B'lorean hops onto ship in Oz to protest coal export

A group of six activists from Greenpeace International, including Gaurav Jagdish, 31, an adventure sports trainer from Bangalore, boarded a Korean-owned coal ship M V Meister early on Wednesday to protest export of coal.

The activists boarded the ship off the coast of Queensland, Australia, when the ship crossed the Great Barrier reef world heritage area.

They left the Australian shoreline during the early hours on inflatable boats and drew up alongside the M V Meister. Hoisting steel ladders they climbed the side of the ship and are now encamped in the bow of the ship, senior Greenpeace activist Georgina Woods said in a statement here. The ship stays on its due course to Korea.

The five other activists are Freya Harvey and Emma Giles from Australia, Harmony Lambert from the US, James Mather from New Zealand and Yang Wang from China.

Greenpeace, involved in radical environmentalism, has demanded an end to the expansion of coal exports from Australia, citing coal as the nation’s greatest contributor to climatic change. The Greenpeace statement said : “Our scientists and political leaders have all said climate change is a problem that we must address now, yet our coal exports continue to grow.”

Who is Gaurav Jagdish?

Gaurav Jagdish is an activist associated with Greenpeace International for 10 years. Gaurav is a national-level climber, an outdoor educator and a trainer in industrial climbing.

He was involved in many protests, notably climbing the chimney of a coal-based power plant in Kolaghat, West Bengal, in 2008. He was detained in the Danish capital of Copenhagen in 2009 for urging governments to act on climate change.

Gaurav has been maintaining that he is involved with Greenpeace as he feels it is important and that he should do whatever little he can to protect and preserve environment.