian energy giant ENEL's turning its back on fossil fuels. From dozens of major retailers agreeing to Detox their clothing lines to agreements with major deforesters to end peatland destruction in Indonesia. From Facebook's agreement to friend renewable energy to new Marine Reserves that have increased the size of our protected waters. But these are but small contributions to the vast changes that a far wider movement is driving – from the unprecedented court decision in the Netherlands that the government is negligent of its duty to protect its people if it doesn't cut CO2 by 25% by 2020 – driven by tiny NGO Urgenda – to Elon Musk's decision to open source the design of the Tesla electric car and the PowerWall smart battery, to crowdfunding campaigns for oceans plastic cleanup and prototype solar roadways to new models in the sharing economy to The Guardian's coal divestment campaign. I have found myself on podium after podium speaking from the same agenda of climate urgency as Sharan Burrow, the head of the global trade union movement. I leapt from my chair in celebration after reading the Pope's recent encyclical on stewardship over the Earth. From every category of human endeavour, from every continent, we're witnessing an awakening – an unprecedented conspiracy of courage and commitment to change.

To my successor I leave unfinished business and great challenges. The organisation is still licking its wounds from setbacks that have occurred on my watch – times when we have failed to live up to the values we champion. And while we can never promise to stop falling short of our own standards and expectations, we can commit to learning from those failures. They make us stronger.

My greatest hope is that my successor will continue the unfinished journey of ensuring that Greenpeace becomes more truly global and diverse, more open, better able to unleash the energy and creativity of our supporters and volunteers, more articulate about what we stand for and the solutions we champion, more cooperative in working with movement partners and using our reach to lift up the work of others, more willing to dare to risk – and achieve – the impossible.

As for me, I'm returning to one of the most beautiful places I know in Africa, Rustlers Valley in the Free State, South Africa near the border with Lesotho. There I will continue to work with the EarthRise Trust that is developing an activist school, ecological farming projects, educational development, and economic empowerment programmes. I'll be working alongside Greenpeace in the struggle against nuclear power and to reform the rules of the financial world to stop the flow of money toward projects which are holding back a more beautiful, sustainable, and equitable future for all humanity.

My friends, I leave you with a final thought. As you look around you, remember what the history of the human journey teaches us. The greatest struggle we face is not inventing clean technologies or fundamentally changing the way we produce value or measure growth: these are small challenges compared with how we have changed the world and our own civilization over the course of the few centuries that we've risen up. I refuse to believe that the pace of change for survival will be slower than the pace of change for profit. In times of war, in times of threat to our families or nations we've found unforeseen strength, and we've done impossible things.

But there's an essential ingredient. Without it, the burst of efforts and evidence of change that we see today will remain too little, too late.

That ingredient is hope. It's the belief that change is possible. I saw with my own eyes what happened to the struggle against Apartheid in South Africa once people in large numbers came to believe change was possible. I look around today, and I see more and more evidence that we can beat the worst ravages of climate change. It will take fast action. It will take courage like we have never witnessed on a global scale before – from banks, from corporations, from artists, governments, religious and labour leaders, the charity sector, the billionaires, and from every one of us. Every time the world takes a step forward, be it Apple powering all of its data centres on renewable energy, be it Obama saying no to Arctic oil, be it your university's decision to divest from coal, your neighbor's decision to grow their own vegetables, your parent's decision to volunteer for a cause, or your colleague's decision to eat less meat – whenever anyone makes a contribution to building that better world we know in our hearts it is possible, we have a duty. A duty to share. To tell the world. To make that courage contagious. Make it a norm. Make it an expectation that this is how the world works. Belief requires evidence, and the stories we tell one another evidence our beliefs: some stories propel us forward. Others hold us back. We can believe that change is impossible, or too expensive, or naive, and consign the fate of this earth to death by business as usual. Or we can fight back. We can stand up and say that a better world is not only possible, it's being built right now, by the individual and collective acts of courage of every one of us.

To all of you reading this, to all my colleagues at Greenpeace, to all of us working for a better world, thank you for letting me be a part of your journey. I wish you strength. I wish you happiness. I wish you courage.

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Video provided by the Missionary Council for Indigenous Peoples (CIMI) of Maranhão

The footage is shaky, but what's happening is clear: a group of women—one with a child on her back—is fighting to put out advancing flames on the forest floor.

This is the life of many Indigenous Peoples who live in Maranhão state Indigenous Lands in Brazil. Indigenous Lands are theoretically protected areas of Amazon rainforest, but local reports indicate that many Indigenous Lands are surrounded by forest fires like the one in the video. In the village of Awá in the Caru Indigenous Land, for example, forest fires are burning within 30 minutes of houses.

And according to Indigenous leaders in the region, the fire is a criminal act, perpetrated by illegal loggers and land grabbers.

This behavior is not new—I wrote about a similar round of fires on Indigenous Lands just weeks ago—but the Brazilian government continues to do little to help Indigenous People fight off the flames, with serious consequences for the residents of the forest.

Fire and hunger

As the government fails to act, hunger is growing in the affected communities.

The Awá people of Maranhão state live exclusively from the forest; their survival depends on hunting and gathering. But the fires are keeping residents from being able to feed their families. Flames surround rivers and areas where fruit is collected. Due to the location of fires in the center of their Indigenous Land, the Awá believe that places where more isolated groups of Awá go for gathering may have already been entirely burned. (Because these groups live in isolation, the specific details remain unknown.)

The situation is so desperate that the Awá and Guajajara people of Maranhão state have begun fighting fires on their own. But as they spend more time fighting flames like the women in the video, they have less time for hunting and searching for food.

“The children ask for meat when we return from fighting the fire. I tell them, we have none, just fire,” said one community member. 

Map shows hot spots on Indigenous Lands of Maranhão in early December. According to INPE (National Institute for Space Research),  between 1 and 15 December there were 2412 hot spots in Arariboia, 1116 in Alto Turiaçu, 302 in Caru and 225 in the Awá Indigenous Land.

When help isn't on the way

According to information from the Missionary Council for Indigenous Peoples (CIMI) of Maranhão from last week, there are roughly 100 Guajajara and 30 Awá fighting the fires and only 45 Prevfogo fire brigade members (the national agency responsible for fighting forest fires).

If the fire is not controlled quickly, this area is likely to suffer the same fate as the Arariboia Indigenous Land, which burned unchecked for two months, destroying 45% of its forests. The Indigenous Lands of Maranhão state—Arariboia, Alto Turiaçu, Awá and now Caru—continue to burn without any effective action from the federal government.

What is happening in Maranhão is a result of the lack of an effective policy to protect Indigenous Lands in Brazil. More firefighters is a good place to start. But the federal government also needs to truly protect indigenous lands: by enforcing restrictions on logging, stopping invasions into the land and monitoring for  forest fires.

What little is left of the Amazon rainforest in Maranhão lies in Indigenous Lands and protected areas like Rebio do Gurupi, which is also on fire. The people and the forest need protection. Please share their story and help pressure the government of Brazil to step up for the Indigenous Peoples of Maranhão state.

Luana Lila is an Amazon Communications Officer at Greenpeace Brazil 

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Washington, DC, 14 December 2015 - An Associated Press investigation released today found that Thai Union, owner of Chicken of the Sea in the U.S., has again been connected to forced labour and horrific working conditions in Thailand. The investigation, which took place last month, followed trucks transporting shrimp from the Gig Peeling Factory to major Thai exporting companies, and then tracked where the product ended up globally.
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Paris, 12 December, 2015 — Reacting to the Paris Agreement at the conclusion of COP21, Greenpeace International executive director Kumi Naidoo said:
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Paris, 12 December 2015 - Commenting on the publication of a new, possibly final, deal at the UN climate talks in Paris, Greenpeace International Executive Director Kumi Naidoo said:
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Paris, 11 December 2015 - As the Paris climate conference enters the closing stretch, thirty climate change campaigners have taken to the top of the Arc de Triomphe to push for a renewable energy future. On the traffic circle and the streets around the Arc, dozens more activists are painting the roads yellow to create the image of a huge shining sun.
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Manila, 11 December 2015 - The Supreme Court of the Philippines has ordered a permanent ban on field trials of genetically engineered (GE) eggplant and a temporary halt on approving applications for the “contained use, import, commercialisation and propagation” of GE crops, including the import of GE products.
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Paris, 10 December 2015 - Commenting on the publication at COP21 of a new draft deal, Martin Kaiser, head of international climate politics at Greenpeace, said:
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From the brink of disaster to a solution in the making
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Good news! It's getting a little easier to find clothes produced by environmentally conscious discounters. Our German office did the research and announced which supermarket chains are "Detox Trendsetters" and who made the "Detox Losers" list.

(Don't worry, if you're on the run you can just scroll down to see which companies are making the grade and who fell far short of our Detox goals.)

Affordable clothes can also be clean – that's now proven by several large international retailers like Aldi and Lidl. Thanks to pressure by the Greenpeace Detox campaign these major retailers are in the process of banning extremely harmful chemicals from textile production, publishing discharge data, and starting recycling programs. They are tightly following their Detox commitments to clean up production by 2020. Now it's time for premium supermarkets like Edeka to join the Detox trend.

We are also happy to announce that supermarket chain Kaufland publicly commits to banning toxic chemicals from its textile production by 2020. Kaufland is the 33rd international brand joining the Greenpeace Detox movement, representing roughly 15 percent of the global fabric production.

Kaufland has 1,300 shops in Germany and Eastern Europe and is quickly heading for the top of the Detox list by also committing to increase its share of high quality clothing – which will last longer and is easier to recycle. When you consider the increasing amount of old clothes, this is more important than ever. Durability and repairable designs are the future of the industry.

TAKE ACTION! Customers, take your old clothes back to the discounters…

Several Detox trendsetters are already investing resources to take on responsibility for the whole life cycle of their products. This includes recycling-friendly designs without toxic chemicals, in-store take back programs to receive recyclable fabrics, and new designs that use fabrics recovered from recycling. The reuse of fabrics helps to reduce the consumption of fresh fibres and protect the environment.

Now it's your turn. Take your clothes back to the supermarkets. The more you do that the faster supermarket chains will start recycling.

Detox Trendsetters

• Aldi
• Lidl
• Rewe/Penny
• Tchibo
• Coop

Detox Losers*

• Edeka/Netto
• Norma
• Metro/Real
• Interspar
• Migros

(*None of these companies have committed to detoxing their supply chains until 2020.)

Brian Adams is a Global Communications Strategist at Greenpeace East Asia.

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We at Greenpeace had three key expectations for the Paris Agreement. We wanted 

1. a signal that the age of fossil fuels is over,

2. a commitment to soon – and continuously – improve national climate action and

3. global solidarity, including a way to make polluters pay for the damage they cause.

Today, we can say that we got one, achieved progress on two, and that governments mostly failed us on three. Justice and corporate accountability were the weakest points of the Paris deal.

Let me explain.

1. The end of fossil fuels

After Paris, there can be no doubt that the time is up for fossil fuels. Even The Economist concludes that after Paris “the idea of investing in a coal mine will seem more risky." Governments chose convoluted language, but the only realistic way to achieve the new “long term goal” they agreed to is to phase out fossil fuels by 2050. The deal leaves the door open for some bad things – such as plantations. We will be vigilant and ensure that the real solutions – like sustainable renewable energy and forest protection – are the winners, as governments implement the deal. Politically speaking, the language is surprisingly strong. The Paris Agreement goes further than the G7 summit commitment to “decarbonize” earlier this year. They have not yet committed to the just transition to a world run on 100% renewable energy for all that we seek. But the Paris deal will drive the energy revolution in the real world – it's already making shares in renewable companies go up.

2. Commitment to improve national targets

We already know that the pledges governments made to Paris are not good enough and will still lead to a very dangerous and destructive world (between 2.7 and 3.7 degrees Celsius warmer than in preindustrial times – the estimates vary). The Paris agreement does not force governments to change and change fast. That is in blatant contradiction with the new 1.5 degree goal, which can only be achieved if we make drastic emission cuts in the next 10 to 15 years. Indeed, we are on track to use enough carbon to exceed 1.5 degrees of warming before 2030 – that is, if governments don’t ramp up their ambition.

The agreement does help a bit by setting a review date of current commitments  – 2018. It also makes it clear that there will be regular reviews of ambition every 5 years and that countries will always have to improve what they commit to. President Hollande in his final speech at the conference also promised more emission cuts and more financial support for developing countries before 2020. That's the dynamic we hope to see following Paris. Other leaders must follow. Because we have no time to waste.

3. Global solidarity

Overall the Paris Agreement fails the justice test. Fine words like “climate justice” and human rights are included only in the non-binding part of the text. Indigenous Peoples’ rights (while also mentioned in the legal text) are not given the protection they deserve. Just as with emission cuts, we know that the current money available to help the impacted adapt to climate change is not enough. The Paris deal does too little to change that. “Loss and damage” – which refers to negative climate impacts that can’t be adapted to – has however been included in the agreement. That is welcome. But the Paris Agreement fails to support the idea that major carbon polluters should be made accountable for the damage they have caused. We will have to pursue such justice elsewhere. For us, one of the best moments of the last two weeks therefore did not happen in Paris but in Manila. The Philippines Human Rights Commission launched a probe into 50 major polluters for potential human rights violations on December 10th. That's a major step – as inaction on climate change does indeed violate human rights.

All in all, governments took us a step forward in Paris, especially on making it clear that fossil fuels will be history soon. But even if the Paris Agreement had met all our criteria, it would have only been one stop on the long road to climate justice.

The key issue is not what is in this deal but what will happen next. And that is why I am optimistic. The climate movement has shown its strength in Paris. Out there in the real world, coal demand is in terminal decline and after a dramatic change of energy policy in China we may have reached the global peak of emissions already. People power has also brought real trouble for the oil polluters: Shell had to retreat from the Alaskan Arctic, for example, and President Obama rejected the Keystone XL pipeline.

In 2016 we – the entire climate movement – will escalate the opposition to fossil fuels all over the world. I leave Paris encouraged. People power will drive the change and solutions we need. If you join us!

Daniel Mittler is the Political Director of Greenpeace International

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A watchdog that isn’t watching is no watchdog at all.

It emerged last week that Japan’s nuclear watchdog, the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) is failing to conduct adequate safety checks at the country’s nuclear reactors.

It’s like this: in 2012, in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster, the then nuclear watchdog (more like nuclear lapdog), the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) was abolished. NISA was a branch of Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and also had the responsibility to promote nuclear energy in Japan.

You can see the problem. An organisation that was supposed to hold the nuclear industry to account while promoting nuclear energy? NISA had to go.

And so the NRA was born with a mandate enshrined in law to draw up and police safety procedures and protocols that would aim to prevent another Fukushima.

In the light of recent events, it would seem the NRA is failing miserably in its duty.

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has announced that approximately 2,000 cables have been incorrectly installed at two of its nuclear power plants - Kashiwazaki-Kariwa and Fukushima Daini (the sister plant of Fukushima Daiichi which was destroyed by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami).

It was found that cables used for the day to day running of the plants’ reactors were not separate from cables for the safety systems as they should be.

It’s basic common sense: if the safety cables aren’t separate from the rest of the system and there’s an accident, the safety system is compromised along with everything else. If your safety system is compromised, you’re in big trouble.

The kicker?

The Nuclear Regulation Authority failed to conduct on-site inspections to determine if safety equipment cables were installed separately from other cables.

The NRA doesn’t conduct visual inspections of these cables! It relies completely on the honesty on the nuclear operators.

As we’ve seen in the past, this isn’t a very sensible policy. For example, TEPCO was warned in 2008 that tsunami defences at Fukushima No. 1 were inadequate but ignored and covered up the warning. We all know what happened three years later: earthquake, tsunami and meltdown.

This is just two nuclear plants we’re talking about right now. How many more might be compromised? How can the problem be fixed? The NRA simply doesn’t know.

“At present, we can’t deny the possibility that other cables are mixed at pressurized-water reactors, but how to handle the problem has yet to be decided,” it has said.

The Japanese government and nuclear industry are currently in a reckless, headlong rush to restart the country’s idle nuclear reactors in the face of major concerns about those reactors’ safety.

The last thing the Japanese people need is a nuclear “watchdog” asleep on the job.

The potential risks from this problem cannot be understated - but it is just one of multiple nuclear  safety issues that remain unresolved, ignored and brushed aside both by nuclear power utilities and the NRA.

In the coming months, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will conduct a review of the NRA - the first since its inception in 2012. If the IAEA were up to the job, its review would be robust, critical and transparent.

Unfortunately, we have no confidence that it will be. One international nuclear lapdog reviewing another domestic lapdog is no way to oversee an industry that, in the event of an accident, can threaten the existence of a society. That was the reality faced by Japanese Prime Minister Kan after Japan's Atomic Energy Commission gave him the then-confidential worst case scenario for the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe while the disaster was still unfolding in March 2011.

The majority of the people of Japan do not believe that nuclear power can be made safe - one of the primary reasons that at the end of 2015 only two reactors out of a possible 43 are operating. Japanese civil society, including Greenpeace, will continue the fight into next year to stop further nuclear reactor restarts. We are committed to helping to bring about the energy future that is affordable, attainable and that guarantees no future nuclear reactor disasters or nuclear victims – and that is a Japanese society based on renewable energy.

In the year of the fifth anniversary of the Fukushima Daiichi accident and thirty years after the Chernobyl accident the nuclear-free, renewable energy future is not only possible, but is what Japan, and the rest of the world, deserve and will achieve. 

Justin McKeating is a nuclear blogger for Greenpeace International, based in the UK.

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The wheel of climate action turns slowly, but in Paris it has turned. There’s much in this deal that frustrates and disappoints me, but it still puts the fossil fuel industry squarely on the wrong side of history.

Parts of this deal have been diluted and polluted by the people who despoil our planet, but it contains a new temperature limit of 1.5 degrees. That single number, and the new goal of net zero emissions by the second half of this century, will cause consternation in the boardrooms of coal companies and the palaces of oil-exporting states and that is a very good thing. The transition away from fossil fuels is inevitable.

Now comes our great task of this century. How do we meet this new goal? The measures outlined simply do not get us there. When it comes to forcing real, meaningful action, Paris fails to meet the moment. We have a 1.5 degree wall to climb, but the ladder isn’t long enough. The emissions targets outlined in this agreement are simply not big enough to get us to where we need to be.

There is also not enough in this deal for the nations and people on the frontlines of climate change. It contains an inherent, ingrained injustice. The nations which caused this problem have promised too little to help the people on the frontlines of this crisis who are already losing their lives and livelihoods for problems they did not create.

This deal won’t dig us out the hole we’re in, but it makes the sides less steep. To pull us free of fossil fuels we are going to need to mobilise in ever greater numbers. This year the climate movement beat the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, we kicked Shell out of the Arctic and put coal into terminal decline. We stand for a future powered by renewable energy, and it is a future we will win.

 

This is why our efforts have never been confined to these conference halls. Just as we've carried our messages of justice, equity, and environmental protection into the venues of the climate negotiations, and echoed the collective demand to speed the end of fossil fuels to the faces of our leaders, we will continue to raise our voices long after these talks are over.

We came to the COP with hope. Not a hope based on the commitments we wished our leaders would make, but a hope built on a movements that we have built together with many others. Together we are challenging the fossil fuel oligarchy, we are ushering in the era of solutions, and we are moving the political benchmark of what is possible.

While our political leaders walk, our movements run, and we must keep running.

From the High Arctic to Brazil, from the Alberta tar sands to Indonesia’s peatlands, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Mediterranean we will stand against those faceless corporations and regressive governments that would risk our childrens future.

We will push our beautifully simple solution to climate change - 100% renewable energy for all - and make sure it is heard and embraced. From schoolyards in Greece, to the streetlights of India, to small Arctic communities like Clyde River in Canada, we will showcase the clean, renewable solutions that are already here, and pressure our governments to make them available for everyone, fast.

Finally, we will stand with those communities on the front lines of this struggle. They are the leaders of this movement. They are the ones facing the rising seas, the superstorms, and the direct effects of our governments’ collective inaction. We will amplify their voices so the world is forced to hear our call for change.

In 2016 we - the entire climate movement - will escalate the fight. Together we will show the world that if our governments won’t act to stop the carbon bullies, then we will.

History is waiting in the wings, and we’re standing on the right side of it.

 

Kumi Naidoo is the international executive director of Greenpeace

 

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TEDx Sacramento is just around the corner. TEDxSacramento is a chance to be part of an intellectual journey with hundreds of smart and curious friends, experiencing captivating performances, amazing new technology, and thought-provoking TED Talks.

TEDx Sacramento events play host to more than 2,000 attendees annually, with an audience made up of local though-leaders, innovators, dreamers, and doers. When you get involved with TEDx, you tap into a community that has the power to create change.

Are you interested in being part of the dialogue to reshape our community? There are plenty of opportunities to extend your business’s reach by becoming a partner for the upcoming TEDx Sacramento on February 12, 2016. For more information on the opportunities available, click here or send an email to sponsorship@tedxsacramento.com.

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Downtown Sacramento is in the midst of one of the most transformative eras in its history. During the 18^th annual State of Downtown, we will focus on harnessing the momentum in downtown and turning it into action – INTO KINETIC ENERGY. This year’s State of Downtown will explore opportunities to harness our potential and make Downtown Sacramento a world-class city.

DSP has announced Ron Blatman, Executive Producer/Producer of Saving the City: Remaking the American Metropolis, as the keynote speaker for the 2016 State of Downtown Breakfast, presented by Golden 1 Credit Union. Blatman’s multi-part TV series highlights successful and unsuccessful examples of urban redevelopment throughout the US and Canada focusing on downtowns and nearby neighborhoods.

Blatman was also Executive Producer/Producer of Saving the Bay: The Story of San Francisco Bay, a national prime time PBS TV series which aired over four weeks in 2011 and continues to be repeated around the country. He previously worked in real estate development and finance in his native San Francisco and on Wall Street in New York, as well as serving as Director of Business Development in the San Francisco mayor’s office in the early 1990s. He was the mayor’s point man for keeping the San Francisco Giants baseball team in the city as well as catalyst for a major new Federal office complex.

“There’s an excitement and renewed interest in Downtown Sacramento that hasn’t been seen in decades,” said DSP Executive Director Michael Ault. “With more than $5-billion in investments expected in downtown over the next ten years, it’s imperative that we work together to create an economically viable downtown that speaks to all generations. There is much we can learn from Blatman’s work.”

To purchase tickets to the 2016 State of Downtown, click here.

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As Downtown Sacramento continues to transform into an 18-hour city with a vibrant nighttime economy, we look for creative ways to reimagine and reinvent the public spaces that make our city a better place to live, work and play. Located in the heart of downtown, the pedestrian experience from Old Sacramento to the Convention Center is poised for transformation through creative lighting and linkage enhancements.

On December 18, new LED lights will be installed. Strings of white LED market lights will illuminate both sides of K Street to enhance safety and provide a pedestrian-friendly, walkable thoroughfare from Old Sacramento to the Convention Center. This lighting project is made possible by a seamless public-private partnership with Regional Transit, the City of Sacramento, and K Street businesses.

We are hopeful that the addition of aesthetic LED street lighting will enhance future plans for pedestrian scale lighting from the city. This type of infrastructure will illuminate the charming and eclectic energy of The Kay, inviting visitors and residents to stroll the streets and enjoy the district’s diverse mix of restaurants, nightlife and entertainment venues. This is only the first step of the lighting enhancements, such as tree canopy lighting, that will continue to contribute to downtown’s vibrant setting.

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As people want to work, shop, play and live in the same area, downtown Sacramento is becoming a more and more appealing place to live. With the activity surrounding the Golden 1 Center, proposed nearby MLS Stadium, and the vibrant arts, culture, and award-winning dining available on the grid, there’s no question why downtown Sacramento is turning heads!

Last Tuesday, the city’s Community Development Department shared big numbers with City Council. The outlook for new housing in downtown Sacramento is looking better and better!

About 13,000 new downtown housing units are at some stage of planning or development and since January 2015, 781 have become available.

“The more people that live downtown, the more people that have jobs downtown, the closer they are to where they work,” the Mayor said during Tuesday night’s council meeting. “It builds on the business development that’s already been going on. And then when you have people living downtown, it creates the economic kind of generator that we want to have downtown[1].”

The efforts to spur new residential development are part of Mayor Kevin Johnson’s Downtown Housing Initiative. With a goal to build 10,000 new places to live in downtown over the next 10 years, the numbers announced by the city this week are a big deal!

But, creating 10,000 new places to live downtown is no easy endeavor. To support developers to bring on more housing, the City of Sacramento has launched a new online resource – Downtown Developer Toolkit – to consolidate some of the most important information downtown developers need to know in one place, from conceptual plans through construction.

The toolkit was a big undertaking and is a huge step for Sacramento. DSP worked with staff during the development process and will continue to support the city to update and improve the toolkit to keep it up to date.

A strong, viable and balanced housing market in the city’s core has long been a top priority of DSP. We are committed to ensuring Sacramento does not lose sight of the significant obstacles that make residential development downtown difficult.

Together with downtown developers, the city and residents, we can simplify the process to encourage more development in downtown Sacramento.

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[1] Fox 40

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