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How long have you been a cyberactivist?
I have only been a Greenpeace cyberactivist for a few months but I have been an environmental activist on and offline for years.
Why did you become a cyberactivist?
I read the tribute, in the Ecologist magazine, to Emily Craddock, a Greenpeace activist who sadly died while fighting against illegal logging in the Amazon recently. I went to the Greenpeace International website afterwards and I found the cyberactivist community and read everyone's comments about Emily and how amazing she was and all the wonderful things she did while she was alive. That really inspired to me to start actively supporting Greenpeace. The cyberactivist community seemed like just the resource I had been looking for. It provides great inspiration and ideas for how we can help to make the planet a better place to live. I am proud to be a cyberactivist.
What's your secret? How did you gather so many recruits?
I manage an online environmental forum (www.envirotalk.org) and I placed my pledge link on a message there. I sent out my link with a passionate anti whaling message to my entire e.mail address list more than once to make sure my friends and colleagues did not forget and I requested they forward the link onto their friends (and reminded them not to spam!). I got the positive opinion of a top whale scientist on the Iceland campaign and added it to my message. Lastly, I had a party the night of the deadline and decided to nag everyone there to come onto my computer and sign the pledge. In a way I am surprised I did not manage to get more pledges! It was really quite hard to get people's attention. I also put the html code on the home page of my website for one of the funky flash adds Greenpeace created for the Iceland Pledge (and it's still there) so I am pretty sure I got extra pledges for the campaign without people using my own personal link.
If you could create a banner about whaling and hang it anywhere in the world, what would it say and where would you hang it?
It would have a very vivid picture of a whale being harpooned while swimming with a calf with a lot of blood all around and it would say "is it worth it?" I would hang it in front of the government buildings in Japan, Iceland and Norway, and then call the press.
Why do you want to stop Iceland from whaling?
Firstly I am against whaling by any country because it is a very cruel way to kill such an intelligent animal and there is currently no humane way to do it. Nobody knows if the whales are still alive when they slice them up! Secondly, the populations of Sei, Minke and Fin whales are more than likely to be affected by hundreds of them being killed over a short period of time and there is no way of knowing what impact this will have on these species which have such a complex and fragile life history. I would also like to make sure that whales survive long into the future not just for the sake of themselves but also for the enjoyment and appreciation by humans in years to come. It's true, whales are worth far more to us alive than dead!
Some people laugh at me for ranting about whales and accuse me of only caring for the cute and cuddly parts of nature but I think that if we can't protect and respect one of the world's most adored creatures, then what hope do we have for the rest?
I would like to stop Japan from whaling too, but that would be a much harder battle. Iceland is a good country to start with because if you can get them to stop, then that would set a precedent for other countries. I think a campaign like this has a good chance of working with Iceland because their economy relies so much on tourism. Convincing them that they would benefit more financially if they stopped whaling is an excellent way to target this country. The fish boycott in the 80s worked so I don't see why this should not. We have to raise awareness and keep up the pressure!
Why do you want to sail on a Greenpeace ship?
I have always wanted to since I was a kid. However, now I have more reasons than "wow that would be so cool"! Firstly, I am keen to volunteer with Greenpeace because it is a great organisation, which sets itself apart from other environmental organisations because it does not accept corporate funds and yet still manages to achieve so much and raise a lot of awareness without this type of sponsorship. This is a fine example of how we should go about making the planet a better place. By accepting corporate funding from ESSO etc. (as many environmental organisations do) you would be allowing them to better their own image, which would help them get away with the damage that they do to our planet. No matter how effective your project is, accepting funding of this kind can only, in the long run, be making matters worse. This is the main reason why I have a great deal of respect for Greenpeace and I have only realised this recently. I started looking into other environmental organisations and found that they were accepting funding from many corporations I knew were very damaging. It made me question the effectiveness of these organisations and appreciate more how Greenpeace operates. For this reason and the numerous victories achieved by Greenpeace I am very interested in helping these guys any way they'll let me!
Secondly, I want to sail on a Greenpeace ship because I love the ocean, and I am dedicated to the protection of all whale species. In the summer of 2000 I volunteered on a scientific research cruise, which was satellite tagging North Atlantic right whales (the world's most endangered baleen whale) and carrying out cetacean surveys off the coast of Nova Scotia. This gave me a great insight to the study of marine mammals but I realised that in order to protect these amazing creatures we must act quickly and that studying them is not all we should be doing! I would like to experience and help the work of an organisation like Greenpeace, which is more active in the protection of whales. Going to Iceland aboard the Esperanza seems like the best opportunity for me to do this. I think I would benefit from it immensely and would be a valuable addition to the crew. Have you ever been on the ocean in a ship?
Yes (see above), on several occasions.
Feel free to add any other reason why you think you're the right person to represent our cyberactivist community on board the Esperanza:
You'll have to forgive me for blowing my trumpet here (I don't usually like doing this), but in this case I feel it must be done. I would represent the cyberactivist community well because I am not what many would call a stereotypical environmentalist, one that flies off the deep end and can too often discredit the environmental movement. I am confident, outgoing and down to earth. I have a scientific background, while appreciating that science cannot achieve change all by itself. I am incredibly passionate about the environment but I would consider myself a levelheaded communicator of environmental issues. I take the environment seriously but still have a lot of fun doing it. I get along well with many types of people and am very tolerant of stress and issues caused by differences in personality. I am very positive for the future if we can all join together to make a difference and I enjoy working from within a team.
I have been very active online lately with my own environmental website. I was asked to publish the plans for a scientific crew to come to Bermuda to carry out seismic research, which recent evidence suggests, may threaten whales. The ocean 200 miles around Bermuda is a marine mammal sanctuary and the scientists arrived without a permit! By putting all the information regarding this issue on my website, the local media got hold of it and any chance of gaining a future permit for this research was subsequently refused by the Bermuda Government. The scientific team had wasted hundreds of thousands on the trip. I then supplied vital information to the science journal "Nature" who published a report on the crew, highlighting that they had completely disregarded the need for a permit and not taken any notice of Bermuda's IWC sanctuary status! Since my collaboration with Nature, I have been asked to keep a close eye on environmental issues and have fed the journal information, which will be coming out in reports soon, about other local and international conservation issues. As much as I enjoy creating a stink from behind my computer screen and being involved with the science side of conservation I want to act from beyond the World Wide Web and the constraints of the scientific community. I want to be part of the action OUT THERE! I want to hang banners from ships, put myself in the way of the whalers, catch the cruelty on camera and show the world and help give the whales the voice they deserve. I want to talk to the leaders of these "scientific" whaling countries in ways they will listen to, and I want to convince people face to face that whaling really is a bad idea. Bermuda was the first place in the world to start commercial whaling. They killed right whales here, until none were left. However, Bermuda was also the first ever nation to make any conservation law, which was to protect all sea turtles. Green turtles had been killed for meat until the local breeding population had been wiped out. I think it would be very symbolic to have a Bermudian go to Iceland to help stop whaling. Bermudians made huge mistakes with regards to the environment but we have a come a long way since then and I believe that we are an inspiration for other parts of the world. I am sorry to go on so much but I assure you, the privilege of a trip to Iceland aboard the Esperanza would not be wasted on me. Far from it!
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