Glastonbury Festival 2010
Greenpeace @ Glastonbury
Some people think we’re just a bunch of tree-huggers, which is fine cos it’s true, we do like trees. Not in a "Hello sky, hello clouds" kind of way - well, maybe a little bit – but more in a “20% of global CO2 emissions come from deforestation which destroys the habitats of animals like the critically endangered orang-utan" kind of way.
A significant proportion of that forest destruction is fuelled by demand for land to grow palm oil plantations. Yep, we burn down ancient forests teeming with priceless biodiversity - at great risk to our climate - to create agricultural land to produce ingredients for chocolate bars and make-up. That's bonkers. Someone ought to do something.
Greenpeace exists to investigate this kind of monkey business, to expose it and to stop it. We don't wait around for politicians to catch up with common sense, we go out there and take action. That means blocking the loggers, shutting down corporate HQs where fateful decisions are made, occupying freighters carrying illegal timber into Europe – using peaceful protest and direct action to challenge a way of doing business that doesn't only threaten orangutans but poses real risks to a certain primate species a little closer to home.
Here in Britain we consume the rainforest every day, usually without even knowing it. Every time someone buys garden furniture or a chicken nugget, they're most likely getting a "rainforest garden chair" or an "all-day Amazon breakfast". As part of the EU, we're the largest soy consumer in the world, and the second biggest user of palm oil.
It's our growing demand for beef, soy and palm oil, as well as timber and biofuels, which makes rainforests worth more cut down than standing up. That’s crazy, and that’s what we need to change – because burning tropical forests drives global warming faster than all the emissions from the world's entire transport sector put together.
The good news is that we can make a real difference - by insisting that the companies we buy from give us real guarantees that their products are not fuelling forest destruction.
See pictures from and read more about what we got up to on the Greenpeace Field in 2010 here.