This month, we are excited to welcome back the Rainbow Warrior to Aussie shores, as it embarks on a journey up the West Australian coastline to join with local communities and protect our oceans and climate from fossil fuel company Woodside – and its monstrous Burrup Hub gas project. 

Greenpeace has deep connections to Western Australia and its oceans. 

In fact, this journey marks 45 years since Greenpeace Australia Pacific first began back in the 1970s. A time when whaling was the greatest threat to whales and activists put their bodies between the whales and whalers – helping to put an end to commercial whaling in this country.

And now in 2023, as the greatest threat to whales comes from fossil fuel companies driving dangerous climate change, our crew will be sailing the length of WA with a simple message: choose whales not Woodside. 

Excited to dive into more history about the Rainbow Warrior? Of course you are.

Here’s a look back at some of the other times that Greenpeace’s flagship vessel has campaigned in Australian waters:

January 1990

March 1991

The following year, in 1991, Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warrior returned to Australia to take a stand against fossil fuel giant BHP, who was conducting seismic testing in search of offshore oil at the time.

The ship carried a banner “Whales and Oil don’t mix”.

On this particular occasion, BHP’s ship, the Western Odyssey, was successfully prevented from continuing with its dangerous seismic testing activities thanks to the efforts of the crew.

March 1993

By 1993, Greenpeace’s famous rainbow ship returned once again for a four-month tour around the south and east coasts of Australia.

The tour saw several ports of call along the way, including blockading the entrance of a cargo ship, the Eastern Ruby, into Sydney Harbour which was carrying tropical timber from Malaysia.

Plus a stop into Hobart, where scientists onboard took oil samples and activists occupied a jarosite dumping ship for almost twelve hours.

The trip even saw some special guest appearances onboard – including Paul and Linda McCartney.

September 2000

In 2000, the Rainbow Warrior returned to Sydney Harbour to help commemorate the Green Olympics, an idea inspired by Greenpeace to ensure commitments to green deeds during the Games – including energy and water conservation, and protection of the natural environment through initiatives including a solar-powered community for athletes to sleep and eat.

July 2000

Australia welcomed the Rainbow Warrior back to Sydney Harbour in 2005, during its climate tour against coal, where the crew onboard peacefully disrupted the loading of coal in the world’s largest coal port and demanded a switch to renewable energy.

July 2015

Ten years later, the Rainbow Warrior set sail towards one of the seventh wonders of the natural world during its six-week Save the Reef campaign.

The ship traveled up the east coast to raise awareness for the protection of the Great Barrier Reef, and was involved in several peaceful actions to protest against the transportation and usage of dirty fossil fuel, coal.

The tour also coincided with the 30th anniversary of the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior by the French government on the 10th of July 1985.

November 2018

The last time the Rainbow Warrior visited Australian waters was back in 2018, during its Making Oil History tour, to draw attention to the threats posed by dangerous oil drilling in the Great Australian Bight.

The Warrior was stationed in Sydney for a day to meet with supporters, before departing on a voyage along the East Coast to Melbourne, South Australia, and Western Australia, where it helped launch a number of reports and conducted important scientific research to document the unsung beauty of the Bight.

By 2021, fossil fuel giants BP, Chevron, and Equinor, had all announced they will be abandoning their plans for offshore drilling in the Bight – a historic win for people and the planet. 

As the news rippled around our office in Sydney yesterday, we felt energised. Days like this don’t come that often. They re-charge us, keep us going. And remind us of our immense power. Enjoy it! High five a friend, drink it in, and just feel good. And share it on Facebook and Twitter! 

Let’s not underplay this: it’s a HUGE win…

For the First Nations people who have called this area home for more than 60,000 years. For the tight-knit coastal communities whose way of life had been at risk. For the unique and magical marine life threatened like never before. For the fishing and tourism industries who depend on a clean and healthy Bight.

And for the hundreds of thousands of people like you, who stood with them, and spoke up. You made this happen.

A whale and her calf in the Great Australian Bight.

Together, we can achieve the impossible. We’ve taken on the biggest fossil fuel companies, and we’ve won. But we need your support to keep going.

Will you chip in to power this incredible movement, and make sure that we can keep fighting to permanently protect the Bight, and to take on the fossil fuel industry?

CHIP IN NOW

This is a momentous win for the Bight, for South Australia and for all our friends in this amazing movement of people. This is what we can do when we band together.

Protecting the Bight is so important. Not only is it one of the world’s most important whale sanctuaries, home to more unique species than the Great Barrier Reef, but it houses an estimated 817 million tonnes of carbon that we simply cannot afford to burn if we’re to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. 

For years now, it has been the people vs oil. And the people have just won, again. Faced with aggressive deepwater oil drilling threatening one of the world’s most unique marine ecosystems, surrounded by majestic whales and baby seals, we knew Australians wouldn’t stand for it. And we didn’t. 

Our movement stepped up. And when the setbacks came, we didn’t stop. We built the kind of relentless community pressure that no major corporation, or their investors, could ignore. 

South Australian community representatives and activists tell Equinor their oil rigs are not welcome in the Great Australian Bight.

The battle to protect the Bight permanently is not won yet. The only way to do that is to secure a permanent moratorium on drilling. If we can do that, we can safeguard coastal communities and the Bight’s unique marine life for good.

We’ll keep fighting until that’s a reality. But this victory is a huge step forward, and a message to any other greedy oil giants foolish enough to try and drill the Bight that they will face fierce opposition. 

With your support we can lock in permanent protection for the Bight, and keep fighting, and winning, these pivotal battles against the fossil fuel industry. 

CHIP IN NOW to fund our people-powered movement!

We’ve been a thorn in the side of the oil industry and the reckless plans to drill the Bight for years now. First we sent BP packing. Then Chevron and Karoon. And now Equinor has become the latest major company to see the writing on the wall in the face of unwavering local resistance. 

We know that oil drilling in the Bight would be disastrous. A spill could hit anywhere from Western Australia to Tasmania, devastating marine life and local people.

Equinor’s own modelling showed that an oil spill in the Bight could hit the coastline anywhere from WA to northern NSW.

That’s why we won’t stop until a permanent moratorium on oil drilling in this incredible place has been declared.

We also know that Big Oil isn’t about to stop. Driven by greed and desperation, they’ll continue to try and wring the last drops out of this dying industry. But we have them on the run. From the Arctic to the Bight, the tide is turning. And just yesterday the plug was pulled on a huge oilsands mine in Canada, with concerns over climate change proving pivotal. The end of the fossil fuel age is coming.

The momentum is with us. Let’s keep it going!

We’re completely independent, which means we rely on the generosity of people like you to power huge wins for the environment like today’s. We’ve also shown that together, we can do anything.

Chip in now to help protect beautiful ecosystems like the Bight for good.

Thank you again for speaking out, and for standing alongside everyone fighting for the Bight! You’re part of something truly special today. 

This has been an enormous win fought over many many years, and has taken so many of us. This list doesn’t capture everyone, but here are just a few specific extra thank yous: 

• Aunty Sue Haseldine, Uncle Bunna Lawrie Kokotha and Mirning Elders
• The people of Ceduna, Kangaroo Island, Port Lincoln and the 23 local councils that publicly opposed drilling
• The fishing communities of South Australia
• The Great Australian Bight Alliance
• The Wilderness Society

Laurence Nicoud, chef on board the Rainbow Warrior ship

“I’m writing a novel. About feminist pre-history. And it has to be a best-seller, because my friends all need it to be translated into their languages.”

We’re sitting on the bow of the Rainbow Warrior sailing ship, docked at an unassuming pier in Melbourne, Australia. The sky blushes soft pink as the sun dips below an industrial skyline. It’s my first night on board, and I’ve just learned that my roommate, the dynamic French chef Laurence, is both a former journalist and a current novelist.

Laurence is warm and very direct. She knows what needs doing and the most efficient way to do it. This is her third trip with Greenpeace, and her role involves the mammoth task of planning, buying and catering food for up to 30 people while at sea for weeks at a time.

Maria Martinez Rami, chief mate (left), and Hettie Geenen, Captain of the Rainbow Warrior

She’s Greenpeace’s only female chef and on this journey she’s joined by Hettie Geenen, Greenpeace’s only female ship’s captain, and Maria Martinez, Greenpeace’s only female Chief Officer. Earlier in the tour, we were joined by female mechanic Sabine Steiner. That’s not to mention two female deckhands and the numerous women scientists, photographers, staff and divers that join us along the way.

We’re setting sail around the Great Australian Bight, off the southern coast of Australia, to learn more about this pristine region and to protect it from the ravages of deepwater oil drilling.

Darryn Sward, marine researcher, carries an ROV (remote-operated vehicle) used to survey underwater ecosystems

There’s a sense of camaraderie and compassion on the ship that goes beyond a traditional working environment. Everyone pitches in—whether it’s making a mockumentary about whale earplugs, troubleshooting the underwater robot or scrubbing spuds for dinner.

Underwater photographer Mikaela Skovranoa heading back to the Rainbow Warrior after a dive in the Great Australian Bight

For the women of the Warrior that have worked on industrial or cruise ships, working with Greenpeace brings a welcome change in environment. Chief Officer Maria sums it up:

“Working on board [commercial] ships where I was the only woman sometimes was quite hard. You felt that sometimes people don’t understand, don’t take you seriously, assume that you’re weak – and then you have to demonstrate that’s not true.”

Maria, chief mate, helps guide a rigid-hulled inflatable boat alongside the Rainbow Warrior

Maria, whose job involves being second-in-command and the first point of contact for most of the crew, grew up in Sitges near Barcelona. She began sailing at age eight, and she still describes the local sailing school as a place she loves. Maria was teaching at that sailing school when she first applied to work with Greenpeace.

“I didn’t mind what my job title was going to be, but I knew I wanted to join the Rainbow Warrior. I love sailing, and this is the only one of the three [Greenpeace] ships that sails. I feel more connected to the sea when the ship is sailing. It’s like talking with the wind.”

Maria Martinez Rami and Nazareth Sanzini, second mate, working with the rigging

But it’s not always smooth sailing. The close proximity means any misunderstandings need to be talked through before they fester. “We share cabins, we share free time—so sometimes it’s not the easiest… You really try to solve the conflict before it escalates,” Maria explains.

Laurence laughs as she talks about the trials and tribulations of living 24/7 with the same people for three months at a time—and the challenges of keeping everyone on board fed and happy. Apparently if the cheese runs out, there’s a ‘war’, but she notes that the shared sense of purpose keeps everyone grounded: “It’s very concrete: I cook for the people I live with, and we are travelling together, and we share the same idea. This idea is the most important for me: to protect the environment.”

Laurence and Daniela Carvalho, volunteer cook’s assistant, in the galley

This is Laurence’s third trip with Greenpeace, and the first time she’s sailed with captain Hettie and chief mate Maria. She says she notices a difference in the way the crew communicates.

“On this third trip, with the captain and chief mate as women, it makes things easy. I don’t need to explain myself a lot. We do the same things, but we don’t need to speak too much. We just understand.”

“I am part of that kind of woman, we want to do what we want. We can’t think we can’t. Last year, I was in the Antarctic [on a Greenpeace ship]. I learned then that it was forbidden until the 1980s for women to go on a ship to the Antarctic. The woman are strong, here, to do all the stuff we do,” muses Laurence.

Volunteer deckhand Luca Lamont on board the Rainbow Warrior

On my last night on the ship, over pizza and beer and horizon-gazing, volunteer deckhand Luca tells me that she feels like she’s in the right place, here on the Warrior. Over the course of the campaign, I’ve watched her flame-haired form ducking and darting around rigging and winches, absorbing the detailed information required to set sail. Literally learning the ropes.

Luca Lamont, volunteer deckhand, setting sail

And learning the ropes is what we all have to do in order to protect our one fragile and beautiful planet, according to Chief Officer Maria. “Society is getting more aware about what’s going on and how important it is to take care of the environment,” she says. “I think women especially are using the tools they have to make this change happen. Women are really powerful, they just have to have access to the correct tools.”

The Rainbow Warrior at sunset in The Great Australian Bight.

Photos by Alana Holmberg

1. They’re both thriving in tough conditions

The Amazon Reef is located at the mouth of the Amazon River basin, where the river meets the sea and fresh water mixes with salt water. Silt from the river washes out through the river mouth, meaning the water there is often muddy. Most reefs grow in warm, clear, salty tropical waters – not murky river mouths. Scientists were amazed to discover the unexpected Amazon Reef was flourishing in these unusual conditions, and officially announced the reef’s existence in a 2016 paper. In 2017, Greenpeace worked with scientists on board the Esperanza ship to capture the first ever images of this newly-discovered reef:

One of the first images of the Amazon Reef, captured from a submarine launched from the MV Esperanza Photo © Greenpeace

The Great Southern Reef lies off the southern coast of Australia in the Great Australian Bight, a pristine and remote stretch of ocean that reaches from Tasmania in the east to Western Australia in the west. It’s known for its wild waters and unpredictable weather, which makes researching the Great Southern Reef extra challenging. Unlike the tropical coral of the Great Barrier Reef, the coral thriving at the Great Southern Reef is cold-water coral – and it’s incredible. Check it out:

Lacy Bryozoan near Kangaroo Island, Australia
Photo © Greenpeace/Richard Robinson

2. Both reefs are absolutely huge

Scientists estimate the Amazon Reef’s size could span 56,000 km2 near the mouth of the Amazon River. Not bad for a reef system that nobody expected to be there! Because of this reef’s unique nature, the critters that live amongst the Amazon Reef are very precious. Between 2010 and 2014, scientists undertook three surveys of the area, and they believe they have found new species of fish and sponges.

Similarly, the Great Southern Reef is a massive series of reefs with extensive kelp seaweed forests that extend around Australia’s southern coastline, covering around 71,000 km2 from Brisbane to Kalbarri. It’s an amazing life support for the incredibly diverse wildlife of the Great Australian Bight – like the unique leafy sea dragon. In fact, 85% of the species in the Bight live nowhere else in the world – and they wouldn’t be there if not for the Great Southern Reef.

3. They’re home to some amazing marine and freshwater mammals

The Amazon Reef region, at the mouth of the Amazon River basin, is a migratory route for different species of whales. But along with the incredible sea life, the Amazon River itself is home to some incredible marine mammals, like the giant river otter. These sleepy-looking animals live mostly in and along the Amazon River. When we say giant, we mean it: giant river otter can reach up to 1.7m in length. And that’s not all: the Amazon River region is home to endangered pink dolphins, often known as boto.

Giant Otters (Pteronura brasiliensis) in the Amazon
Photo: © Zig Koch / Natureza Brasileira

The Great Australian Bight’s wild waters are basically a maternity ward for whales – like southern right whales, which journey up from the chilly waters of the Antarctic every year to have their babies. The Bight is also home to curious and playful Australian sea lions, well-known for their propensity to get up-close and personal. They’re also the smallest, possibly the rarest, and very arguably the cutest pinnipeds in the world.

An Australian sea lion meets a diver in the Great Southern Reef, Australia
Photo: © Greenpeace / Michaela Skovranova

4. The threat of an oil spill in these pristine ecosystems is all too real

Multinational oil giants have had their eye on both of these pristine regions, greedy for the oil they think sits below these magical reefs. You know as well as we do that drilling for oil carries an inherent risk of an oil spill which could cause irreparable damage to these reefs.

With some of the oil block offers at the Amazon River mouth basin actually on top of the Amazon Reef, it’s outrageous that oil companies are even considering drilling in this region. To make things worse, the risks of oil exploration in the area are greater due to the strong currents and sediment carried by the Amazon River. A spill could cause irreparable damage to the reef.

The same thing is happening down under, too. For years, oil giants have been lurking around, getting ready to begin exploratory deepwater drilling off the southern coast of Australia, right beside the Great Southern Reef. State-owned Norwegian oil giant Equinor (formerly Statoil) wants to sink its drills into the Great Australian Bight as early as summer of 2019/2020, while other oil companies could be blasting their seismic cannons at the whales and reef dwellers as soon as this Spring.

5. But we’re fighting back – and it’s working!

Two million: the number of people around the world that have banded together as Amazon Reef Defenders to protect this stunning area from the ravages of the oil industry. This is truly a people-powered movement. From scientists to local communities, from Malaysia to Paris, from actors and actresses to climbers and samba players; we’ve stayed united. And it’s worked!

Just last month, at the end of 2018, the Brazilian environmental agency (Ibama) denied French oil company Total a license to drill for oil near the Amazon Reef. This wouldn’t have happened without the passion and dedication of the Amazon Reef Defenders – people like you fighting to protect some of the last untouched places on earth.

BREAKING! The Brazilian environmental agency has just announced @Total’s licence to drill for oil near the Amazon Reef was DENIED!

Thank you to each an every one of you, Amazon Reef Defenders!

RT to celebrate this amazing news! pic.twitter.com/N5ULkb2xMG

— Greenpeace (@Greenpeace) December 7, 2018

Similarly down in Australia, we’ve been working with First Nations, local communities, scientists, surfers, divers and people like you to keep oil companies out of the Great Australian Bight and away from the Great Southern Reef.

A student-led flotilla including kayaks, sailboats, paddle boards, and surfboards set in Apollo Bay Harbour to send a message to oil companies that they are not welcome to drill in the Great Australian Bight.
Photo © Greenpeace / Sarah Pannell

The same month that Total had their Amazon Reef drilling application rejection, Equinor asked to delay their drilling plans for another year - maybe because they've seen the huge community opposition they're facing. But that's not all they'd be up against - extreme depth, unknown pressure, wild weather and the remote location all make drilling in the Great Australian Bight extremely risky.

We’re for a world beyond oil, coal and gas. We’re for clean energy and better ways of getting around that don’t rely on climate-wrecking, air-polluting fossil fuels. We love our oceans and know the work that our precious reefs do cleaning the water and keeping whole ecosystems healthy.

Will you join the movement to protect reefs around the world? We’re calling on Australia’s government to permanently protect the Bight from dangerous oil drilling.

ADD YOUR NAME NOW

It will be 63 years since Rosa Parks in Montgomery, Alabama, defied bus driver James F. Blake’s order to relinquish her seat in the “colored section” to a white passenger, after the whites-only section was filled.

She wasn’t the first person to resist bus segregation, but she inspired the black community to boycott the Montgomery buses for over a year, the first major direct action campaign of the post-war civil rights movement.

Following Parks’ civil disobedience, subsequent strategic litigation in the Alabama courts resulted in an end to bus segregation in that state.

She was no innocent, although she was no radical either. She was an activist. As she said, she acted as a private citizen “tired of giving in.”

The work of the civil rights movement – the demonstrations, the legal assistance, the training and communications, lobbying and organising – was supported by many people including Harry Belafonte, Ella Fitzgerald and others, but also four small US philanthropies, now known as the Freedom Funders.

The New World Foundation, The Field Foundation, The Stern Family Fund and the Taconic Foundation provided modest but crucial support to the movement, including funds for training in nonviolent protest, marches and demonstrations, bail applications and legal work in the courts.

At that time, racial discrimination seemed hard-wired into some US states and the broader national culture, economy and government. But some in philanthropy were brave and honest enough to see that this pattern could be broken and civil disobedience was a powerful way to do it.

The contrast I am trying to draw is that at this time, climate change and biodiversity loss seem hard-wired into our economy and way of life.

We seem to have a compulsive appetite to consume and waste material goods and natural resources. We seem to think that we can continue to depend on fossil fuels without further damaging the atmosphere or air.

The threats to our natural world are urgent and compelling.

We are now in a climate emergency.

But like Rosa Parks, we must not give in. We must draw inspiration from the way the civil rights movement used all means to wage their struggle, including non-violent protest where necessary.

And as funders we need to be open to what the change makers in the field tell us about how to shift issues and to move the dominant paradigm.

That’s the lesson of Greenpeace and the Rainbow Warrior. Be flexible, be open and transparent, be bold but not crazy brave, act with moral courage and change is possible.

Words by John Spierings, November 2018

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=980wNN2KUTc[/youtube]

My name is Grace, I’m 16 years old and I organised a flotilla – a floating protest against deep sea oil drilling – in my home of Apollo Bay, Victoria.

Apollo Bay is a small, beautiful town on the Great Ocean Road, located just by the sea. I’ve lived here my whole life.

When I was much younger, I was kayaking with a mate in the local harbour when a pod of three dolphins swam up beside us and jumped around for a while, so close I could reach out and touch them. It was the most exhilarating and beautiful experience from the ocean.

For us, the ocean is more than just a beautiful view. It’s the lifeblood of our community, with tourism and fishing supporting so many families here in Apollo Bay. But big oil companies are planning to drill for oil off our coast, risking our pristine environment and way of life.

It’s not only oil spills that worry me. As a young person, I care deeply about climate change. My generation will have to deal with the consequences of the decisions being made by big fossil fuel companies trashing the environment.

But one thing I love about my community is that we come together to do incredible things – like standing up to  those greedy oil companies. In the lead up to the flotilla, we held a stall at the school fete, we painted our surfboards, postered the main street of town. We got together and made a banner. The morning of the flotilla, I felt nervous but extraordinarily excited. It made me so happy to see all my friends, family, school and community so pumped to be involved.

Grace (center) with friends Eleni (left) and Hannah (right). 

Apollo Bay has a population of just 1500 – but on the day of our flotilla, 350 people were out there on the water and on land to protect the oceans we love from oil drilling – despite the wind and rain! I learned throughout this project how bringing a community together can really make a difference, and that anyone can do it. There are people like us right around Australia – standing up for what we believe in.

Join Grace in standing up against oil drilling in the Great Australian Bight:

ACT NOW

The Great Southern Reef is huge – spanning 8,100 km from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean, right across the wild waters of the Great Australian Bight. And it’s one of the most productive ecosystems on earth.

The seaweed there forms vast underwater forests, capturing carbon and providing food and a home for hundreds of unique species, 85% of which are found nowhere else on Earth. This richness in life is what draws so many whales from Antarctica to feed and birth their young.

But because this is such a harsh environment, many of these waters go unexplored and undocumented. That’s why scientific surveys like the one we’ve been doing from the Rainbow Warrior are so important.

In fact, a study release just this month identified over 400 new marine species here!

But threat looms for the Reef: a spill from dangerous oil drilling in the Great Australian Bight could hit almost anywhere across the Great Southern Reef. That would be devastating not only to the marine life that calls the Reef home, but also to the fishing, tourism and recreation industries, and the thriving coastal communities who depend on these reefs for their way of life.

Whilst we were in the Reef’s waters, off Kangaroo Island in South Australia, we were diving some deep sites that have never been scientifically surveyed before.

What we found was yet more evidence of the astonishing beauty and biodiversity of the region. Take a look:

Filter feeding Gorgonian Fans and Sponges at Kangaroo Island. In the deeper waters life blooms amongst the huge, kaleidoscopic sponges and spectacular cold-water corals.

The beautiful Harlequin fish (Othos dentex) at Seven Mile Reef, Kangaroo Island.

This colourful little creature is a clown nudibranch, from a group of soft-bodied, marine gastropod molluscs which shed their shells after their larval stage.

The elusive but beautiful Southern Blue Devil is a hard one to photograph – they hide out in caves and are very shy!

Georgina Wood Marine Ecologist surveys a reef at Kangaroo Island.

The amazingly patterned dorid nudibranch.

Underwater filmmaker and Marine Biologist Stefan Andrews sets up diver communication equipment in preparation for a live internet cross at Kangaroo Island.

Marine Ecologist Georgina Wood surveys Kingscote wharf on Kangaroo Island.

A decorator crab, so-called because they decorate themselves by sticking mostly sedentary animals and plants to their bodies as camouflage to ward off predators.

Marine Ecologists Georgina Wood and Sam Owen hold a Greenpeace People Vs Oil banner.

If we’re going to stop catastrophic climate change we can’t afford to burn the reserves of oil we already have. Risking a pristine ocean for even more oil is simply outrageous, especially when we have an abundance of renewable alternatives at the ready. This is the work of an industry determined to eke out profit from a world that has already moved on from it.

If enough of us spread the word we can show that the world is watching and convince the Australian Government to protect it for good.

Protect the Great Southern Reef.

‘A larger lesson is that, no matter how much we improve our regulation of the industry, drilling for oil these days entails greater risk…For decades, we have known the days of cheap and easily accessible oil were numbered.

For decades, we’ve talked and talked about the need to end America’s century-long addiction to fossil fuels. And for decades, we have failed to act with the sense of urgency that this challenge requires. Time and again, the path forward has been blocked not only by oil industry lobbyists, but also by a lack of political courage and candour.’  Barack Obama, 2010.

The effects are still very clearly being felt

Eight years later the visible signs of oil have decreased. The fish lesions that were once common are less prevalent. A great deal of the oil has been degraded and tar is rarely seen on the marshes. The images plastered across international media outlets of oily turtles and darkened beaches appear to be very much a thing of the past.

But we know that exposure to heavy metals in oil causes long term intergenerational effects. Research suggests that the spill continues to harm life in lingering ways. The mass die-offs of multiple species that characterized the aftermath of Deepwater Horizon will continue to echo through the reproduction rates and the species range of the current ecosystem.

Several years later studies done on bottlenose dolphins found that pregnant females were over four times more likely to give birth to an unhealthy calf after the spill.

At the time seabirds were one of the spills most visible victims. An estimated 600,000 – 800,000 birds died, and one third of the gulf’s entire population of laughing gulls were annihilated. Years after the spill, scientists found hydrocarbon deposits from Deepwater Horizon in 90% of pelican eggs tested in Minnesota, the summer grounds for many of the Gulf’s migrating bird species.

The oil plume spilling from the broken well caused bleaching and tissue loss in deep-water coral reefs over an area three times larger than Manhattan. Such coral is extremely slow growing. Marine ecosystems, including the invertebrates and plants at the foundation of the food web were also disrupted. Oyster catches in Louisiana declines for at least four years after the spill.

Photo by © Chuck Cook/Greenpeace.

The clean-up and the fallout

In the aftermath of the spill, Corexit 9500, the dispersant used to break up the oil was believed less harmful than the oil itself. An unprecedented two million gallons of it was of it was poured into the Gulf to break up the slick.

While the chemical quickly removes the oil from sight, many scientists and toxicologists now believe that the oil-Corexit combination resulted in up to 52 times greater toxicity to humans and the environment than oil alone.

“After I got sprayed it all went downhill. My employer said in the beginning that the dispersants were not harmful and would not hurt you. But Corexit is banned from several countries. …Out of the three [crew members] that I know personally, we have all had the same health problems.

Three days after we were sprayed, my skin and eyes started burning, and I was coughing. In early July 2010 I had sores, and in between my fingers stuff was pussing out. … The puss bumps and rashes were on my arms, my stomach, my back and the back of my legs. They looked like little tennis balls. Since we put cream on it, it looks like a whole lot of bumps. The ones on my arms looked the worse, which is why I try to cover them with tattoos.” (Clean-up worker Louisiana)

The 50,000 people involved in the spill clean-up were subject to increased risk of physical and psychological damage. Many years later people are still sick, with exposure linked to symptoms such as migraines, lung conditions, skin rashes, seizures and muscle cramps.

The only way we can understand the spill aftermath is through stories, and that’s what “The Rising”, aims to do. It’s a film that gives voice to silenced Deepwater Horizon victims, and those communities on the frontline still fighting oil industry exploitation in the Gulf today. Click here to check out the film.

And while the world’s attention has moved on, for community members in the area the battle goes on –  not just opposing new drilling projects, but articulating a different kind of future for the region built on a just transition away from fossil fuels: for the sake of the life and livelihoods of Gulf communities, cultures and ecosystems.

An oil spill in the Great Australian Bight could be even worse

Recently leaked documents from BP, who had previously planned to drill in the Bight, describe a spill that would potentially amount to more than twice the amount of crude oil in the Bight that entered the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon disaster. This scenario would be one of the worst spills in human history.

A report authored by independent oil spill consultant and marine biologist, Professor Richard Steiner (who happened to have worked on the response from the Deepwater Horizon disaster), consolidates this. 

And the scariest thing? If a massive spill did happen, nothing the oil company could do would save us from the worst impacts.

The good news is that the Australian government has the power to permanently protect the Bight from oil drilling, which would ward off not only Statoil but all oil companies. But we need to stand up and demand that the government acts before it’s too late. 

Add your voice: Protect the Bight

References:

6 years after, time for action – OCEANA report

Great Australian Bight spill trajectories – Wilderness Society commissioned report

BP  boast to local economy claim press release

American Journal of Medicine press release

Greenpeace has obtained BP’s 2016 Well Operations Management Plan which outlines the measures employed to prevent and respond to an oil spill in the Bight after lodging a freedom of information request with the national offshore oil regulator, NOPSEMA, in August 2016.

And it’s every bit as bad as predicted.

They paint a picture of a company repeatedly referring to the “significant uncertainty” of the experimental project with particular concern expressed about the almost unprecedented pressures and temperatures – two factors that contribute to higher risk of an accident.

It also states that equipment critical for dealing with any potential oil spills such as capping stacks and relief wells would be incredibly difficult to source and would also unable to be used almost a third of the year in the high wave conditions of the Bight.

Aside from these worrying concerns the entire process also highlights the lack of transparency when it comes to oil and gas exploration and the potential impact on communities and marine ecosystems.

The documents describe a spill that would potentially be so bad that scenarios are outlined where more than twice the amount of crude oil that entered the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon disaster would be spilled.

This scenario would be one of the worst spills in human history.

The management plan shows conclusively why any oil drilling in the Great Australian Bight would be far too risky for any deepwater driller to attempt with many of the mitigation measures completely ineffective in the region.

In summary:

• In the plan BP expresses concern about the “significant uncertainty” around pressures, temperatures, weather, and wave height. They just don’t know what will happen.
• There are concerns about the ability of oil companies to acquire vital equipment such as capping stacks or relief wells in the event of a spill…
• …and even if they did they wouldn’t be able to use them a full one third of the year.
• All of this would combine to make any spills potentially twice as bad as the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Australian government represents the people of Australia and the people of the Bight.

It is up to them to stand up to these deceitful, contemptuous, and irresponsible companies and to legislate to protect the Bight forever.

I didn’t know that The Great Australian Bight even existed (pardon my ignorance) until Greenpeace brought it to my attention with the campaign against oil drilling in this incredibly diverse and rich marine region. The Bight is where whales and Australian sea lions come to calve and breed. In these plankton rich waters, where the bluefin tuna of this region feed,  many other tropical species that are struggling up north also find refuge.

Like many other people I was unaware about this incredible national treasure; one of the least understood marine ecosystems in the world. In fact only last year the CSIRO tabled its first ever final report on the Great Australian Bight! The study highlighted that  of the species in the Bight, 85% are found nowhere else on the planet and also discovered almost 300 species new to science.

BP has apparently given up their plans for in the area for oil exploration but Norway’s state-owned oil company, Equinor, is planning to go ahead with drilling as soon as October 2019.  So the danger of oil exploration is still lurking. And it’s sinister. I am sure, as you probably are, that, if any drilling does go ahead, the risk of another Gulf of Mexico is very real. This would have a devastating effect not only on South Australia but  Western Australia and Tasmania and all the species seek refuge in these rich waters and the local communities who rely on the coast for their livelihood.

At the beginning of the year I joined Greenpeace in Melbourne. After my retirement, I was searching again for meaning in my life, especially in areas in which I could express my activism. This had lain dormant since my younger years I spent in Bologna protesting on the barricades for students’ and women’s rights. Greenpeace has always attracted me, maybe because of its name which evokes in my imagination peaceful marine green hidden paradises on earth as, indeed, the Great Australian Bight.

I not only believe that oil and fossil fuels cannot be part of our future but also that there will be no future if we keep drilling. The sooner the multinational companies transition to renewable energy projects, the better for all of us.

The international environmental consciousness is gaining momentum. I believe that this is the time to act.

Let the wind, the sun, the sea waves not only warm us up in winter and cool us down in summer but also nourish and soothe our souls.  

Please join me at the launch of the campaign to save the Great Australian Bight in Melbourne go going here: act.gp/melbournevsoil

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