After Guido revealed Greenpeace’s new not-so-green diesel powered ship yesterday, readers may be wondering what happened to their old ship, Rainbow Warrior II. Late last year, the organisation allowed their massive ship to be scrapped in a Bangladeshi beaching yard. Risking the spread of countless toxic materials into the local beach ecosystems…

The vessel was retired in 2011, after being deemed unfit for sea travel, and was thereafter sold to a Bangladeshi NGO. Crucially, as a condition of the sale, Greenpeace ensured that they “retained the right of veto over any final disposal plan.”

After signing off the scrapping, Greenpeace admitted that “breaking ships on beaches is fundamentally unsafe, exploitative of workers and damaging to the marine environment.” By the time they admitted that, the ship was already beached and ready to be cut up.

As a worst of all worlds compromise, they are now shipping parts of the ship back to Europe (adding even more to their carbon footprint) whilst leaving significant parts of the ship in Bangladesh. Do as we say not as we do…

*Graphic is an artist’s impression.

UPDATE: A co-conspirator, apparently not satisfied with Guido’s artist’s impression, has sent in a real photo of the beached Greenpeace ship. We weren’t that far off…