October 13, 2017
Developing your goals and ‘Vision of Tomorrow‘ is one thing, focussing public attention to the underexposed issue you are fighting for might be as important. How does one bring attention to a public risk that affects millions of people?
In Greenpeace’s battle against nuclear energy, the organisation published a new report on the danger of fuel storage pools at nuclear facillities in France and Belgium. The report by independent experts, submitted to French and Belgium authorities earlier this week, questions the security of several nuclear facilities and points at their vulnerability to outside attacks. “While these pools can contain the highest volume of radioactive matter in a nuclear plant, they are very poorly protected,” according to Greenpeace. “Rather than wait for the worst to happen, let’s address this issue and take action.”
The report, however, was not the only action this week! Early on Thursday, Greenpeace activists broke through two security barriers at EDF’s Cattenom nuclear plant in northeast France, reaching the reactor’s nuclear zone to within a few tens of meters of the nuclear installations. Several activists launched fireworks inside the grounds of the French nuclear plant, to highlight the vulnerability of the plant to attacks. Using drones and on the ground activists to register their actions, the fireworks made it all over the news.
Greenpeace reports might only reach a secluded group of people, but the issues they report on concern a much wider audience. Getting their attention, even for a brief moment, is part of building a bigger movement, and mobilizing people for your Vision of Tomorrow.
For footage of the Greenpeace action, read the full Reuters-article here.
Photograph: Greenpeace Luxembourgh/Twitter