Greenpeace floats life-sized iceberg in Paris to call for action at G8 meeting

Wednesday, 08 July 2009 08:45

Photo: Greenpeace

On Tuesday, the day before the G8 summit in Italy, environmental organization Greenpeace floated a life-sized iceberg on the River Seine in Paris towards the Eiffel tower to call for urgent action from world leaders to save the climate.

Activists also gave a clear message to President Sarkozy and his counterparts by holding banners at the foot of the iceberg, stating “Sarkozy : climate leadership now” and “G8: climate leadership now”.

Earlier this week Greenpeace also reminded Presidents' Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama of their responsibility to take leadership in agreeing plans to avert catastrophic climate change. During the Russia-US summit held in the Kremlin, activists used a laser projector to create a call to action visible from President Obama's hotel: "Leaders Act! Save Climate!"

According to Greenpeace, their ship Arctic Sunrise, currently in the Nares Strait in the Arctic has come across disturbing signs of accelerating climate change. The area is normally covered in ice until August, but is already free of it. In the words of one of the scientists on board, Dr Jason Box, it is “unprecedented that in an area of 450 km of open water we haven't even bumped into a single ice flow."  

Greenpeace is also documenting the impacts of climate change in the Pacific where another ship, Esperanza, is on a tour of the Cook Islands, Samoa and Vanuatu.

“Both of these ship tours are highlighting the urgent need for world leaders to act now: to take personal responsibility for tackling climate change and guaranteeing a good deal for the climate in Copenhagen this December”, Greenpeace says on their website.