This afternoon, I went on board the Arctic Sunrise ship with some girlfriends, at the Mauá pier. We waited a few hours in line to get on board but it was a lovely afternoon. We were given some information about the Greenpeace and its mission; watched a few videos about the NGO’s activities in Brazil and around the world and, finally, got on board and visited some of the ship’s rooms. We learned how the crew members work to reduce the ship’s environmental impact in terms of the residues it produces, such as oil, organic, recyclable and human waste.

Arctic is an ice breaker vessel and is used to sailing the planet’s cold waters. It came to Brazil to lead an awareness campaign on global warming and to bring proposals to be presented to President Lula, who will represent Brazil at the UN climate meeting in Copenhagen.

Some of the proposals are: reducing the Amazon deforestation by 2015; guaranteeing that at least 25% of the electricity is generated from renewable sources of energy such as wind, sun, biomass and small hydroelectric power plants by 2020; supporting technology transfer among countries; and turning at least 30% of the Brazilian marine coast into protected areas by 2020.

Greenpeace ships are used as tools to report serious environmental crimes that affect the environment. Arctic Sunrise is in Brazil as part of a global effort conducted by the organization to save the climate, an expedition called “Save the Planet: It’s now or now.” You can participate by signing the online petition that will be forwarded to President Lula.

The ship will be open for visitation tomorrow, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, at the Maua Pier. The next stop will be this month, at Port of Santos, on the 28 and 29th.