Take action now

In February, the Japanese government held a meeting in Tokyo to “normalise” the IWC. As we reported, it seemed that “normalise” means “business as usual” – in this case, keep catching whales. Denmark was one of the countries participating in the meeting. Because of statements made by the Danish commissioner, the Danish Foreign Affairs Minister is under pressure.

In the near future the minister has to explain the Danish IWC position to parliament - a debate that is desperately needed.

To keep up the pressure we urgently ask you to send an email to the Danish minister for foreign affairs, Per Stig Møller.

Poland is a country that supports protection of whales and would like to see the moratorium on commercial whaling stay in place. But it can only do this if it is a member of the IWC. Poland has started to join but time is running out. The next IWC is in May 2007 in Anchorage, Alaska.

Please send an email or letter to the Polish Minister of the Environment and ask him to hurry up and complete the paperwork to join the IWC, the whales need Poland now.

The six-ship whaling fleet has left Japan, and is headed directly to the Southern Ocean. 945 whales, including ten endangered fin whales, will be killed - unless we do something to save them. Post your ideas on how to save whales. We'll read every idea and you'll see the best ones put into action.

Iceland is a stunning, pristine land that attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists each year, many of them to go whale watching in the clear arctic waters. Greenpeace has launched a "Whale tourism pledge" -- a promise to visit Iceland if the government stops whaling.

With every tourist worth an average of US$ 1,169 to the Icelandic economy, the tens of thousands of pledges to date represent more than 100 million USD in potential tourist revenue for Iceland -- against a commercial whaling programme which was worth less than 4 million USD per annum in its prime in the 1980s, and is today effectively worthless.

Help convince Iceland that whales are worth more alive than dead.

Marine debris is found floating on all the world’s oceans, even near to polar regions, it also contaminates the seabed.

It is found everywhere, from the beaches of industrialised countries to the shores of the remotest, uninhabited islands.

Learn more and how to help.

During its few months of operation cyanide and other contaminants from the Australian-owned mine on Rapu Rapu Island, Philippines, spilled into the sea, resulting in massive fish kills.

The Lafayette Project is financed through a syndicate of banks including ANZ Investment Bank and ABN AMRO Bank NV (Australian Branch) in clear breach of their environmental policies.

Tell ABN AMRO to withdraw funding for the Rapu Rapu mine.

Tell ANZ to withdraw funding for the Rapu Rapu mine.

Draw, paint, photograph, write, knit - whatever floats your boat! Send us your ocean inspired art and we'll add it to our online www.deviantart collection - You could have your work shown next to some famous names in our art4oceans gallery. Click here to find out more.

Recruit an Ocean Defender … or five!

Tell your friends about the campaign using one of our ecards and ask them to sign up as Ocean Defenders too.

Link your site to ours - with a banner:

There's a whole page of banners for you to choose from. Take your pick, grab the html and add it to your web page.

Change your email signature to link to us:

Most of us send and receive email every day (some of us quite a lot of it!), so spread the word by linking to us in your email sig. As a suggestion, a certain Greenpeace staffer changed his to:

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Don't just be a drop in the ocean. Join with us and make some waves. Sign up to join us on our year-long journey and act to defend our oceans. It's free.

http://oceans.greenpeace.org/defenders
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 (He also changed his vacation auto-reply to say he'd only get back to people on his return if they signed up as an Ocean Defender -- cheeky!) You could also change your answering machine message (or your family's machine, like one of our blog readers did!)

Buy an Ocean Defender coffee mug:

Show your colleagues you’re an Ocean Defender – get your coffee mug or organic cotton tshirt here.

Download an action kit:

We have designed an action kit containing templates for posters and stickers that you can print out. Take a photo of the poster outside a local landmark or anywhere else in your community to represent where you live and show the world that we are united in our call for an end to whaling. You can upload the photo to the Ocean Defender flickr group here and find other Ocean Defenders worldwide. You could also upload the pics and comments to other blogs and really get the message out there. Download your kit!

Share your own ideas!

Got ideas for how to end commercial whaling? Post them here!

And connect with other Ocean Defenders on our discussion forum.