About Michael Baillie

Michael Baillie is currently onboard the Rainbow Warrior in the Indian Ocean but is based in Greenpeace Africa's Johannesburg office in South Africa.

Going Gangnam, Greenpeace Style

Posted on December 19, 2012 by Michael Baillie

As Gangnam fever swept the globe, not even the Rainbow Warrior was able to escape the madness. So while sailing out in the Indian Ocean, working to document and expose unsustainable and illegal fishing practices, the crew decided to create a spoof version of the video.

We’d been sailing off the coast of Mozambique, helping fisheries inspectors monitor the country’s waters for illegal fishing. Having been out at sea for three weeks, it was a while before we found out about “gangnam style”. Eventually though, we heard how wildly popular it was on YouTube, and a Korean volunteer onboard to explained the lyrics to us.

We decided that making our own version would be a great way to reach new people and spread our oceans campaign message. Continue reading →

How South Africa’s biggest electricity company is crippling its people’s water

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Michael Baillie

Coal-fired electricity is a major threat to South Africa’s already stressed water resources – and Eskom’s new mega coal plants are set to make matters even worse.

Luckily there are reliable alternatives to coal power, ways of generating electricity that don’t risk the country’s water security, or pollute our water supplies.

Coal can be replaced, water can’t.

Continue reading →

Life Loves Living

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Michael Baillie

Not a dolphin, but a pygmy blue whale that breaks the surface in the waters 250 miles west of Maputo, Mozambique.

Originally posted to Greenpeace UK.

You’ll see it best on the darkest nights. When the moon is empty and clouds cover the stars – that’s when the ocean and algae collude. Like the Arctic’s Northern Lights, this is one of those natural phenomena that leave you giddy, wide-eyed in wonder: Psychedelic dolphins. Continue reading →

Shark finning isn’t new: update from the Rainbow Warrior

Posted on September 24, 2012 by Michael Baillie

I saw six sharks being cut up for their fins a few days ago. And as monstrous as it was, I know it won’t make headlines, it isn’t news. Currently, the fins from an estimated 26 million to 73 million sharks are sold each year, that’s up to 8,000 sharks killed an hour.

And the market is booming.