Nick, in a survival suit. © Will Rose / Greenpeace
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I'm not sure where to start. In the past 24 hours, I've watched senior advisers to the shadow cabinet take a ride in one of our inflatable boats (wearing Greenpeace-branded dry suits); mopped, swept and wiped all manner of surfaces; talked to artists, designers and film producers about our work and the coal campaign; learned how to coil rope properly; donned a survival suit during safety training (see the picture of Nick, resplendent in similar garb, above); helped to take down a giant banner; eavesdropped on energy policy discussions with advisers at the heart of Labour's government; and cleaned a lot of toilets.
I think I'd better start with the Tories, who visited the Warrior this afternoon. They were here not to have the mickey taken out of them as they got into the inflatable boat ("when we get to parliament, you three unfurl that banner and the rest of you storm past the guards" etc) but to talk about energy policy with our chief scientist, energy campaigners and policy wonks - just as Labour advisers did this morning.
While I can't write much about what they, or Labour, talked about (Chatham House Rule / what goes on tour stays on tour etc), I can say that a lot of the discussion centred about our Poyry report - the one that showed that we can keep the lights on without new coal or new nuclear, if the government meets its existing renewables and efficiency targets. The report itself is pretty dense, but this summary (pdf) is well worth a read for anyone interested in why the government could - and should - say no to new coal without having to worry about energy security.
Yesterday, we held a different kind of event, for film makers, artists, designers and an assortment of creative types sympathetic to Greenpeace's aims and campaigns. As I explained yesterday, this ship tour is largely about harnessing the increasingly diverse and ever louder voices of opposition to new coal, and sending a strong message to government about the future of the UK's energy policy.
It was an excellent evening, with huge amounts of energy and enthusiasm bouncing around the ship (although that seems to be the default atmosphere on the Warrior anyway). Before the guests left, Anthony, our volunteer cook's assistant, and I asked a few of them what they thought about coal, climate change, Greenpeace and, well, pretty much anything else they wanted to talk about. Here's what a few of them said:
I've got to run now - more people are arriving any minute and, in a few hours' time, we'll be upping anchor to sail through the night to Kent. Tomorrow, there's a climate impacts tour of Kent to be done, with Dr Geoff Meaden, who you may remember as an expert witness at the Kingsnorth trial. More soon.
