Greenpeace, Climate Change and the Future of Humanity

The Day After Tomorrow/Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp.

In my recent post, Climate Change and Tipping Points, I referred to organizations and individuals who step up to the plate to protect the planet  from climate change - as governments are dragging their feet and many business have apparent opposing interests -. One such an organization is Greenpeace and one such an individual is its International Executive Director, South African Kumi Naidoo.

Naido was recently interviewed by Bill Moyers on his TV program Moyers & Company. In this wide ranging interview, Naidoo talks about the Greenpeace ship, the Dutch registered Arctic Sunrise, which last month, while taking action against the Prirazlomnaya oil rig - where Gazprom intends to become the first company to pump oil from icy Arctic waters - was stopped by Russian special forces. They arrested the 30 people on board of that ship, who are now being charged with piracy, and face potentially many years in prison.

Naidoo also discusses the "insanity" of drilling in the Arctic; how history will judge the current leadership of governments and big businesses harshly due to their lack of action towards climate change; the question whether it's too late to counter climate change; that the world is playing political poker with the future of our planet; that we should write-off 80% of the current fossil fuel reserves and start an energy revolution; Greenpeace's partnership with Facebook and how internet companies will see a fourfold increase of their energy use in the coming years; and how....



achieving a sustainable economy appears incompatible with the current manifestation of capitalism. Naidoo mentions a notable quote his mother taught him: "It's much better to try and fail, than fail to try", something we all could learn from.


   


For further background reading two reports mentioned in this interview:

Climate Change and Children, a UNICEF report
Point of No Return, a Greenpeace report