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Video: Esperanza to climb team, over

This was the scene on the Esperanza's bridge as Luke called through to Sim on the Stena Don for the last time, as the climbers prepared to leave the oil rig. Apologies for the audio which is a bit fuzzy, but here's a transcript: Read more »

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Video: evading navy boats and climbing up oil rigs

In the last couple of hours, we've received this footage from the Esperanza from this morning's daring occupation of the Stena Don, the oil rig operated by Cairn Energy. It shows just what an amazing feat the guys and gals there have pulled off, not least evading the Danish navy and scaling the oil rig legs. Read more »

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Drilling for oil and hosing down icebergs

As images and video come in to the office from the Esperanza, the one thing that has amazed everyone is the lengths to which Cairn Energy will go (indeed, must go) to prevent icebergs colliding with its drilling operations. Iceberg Alley is so named for a reason, and there's some footage here of one method for dealing with them: hosing them away.

There's also a chance to see the Stena Don rig close up as well as the Stena Forth drilling ship, and get a sense of what it's like to be out in the Arctic seas near Greenland. Read more »

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Video: Marion Cottilard meets Congo loggers

The third and fourth films documenting Inception star Marion Cottilard's journey to the Congo see her head out into the rainforest.

After meeting her hosts in Oshwe and the local forestry administration, she follows Greenpeace campaigners to see timber the loggers have left behind. Despite including sizeable tree trunks, they've been abandoned because they won't fetch enough money to make it worth the effort. Read more »

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Actress Marion Cottilard discovers the problems of the Congo rainforest

In June, Oscar-winning French superstar Marion Cottilard - currently playing in Inception at all good multiplexes - took a trip to the Congo rainforest with Greenpeace campaigners to see for herself the effect that the logging industry is having on the forest and the people who live there. Read more »

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Proposed forest law threatens Amazon rainforest

In Brazil, moves are afoot to amend a piece of legislation which has been protecting the Amazon rainforest for over 70 years, and not for the better. If the changes are voted through, it could mean that the area of the Amazon which can be legally destroyed will double, and it's the backers of these changes - the agriculture, biofuels and energy barons - who stand to benefit as they argue that pesky forest laws are a hindrance to economic development.  Read more »

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Biodiversity Inc: providing natural services to all our shareholders

Bio Diversity Incorporated from carleton creek on Vimeo.

Carlton Creek, who submitted a video to our HSBC advert challenge, has also produced this great little film which takes the ongoing discussions about attaching monetary worth to the natural services provided by our planet and turning them on their head. It's a neat little thought experiment into what the sales pitch for a company representing all life on Earth (or 'shareholders') would be like.

Elsewhere, artist and architect Maya Lin (previous work: Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC) is working on a collaborative, multi-media and multi-space project called What Is Missing? The current website highlights species which have been lost or are severely threatened, and if nothing else hovering your mouse over the map markers and hearing a soundscape of endangered creatures is haunting.

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Let it all out - Glasto shouts against rainforest destruction

Once again this year we teamed up with Mi7 Records to put on live music in the Greenpeace field. Following last year's success with the Departure Lounge, where we put on acts including Laura Marling and Mumford and Sons, this time around we decided to step up our game.

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Video: what happens when grappling hook meets leg

For a taste of the violence Greenpeace activists encountered on Friday as they tried to free bluefin tuna from purse-seine fishing nets, look no further than the video below. But be warned: there are some close-up images of a serious injury which are liable to make you lose your lunch.

We just had a discussion about whether to promote this video. Other Greenpeace offices have chosen to use it (including our Turkish colleagues, hence the Turkish title) although it's quite close to the knuckle (or shin bone, to be more precise). Yet it shows not only the determination of everyone on board our two ships to put the brakes on the extinction of bluefin tuna, but also the violence and intimidation they've been confronted with. So here it is. Read more »

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HSBC adverts are just greenwash, so why not make your own?

HSBC adverts are nothing but greenwash

If this man's tree-top home was in the way of profit, do you think HSBC would really stop the bulldozers? 

Update: Thanks to the thousands of emails sent and the videos you made, HSBC have since sold their shares in Sinar Mas.

HSBC's advertising creates a world where this monolithic financial institution truly empathises with the cultural, environmental and deeply symbolic relationships people have with trees and rainforests. It's a make-believe world, of course. The bank's actions speak far louder than the syrupy voiceovers and twee sentiments in their adverts, so just like BP's logo, they're ripe for a makeover. So why not make one of your own?

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