Sea Shepherd - Operation Reef Defence against Adani coal mine (video)

The Gold Coast, southern Queensland, in winter now

The Sea Shepherd's ship the Steve Irwin is slowly traveling up the east coast of Australia to raise awareness and oppose the building of the Adani coal mine in Queensland. A new coal mine which would be one of the biggest in the world, ostensibly to save the huddled masses in India who are without electricity (India is in fact turning away from coal in favour of cheaper renewable energy).

To make this massive coal mine requires the destruction of Aboriginal land against their will, the construction of a huge railway to get the coal to port, the expansion of the port to accommodate large numbers of exporting coal ships, and the dredging of the Great Barrier Reef for shipping lanes of coal ships. A reef already under massive pressure from climate change. It's complete madness, but madness that this coal loving gov is happy to support.

All the banks have said no to Adani's efforts to fund the project, both international and domestic. The global coal era is coming to an end and the banks simply can't see how such a project would be economically feasible. Yet the Abbott/Turnbull gov is all for it, going so far as to want to fund the project to the tune of $1 billion of public money instead of the banks. To have such an obscene amount of Australian's money thrown at a climate destroying and likely soon to be stranded asset is insanity in the extreme.

This most recent video from the Steve Irwin shows the visit to Byron Bay on the north coast of New South Wales and then on to The Gold Coast in southern Queensland.  It will be interesting further videos as they get inside between the Great Barrier Reef and the coast :)

Treasurer Scott Morrison worshiping coal in federal parliament

You can send this letter to our stupid gov here, in support of Sea Shepherd and the planet:

Dear Malcolm,

 Stop Adani. Help us protect the Great Barrier Reef by ending your Government's support for what would be one of the world's largest coal mines. The Reef is a globally significant natural wonder, was World Heritage listed in 1981, supports a $6 billion tourism industry and 69,000 jobs.

 The coal port expansion needed to export this coal through the Great Barrier Reef would require a massive dredging program. This is notoriously problematic for surrounding coral; as it stirs sediment, the water quality is degraded and coral are starved of sunlight. Dredging will also destroy important habitat, like seagrass beds, and kill marine life.

 Excessive coal dust can also cause coral bleaching, which is already occurring along the reef, resulting in the loss of breeding grounds for marine life, like humpback whales, who migrate through the Great Barrier Reef to calve.

 The mine will bring an extra 500 coal ships through the Great Barrier Reef each year, increasing the risk of collisions and spills.

 Burning the coal, no matter where in the world, will worsen climate change which is already causing the Great Barrier Reef to bleach and die.

 This is just a few of the many reasons that you must Stop Adani and make sure this environmental catastrophe does not go ahead. Spit the dummy at Turnbull