Hola,
This is Fernando – captain of Greenpeace flagship The Rainbow Warrior.
I’m writing to you from the middle of the Tasman Sea – and our next stop is New Zealand!
In April, when New Zealand became one of the first countries in the world to ban offshore oil and gas exploration, you made history and inspired the world.
We want to celebrate this win with you, which is why we’re headed there right now – along with a very excited crew.
We’ll be arriving in Northland and then working our way South. We’re calling it the Oil Free Seas tour, and we’ll be visiting many communities and meeting the people who helped make this victory against Big Oil possible. I hope you’ll be able to come on board and say hello!
New Zealand’s story of people power – of people across the country marching, protesting, and putting their bodies on the line to make oil history – is one that has travelled across the globe. We need to mark this historic moment together and use the story to inspire others to do the same around the world.
It’s not the first time your little country at the bottom of the Earth has stood up for what’s right.
In the eighties, New Zealand inspired the world by being the first to go nuclear-free. The Rainbow Warrior was part of that story too. Our ship helped evacuate the people of Rongelap from their contaminated home and led protests at sea to end nuclear testing in the region. As a result of us taking this moral stand, French Secret Service agents bombed the ship – killing one of our colleagues.
Now, The Rainbow Warrior is returning to New Zealand to help inspire the world all over again.
As your Prime Minister said – climate change is this generation’s nuclear-free moment. And while the task in the eighties was to end nuclear, our task today is to make oil history and save our climate from destruction.
It’s going to take all of us pushing for the clean energy future we need to finally Make Oil History.
During the ship tour we’ll be meeting people across New Zealand to talk about the needed transition to clean energy – and we really hope you’ll be part of that. New Zealand has shown that together, we can do anything.
Check out the itinerary so far here, with more info to be added in the coming weeks.
See you soon!
Fernando, and all the crew on The Rainbow Warrior