———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Greenpeace - webmaster [at] greenpeaceusa.org
Date: Jun 20, 2006 3:36 PM
Subject: Breaking News: Arctic Sunrise Storms into Whaling Meetings

Dear Kelly,

I’m writing you from St. Kitts, site of the 58th meeting of the International Whaling Commission. Our ship, the Arctic Sunrise, after being refused entry for more than a week, entered the waters of St. Kitts today to stage a peaceful protest. We landed on the beach and began placing more than 866 whale tails in the sand to symbolize the number of whales slaughtered by the Japanese government this year. Ten of our activists have already been arrested.

The International Whaling Commission meetings have just ended, and they dramatically displayed how narrow a margin exists between the pro-whaling and anti-whaling nations. A mere 2 votes (remember that number!) prevented Japan from eliminating conservation efforts for dolphins, porpoises, and small whales; and implementing a secret ballot. The Japanese delegation also narrowly lost their bids to abolish the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, exempt themselves from the commercial whaling ban, and kick Greenpeace out of the IWC meetings.

And you should know that your efforts played a major role in these victories. Due to pressure from concerned people around the world, including thousands of emails and faxes from you, Guatemala and Honduras decided NOT to attend the IWC meetings. Those two votes made all the difference. THANK YOU!

But after losing several votes, Japan pulled out all the stops, and actually won a non-binding resolution pronouncing that whales are guilty of over-fishing – by 1 vote! That’s right, the Japanese succeeded in convincing more than 30 nations that whales eat too much fish! And that wasn’t the only fishy thing that happened during the meetings. One of Japan’s pro-whaling allies arrived late to the meetings with their membership fees in cash, in a brown paper bag.

TAKE ACTION

We’ve taken a stand against Japanese Whaling, now it’s your turn to send a strong message!

The stage is clearly set for next year’s meeting in Alaska, and it will take everything we have to turn the tide. Now more than ever, the fight to protect whales is at a critical phase. That’s why we’ve announced that we’ll be returning to the Southern Ocean this winter to confront the Japanese whalers again. Please, support our efforts, follow this story, and share the news with your friends and family.

Sincerely,

Buffy

Buffy Baumann
Ocean Campaigner