Two groups of people gathered on a bridge separating West Berlin and East Germany for exchange of Russian spy and American pilot the hushed rumours and the planes converging on Ankara a third-country location that was kept secret until the final moment There was much cold war-style intrigue in the buildup to Thursday’s prisoner exchange the latest in a long line of swaps between Moscow and the west that dates back to the cold war It started on a cold and clear morning in February 1962 when two groups of people gathered at each end of the narrow Glienicke Bridge they were dressed in US military police trenchcoats; on the other in Soviet-issue fur hats The Russian spy Rudolf Abel walked across the bridge towards the Soviet side; American pilot Gary Powers That exchange was one of the first of numerous regular swaps between the Soviet Union and the west. The practice continued even beyond the end of the cold war, with a major swap in 2010 involving 10 Russian spies arrested in America swapped for four Russians accused of spying for the west in an exchange that took place at Vienna airport spent years posing as foreign citizens in the west while all the while spying for Moscow On the other side was the journalist Evan Gershkovich and the former US marine Paul Whelan this exchange is very different to the spy-for-spy swaps of the cold war there was an understanding that both sides were engaging in spying on the other and spy swaps were part of an informal agreement to make sure neither side’s operatives spent decades rotting in jail But Thursday’s exchange was hardly one of like-for-like intelligence warriors Gershkovich was a journalist doing his job; Whelan Most observers agree that Russia has activated a policy of taking western prisoners as hostages specifically to exert pressure to secure the release of its own prisoners abroad the west has moved to free a number of Russian opposition politicians jailed for their outspoken criticism of Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine or for their longstanding opposition to the Kremlin Soviet dissidents were rarely part of exchanges Even the briefest glance at the biographies of those swapped on Thursday shows this exchange is different opposition politicians and those who have fallen foul of Russia’s brutal treason laws were swapped for assassins Compare Aleksandra Skochilenko, freed from a Russian prison, with Vadim Krasikov but Skochilenko’s crime was to replace supermarket price tags with messages opposing Russia’s war in Ukraine Krasikov was convicted of shooting a man dead in broad daylight divided Berlin was the usual venue for such exchanges taking place either on one of the bridges diving the city or in the Friedrichstraße underground station with the swapped people scurrying past each other on the platform Free weekly newsletterThe most pressing stories and debates for Europeans – from identity to economics to the environment Germany was one of the key players in the exchange being persuaded to give up the Tiergarten killer Krasikov which has played a role in previous exchanges of Ukrainian and Russian prisoners of war stepped in as the more-or-less neutral broker This article and subheading were amended on 2 August 2024 An earlier version said that Glienicke Bridge separated West and East Berlin when in fact it separated West Berlin and East Germany shows a manhole cover surviving from communist times in Berlin manufactured manhole covers for East German streets.(AP Photo/Markus Schreiber) 2019 photo a street car drives in front of the Berlin TV Tower in Berlin Berlin’s complex public transport system _ composed of buses was strictly divided between East and West until reunification One form of transport that vanished completely from West Berlin was the ‘Tram’ named streetcar system This undated photo provide by the European Space Agency and captured by ESA astronaut Andre Kuipers shows the German capital Berlin from the International Space Station street lights in the former East Berlin appear slightly more orange; those in the western part of the city are a harsher yellow 2019 photo cars drive on the ‘Glieniker Bruecke’ (Glienicke Bridge) in Potsdam the Glienicke Bridge connecting West Berlin to Potsdam in East Germany was famously used as a site for exchanging captured foreign agents Since the two opposing sides couldn’t agree to work together when the bridge required repairs The paint was applied differently and faded un-uniformly and the two shades of green meeting at the middle of the bridge are still clearly visible today 2019 photo a ship drives past the ‘Glieniker Bruecke’ (Glienicke Bridge) in Potsdam 2019 photo a cyclist drives on the ‘Glieniker Bruecke’ (Glienicke Bridge) in Potsdam BERLIN (AP) — Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall the German capital — divided for decades by bricks and barbed wire — has slowly grown back together Few visible scars remain other than those intentionally left in place to remind Berliners and tourists of the brutal border that claimed the lives of scores of East Germans trying to flee the communist country But those who look closely will spot other signs that the city was once split in half: from stoplights to manhole covers the differences that marked East and West Berlin have survived into the new century the Ampelmaennchen — literally the “little traffic light man” — was nearly discarded after the fall of the wall in 1989 The slightly portly green figure with a wide-brimmed hat who told East Germans when they could cross the street faced strong competition from his taller But a mixture of nostalgia and common sense prevailed “Ampelmaennchen is considerably brighter,” said Derk Ehlert a spokesman for Berlin’s transportation department the city decided to use only the eastern version and now almost two-thirds of pedestrian traffic lights in Berlin feature the jolly-looking character purposely walking when it’s green Berlin’s complex public transport system — composed of buses commuter railways and trams — was strictly divided between East and West until reunification One form of transport that vanished completely from West Berlin was the streetcar system Tram-spotters nowadays will catch a few outside the former East Berlin a few lines have been tentatively extended into the West trams remain firmly part of life in the east of the city That earned it the nickname “Bridge of Spies” — as seen in the 2015 Tom Hanks film of the same name focused on the exchange of U.S Air Force pilot Francis Gary Powers for a KGB spy The East’s ailing economy was expected to converge with that of the capitalist West after a period of transition Even people who only joined the workforce after German reunification in 1990 will find their pensions adjusted depending on which side of the now-nonexistent wall they worked on Employees on the same street may get different amounts based on the invisible line that exists to this day Aficionados of industrial design should keep their eyes on the road A wide variety of manhole covers exist in Berlin with some motifs so fetching that entrepreneurs have taken to selling T-shirts featuring them Among the more unusual ones are those surviving from communist times when Volkseigene Betriebe — or Publicly Owned Enterprises — manufactured manhole covers for East German streets While the East German designs will eventually be replaced because they don’t conform to new standards Ehlert says there’s an ample supply in storage for now Many buildings in Berlin had become uninhabitable due to the destruction of World War II Instead of attempting to rebuild the old buildings the new communist leadership in the East decided to create vast housing projects on the edge of the city using prefabricated concrete slabs that were cheap to produce and assemble While these so-called Plattenbauten exist in the West of the city Turkish greengrocers are most likely to be found in the former West Berlin while Vietnamese stores are a hallmark of the East Each side attracted different groups of migrants after World War II drawn from their respective sides of the Iron Curtain — NATO member Turkey for the West and communist Vietnam for the East Their descendants remain largely aligned with the pre-1990 divide though easterners have firmly embraced the doener kebab — allegedly invented in Berlin by a Turkish immigrant One difference between East and West requires a birds-eye perspective and a clear night sky: Seen from above street lights in the former East Berlin appear slightly more orange while those in the western part of the city are a harsher yellow Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield remarked on the imprint left by the wall in 2013 and a more recent picture taken by Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky also shows the divide the difference has less to do with the type of lights used than with the fittings and shades Berlin’s street lights also hail from other epochs like the still-in-use gas lanterns that date to the early 20th century or before and those designed by Adolf Hitler’s architect Albert Speer as part of the dictator’s never-realized plan for a rebuild of Berlin according to a Nazi vision to be the capital of his new empire and renamed “Germania.” our movement continued the fight to protect the oceans stand up to polluters and tackle deforestation These highlights reflect shared hope for a greener And it’s the courage and commitment of volunteers activists and supporters like you that makes it all possible These studies provide vital evidence supporting our call to make the Sargasso one of the world’s first ocean sanctuaries on the high seas Bastille frontman Dan Smith joined us in the Sargasso, and performed his then-unreleased song, Blue Sky & the Painter From the Pacific to the Arctic, Greenpeace’s campaign against deep sea mining stepped up in 2024. This dangerous industry threatens people and wildlife, and could make our oceans less able to shield us from climate change Greenpeace activists held the first Arctic anti-deep sea mining protest They stood up against Norway’s plans to mine in this precious habitat They joined forces with musicians Jacob Collier and Aurora to highlight the urgent need to protect the oceans and stop deep sea mining The stars appeared together on a platform floating among the icebergs in front of the imposing Sveabreen glacier in Svalbard They performed a haunting duet of their two songs in a rallying cry for ocean and climate protection For months, activists, scientists and the international community piled on the pressure. And in December it finally paid off. The Norwegian government agreed to stop the first licensing round for deep sea mining in Arctic waters This will keep monster mining machines out of the Arctic until at least the end of 2025 we’ll keep up the pressure to stop deep sea mining for good Greenpeace was there to document the impacts and share these vital stories with the world Our photographers captured the floods after Typhoon Gaemi They documented the Southwest Monsoon in the Philippines And they showed the threat of climate change to glaciers like Bråsvellbreen in Svalbard As the UK’s general election approached, over 200,000 Climate Voters worked together to push climate and nature up the agenda Greenpeace volunteers went out canvassing for the climate We recruited nearly a quarter of a million people who pledged to vote with climate and nature in mind As well as campaigning for the climate vote in the general election, we also exposed Shell’s obscene profits Keeping up the pressure on Shell led to the company backing down in its lawsuit against Greenpeace for our peaceful protest in 2023 Greenpeace UK also collaborated with trade unions and politicians to demand a fair transition to clean energy that benefits the UK’s communities Greenpeace campaigners documented plastic waste from the UK brand Dove polluting the country’s beautiful beaches rank among the world’s top five plastic polluters activists shut down the headquarters of Dove’s parent company Unilever in September The protest followed the firm’s failure to tackle their overwhelming plastic pollution and their decision to cut back their sustainability goals Unilever and the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty signed a statement calling for plastic production limits to be part of the final global plastics treaty Then just before the next round of treaty negotiations 10 primary school pupils joined Greenpeace to hand in our half-a-million-strong petition for stronger action on plastic pollution The Environment Minister Emma Hardy described the pupils’ lobbying as the ‘most effective’ she’d ever experienced Greenpeace Brazil surveyed a large region of the Amazon to monitor deforestation and fires The survey found the highest level of fire activity in nearly two decades The Munduruku Indigenous People have been fighting for the rights to their traditional territory in the Amazon In September, their land claim was officially recognised guaranteeing their legal right to live on the land This is a historic victory not only for the Munduruku but for all Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon and Brazil we want to share our heartfelt thanks for everything you’ve made possible World leaders are failing ordinary people on climate change From Fairbourne in Wales to China and Japan; the Amazon and Congo rainforests to the Pacific Islands – here are some… these photos reflect some of Greenpeace's most iconic global actions in 2023 The remake of Fleetwood Mac's classic song Don’t Stop is a call to keep fighting against the polluting companies causing climate change Because music has fuelled movements for decades.… here’s a breakdown of some of the big deals made at COP26 for the climate and environment '#' : location.hash;window._cf_chl_opt.cOgUQuery = location.search === '' && location.href.slice(0 location.href.length - window._cf_chl_opt.cOgUHash.length).indexOf('?') !== -1 '?' : location.search;if (window.history && window.history.replaceState) {var ogU = location.pathname + window._cf_chl_opt.cOgUQuery + window._cf_chl_opt.cOgUHash;history.replaceState(null "\/30-years-after-glienicke-bridge\/?__cf_chl_rt_tk=oXqdNMVnKJP9rxJURkBchNBb.dql7IY.0Z13Jl1iPfY-1746502011-1.0.1.1-jCWYyiFmbWAKJl9JZqMctPqE_TSeuyyVOKG_X.wrGsw" + window._cf_chl_opt.cOgUHash);cpo.onload = function() {history.replaceState(null ogU);}}document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(cpo);}()); he uncovered a book's worth of information about each of the five families that previously occupied the house His new book The House by the Lake (Picador) begins with Otto Wollank who purchased a huge tract of land next to the lake in 1890 and gradually shaped it into a productive agricultural estate which decimated the population of working males and the devastating economic impact of the Treaty of Versailles Wollank resorted to leasing out parcels of land to Berliners looking for a rural escape from the city One such family was Harding's great-grandparents The Alexanders were Jews of high status in German society due to Dr Alexander's service at a field hospital during World War I and his impressive patient list which included Albert Einstein and Marlene Dietrich Seeking refuge from the doctor's demanding schedule the Alexanders leased a parcel of land from Wollank in 1927 upon which they built a seasonal house of dark wood with unique diamond-shaped windows looking out over the lake It was outfitted with pull-out tables and beds and a large family room Harding describes the magical effect the house Lakeside life was idyllic for the Alexanders and their neighbors until Wollank died in a car accident in 1929 took control of the estate and allowed it to become a training ground for Brownshirts After Hitler became chancellor of Germany in 1933 Jews were gradually barred from their professions Harding describes the erosion of the rights of Jews through the Alexanders’ experiences – the loss of Dr Alexander's medical practice and Elsie's inability to practice journalism – and the family's escape to England in 1936 while Germany still was issuing travel documents to Jews the lake house became an architectural Forrest Gump oddly positioned at each major point in German history a renowned composer and music publisher and his wife They first acquired the house through a lease from the Alexanders and later were able to purchase it through the government's program of Aryanization and the estate manager’s failure to pay back taxes As Berlin became the focus of Allied bombing during World War II Groß Glienicke became a refuge for city dwellers as a prisoner of war camp was erected near the lake Realizing that his contributions to popular music were insufficient to exempt him from military service leaving the lake house in the care of the Hartmanns – a "mixed race" family The Hartmanns were considered "privileged" by the Nazis due to Hanns' Aryan status and pre-Nuremberg Laws wedding; consequently they were relatively free from persecution the Hartmanns and their neighbors hid in pump houses but to no avail; the younger women were raped The Soviet occupation also resulted in the seizure of homes and the disappearance of young men The isolation Berlin refugees had enjoyed at the lake was now "like falling into hell." The Hartmanns retreated on foot to Berlin The Meisels returned to the lake house for a brief period but frustrated by the drawn-out "denazification" process was   being divided into occupation zones by the Soviets and the Allies Realizing that the dividing line went right through the middle of Groß Glienicke and that the house separated from the lake by a fence (later the infamous Berlin Wall) the Meisels rented the house to the Furhmanns The Furhmanns were joined by the Kühne family the Furhmanns moved and Wolfgang's step-grandson Plans for its demolition were announced in 2003 Harding personalizes more than a century of tumultuous German history by taking us inside the stories of Groß Glienicke families in an objective and non-judgmental way His depictions are richly illustrated by musical references and engaging dialogue he brings the lake house at Groß Glienicke to life and makes us care about its fate.  Courtney Naliboff lives, writes, teaches, and parents on North Haven, an island off the coast of Maine. She is a columnist for Working Waterfront, and writes about rural Jewish parenting for Kveller.com Courtney Naliboff lives, writes, teaches, and parents on North Haven, an island off the coast of Maine. She is a columnist for Working Waterfront, and writes about rural Jewish parenting for Kveller.com steps from a patrol wagon in front of Brooklyn Federal Court in New York alleged head of military-atomic-secret espionage ring while posing as a Brooklyn artist won another postponement until Aug In probably the most dramatic swap of the Cold War era Rudolf Abel and Francis Gary Powers were exchanged on Feb on the Glienicke Bridge connecting the U.S.-occupied zone of Berlin with East Germany on the Glienicke Bridge connecting West Berlin and East Germany the Soviet Union exchanged captured American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers for Rudolf Abel the treaty ending the Seven Years’ War was signed in Paris with France ceding its territory in Canada to Great Britain Nazi Germany’s Reichstag passed a law investing the Gestapo secret police with absolute authority an F4-intensity tornado tore through the St dealing with presidential disability and succession was adopted as Minnesota and Nevada ratified it eight people were killed when a fire set by a busboy broke out at the Las Vegas Hilton hotel-casino world chess champion Garry Kasparov lost the first game of a match in Philadelphia against an IBM computer dubbed “Deep Blue.” (Kasparov ended up winning the match he was defeated by Deep Blue in a rematch the following year.) Today’s birthdays: Opera singer Leontyne Price is 98 Olympic swimming gold medalist Mark Spitz is 75 Basketball Hall of Fame coach John Calipari is 66 TV host-political commentator George Stephanopoulos is 64 Writer-producer-director Vince Gilligan (TV: “Breaking Bad”) is 58 Basketball Hall of Famer Tina Thompson is 50 Olympic swimming gold medalist Lilly King is 28 Copyright © 2025 Ogden News Publishing of Michigan Friends and neighbors of the victims of the October 27 shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh continue to mourn their loved ones a small vacation home built by a Jewish family in 1927 is finding a new life Thomas Harding remembers the first time he saw his family's lakeside vacation retreat the one his grandmother called her "soul place," longing for it after her family fled Nazi Germany in 1936 and established a new home in London The house in the village of Gross Glienicke confiscated by the German government at the time ended up having a front-row seat to Germany's tumultuous 20th century Harding's association with the house began in 1993 led a group of young family members back to Berlin and the house in Gross Glienicke "She was definitely moved by the experience," he said "It was a profound moment for her." Harding was surprised to see that the Berlin Wall had run right through the house's backyard at the request of villagers who wanted to know more about the house and its Jewish origins Harding crawled through a broken window to get in First, Harding researched and wrote a book about it called "The House by the Lake." It chronicles the lives of the families who lived there through war and the reunification of East and West Germany riding a wave of support generated by the book his family and a group of villagers from Gross Glienicke cleaned up the little house and got the city of Potsdam -- its present owner -- to declare it a protected monument much less travel to the country or speak its native language We don't want anything to do with Germany,'" Harding said persuaded to come to Germany for a "cleanup day" at the house Frank Harding was charmed by the villagers who came to help The house is now known as Alexander House, named for Harding's great-grandfather, Alfred Alexander, who had owned it. The house has a governing board and a mission, to create a center for education and reconciliation. Last month, on a bright fall day with the racket of construction at Alexander House going on around him, Harding said they are "not just focusing on the Jewish history, but also on East German history." The board of the Alexander House is "also talking about what happens today. How are we going to deal with the newly arrived refugees in Germany? How do we learn the lessons of the past so that the Muslim population is not persecuted the same way the Jewish population was?" Harding asked. His sister Amanda Harding, a dialogue facilitator, is helping to shape the activities. "The Jewish identity of the house is absolutely fundamental because of what it represents in Germany," she said in October, just hours before a publicity event for the house held at the British Embassy in Berlin. But, she added, "there's a really strong interfaith component to what we are doing and what we are planning to do." While the house undergoes a lengthy restoration, reconciliation projects have already begun, mixing villagers with a group of refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere, who are lodged in a former military barracks nearby. Participants have cooked together, created art, and even held a local soccer tournament. The Hardings' family synagogue in London, which was founded by Jewish refugees from the Nazi regime, has also gotten involved. Belsize Square Synagogue's Rabbi Stuart Altshuler and Moritz Groening, a member of the local church council in Gross Glienicke, have become fast friends. They recently conducted a joint worship service at the village church and, afterward, hosted a discussion with church members about Judaism. Groening described the relationship between the two communities -- and indeed, between himself and Altshuler -- as "more like extended family than just friends or partners in some project. It's really a very close relationship nowadays." And Altshuler, who is American, said the opportunity to re-establish ties with Germany has been important not just for the members of his congregation, but for all Jews. "It's very important for the Jewish world to know that there's redemption, there's a sense of moving ahead, of building new bridges," he said. "Germany to many Jews is a place of uncertainty. We all know what happened in the past. This presents a new light for the future." Walking squarely in that light is Sam Harding, Thomas and Debora Harding's 19-year-old daughter. In a phone interview, she recently recalled how her initial visit to Berlin three years ago completely changed her mind about the place. Summoned by her father to accompany him on a research trip, she confessed, "I was kind of grumpy because I didn't want to be away from England." But something happened when she arrived in Berlin. "I just immediately felt a very powerful connection with this city," she said. "Like it was somewhere that I needed to be." Sam Harding decided to take a "gap year" after high school to return to Berlin to study German. She didn't say much about her plans to her extended family, for fear of pushback. "I thought there would be conversations about 'it's not safe' or 'you're too young' or all these things, and underlying it all [would be] 'don't go back to Germany after what they did to us,' " she explained. But she arrived in January, and what was meant to be a couple of months stretched into the better part of a year. She attended the New Synagogue where her family had worshiped. And there in the synagogue, she felt profoundly moved, knowing she was following in the footsteps of her great-grandmother Elsie, the one who had called the lake house her "soul place." In April, Sam Harding took a couple of German friends to Gross Glienicke for an open-house event at Alexander House. It was hot, so they wasted no time getting down to the water for a swim. Again, she said, it hit her that this was exactly what her great-grandmother would have done. That's when she realized, she said, how important the lake house and her own investment in Germany were. Sounding as if she had not quite gotten over it yet, Elsie Alexander Harding's great-granddaughter Sam said: "There's a beautiful kind of circularity about all this." Steven Spielberg’s epic drama is the latest in an illustrious film career that spans more than four decades, and it feels like well-trodden ground for him. He is no stranger to depicting pivotal events in history, and he’s very comfortably in command for this entire film. The lead, James Donovan, played by Tom Hanks, finds himself in extraordinary circumstances: an insurance lawyer, he’s called upon by his country to defend a Soviet spy and later to negotiate the first Cold War prisoner exchange. Donovan, a believer in the unqualified privilege of justice, doesn’t take this on lightly. He mounts a solid case against overwhelming odds, fighting for the Constitution in his battleground of judges and juries. Hanks and Donovan are really just cut from the same cloth, which is what leads to Hanks’ convincing performance. They’re both family men, immeasurably kind and morally upright, and Spielberg didn’t need to think twice about asking Hanks to come aboard. Donovan’s client, the elderly spy Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance), actually achieved nothing of significance during his eight years of espionage in New York. But after he’s captured, he has the whole panic-stricken country clamoring for his head. But, for Bridge of Spies, screenplay is a fraction of a whole. The Coen brothers’ script fully comes to life through Spielberg’s hallmark directing. Spielberg’s use of light and shadow is particularly breathtaking. Lighting frequently washes out scenes, turning human profiles into dark silhouettes. Spielberg has done this throughout his career, but never more prominently than in Bridge of Spies, where light is amplified to give a surreal sensation to mundane surroundings. Another trademark is his creative use of mirrors and reflections — to create a unique self-portrait of a character, as in the opening sequence with Abel, or to capture another piece of the scene in a visually distinctive way. It’s thrilling to see Spielberg at his filmmaking apex, when his years of dedication have solidified into consistently beautiful camerawork in collaboration with longtime friend and cinematographer Janusz Kaminski. Bridge of Spies, an Oscar-contender before it even hit theaters, is reliably outstanding on all fronts and manifestly imprinted with Spielberg’s trademarks. Adding to his impressive repertoire of historical dramas, Spielberg again captures another era for modern audiences. But, as his audience has come to expect such flawless work from Spielberg over the years, it remains to be seen where he can go to break new ground. The Independent's journalism is supported by our readers When you purchase through links on our site the inspiration for 'The House by the Lake' I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Gross Glienicke lake looks so peaceful you’d hardly believe it was once on the front line between two tribes who nearly went to war Ducks skim over the still surface of the lake and – this couldn’t really get any more German – two old ladies in their eighties chatting merrily as they clamber up the foreshore after a refreshing afternoon dip Gross Glienicke lake was where the very edge of the capitalist city shaded into the communist countryside and the wall ran right along the lakeshore – cutting through the garden of one remarkable building in 1961 and separating it from the water Overlooking the wall’s wire and watchtowers was a modest summer house which has inadvertently witnessed the greatest moments in modern German history Now it’s being painstakingly restored to help tell that grand narrative Today the one-storey wooden cottage – while being a little shabby – looks as homely and welcoming as any other summer house on the outskirts of a Mitteleuropa city They spent idyllic summers here before history caught up with them and the house was passed into the hands of a Nazi family When another tiny quirk in the bigger picture left the cottage on the “wrong” side of the Berlin Wall after the Second World War But it stood empty for a decade at the start of this millennium British writer Thomas Harding rediscovered the house in 2013 and told its incredible story in his book The House By The Lake He had very a personal connection with the property: it was his own Jewish family who had been kicked out all those years ago “I first saw it soon after the wall came down with my grandmother,” he says “It was the last physical trace of their life in Berlin Then 20 years later I saw it again and it was a drug den I felt a physical pain in my stomach; I felt attached and I wanted to do something about it.” The popularity of the book won the house many new fans, and has drawn intrigued readers from around the globe to the beautifully serene lakeside village of Gros Gleinicke, some 20km southwest of Berlin’s city centre and 10km north of picturesque Potsdam There are various special events at the house throughout the year and volunteers help to clean Today the Alexander Haus has a bright future and will soon be permanently open to visitors Recently declared a protected historic monument it’s well on its way to opening as a museum and education centre this autumn – one with a particular emphasis on celebrating refugees who have an office in Berlin as well as London have designed a new building which will sit alongside the Alexander Haus and offer overnight accommodation “We wanted to think about how history informs present day problems and to use history as a way of bringing people together.” He adds: “We didn’t want to do the project too quickly though We’re also working with the German embassy in London and the British embassy in Berlin.” For those who believe that buildings are more than just bricks and mortar – that they’re more like a reliquary for dreams and memories – a visit is enough to get you mulling on the brevity and beauty of life itself This feeling is enhanced by the stillness of Gross Gleinicke where the only sounds are the rustling of branches the dinging of bicycle bells and the singing of birds; this despite it being so close to Berlin’s relentless buzz it’s about memory and belonging,” says Harding and she said: ‘The house provides the physical bridge between the past and future.’” you can’t help but think of the lives that were lived here and the traumatic times the Alexander Haus’s various residents survived those stories will be heard by thousands of visitors too The Alexanders may have lost their home back in the 1930s but now their story will never be forgotten Flybe flies from Birmingham and Cardiff to Berlin Tegel from £89 return To reach the Alexander Haus take S Bahn Line 7 from Berlin Zoo Station to Potsdam Hauptbahnhof and then local bus 638 to the village of Gross Gleinecke There are also plenty of walking and cycling routes around the lake alexanderhaus.org germany.travel Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies Berlin Wall and inspired a memoire","description":"The tale of Alexander Haus Thomas Harding’s family home survived the second world war and enclosure behind the Berlin Wall just over three years after the wall came down Elsie and her family – the Alexanders – had been driven out of Germany by the Nazis she was finally ready to show us the city where she had grown up Inside was the swastika-stamped passport for her husband and father-in-law along with a black piece of cloth on which had been sewn a yellow J I knew that the Nazis had forced the Jews to wear such badges Elsie’s message was clear – This is my history As we drove around Berlin in a tatty red van we had hired at the airport my grandmother gave us a tour of the city: the location of her family’s apartment on Bundesallee the liberal school that she had attended as a teenager which had been burned to the ground during Kristallnacht in 1938 Elsie then told us she wanted to take us to the family’s weekend lake house in Gross Glienicke a small village 15km west of downtown Berlin we were walking down a sandy lane littered with washing machines Our arrival was announced by a barking dog I was surprised how small the building was no more than a double garage or a cricket pavilion each emblazoned with an orange-painted diamond slender man came out of the house wearing a snow flake-patterned sweater blue work trousers and a fluffy Russian hat Elsie handed over a bottle of whiskey and explained that the house had once been hers a love seat and a large wooden-sided television the room was filled with knick-knacks and hanging plants Our host introduced himself as Wolfgang Kühne Elsie then set about explaining who lived where “My sister and I lived over there,” she said pointing to a corner whose door had long been papered over; “my twin brothers in that room by the fireplace and my parents there,” she gestured to a room in the other corner Wolfgang explained that during the East German times and at one point there were 13 people living here Elsie ordered Wolfgang to “Pass auf!” (pay attention!) He did not appear to mind the former occupant’s bossiness and gladly took the images passed to him including the blue-and-white Delft tiles that had been installed by Elsie’s father and which still could be seen above the fireplace Elsie Harding at Alexander Haus, 1993. © Alexander Family ArchiveWolfgang then walked us down to the lake. He pointed to a broken concrete path running along the shore, and explained that the Berlin Wall once stood here the first fence replaced by a three-metre-high concrete wall The 50m-wide “death strip” in between was patrolled by security guards and German shepherd dogs the second wall stood less than 10 metres from Wolfgang’s back door Where once they had been able to swim in the lake For 25 years they had lived within a border security zone Elsie and Wolfgang swapped telephone numbers and promised to keep in touch my grandmother said that she was glad that the tenants were taking care of the house I had recently been contacted by one of the local residents who alerted me to the house’s poor condition and urged me to pay a visit trees and vines grew up around the once-loved structure and there was a hole in the roof allowing the rain in the floors were strewn with broken bottles who captured the house in a series of images All my life Elsie had described the lake house as her soul place I spent the rest of the day in the village speaking in my broken German to the few local residents I met trying to find out a bit more about the house Following the advice of a man I met in the village handed over the records: my family’s house was due to be knocked down filled with a mixture of anger and indignation There must be something I could do – maybe we still had a claim to the house I knocked on a door that announced that it was home to the historic building preservation department I met a young man and woman who were surprisingly excited by my story I would have to prove that it was worth something: that it had historic value Alfred (front centre) Elsie and Bella (back row left) and friends at the lake Photograph: Alexander Family ArchiveOver the next two years I dug through archives in Berlin and Potsdam building preservationists and politicians – each providing insight into the story – and I tracked down representatives of the families who lived in I learned that five families had lived at and cherished the property – a wealthy landowner I discovered that the house had been the site of domestic bliss and of contentment Some had made the house their refuge; others had sought escape from it Wolfgang remained at the house until his death in 1999 following a brief period in which his grandson had lived I was shocked to discover that my grandmother had left Germany before yellow badges were handed out to the Jewish population The envelope she had given me in 1993 was a lie At first I was angered that she had deceived me For there is a subtle and important difference between the truth and what is true While my grandmother may not have worn the piece of cloth And yet Elsie still felt a connection to Germany I contacted an architect specialising in historical properties and together we drafted an application to the relevant authority asking that the house be protected as a Denkmal we received a reply: the house was in too poor condition to be worth protecting they said that we needed to demonstrate that the house was important in which the community and former occupants came together to tidy up the property I invited my family to a meeting about the house One of my elder cousins said that he doubted that the family had ever really used the weekend house and argued that any attempt to save it was a waste of time Another raised practical concerns: Gross Glienicke was too far away how were we going to restore the house from London “Why should I put my hand in my pocket …?” I finished the sentence for him “… given that the Germans had stolen the house from us in the first place.” Realising that I had been a fool to ask for help one of my younger cousins said she was willing to fly to Berlin whenever needed also in his 40s and who had been with me on the trip with Elsie 20 years earlier that it was remarkable that the villagers wanted to work with us that it provided an opportunity for healing and reconciliation an agreement was reached to try to protect the house Clean-up day in April 2014 with Thomas’s father Frank pushing a wheelbarrow.Early in the morning of 5 April 2014 along with supporters from Berlin and Potsdam By lunchtime we had filled a very large skip light streamed in through the windows and it was possible to imagine life returning to the building a community meeting was held at the village hall It was packed with more than 100 local residents played an archival audio-recording of Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler calling for the persecution of the Jews Few in the room would have heard such speeches as the East German population had been taught that the Nazis came from West Germany – after all I started by telling the story of my visit to the house in 1993 with my grandmother and I showed a black-and-white photo of a young woman dressed in tennis whites “but not very well.” He proceeded to speak for the next five minutes in perfect German there was so much more we had to struggle with to secure our Denkmal – but this was the turning point although the locals had expressed sympathy for my family’s story and had shown a remarkable willingness to acknowledge the past crimes committed in the village and the country we were all part of the stories and the tragedies The House by the Lake by Thomas Harding is published by William Heinemann on 24 September, £20. To order a copy for £16, go to bookshop.theguardian.com or call the Guardian Bookshop on 0330 333 6846 To find out more, visit AlexanderHaus.org or follow @thomasharding and worked to rid our food systems of deforestation The pictures featured here represent just a fraction of our activities and noteworthy moments They fill us with hope for a more green and peaceful future And they remind us that only our committed supporters and dedicated activists make any of this possible Early this year, activists from the places worst affected by climate change took the fight to major polluter, Shell. Their aim was to highlight Shell’s irresponsible intentions to expand oil and gas drilling transporting equipment for Shell’s oil and gas production in the North Sea It was the longest ever occupation of a moving oil platform As Shell announced record annual profits of £32bn activists demanded that they pay for the loss and damage they’ve caused Fossil fuels cause climate change – meaning destruction and displacement around the world The people and countries least to blame for the climate crisis feel these impacts the most We demand an end to fossil fuels. And we need a just transition towards cheap renewable energy in a way that benefits communities the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior arrived in Funafuti Tuvalu is one of the most climate-vulnerable nations in the world Much of the country sits at less than three metres above sea level Sea level rise and storm surges leading to tidal flooding Climate change is an immediate and serious threat to Tuvalu’s future as a nation Greenpeace campaigners met with community and government leaders They listened to and engaged in ‘talanoa’ or discussion to learn how best to support Pacific climate demands Greenpeace documented the impacts of climate change worldwide Scorching wildfires hit South Sumatra; destructive fires ravaged Hawaii There was drought in the Amazon Rainforest Climate change is also having a major impact on marine and coastal life in the Pacific Here a local man observes coastal erosion on Kakula Island climate activists took to the streets during the Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi They urged the African Union to lead by example and protect African biodiversity end fossil fuels driving catastrophic climate change and invest in real solutions by shifting to solar and wind energy youth organisers and mobilisers from almost 100 countries attended the week-long Climate Justice Camp in Lebanon In October, hundreds of demonstrators gathered in front a Mayfair hotel to protest against the influence of the fossil fuel industry on UK and global climate politics They included Swedish environmentalist Greta Thunberg Filipino climate activists on kayaks and the Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior ship blocked access to a Shell terminal of the Philippines and world governments to make Shell and other fossil fuel companies pay for the damage they cause Greenpeace joined forces with Extinction Rebellion and over 200 other organisations in London for The Big One The Big One brought together the entire climate movement and beyond Over 60,000 people collectively pressured the government for more effective action In August, four Greenpeace climbers draped Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s mansion with oil-black fabric They were protesting new North Sea oil and gas licenses It wasn’t the first time campaigners visited Sunak’s mansion this year they hosted a pool party to highlight Sunak’s hypocrisy The prime minister privately upgraded the local grid for his £400,000 heated pool The protest worked to spark changes in law promising upgrades to the grid for more renewable energy It was good news for the oceans this year. In June 2023, governments met at the United Nations to officially adopt the Global Ocean Treaty This Treaty is the legal tool that will help governments create vast protected areas covering at least 30% of the oceans by 2030.  But despite the successful signing of the Global Ocean Treaty, a new threat to our oceans remains. Deep sea mining threatens to destroy huge parts of the ocean floor This would wipe out fragile habitats and species many of which haven’t even been discovered yet Less than two weeks after the agreement of the Global Ocean Treaty for a meeting of the International Seabed Authority Greenpeace was there with one clear message: Stop Deep Sea Mining In November, activists from around the world paddled around MV COCO It’s collecting data for deep sea mining frontrunner The ship was on its last expedition before it files the world’s first application to mine the seabed in the Pacific Ocean The Metals Company tried to stop the kayak based protest But the judge ruled that “Greenpeace’s protest is directed against an issue of great social importance” The judge also acknowledged that “manganese nodule mining is highly controversial” Greenpeace activists reminded the government that its leadership on ocean protection is in jeopardy This is because of the continued frenzy to drill for new oil and gas in the North Sea Expanding oil drilling poses serious threats to marine life as well as the climate. So ahead of the King’s Speech, activists placed a 7m x 20m octopus on the riverbank of the Thames at the foot of Big Ben In October, Greenpeace worked with artists JC Niala in collaboration with Julia Utreras and Sam Skinner with fig.studio They produced an allotment waiting list made from seed paper embedded with Amazon ash The artists and volunteers carried seed paper artwork to the Department of Levelling Up The piece showed how allotments can help solve to food insecurity the cost of living crisis and the climate emergency A day later they guerilla-planted it at a disused Tesco-owned site in Litherland Planting it here was an act of defiance against the industrial food industry Greenpeace campaigners discovered plastic waste from UK brand Dove at Freedom Island at in the Philippines The waste was found at Las Piñas – Parañaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area This is a supposedly protected area near Manila Dove and its parent company Unilever is one of the world’s top 5 plastic polluters Dove is pumping huge volumes of harmful single-use plastic out into the world That includes millions of impossible-to-recycle sachets which are severely polluting countries in the Global South These images show evidence of the Unilever signature brand’s highly-polluting plastic sachets. Activists brought them to Unilever HQ together with a 10ft Dove pump bottle The protesters urged the company to phase-out single-use plastic and switch to reusable packaging in the next 10 years we want to thank you for all that you have made possible take peaceful action and advocate for transformative change A massive thank you from all of us at Greenpeace Together we can take on the world's worst polluters and solve its biggest problems The ban on commercial whaling in the 80s was one of Greenpeace’s first major victories Here’s a brief look at the history of… Mark Carney’s Taskforce for Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets wants to help corporations fix climate change and its effects are harming people around the world every day Human beings and everything we built are seriously under threat from a destabilised climate.  The facts are clear: as the world continues to pollute Here are some striking images from around the world that demonstrate humanity’s relationship with a changing climate.  ice-capped mountain ranges are losing thousand year-old glaciers and both poles are seeing whole landscapes reshaped by melting ice Climate change is warming the Arctic faster than anywhere in the world breaking icebergs away from larger ice sheets While some Arctic communities are losing losing homelands and hunting grounds to the sea more subtle effects on the people who call the pole home.  when icebergs drift away they can drag fishing nets with them – costing fishermen money and endangering wildlife on the seabed Greenland 2017 Ð Qeqertaq Arnatassiaq and Niels Molgard push an iceberg with their powerful little boat so that it doesn’t drag down their fishing nets Glaciers aren’t faring much better in a warming world. Two thirds of glaciers in High-mountain Asia are projected to be gone by the end of the century. This is a huge problem for areas that rely on them for water – the glaciers in China supply 1.5 billion people Scientists in the Himalayas have come up with an innovative solution to this problem – artificial glaciers The meltwater from real glaciers is brought down by gravity pipes and sprayed by a sprinkler The sub-zero cold temperatures makes it ice-cold again allowing it to then form into the shape of a “stupa” – a Buddhist temple mound This photograph shows one of the early prototypes of an artificial glacier that were built by the scientist Sonam Wangchuk and his team back in the winters of January 2017 The idea of these human-made glaciers is to bring water to lower areas where it can be stored in ice form as it does not melt as fast as an actual glacier Melting glaciers and icebergs often capture the headlines arguably more disastrous impact from rising temperatures on the coldest parts of our planet – melting permafrost Permafrost is frozen ground in the northern regions of the world, made of soil, rocks and sand held together by ice that stays frozen all year round. Melting permafrost warps whatever lies on top of it – roads, homes, pipelines. In the Russian Arctic, no town is unaffected. Siberia 2018 People walk in front of a cracked panel apartment building in the eastern Siberian city of Yakutsk many buildings are made up of concrete panels and stand on stilts which ensure ventilation and prevent it from warming the ground underneath With this region warming much faster than the global average, melting permafrost poses numerous threats to the whole planet – by releasing methane (a climate-wrecking greenhouse gas) and even releasing long-dormant diseases All this ice melting on land brings rising sea levels often affecting places with low-lying coastlines thousands of miles away nowhere is more strikingly impacted than the world’s largest river delta – the Ganges Delta The Ganges river winds through the Himalayas India Tibet and Bhutan and ending in India’s state of West Bengal and Bangladesh The delta itself is a densely populated area supporting the lives of 300 million people.  hundreds of millions of people are staring at a bleak future where the probability of them becoming climate refugees looms large Arka Dutta/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images Regular cyclones, worsened by sea level rise, destroy coastlines in this region. People are forced to leave their homes and farms and migrate to cities further inland such as Dhaka – already the world’s most densely-populated city Innovations in ways of living are helping people deal with the uncertainties climate change brings and other services in the disaster-prone areas allow access to education and other services in the changing climate Another region badly affected by sea level rise is the Pacific Island Countries.  These countries, many of which are made up of multiple islands spanning huge areas of the Pacific, are home to unique and diverse cultures. Vanuatu, for example, is the most linguistically diverse country on Earth for its size with 145 languages spoken by less than 300,000 people.  Deeply held cultural and spiritual connections mean relocating is out of the question for many people from Pacific Island Countries But some nations’ governments are beginning to make plans for temporary emigrations or relocations to higher land on nearby islands.  the key culprits are storm surges and ultra-high “king tides” which are natural but made much worse by climate change’s impact on sea levels many houses are damaged severely by flooding and coastal erosion Families must abandon their homes and look to build anew or stay with other family members This is happening across the Marshall Islands and other Pacific Island Countries Relocation isn’t a new idea in this part of the world. In the twentieth century, Marshallese were moved off their islands because of nuclear testing – including by evacuation by Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warrior in 1985 just before the ship was bombed by French secret services some of those “resettlement” islands themselves may soon become uninhabitable because of rising sea levels A house in a former farming area which until 2008 was completely surrounded by rice fields and is now inundated with 1-1.5 meters of seawater on May 28 In many places around the world – including the Thames in London – governments have built barriers like sea walls to hold back the tides. One of the most extraordinary examples of this is Jakarta, where the government has built nearly 20 kilometres of sea walls in the last three years to stop the city from sinking But some parts of the country aren’t so lucky Although the government has built parts of a seawall in Java over reliance on groundwater for agriculture and industry has meant former farmlands are sinking into the sea.  Pekalongan, a city in central Java, has been experiencing such rapid subsidence rates that by 2035, as much as 90 percent of the city could be inundated with sea water South Kalimantan 2021 Volunteers evacuate children affected by the floods in Sungai Raya Village In South Kalimantan, heavy rainfall and massive land clearing for palm oil and coal mining caused severe flooding in 2021, water levels rose up to two meters, inundating hundreds of houses and forcing thousands of residents to flee their homes and find shelter on higher ground Efforts are afoot to restore Indonesia’s coastal regions with more natural protective barriers Mangrove tree forest on threatened coastlines not only create and support thriving coastal ecosystems but offer protection from erosion and tsunami waves Volunteers plant mangrove tree seedlings in a mangrove conservation area on Dupa Beach Flooding isn’t restricted to parts of the world with low-lying coastlines Flooding is also the result of heavy rains swelling rivers which then burst their banks This is starting to happen with frightening regularity here in the UK South Yorkshire 2019 Wayne Howsam in front of his front door in Fishlake village A major evacuation effort was launched in the village of Fishlake after the River Don burst its banks and flooded much of the surrounding area families and businesses are reporting that they are barely able to recover their homes and premises from a flood before another one hits.  Despite the clear impacts on communities across the UK, developers are still proposing building houses on flood plains – including a “new town” just over one mile from Fishlake Cape Town faced an extreme water crisis between 2017 and 2018 thanks to drought The term “Day Zero” was coined – for when the water supply to the city effectively ran out Diminishing water supplies have led city officials to warn residents of a “Day Zero” scenario when they have to turn off the taps to the four million inhabitants There were huge disruptions to daily life for people Taps were turned off and hand sanitiser pumps were installed across the city’s washrooms Capetonians learned to keep their used shower water for flushing toilets.  SA 2018 Residents Of Cape Town Face Worsening Drought Conditions And Water Restrictions Due to Water Restrictions the City of Cape Town implemented water saving policies and decreased the number of pools open to the public Meanwhile, Afghanistan has faced an extreme ongoing drought since 2018 that is affecting millions of people. In the first quarter of 2020, more than 40,000 Afghans had to leave their homes due to natural disasters. Afghanistan 2019 In the Afghan city of Bamiyan young girls are caught by a sandstorm on their way to school Solmaz Daryani / Climate Visuals Countdown Perhaps this is to be expected in regions with weather that’s already considered extreme But all sorts of places are experiencing unexpectedly harsh weather these days In 2021, an unprecedented “heat dome” covered North America, with Canada’s British Columbia reaching 49.6°C in June. The heat led directly to the deaths of nearly 500 people At the same time over the summer, Europe was beset with damaging floods in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium and with wildfires across Greece and Turkey A blistering heatwave gripped southeastern Europe creating tinderbox conditions that Greek officials blamed squarely on climate change.  Turkey struggled against its deadliest wildfires in decades. The fires tearing through Turkey destroyed huge swathes of pristine forest and forced the evacuation of panicked tourists from seaside hotels.  Men gather sheeps to take them away from an advancing fire on August 2 as the European Union sent help to Turkey and volunteers joined firefighters in battling a week of violent blazes Fires in the Amazon Rainforest shocked the world in 2019 – how could a rainforest burn Now, wetlands across South America are also regularly burning, including the Brazilian Pantanal which saw 32,445 fire outbreaks in 2020 alone.  Across Argentina, more than 400,000 hectares caught fire in the same year according to a recent report from the National Fire Management Service.  people clearing land for livestock or farming are the main culprit for the fires in the country While the most dramatic images come from the most seriously affected places climate change is now affecting everyone everywhere Flooding and storms are ramping up in the UK and Germany as typhoons did in the Philippines many years back – devastating communities year after year Philippines 2019 Youth Climate advocates and various environmental groups call for a climate justice during the protest in Manila People in wealthier countries that haven’t yet felt the worst of the climate crisis – but who are most responsible for it historically and through consumption patterns today – will need to start to consume differently We know about meat and dairy, but even products as seemingly harmless as chocolate have caused damage that will now need to be fixed. Deforestation due to the cultivation of cocoa has reduced the size of the Ivorian forest by nearly 90% Ivory Coast 2021 A woman prepares cuttings for reforestation in the classified forest of Tene near Oumé Tene is the largest reforestation site in the country wood species destined to be planted on plots of land that are being grown from the seeds collected Practical action on land use and resource stewardship – ways of living not lost by Indigenous Peoples and many other marginalised communities, like fishers around the world – are urgently needed.  And financial aid from the developed world to deal with these climate impacts will be a crucial step in creating a fair and sustainable world for generations to come India 2009 A solar engineer is pictured in the solar powered village of Tinginapu The path to survival will come in many forms Our vulnerability to extreme weather or corrupt and unfair economic and political systems does not mean surrendering to them Humans created the climate crisis through their industrial and agricultural ingenuity – and so also have the power to unmake it As the impacts of rising temperatures start to pile up this will be the defining challenge of the 21st century Offsetting can't make flying ‘carbon neutral’ These biological super systems store up to 50 times more carbon than rainforests and are home to all sorts of life See stunning images and learn why wetlands are important… Remember these names – they might just change the world From experimental technology to simple practices people around the world are thinking creatively about how we can live better with nature Here are some of the clever things they’ve come… You might not have heard of the Sargasso Sea. But you’ve probably heard of the Bermuda Triangle. Storms from the multiple ocean currents around this part of the North Atlantic have reportedly destroyed hundreds of ships and planes without a trace But while the Bermuda Triangle is actually an urban legend the mysterious patch of ocean called the Sargasso Sea harbours real-life miracles of nature huge mats of golden Sargassum seaweed teem with new life Tiny baby green sea turtles nestle in the seaweed Iconic seabird species swoop and feed across the vast expanse of open golden sea on their way to Britain And silvery baby European eels are born in their millions here to then make a truly epic three-year journey back to UK waters The Sargasso Sea, like many unique ocean ecosystems, is under threat. Overfishing and the industrialisation of the oceans from oil drilling and the new threat of deep sea mining mean special places like the Sargasso need our help more than ever Thanks to the recently-agreed Global Ocean Treaty there is a massive opportunity to protect the Sargasso Sea And this could change everything for oceans the world over Here’s what you need to know about this incredible place – and how you can help protect it The Sargasso Sea is an area of approximately two million square miles in the North Atlantic Ocean Included in its shifting boundaries are the islands of Bermuda The Sargassum seaweed that floats in the Sargasso sea is what makes it such a special place – and the birthplace and migration route stop for many iconic species former Chief Scientist of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Sylvia Earle called the Sargasso Sea a “golden floating rainforest” this unique ecosystem supports many iconic species from birth and throughout their lives Greenpeace has mapped out a pathway to protecting at least 30% of our oceans by 2030, in line with the new Global Ocean Treaty.  The Global Ocean Treaty was agreed by world leaders in March 2023 This Treaty is the tool that can create vast protected areas called ocean sanctuaries these should cover at least 30% of the oceans by 2030 – only six years from now Only by countries signing the Global Ocean Treaty into law at a national level will governments be able to create ocean sanctuaries Because of its incredible and unique ecosystem one of the priority areas for a new ocean sanctuary is the Sargasso Sea.  Greenpeace is in the Sargasso Sea doing important scientific work like e-DNA sampling and surveys of seabirds and cetaceans (whales e-DNA sampling studies the traces of genetic material that creatures leave in the water as they swim through to measure biodiversity in that part of the ocean These studies will gather crucial evidence to help make the case that the Sargasso should become one of the world’s first ocean sanctuaries on the high seas.  Making the Sargasso Sea the first ocean sanctuary on the high seas would be an incredible start to putting the Global Ocean Treaty’s promise of protecting 30% of the oceans by 2030 into effect That’s why we’re calling on the UK government to ratify the Global Ocean Treaty From puffins and seals to the bizarre ‘fried-egg’ nudibranch this shallow patch of ocean is packed with amazing animals And with a new ban on destructive bottom trawling in the… Activists have prevented a 117m long supertrawler from fishing within a Marine Protected Area off the coast of Scotland Greenpeace has also created a 'boulder barrier' to stop harmful bottom-trawling… Halfway between land and water, wetlands are one of nature’s little gems. Brimming with life and vital for fighting climate change, 40% of all plants and animals live and breed in wetlands and more than one billion people depend on them for their living Here’s why we need to protect and restore nature’s wetlands Wetlands are places where land is covered by freshwater They can stay this way for years or decades Plants that are adapted to the watery soil live in different types of wetlands They’re an ideal habitat for many animals too Wetlands exist in every climate and continent except Antarctica They vary in size from small prairie potholes to huge salt marshes nurturing many plants and providing a diverse habitat for many species Wetlands are categorised by where they get their water from and what types of plants mainly grow in them The rainy weather in the UK provides ideal conditions for wetlands to form. There are currently 175 sites registered as wetlands of international importance Some of the best-known wetlands are worth a visit the wetland centres in Arundel in the South Downs and London Wetlands play a vital role in the fight against climate change. They can act as a shield against the most extreme weather events. By soaking up heavy rainfall and improving water flows, they help with preventing flooding. They also offer protection against droughts by storing and slowly releasing water. And wetlands can store twice as much carbon than all the world’s forests Wetlands are one of the most threatened habitats in the world. As much as 87% of the world’s wetlands have been lost over the past 300 years intensive farming and climate change are major threats to wetlands Increasing temperatures and droughts can turn wetlands from carbons sinks to carbon sources And rising sea levels can submerge coastal wetlands For example in China, one of the biggest threats to coastal wetlands is the speed and scale of land reclamation projects. Illegal occupation and poor supervision of land use afterwards have led to damage that threatens life in coastal wetlands Many that have been closely bound up with the coastal wetlands for generations Closer to home, British wetlands are threatened too. Greenpeace investigative journalists at Unearthed found England’s largest protected wildlife site is at risk. The Wash contains important wetland habitats But reporters uncovered a lack of monitoring that’s leaving the Norfolk coastline at greater risk of decline Unearthed also documented fires set to heather on peatlands in Northern England’s National Parks – despite a partial ban Peatlands are the UK’s biggest natural carbon store on land increases the risk of floods and can damage water quality In Scotland, conservationists admit that there is a long way to go before the Flow Country and other peatlands are fully restored More than 148,000 acres of the Flow Country alone remain unnaturally forested today Protecting and restoring wetlands is crucial in the fight against climate change. And the drive for this is gaining momentum. Government action and conservation efforts are needed to stop the destruction of habitats and ensure nature is able to thrive for the future biodiversity and habitats must be put into place ongoing restoration and monitoring to help conserve wetlands Such as planting seedlings in mangrove swamps or rewetting swamps to turn them back into carbon sinks Reintroducing beavers also helps to create wetlands habitats which slows water flow and forms spaces that support a wide variety of life For UK wetlands, a current threat is a proposed bill that would affect laws that protect nature Habitats Regulations safeguard wildlife and natural spaces it will potentially cancel all existing laws from European Law by the end of 2023 – including the Habitats Regulations We need to ensure Habitats Regulations are not removed The deep sea is home to many weird and wonderful creatures But they're under threat from plans for deep sea mining 12 iconic photos from a year of disruptions - and the struggle to protect our future Rising temperatures threaten our livelihoods Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker Content warning: this article includes a photo of an injured animal that some people might find upsetting Firstly let’s take a look at where the Pantanal is The Pantanal extends some 150,000 sq km through the heart of South America and spilling over the border into Bolivia and Paraguay The Pantanal is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the biggest tropical wetland in the world rivers break their banks and flood the surrounding lowlands This creates a stunning patchwork of shallow lakes The Pantanal is famous for being home to an incredible variety of wildlife Thousands of different species hustle and bustle in the Pantanal One of the Pantanal’s most famous residents is the jaguar. The Pantanal is the second largest jaguar habitat in Brazil (after the Amazon rainforest) An amazing variety of birds also depend on the Pantanal while others come and go with the changing seasons It’s not only wildlife that relies on the Pantanal, the wetlands support around 1.5 million people across Bolivia From towns of up to five thousand families their livelihoods all depend on the health of the area Many people in the Pantanal live off the land Some also make a living through tourists visiting the area for the incredible scenery and wildlife the Pantanal also provides vital flood control for millions of more people living downstream It might shock you to hear that nearly a quarter of the Panantal has already burned this year. That’s an area eleven times larger than London The inferno has had a devastating impact on the region’s wildlife. Indigenous communities have also been heavily affected. Half the Indigenous territories in Brazil’s Pantanal have been razed by the fires and many communities have lost their homes and livelihoods They travel across land in the air and fall as heavy rains over the Pantanal its ability to create these “flying rivers” decreases This reduces the rainfall over the Pantanal and the rest of the continent Nature is closely connected and held together in a fine balance Disrupting one ecosystem has a knock-on effect elsewhere What’s happening in the Pantanal is yet another example of this Eating a mostly plant-based diet and much less meat is something we can do as individuals to help protect forests Supermarkets and fast food companies must stop buying meat from forest-destroying companies right now They also need to replace at least half the meat and dairy on their shelves with plant based food in the next few years By doing this they can play their part in ending our dependence on industrial meat – protecting forests I'll never forget my first time diving with sharks Time seems to stand still when you’re in the presence of these magnificent animals clean water is becoming increasingly scarce Here’s how people are fighting for our most precious resource Covid 19 changed daily realities in every corner of the world The crisis has exposed a system of inequality putting the health of the people and planet at risk Greenpeace has been able to continue building the movement for a green and peaceful future here are some highlights which were only possible thanks to your support In January, Greenpeace returned to the Antarctic on the last stage of the Protect the Oceans Expedition We teamed up with a group of scientists to investigate and document the impacts the climate crisis is already having in this area Greenpeace activists installed a two-metre high penguin ice sculpture on the shore of the River Thames opposite St. Paul’s Cathedral. It was part of a campaign to highlight the threats to marine life as part of a global call by Greenpeace for greater action on ocean protection Pop-up exhibitions placed by Greenpeace activists blocked the access to major Barclays bank branches in Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh, London and Manchester. The exhibitions displayed photographs of some of the worst climate emergency disasters in the four years since the Paris Climate Agreement was signed Greenpeace UK activists staged a socially distanced protest outside BP’s Annual General Meeting which was broadcast from their London headquarters asking the company to stop drilling for new oil and gas and switch to renewables Just a few months later, BP announced that it would cut its oil and gas production by 40% in the next decade and massively increase its renewable energy investment This is the first time ever that a major oil company has committed to keeping oil and gas in the ground Greenpeace placed a temperature monitoring station at Elba island Working with the University of Genova first project results’ indicated that rising temperatures are killing iconic underwater creatures Greenpeace volunteers sprayed the messages ‘less cars, more bikes‘, ‘more space for people‘ and ‘more walking‘ in chalk on roads across the UK to call for a green recovery from the health crisis, including investment in local public transport, walking and cycling Every year, Greenpeace Brazil flies over the Amazon to monitor deforestation build up and forest fires the team found enormous destruction from fires in the states of Amazonas The crew of the Greenpeace ship Esperanza created a seabed ‘boulder barrier’ to stop harmful bottom-trawling in a 47 square mile area of the North Sea Activists placed heavy granite boulders on the sea bed in the Dogger Bank region making it impossible for industrial fishing ships to drag their nets along the bottom Dogger Bank is officially designated as a Marine Protected Area, but the government still allows destructive fishing in this and other supposedly protected areas A life-size animatronic jaguar roared from the roof of what appeared to be a Tesco delivery van. Luna the jaguar greeted staff and customers at Tesco stores across the UK to highlight the environmental destruction caused by industrial meat sold by the supermarket chain Greenpeace Spain activists scaled the replica of the Eiffel Tower in Torrejón de Ardoz (Madrid) on the fifth anniversary of the Paris climate agreement reminding political leaders that more needs to be done to address the climate emergency and 'flying rivers' - what South America's giant wetland can teach us about the future of the planet There's a reason that the Amazon rainforest inspired scientists to invent the word 'biodiversity' - the region is home to 10 percent of all plant and animal species known on… Whales are incredible creatures. They are the largest animals on earth, can be found in all oceans and play an important role in the marine environment. Warm-blooded and air breathing mammals like us, whales are our allies in the fight against climate change which produces large blooms of microscopic algae that absorb enormous amounts of carbon dioxide But it was in the 20th century that they became hunted on a large commercial scale because of factory ships and explosive harpoons which led to a rapid decline in whale numbers the success of the whaling ban has been at risk Both Norway and Iceland’s governments objected to it and continued to hunt And under the pretence of scientific research whaling continued in Japan too Japan’s government left the IWC and began commercial whaling as soon as it was no longer bound to the agreement These pictures illustrate the journey that led to the ban of commercial whaling and the loopholes in the moratorium As well as what still needs to be done to save the whales and protect our oceans for the future Factory ships and explosive harpoons meant that whales were hunted on a larger Greenpeace’s Save the Whales campaign shone a spotlight on the brutal and unnecessary hunting of whales The campaign publicly showed images of whales being killed staged demonstrations and used non-violent direct action to stop whaling Dedicated campaigning led to the IWC declaring that commercial whaling had to be stopped to allow shrinking whale populations to recover The ban on commercial whaling started from 1985 the IWC declared a Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary This was an area of 50 million square kilometres around Antarctica where all commercial whaling was banned whaling for “scientific research” was allowed and the government of Japan continued to do so In 2008, Greenpeace investigated whistleblower claims that thousands of dollars worth of whale meat was stolen each year from Japan’s scientific whaling fleet Officials from the government’s Institute of Cetacean Research in Japan and the fleet operators Kyodo Senpaku knew about the embezzlement but ignored it – even though it was the Japanese taxpayer who funded the expeditions Continued hunting is no longer the main threat that whales face today shipping and habitat loss also put them under pressure the fate of our whales depends on protecting the oceans our oceans face threats from deep sea mining which are growing bigger and more urgent each day And whales also help make our oceans work properly – they store carbon recycle nutrients and mix layers of ocean while they travel So we need to protect areas for whales to live Governments are working on a Global Ocean Treaty. If they get it right, it’ll create a vast network of ocean sanctuaries which could protect over a third of the world’s seas This would make parts of our global seas off-limits to destructive industries – creating safe zones for whales and protecting our waters for all life on earth The ban on whale hunting shows us that even the biggest of all marine life can bounce back if governments choose to take action and protect it Will you ask our leaders to take the next vital step to save the whales by protecting our oceans too Tell the UK government: implement the Global Ocean Treaty create global ocean sanctuaries and support a full ban on deep sea mining You don’t have to leave your email address or phone number, but if you do, we’ll use it to keep you updated on how you can get involved through petitions, campaigning, volunteering and donating. You can opt out at any time. We take the security of your data seriously. Your information is safe and secure with us – read our privacy policy Here’s why the spectacular Sargasso Sea should be one of the first new ocean sanctuaries created by the new Global Ocean Treaty Dramatic and disruptive protests often hit the press and capture a snapshot of what being an activist means But activism includes many types of action The crew of Greenpeace’s ship Arctic Sunrise saved a humpback whale caught in fishing gear The rescue is another reminder of why our oceans urgently need protection We know that how we’re living now is harming our planet And that collective change is essential for its future But with so much to do and bad news nearly everyday Whether using new technologies in the city or adopting sustainable farming practices people globally are coming up with creative solutions to make the world a better place We picked out a few that remind us a greener future is possible Many of these ideas are still at the experimental stage and some will be more valuable as conversation-starters than large-scale solutions But they’re all great reminders of what’s possible when we’re willing to get creative and reimagine the world around us Because all we need to restore our hope is a jump into our imagination This experimental cycle path absorbs sunlight to light up in darkness making the path safer for cyclists at night which are small crystal-like particles that can take in energy from the sun then slowly release it as light It looks similar to a glow-in-the-dark sticker that you can put up on a ceiling The path is currently being tested for wear and tear Path created by TPA Instytut Badań Technicznych Sp Cycle path and pedestrian path glow blue at dusk © Strabag Pedestrians in Washington DC are doing more than just walking. At the Connecticut Avenue Overlook pocket park, they power outdoor street lights. As they walk, special tiles harness the energy generated by their footsteps. The project is a collaboration between the clean-tech British company Pavegen and the D.C People walking on energy-generating tiles in Washington DC Voisin / The Washington Post via Getty Images Hamburg houses the first algae-powered building in the world At the BIQ (Bio Intelligent Quotient) House the panels in the front are filled with growing algae The plants are able to generate renewable energy Called Supertrees, these tree-like structures behave as vertical gardens. Designed by Grant Associates act as exhaust air towers for nearby conservatories and collect rainwater in Singapore A majestic view of the Super Trees at Gardens by the Bay In Tláhuac in Mexico City, Greenpeace Mexico collaborated with Mexican engineers to present an electric pedicab prototype The batteries of the pedicabs are recharged at a solar station delivering a zero emissions solution for the local population A person rides an electric pedicab in Mexico City micro wind turbines that can work in a city They’re built in the shape of a tree and each of its 72 “leaves” acts as a mini wind-turbine to generate electricity The trunk and branches are made of steel and the leaves work at speeds as low as 4.5 miles per hour Although they don’t generate as much power as full-size wind turbines they’re an eye-catching reminder of the clean energy that’s all around us These wind trees are photographed at Le Bourget is a pair of residential towers designed by Italian architect Stefano Boeri and located in the Porta Nuova district It is aimed at creating a welcoming habitat for humans and wildlife alike Bosco Verticale (Vertical Forest) towers in Milan Urban farming is allows the people of Jakarta to grow crops with limited green land available It gives people space to connect with nature their local community and grow things in a place they can easily access Abdulrahman (60 years) is caring for plants on his roof in Jakarta © Sijori Images/Future Publishing via Getty Images This solar-powered bus shelter – also known as a ‘Bee Bus Stop’ – has a roof planted with a mix of wildflowers and sedum plants These plants are rich in nectar and a favourite of bees and other pollinating insects They’re installed in many cities across the UK Brighton’s solar-powered “bee bus stop” has a green roof for pollinators the local community agreed to keep a sustainable fishery they choose fishing equipment and methods for the type of fish they want to catch They also set up fish houses to create nurseries for marine animals and won’t fish during breeding season Local fishers are catching fish in Khan Kradai Bay Thousands of metres below the ocean’s surface incredible deep sea creatures live in the cold darkness dumbo octopus and deep sea urchin are examples of animals that have adapted to their unique deep-ocean environment.  But their habitat and that of many other marine creatures could be under threat if deep sea mining gets the go-ahead The deep sea is broadly defined as the depth where there is less light at about 200 metres below the surface and below – extending thousands of meters below the surface Freezing temperatures and high pressure make it an especially difficult environment to explore.  Many of the lifeforms of the ocean floor are yet to be discovered and have been as yet undisturbed by human activity Over 80% of the oceans remain unexplored.  Scientists from the US’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have discovered these creatures living near the ocean floor in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) in the Pacific Ocean.  They are threatened by proposals for deep sea mining Huge machines would dredge up the seafloor to collect potato-sized polymetallic nodules containing manganese To survive the harsh environment with little sunlight or food in the constant cold and under extreme pressure deep sea creatures have developed some remarkable adaptations Many are transparent like the ones pictured above Deep sea fish are characterised by big sharp teeth whilst some creatures produce their own light Their dots are clear windows in the skin that gather additional light.  Their ear-like fins – used for moving slowly around – are reminiscent of Disney’s flying elephant Young Sergestes crayfish have finely branched antennae that allow them to float freely in the water Adult Sergestes crayfish are able to prevent casting shadows in the twilight by using weak bioluminescence (self-produced light) on the underside of their bodies camouflaging themselves from predators lurking below The intensity of their glow is adapted to the amount of light coming from above Swimming sea cucumbers – also known as “headless chicken monsters” – have a special “flap” which they use to “lift” themselves off the seafloor up to 1000 metres through the water column making them more well-adapted to the intense pressures of the deep ocean The transparent body reveals the sediment-filled intestine looping around from the mouth (top) to the anus (bottom) scientists found a translucent egg case with a catshark embryo actively swimming inside Catsharks lay their eggs in a leathery egg case made of keratin – the protein found in hair and nails – onto the seabed Inside the egg case the embryo feeds on the egg yolk Bobtails They are about as big as your thumb and have a special light organ in their body allowing them to generate a glow cancelling out their shadow and thereby camouflaging them. This bobtail is a benthic species which means it lives at the bottom of the ocean The Helmet jellyfish species is very sensitive to light due to its red pigment It lives in the much deeper parts of the oceans to avoid light The red pigment is very useful for warning predators and for sending signals amongst themselves Helmet jellyfish don’t have eyes or a brain but instead use a simple sensory bulb that detects changes in light The ghost fish is found at around 1,850 metres below the surface of the ocean These fish are distant relatives of sharks and have skeletons made out of cartilage.  The lateral lines running across are “mechano-receptors” that detect pressure waves The dotted lines on the frontal portion of the face help detect disturbances in electrical fields created by other living organisms The Whipnose angler has an enlarged first filament of its dorsal fin – called the illicium – with a bioluminescent light-emitting organ at its end The teeth of the Common fangtooth are so long that the fish can only close its mouth by stowing them in two cavities to the right and left of its brain in an environment with almost no light being confronted with an enormous loud mining machine with headlights on each side Deep sea mining will be hugely disruptive and could wipe out these habitats and their uniquely adapted species Deep sea mining could do long lasting and irreversible damage to the oceans Tell the government to ban deep sea mining History shows that if we move fast and act with courage humanity can protect and restore our most important places and bring amazing creatures back from the edge of extinction.  let’s take a moment to celebrate some conservation success stories and let them inspire us to keep standing up for our beautiful home The reintroduction of the red kite to Britain is one of the greatest conservation success stories of the 20th century After decades of persecution from egg collectors and illegal poisoning red kites were practically extinct in the UK by the late 1980s conservationists started re-introducing red kites from Sweden Today, gliding red kites are a common sight over large parts of the countryside. According to the RSPB, they’ve been so successful it’s no longer possible to count them in an annual survey In 2009, the government of British Columbia announced a conservation plan for the Great Bear Rainforest – the most comprehensive of its kind in North America. This victory followed a ten-year campaign – one of the longest in Greenpeace history More than 400 years after it was hunted to extinction in the UK, the beaver is back there are now over 400 beavers in 100 territories Beavers are now a protected species in Scotland This bird of prey was close to extinction in the mid 1970s, with only five individuals left. Today over 400 birds fly in the forests of Mauritius, thanks to successful conservation efforts and breeding programmes.  Scientists recently discovered a vast ‘carbon bomb’ in the swamps of the Congo Basin rainforest If the carbon stored in these swamps was released (if the trees were cut down and the water drained away for example) the climate impact would be equivalent to three years’ worth of total global fossil fuels Following the discovery of the peatlands in 2018, governments signed the Brazzaville Declaration to protect this rich habitat and keep its giant carbon stores locked safely underground.  In 2001 there were fewer than 30 blue iguanas left in the wild. By 2018, there were more than 1000, thanks to a heroic recovery programme run by the National Trust in the Cayman Islands The Blue Iguana can only be found in the dry forests of Grand Cayman The crane is the UK’s largest bird, standing at 1.2m tall and flying up to 72km per hour. And it was absent as a common breeding bird for nearly 400 years due to hunting and wetland drainage. But thanks to habitat restoration and reintroduction by initiatives like the Great Crane Project there are now an estimated 200 birds in Wales Why not try and see if you can spot a crane in the UK When the Berlin Wall went up overnight 50 years ago the trapped East German enclave of Klein Glienicke became one of the most tightly guarded communities on the planet Due to quirks of geography and a tumultuous history the horseshoe-shaped suburban area of 500 inhabitants was nearly surrounded by a wealthy part of West Berlin while it officially remained part of Potsdam in East Germany Residents of Klein Glienicke and their Western neighbours lived so close that they could look into each others’ bedroom windows But even a friendly wave was “verboten” with the East Germans facing immediate expulsion from the idyllic district if caught in contact with the “enemy” This proximity made it possible for dozens to flee – exactly what the authorities hoped to stop by building the Wall – and led to a decades-long crackdown that saw many of the original inhabitants swapped for true believers A quiet community of stately old Prussian houses Klein Glienicke became a “special security zone” where streets never fell dark because of prison-style spotlights at the Wall that blazed through the night Life-long resident Gitta Heinrich watched the Wall go up and celebrated its fall – on her birthday no less – in the picture postcard village on the Teltow Canal separating Berlin from Potsdam a shoot-out at the Wall and even a failed bomb attack against an East German officer “It was like living in a big jail,” said Ms Heinrich “It was the smallest town (in East Germany) that was walled in this way You could not walk anywhere without bumping up against it.” She vividly remembers the sudden sealing of the border on August 13 “We were so shocked – the bridge was closed off I couldn’t get into town without my ID and my boyfriend couldn’t enter at all,” she said It was worse when they built the concrete walls in 1965.” A playground for the rich and famous in the 1920s that attracted film stars from the nearby Babelsberg Studios where Marlene Dietrich launched her career Klein Glienicke with the Wall quickly became a Cold War curiosity there is little trace of the Wall but for the 50th anniversary an exhibition at a nearby castle tells the remarkable story Curator Jens Arndt moved to Klein Glienicke from West Berlin 12 years ago Westerners had little idea of what the mysterious town behind it was like “It was a tiny enclave embedded among ‘the enemies of the people’,” he said referring to the capitalists on the Western side “East German soldiers said it was the most difficult part of East Berlin to secure.” Handymen and ambulance drivers often used the occasion of a job in Klein Glienicke to flee a would-be refugee and an East German border guard with his own dreams of escaping two families fled to the West via a 19-metre-long tunnel they dug from their basement using a child’s toy shovel so as not to arouse suspicion That spectacular breakout led to regular cellar checks to prevent any similar attempts Heartbreaking photographs in the exhibition document a funeral in 1962 had fled Klein Glienicke for West Berlin in the 1950s but the clan’s beloved grandmother stayed on please register for free or log in to your account.