Dolphins on the bow

,"Dolphins!," went the cry. thrice was it heard , through the day.
It is one of the most pleasant things you will hear shouted onboard the rainbow warrior . for sure.
So we left all work and ran to the bow ( the front of the ship ) where dolphins love to play . For them its a little bit like surfing because they use the water displaced by the ship to move forward , or so they say.
But it is one of the most wonderful and uplifting things that one can see onboard this boat. In a certain way, it gives us a better sense of purpose than any action or campaign can.
The entire crew dissolves into little children , people shouting ,singing and calling on to the porpoises. They love attention , these dolphins. But then again so do we.
Today has been an interesting day. We saw a pod of curious little bottlenose whales
and three sets of dolphins. This is the first time since I boarded the Rainbow warrior in March that we have seen any marine life . I guess its a sign. The mystics within our organisation would certainly believe so, while the mechanics would quietly snigger in the corner. I'm not sue which one is right.
However it is indeed lovely to be greeted by the planet ,and to be able to acknowledge it.
Its a rare thing. And all I see are smiles.

david vs goliath

It was a hot summer day in Bombay when we found Mr Ratan Tata's house and decided to send him a message from 100 thousand Indians. a hundred thousand concerned and aware activists.
I remember the frantic decisions and the running around required to light some 8000 candles outside his house. We didn't even know whether he was going to see the spectacular image unveiling under his balcony as volunteers started lighting the candles on the sea shore.
But it just seemed the right thing to do.
We were not doing it for him, we were doing it for the 100 thousand people who had decided to click on the send button, to send the Mr.Tata a mail. Telling him how unfair he was being , building a port site next to the mass nesting site of olive ridley turtles. A port site that threatens to wipe Olive ridley turtles off the face of the planet. Gone. Poof. Deleted.

None of us could imagine the size of the fight we were picking on. It was pure conscience which egged us on, that and the complete absence of logic. Those were the principle that Greenpeace was once founded on . But we soon realized the size of the confrontation when our emails started getting hacked into, people were threatened with physical violence in Dhamra (the port site).and this was just the beginning.

The port builders had decided to put their massive PR machinery into action , flooding the internet with conflicting information and throwing dirt on Greenpeace . It wasnt about the turtles anymore . It became an information war. David Vs Goliath. live on the internet. pay per view.
I have nothing against the tatas, but I do have something for the turtles.

A corporation is going to invade into a turtle sanctuary and get away with it. Not only that,they will singlehandedly wipe them off this planet... and they are actually pretending to be environmentally conscious while doing it. That just makes me angry. actually no, its more than just anger ,its outrage.

The war for another species continues. And while the whales have a lot of champions , the turtles don't have many. I hope we will be enough. Else its high time to take a picture of an olive ridley , might be quite valuable in the future. Unlike a tata nano.

Here is something you can do, spread this video . as far as possible. as wide a possible. Put their PR machinery to shame, Shame them into doing something about the port. Who knows? it might just work .

a new beginning

Its been about a month and a half since I joined the rainbow warrior again.
A month and a half filled with quiet reflections on the how and the whys of the universe.
We have spent much of the past month doing underwater researches in Sweden and Norway. Trying to find ways to convince the public that overfishing is not the best way to get cheap fish to their tables; using pretty corals and bubble reefs to put our point across.
I used to think that climate change is the biggest danger to our present generation, but this month has made me realize that its just the shadow that clouds our future. In this shadow lurk many monsters that we still have to deal with. Toxics , overfishing, unsustainable development.... these are the words that will shape the destiny of our children. These will be the profanities that our generation will face tomorrow, as we leave them behind in our legacy.
the fishes are disappearing from the seas faster than we know. Will they recover? will the dead come back to life? Mother earth still has some surprises up her sleeve. I hope a living ocean is one of them, the alternative is too scary to be true.
I have been delving into the history of Greenpeace, looking for answers , stories and a direction in the ether. I am still looking....
In the meantime the environment is under attack as always , and corporations have found ways to paint themselves green to sell their products . We have a more difficult job of trying to wipe the cheap toxic green off the dirty ones , so that the planet lives on. I hope , pray and beg that we succeed.