Laid out Flat

After my initial post from Santiago the other day, things have gone a little downhill. It was all going nicely, the weather continues to be great, I have some more pictures to post, and I have linked up with my colleagues from Greenpeace Chile.

Then this morning I woke up what appeared to be food poisoning. So nothing has happened today, except for what people with food poisoning do (I don’t think the details are required here…). Being in a hotel is probably not the best place for this, although fortunately I had a couple of bottles of Gatorade already here – the perfect combination of energy, fluid and salts for just such an occasion.

Around lunch time, I decided that a trip to the local pharmacy was necessary to help me recover. So I dragged myself out of bed, and hobbled down the street, looking like an old man in my fragile state. All was going well until that familiar urge started building in my stomach. The helpful (English speaking) guy in the pharmacy was explaining to me how often to take the tablets, as I started to break in to a sweat. I shoved some money at him, then (probably pretty rudely) grabbed the change and tablets, and bolted for the door. The security guard looked at me strangely as I ran past him convulsing, as I dived outside and vomited straight in to the gutter.

Now that probably sounds pretty gross, and I am sure it was quite a sight for the lunch time work crowd. But it is also just one of those travel tales that can be darkly humorous, and as I am slowly recovering this evening, I am starting to see a pretty funny side to it.

Have just had the first sense of feelng hungry all day, so here’s hoping for a better day tomorrow.

Shane

Summer in Santiago

This is a photo I took in down town Santiago today. The reflection of the older building in the windows of it's more modern neighbour struck me as an interestng composition.

Arrived here well after midnight on Saturday after a 19 hour trip from Amsterdam, and have spent today wandering around the city, ernjoying the summer warmth. I am only here for a few days to work wih our Chilean office as they start up their new Oceans campaign, and then am spending some time with colleagues in Argentina. Normally I arrive somewhere at the last possible moment, so it was a nice change to get here in time to be a bit of a tourist and get over the jet lag before starting work.

That said, it is late, and I need to crash, so will add some more on Santiago tomorrow.

Shane

Rainbow Warrior in Dubai

Well its been a fairly eventful as well as uneventful few days since i last posted.

We are now back in Dubai after having completed our on board training, but the Port Authorities have refused to allow us to go alongside a pier at the port, and so we've been sitting at anchor in the middle of the harbour for the last few days. It seems that it's fairly routine for this to happen, but its certainly made life a little difficult. Our Genetic Engineering campaign was supposed to hold a press conference on board the Rainbow Warrior today, announcing GE contamination of food in supermarkets here in Dubai as well as our message which is to ban GE, or at least label it so that consumers can make an informed choice about what they are eating. However, in the absence of the ship they were forced to book a room in a hotel! Fortunately, it didn't impact on the media turning up and we had a good selection of the local newspapers and television stations attend. Tomorrow we head for Abu Dhabi where it seems that the Port Authority are much more friendly - the Captain has already been talking to them - and also our Ships Agent (the business that coordinates all our movements in and out of the Port) seem to have a better idea of what they are supposed to be doing.

It's 11 hours to Abu Dhabi from Dubai and hopefully i won't get sea sick! We went outside the port for 24 hours a couple of days ago and it was really windy - causing most of the campaign team to succumb to a level of sea sickness. Fortunately for me, i was fine if i stayed in the fresh air on deck. Sitting in the mess (dining room) which is right at the back of the ship or in the hold (meeting room) at the front of the ship was a different story however. Being at the extreme back and front of the ship means that you are in the extremes of movement of the ship in the swell - and i definitely couldn't stay there for long... Mind you it was NOTHING like Shane had to put up with in the Southern Ocean last year and i'm amazed anew that he managed to survive.

As i said in my previous post, everyone on board has to participate in the activities on board the ship and we all participate in the cleaning that takes place at 8am every morning. This evening i will be extending my experience and taking my turn at 'watch'. Fortunately i have the 20.00 - 24.00 watch (could be worse - i could have either 00.00 - 04.00 or 04.00 - 08.00). I'll get some 'on the job training' when i start my watch, but it seems to involve keeping an eye on the boat from the Bridge, with regular tours/checks of the ship every hour. Will tell more about it in my next post…

Nicky

A year or so at sea

In November 2005, Greenpeace launched it's most ambitious ship expedition ever. The Defending our Oceans expedition is still going, having confronted the whaling fleet in Antarctica, chased priate fishing vessels off West Africa and in the Pacific, undertaken deep sea research in the Azores, explored the trash vortex of the coast of Hawaii, and much more.

I was lucky enough to be on the first leg of that expedition to the Southern Ocean. Tomorrow, my friends and colleagues will set sail again on the last leg of the journey, returning to the Southern Ocean once again to confront the whalers. Part of me is desperately frustrated not to be going with them, and another part of me is grateful not to have to witness the terrible killing of the whales again.

So, to mark the occasion, I thought I would post this video. It was put together by our video team, and is a snapshot of our year at sea. It also marks a little technological breakthrough for me, because today my friend Missy M managed to stop laughing at me long enough to explain how to put a video in the blog. She is a web wizard, but fortunately she can also break it down for those if us less educated in the wonders of the www...




Shane

Something Frivolous

There are plenty of interesting things going on that I want to blog about, in terms of politics and world affairs, but am up to my eyeballs at work, so instead today I am just going to post this link. It is a Youtube piece entitled "What happened after the Death Star was Destroyed". Whilst I am not a die-hard Star Wars fan, I have always enjoyed the movies, although have not managed to catch all the new ones. Probably showing my age there a bit, but the original three are still my frame of reference!

Shane

At home on the Warrior

Well here i am on Greenpeace's flagship, the Rainbow Warrior, in Dubai. At the moment we are at anchor in Dubai port with cargo ships, cruise liners and even an oil platform just a short distance away. Despite all that it is quite beautiful, seeing the sun rise over the water. At the moment we are a full ship, with all the people to be involved in this project on board the ship for training. Yesterday we spent the afternoon learning about the countries of the region that we will be visiting. Although a few of us have been to all the countries in preperation for the tour, a number of the campaigners and the crew haven't and so we have been doing some cultural training. This morning we get to do some inflatable driving ;-)

Life on board is very orderly, not only for the crew but for everyone on board: breakfast by 8.00 so the cleaning can start - and we all help; lunch at 12 and dinner at 6. And i'm going to have to make a BIG effort not to come off this ship twice the size as i joined! I did bring my yoga mat with me, but i've not yet plucked up the courage to start doing exercises on deck! Mind you, we've been so busy since we arrived, that i haven't had any time to think about yoga. All of the campaign team will also participate in as much of the tasks on board as possible. As i said, the morning clean up is important, and whilst we are in port we participate in the watches - in shifts of course.

The Rainbow Warrior will be my home for the next 5 weeks, which seems quite incredible at the moment, but also it's amazing how quickly you become used to life on a ship! Of course, we've not been out of the port yet, so i'm not sure whether sea sickness is going to be a problem....

Nicky

Just Give Them More Space

Yesterday The Independent reported the death of an experienced road cyclist in the UK. He was killed a short distance from the spot where four members of the Rhyl Cycling Club died in Britain's worst bike accident a year ago.

The paper reports that Mel Vasey’s death occurred a short distance from a well-known meeting point for cyclists: the Eureka café, whose walls are adorned with Tour de France yellow jerseys.

Riding with two friends, Mr Vasey had planned a short stop there before setting out on a 50-mile run through Cheshire.

Five minutes before reaching the café, Mr Vasey was hit from behind by a Renault Clio and catapulted into the air. Despite first-aid efforts by a passing lorry driver, he died on the carriageway of the A540 Chester High Road - on which he had cycled countless times. Mr Vasey was talking about his favourite subject of bike shops with a club colleague, Dave Parry, as the two cycled towards the Eureka at 8.45am.

"He pulled alongside me, with Danny [McDonough] just behind us and we slowed a bit - 16mph I'd say - as we talked," Mr Parry said. "Then, suddenly, I heard an almighty bang."

And that is how quickly it happens, because too many motorists just don’t care, or just don’t pay attention. I have written before on this topic, when I was hit by a car back in November. Fortunately my incident was minor, but like the one above, there are just too many horror stories.

The one above just feels so galling because it was obviously and area frequented by cyclists, so it should have been no surprise that there were riders on the road.

All that is needed is a bit more care. An opinion piece with the article notes that “in 2005, 148 cyclists were killed and 16,413 were injured in Great Britain. It was the second year running in which deaths rose.

Per distance travelled, cycling is 18 times more dangerous than driving, but it is also healthier and better for the environment. So, whatever measures we take, we want to ensure that they do not frighten people from cycling.

One positive step is to remind drivers about the Highway Code. Paragraph 139 says: "When overtaking, give cyclists at least as much room as you would a car." In that way, all of us will have more room when someone makes a mistake.”

Of course, government has a role to play too, and the Independent article has an interesting section on “What Britain Could Do”, and also “How Europe Does It Better”. Under the latter, they cite the following points:

* The Netherlands has raised bollards to divide some of its cycle lanes

* "Cycle paths are often an afterthought when new roads are created in Britain," Tom Hummel, a Dutch traffic engineer, says

* In the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark, all motorists must give way to cyclists already on a roundabout

* In the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, France and Germany, motorists who injure cyclists must pay compensation, unless the driver shows that the injured person did something illegal

* Promote a cycling culture. While 4 per cent of journeys in London are bike, the figure is 30 per cent in Copenhagen

Most Australian governments could learn from this too.

Shane

The Aftermath...

As you have probably seen from the news reports, there were very real consequences from the big storm on Thursday. In the Netherlands, six deaths were directly attributed to the storm, and estimates of the cost of the damage range up to 200 million euros.

Being the Netherlands and living below sea level in many places, water surging was also a question, and although the levels did rise to 'dangerous', there was no serious flooding.

Heading out yesterday, the damage is pretty evident, with trees blown down across the city. Running through the Vondelpark this morning, a number of big trees lay broken, snapped from the ground, laying helplessly, such contrast from their former magnificance.

And around many of the trees still standing, there are large cracks in the ground, signs that these ones only just made it through the storm, the ground holding just long enough to prevent them toppling.

And it continues to be unseasonably mild, with strong and gusting winds, although the temperatures are forecast to drop substantially this week, so the winter clothes will definitely get a run!

Shane

This explains it

Just found this - a pretty impressive satellite photo of yesterday's storm.

Made it!

Just in case the suspense was killing you (yeah, right!), I did make it home in one piece. In fact, it has been pretty calm tonight - plenty of wind, but not the incredible sheeting rain like earlier in the day.

Getting home was a bit of an adventure - the trams were no longer runnning, so walking it was, and closer to home a large tree had fallen, blocking the road and forcing me to walk a detour, all the while casting glances back over my shoulder as the blue sky disappeared and the next wave of storm rolled in. But I got home dry, and our house is in one piece.

Plenty of people have damage though - there are a lot of broken tiles lying on the footpath, and I walked past one house where a window had been blown out of its frame and landed on the footpath below.

Nicky finally got away on her flight as well. She finally departed around 9pm, seven hours later than scheduled, but at least on her way.

Shane

What to do?

Today has seen a huge storm blow across the Netherlands, with winds gusting up to 130 km/hr. It has been pretty spectacular sitting inside the office watching it blow through, although it was not so much fun trying to get to work this morning. A number of colleagues got blown off their bikes on the way to work.

Nicky has left to join up with the Rainbow Warrior (more to come on this in later blogs), but right now she is sitting at Schiphol Airport, where no planes are taking off or landing. Roof paneling was blown loose at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam in the departure lounges 1 and 2 earlier today.

And that is where the dilemma comes in. The National Crisis Centre is urging the public to stay indoors on this afternoon and evening as the heavy south-westerly storm rages across the nation. The Amsterdam fire brigade is urging people to stay indoors to avoid risk of injury from loose-flying roof panels and other structures.

"Stay inside. Even when you are not at your destination," is the advice from the Ministry of Interior. So do I stay at work, or make a bolt for home? Right now, there is a big patch of blue sky over the office. I think this might be my chance! I think I am going to go for it. I guess if you never see another blog posted, I was unwise to ignore their advice! (Hmm, sounds a bit Pauline Hanson like actually... maybe I should edit this bit!)

No time to edit - better go now!

Shane

Five Minutes to Midnight

Today the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists has moved their Doomsday Clock forward by 2 minutes to 5 before midnight -- or five minutes to Armageddon. Their statement starts like this:

“We stand at the brink of a second nuclear age. Not since the first atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki has the world faced such perilous choices. North Korea’s recent test of a nuclear weapon, Iran’s nuclear ambitions, a renewed U.S. emphasis on the military utility of nuclear weapons, the failure to adequately secure nuclear materials, and the continued presence of some 26,000 nuclear weapons in the United States and Russia are symptomatic of a larger failure to solve the problems posed by the most destructive technology on Earth.

As in past deliberations, we have examined other human-made threats to civilization. We have concluded that the dangers posed by climate change are nearly as dire as those posed by nuclear weapons. The effects may be less dramatic in the short term than the destruction that could be wrought by nuclear explosions, but over the next three to four decades climate change could cause drastic harm to the habitats upon which human societies depend for survival.

This deteriorating state of global affairs leads the Board of Directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists--in consultation with a Board of Sponsors that includes 18 Nobel laureates--to move the minute hand of the “Doomsday Clock” from seven to five minutes to midnight.”

Sobering words indeed. As one of my colleagues put it, Weather of Mass Destruction joins Weapons of Mass Destruction as the big threats to the planet.

Later in their statement, the Board says:

“The international community faces a dilemma: How to mitigate climate change without increasing the dangers of nuclear materials proliferation.”

Actually there is no dilemma. It is not to late to turn back the clock, to combat climate change, phase out nuclear technology and eliminate the threat of nuclear proliferation. One key way to achieve all of this is through the use of renewable energy sources. The world needs an energy revolution, and that can only happen with a revolution in thinking. So the real question, perhaps the real dilemma, is whether our 'leaders', both governments and corporates, are up to it?

Shane

Elfstedentocht Blues

The Elfstedentocht (Eleven-Cities Tour) is a gruelling 200 kilometre ice skating race around the 11 cities of Friesland, in the north of the Netherlands. The last time the race - which attracts 15,000 amateur skaters as well as the pros - took place was in 1997. Every year, if it freezes for more than a few days, speculation begins about the chances of the great event taking place.

The Dutch weather bureau, KNMI, says the chance of the race taking place again is shrinking as the earth warms up. With a six degree rise in temperature, only 10 races are likely this century.

So far, 2007 is not looking good for the event to take place. The first 10 days of January this year were the warmest since measurements were first recorded in 1901.

With an average temperature of 8.8 degrees celsius, 2007 will be recorded as the warmest start to a year ever, KNMI said on Monday. The previous record of 8.2 degrees was set in 1921.

So while for us southern hemisphere types the mild weather is a relief, to see this great cultural event would be one of those things we came to Europe for.

Shane

Egmond Half Marathon

Despite not doing any training since my race at Ironman Western Australia on 3^rd December last year, I headed out yesterday to take part in the Egmond Half Marathon. I quite deliberately say ‘take part’ rather than ‘compete’, because I certainly was not doing the latter!

Egmond is one of those ‘must do’ events. It starts in Egmond aan Zee, a small seaside village north of Amsterdam. After a few kilometres in town, the course heads on to the beach, travelling 7km south, then turning back in to the dunes, and heading back north in the dunes and forests behind the beach.

It is a very beautiful course, made all the better yesterday by the fact that the sun was shining, giving the whole affair a very spring like feel.

However, all was not spring-like. Normally the beach in the Netherlands is wide and flat, which means the course here is usually on the harder, wet sand. Yesterday, however, the combination of a high tide and storm surges meant that the water levels were very high, leaving a narrow strip of beach, less than 10 metres wide in places. The race organisers delayed the start by an hour, waiting for the tide to drop, but there were still places where the waves urged up and we got wet feet! And with around 12,500 people in the race, it was pretty damn crowded on that narrow strip of sand, as the photo above shows.

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the race. It is quite different to head out and just take it in, instead of going flat out. That said, it did hurt. Whilst my aerobic conditioning is still pretty good, my muscles did not take so well to suddenly running a reasonably hard half marathon after six weeks of leisure!

[And to be truthful, I made it worse by doing a 5km running time trial on Saturday, but that is another story…]

Anyway, I finished in the cruisy time of 1:44:10. I travelled up there with my colleague Agnes and her neighbour Juan, and both also finished in good times, Agnes finishing her first half marathon after only taking up running last year.

By this morning, the results were on the website, and there is even a video taken at the half way point. You can see just how crowded the course is, and if you look behind, you can see the ocean churning in the background.

Shane

What did you say?

Ever wondered what John Howard and George Bush talk about when they have those cosy little chats? I have just come across a blog that has one possible answer...

Shane

Make War not Love?

A strange headline, and not something I would advocate, but this is the question that needs to be asked about Australia’s censorship system and what moral values it is seeking to uphold.

For years it has struck me as bizarre that in Australia a movie which is full of deliberate violence and killing can make it out in to the local video store, but a film with sexual content will get a rating which makes it’s distribution far more restrictive.

The Eros Association (Australia’s ‘adult industry’ lobby group) has highlighted this superbly today in their press release about the hanging of Saddam Hussein.

In the release, CEO Fiona Patten highlights that “under Australia’s current censorship system, the film depicting the hanging of the former Iraqi dictator would receive an R rating if submitted for classification and would then be available to adults in all states of Australia, through family outlets like suburban video libraries and petrol stations.”

”In stark contrast to this scenario, a film which showed no violence or non-consent of any kind but only actual scenes of adult sexuality was refused an R rating in a controversial decision by the Classification Review Board (CRB) last month. The CRB’s decisions and rationale for classifying the film, Viva Erotica, have just been released and it has stated that the film ‘would cause offence to a reasonable adult’ and therefore must carry the most restrictive X rating at a federal level and a ban in every state.”

Patten goes on to point out that the 1995 UK film called Executions which showed a series of real-life, state-sponsored executions, almost identical to the Saddam film, had been given an R Rating by the Classification Board which had set a precedent for these types of films. “The CRB is basically saying to the Australian public that the film of Saddam’s execution cannot be said to ‘cause offence to a reasonable adult’ while Viva Erotica can.”

“While not wanting to ban documentaries on any subject, films depicting real murders or executions and real or overly-intense simulated acts of violence, should be the most restricted films under the current censorship scheme. Currently this is not the case because films which show non-violent and actual sex acts between consenting adults are the most restricted and can draw fines and jail sentences for sale in all states.”

This seems like such a common sense statement to me that it is hardly worthy of a press release, but this is the situation we find in Australia. When it comes to moral outrage, surely senseless killing and violence should be the focus rather than a few people getting it on?

To me this is not about whether pornography is legal or not, it is all about priorities. In that regard I will leave the final words to Fiona Patten, since she expressed it so succinctly, when she concludes that the signals being sent by this system are “telling the Australian public to effectively ‘make war not love’ and … reinforce the notion within Australian youth that violence is somehow more acceptable or less offensive than consenting sexuality.”

Shane

The real story?

Earlier in the week, I wrote a rosy entry about how friendly and peaceful New Year’s Eve had been in the Netherlands. It seems that was not the case everywhere in the country.

On Tuesday, Dutch News ran with the headline “New Years celebrations marred by deaths”, whilst Expatica ran with “2006 ends in good spirits despite violence, arrests”.

One man died when 'fireworks' exploded in his face. Police suspect that the device was a mortar shell. The more colloquial versions of that story going round the office suggest it was a pretty gruesome death. And a 90-year-old woman was killed when fireworks resulted in her house catching on fire.

Whilst obviously tragic, it is not really surprising to hear these stories. I suspect there were hundreds more injuries around the country given the number of fireworks being let off. Certainly where we were in Zaandam the ambulances were standing by waiting.

Their workload is increased of course by the element of stupidity. In Limburg, in the south, a man was seriously injured when 21kg of fireworks exploded in his face. The man tried to light the fireworks with a cigarette.

There are also those snippets in the news you just wonder what the full story is – in the western province of Zeeland, a 71-year-old man was arrested after shooting a teenager in the foot. The youth was part of a group setting off fireworks. Or the resident of Nunspeet who initially thought he had been injured by fireworks, but later appeared to have been injured by a bullet. Police have no idea where the bullet was fired from.

And of course there were incidents of thuggish behaviour, but I guess there is always that minority in any crowd. I still reckon the festive family atmosphere is a real feature of Dutch public life.

That said, coming from Australia where personal fireworks have been banned for some time now, I am still amazed at the relaxed attitude here. At home, the combined issues of personal safety and protection of animals drove the move to ban fireworks, both pretty good reasons.

A Colourful World

Unlike many cities in the world, there are no organised New Year’s fireworks displays in towns and cities in the Netherlands. Instead, there is an annual frenzy of fireworks purchasing for the three days leading in to New Years Eve. Then in one wild and crazy night, this country comes alive to the colour and sound of exploding celebration.

We spent NYE in Zaandam (a town just north of Amsterdam) with our friend Kate and her family. Kate reckons that 70 million euros was spent on fireworks in the Netherlands this year; a number that is just hard to fathom.

Theoretically you can only let the fireworks off from 10pm on NYE, although in reality they have actually been trickling out for a few days now. But there is no comparison to what starts at midnight. At that point you can begin to believe the 70 million figure, as thousands of high quality fireworks start - and continue for the next two hours!

Sydney, London and Paris may have the big shows, but they only last for 15 minutes. A couple of hours of crazy Dutch celebrations beats that any day! And it is a very friendly sort of thing, with lots of families and a festive atmosphere.

Something else we really enjoy here is that big public events here don’t feature the alcohol fuelled aggression you find in other places. It makes for a very different feel, making it a celebration rather than a place to be worrying about your personal security.

Anyway, we came home this morning (the trains stopped running at 8pm last night, which was not only quaint, but meant that getting home was not an option), to find that there had obviously been quite a party in our street as well. The place is littered with the tell-tale red paper left behind by the big fireworks.

And hence the photo – this remnant was left outside our house on the street (with plenty of that red paper…). This has to be the biggest firework I have ever seen! A Colourful World indeed!

Shane