Earth Beat, 8 July 2011. The rights and wrongs of environmental activism - why one man’s green mission may make others see red and how nothing is black and white when it comes to saving the planet.

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A reluctant green hero
Executive Director of Greenpeace Kumi Naidoo recently returned from a four-day stint in prison after he scaled an oil rig in Greenland to protest against Arctic oil drilling. Jail is normally a place for villains, yet for many people Kumi is the ultimate eco-hero. He tells host Marnie Chesteron the labels are unhelpful – all he wants to do is get on with the job (photos at bottom of page).

Video - Kumi in action at the Leiv Eiriksson rig, off the coast of Greenland, June 2011:

The saviour of salmon
Orri Vigfússon loves salmon so much he single-handedly took on a mission to save them. By buying up fishing rights in places where stocks are low, Orri has persuaded fishermen to fill their nets with other, more abundant species. And he hopes his plan could see his favourite fish make a major comeback (photos at bottom of page).

Video - The story of the North Atlantic Salmon Fund:

The eco-warrior
Geert-Jan Vons lives on the Ode, an old East German tugboat in waters in Nijkerk, close to Amsterdam. It's painted black and on the side is a striking symbol that looks like a modern-day skull and crossbones (pictured left - more photos at bottom of page).

It’s a clue to Geert-Jan’s career. He's director of the Dutch branch of environmental campaigning group Sea Shepherd and he’s been taking on the giant Japanese whaling ships in the Antarctic. He tells reporter Louise Stoddard what it’s all about and why he’s not an eco-terrorist.

The tortoise vs solar race
The Californian Desert is one of the sunniest places in the world - making it a magnet for solar developers. For thousands of years it's also been home to the desert tortoise. Now this green technology may destroy their fragile habitat. Is it too late for them to lay claim to what's always been theirs? Biologist Ileene Anderson argues the case for the tortoise (more photos at bottom of page).
Link - DesertTortoise.gov - data and information portal.

Alone and lonely?
Back in the 1970s, the Brazilian government was selling off land in the Amazon rainforest cheaply. They advertised it as "A Land Without Men, for Men Without Land" and within 20 years there were a million people living in an area that previously had very few.

Clashes between Indians, loggers and farmers sometimes resulted in the massacre of an entire tribe. Rumours about a lone Indian ("The Man of the Hole" - pictured left) who survived a massacre caused a group of men to set out to find him and contact him – in order to leave him alone. Earth Beat Producer Anik See reveals her obsession with this story.

Video - first sighting of The Man of the Hole from Corumbiara (or They Shoot Indians, Don't They?) a film by Vincent Carelli:

Click image for slideshow