Arctic

Peak Water, Methane Blowholes And Ice-Free Arctic Cruises

August 19, 2014 Dahr Jamail, www.truth-out.org Educate! Arctic, Climate Change, Water

We begin this month's climate disruption dispatch with comments from NASA's Earth Observatory about the extreme juxtaposition of temperatures we are experiencing in North America this summer. "If you live in the northern hemisphere, the past few weeks have been strange," NASA states. "In places where it should be seasonably hot - the eastern and southern United States and western Europe - it's just been warm. In places where weather is usually mild in the summer - northern Europe, the Pacific coast of North America - it has been ridiculously hot." NASA continues: Records for high temperatures (mid-30s°C, mid-90s°F) were approached or broken in Latvia, Poland, Belarus, Estonia, Lithuania, and Sweden in late July and early August. Searing temperatures also dried out forests and fuelled wildfires in Siberia; in the U.S. states of Oregon, Washington, and California; in the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, and Northwest Territories; and even in Sweden. At the same time, cool air moved from high northern latitudes into much of the U.S., setting record-low daytime and nighttime temperatures as far south as Florida and Georgia. Temperatures dropped to the winter-like levels in the mountains of Tennessee.

Must-See Video: Arctic Emergency

August 11, 2014 Donna Lisenby, www.ecowatch.com Educate! Arctic, Climate Change, Environment, Global Warming

This video provides the best explanation I have ever heard of how increasing carbon in the atmosphere changes the weather. It helped me understand the carbon-climate connection at an all new level. It also explains why the release of arctic methane is an important tipping point. For those of you who enjoy learning from the world’s top scientists about something that will change your life and the future of your children and grandchildren, this is an important video to watch. Please watch it and then share it with others. Arctic Emergency: Scientists Speak On Melting Ice and Global Impacts (1080p HD). This film brings you the voices of climate scientists - in their own words. Rising temperatures in the Arctic are contributing the melting sea ice, thawing permafrost, and destabilization of a system that has been called "Earth's Air Conditioner". Global warming is here and is impacting weather patterns, natural systems, and human life around the world - and the Arctic is central to these impacts.

Greenpeace, Inuit Come Together To Fight Arctic Seismic Testing

July 28, 2014 Lee-Anne Goodman, www.theglobeandmail.com Resist! Arctic, First Nations, Greenpeace, Indigenous Rights, Oil & Gas

Greenpeace and the Inuit have joined forces to protest Arctic seismic testing, warning that plans to gauge oil and gas reserves with high-intensity sound waves in Baffin Bay and the Davis Strait pose grave dangers to marine life. Inuit activists are staging a protest Wednesday in Nunavut’s Clyde River, a tiny Baffin Island hamlet just above the Arctic Circle, a week after Greenpeace took their cause to the United Nations. An Inuit environmentalist also took aim at Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq, a Nunavut MP, accusing the Conservative government of “cultural genocide” for its efforts to open up the Arctic to oil and gas exploration. “We depend on these waters for food and the very existence of Inuit life depend on them,” said Niore Iqalukjuak in an open letter to Aglukkaq in the Nunatsiaq News. “We fear that what the Conservative government is doing is a cultural genocide and will end the Inuit way of life as we know it. ... You are our representative. Speak up on our behalf.” Aglukkaq’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Iqalukjuak’s letter or on the protest being held in Clyde River. Greenpeace, meantime, has thrown its support behind the community.

Greenpeace Movie Pulled from YouTube

July 12, 2014 Jon Queally, www.commondreams.org Educate! Arctic, Greenpeace, Lego, Protest, shell, Video

After initially having Greenpeace's super viral “Lego Movie” parody pulled from YouTube, Warner Bros. has withdrawn its complaint and the clip has been put back up on the video site. The video, which drowns characters from WB's mega-hit film in oil, was made as a protest against the toy company's $116 million sponsorship deal with Shell Oil. It had reached over 3 million views on YouTube in just a couple of days, before it was taken down late Thursday. UPDATE (1:02 PM EST): Statement sent by Greenpeace to its member regarding the banned video: It looks like LEGO and its corporate pals are more offended by a video than by the idea of Shell’s plan to drill for Arctic oil. Despite the real risk of a terrible and unstoppable oil spill in icy, pristine waters, Shell is determined to plunder every last drop of oil it can. Just like it’s not OK for a tobacco company to market to children, an oil company has no place promoting its brand on kids’ toys. So that's why we’re asking LEGO to show the world - and our children - that an ethical company won't work with Shell.

Greenpeace Targets Lego’s Relationship With Shell

July 9, 2014 Eoin O'Cinneide, www.upstreamonline.com Resist! Arctic, Lego, Oil, shell

Greenpeace continues to build its case against Arctic drilling, its latest high-profile protest piecing together a pair of blockbuster companies: Shell and Lego. The environmental watchdog has launched a new offensive against the toy manufacturer aimed at dismantling its commercial relationship with the Anglo-Dutch supermajor. Greenpeace claims that, since 2012, 16 million Shell-branded Lego toys have been sold or given away at petrol stations in 26 countries. A commercial deal between the two companies was reportedly worth $116 million, with another deal set to start this year, it added. Protesters in six countries around the globe are targeting the Danish player, concerned that the product’s association with the oil industry - and in particular Shell – is damaging children’s perceptions of the Arctic. Activists descended on Legoland outside London to deface Lego scenes of the likes of the UK Houses of Parliament and a World Cup football match with erroneous characters and anti-Arctic drilling messages. One picture shows a polar bear and cub drifting down a river through an idyllic country setting on a tiny ice floe, while another shows two figurines holding a ‘Save the Arctic’ sign near a toy terminal and tanker.

Russia Releases Ship Used In Gas Protest

June 7, 2014 Cassady Sharp, www.greenpeaceblogs.org Resist! Arctic, Greenpeace, Oil, Protest, Russia

Russia’s investigative committee (IC) this morning informed Greenpeace International that it has annulled the arrest of the ship Arctic Sunrise, which has remained in custody in Murmansk since a high profile protest against Arctic oil drilling last September. Greenpeace reacted positively to the news but reaffirmed its belief that the arrest of the ship was illegal under international law. Reacting to the news, Greenpeace International Executive Director Kumi Naidoo said: “Millions of people spoke out against the illegal imprisonment of the Arctic 30, and today the final member of the group is free to come home. Our ship was arrested during an entirely peaceful protest against Arctic drilling in international waters. There was absolutely no justification either for boarding the ship or keeping her for eight months. “This whole affair was a brazen attempt to intimidate those who believe that drilling for oil in the melting Arctic is reckless and unsafe. After months without proper maintenance our ship will need careful repairs, but like our campaign to protect the Arctic she will emerge better, fitter and stronger from this.” The investigative committee recently extended its investigation into the protest at the Prirazlomnaya platform by two months, until July 24th. However, lawyers acting for Greenpeace International were informed of the ship’s release unexpectedly during a meeting in the port city of Murmansk this morning. The ship should now be able to leave Russia in the coming days.

Greenpeace Activists Occupy Oil Rig In Norwegian Arctic

May 28, 2014 Brian Ries, www.mashable.com Resist! Arctic, Greenpeace, Norway, Oil

A group of fifteen Greenpeace activists from eight different countries boarded and climbed an oil rig in the Norwegian arctic Monday morning, protesting a Norwegian company's plans to drill there. The activists, who were in the area on the Greenpeace ship the MV Esperanza in the Barents Sea approximately 190 miles north of Norway, made the decision to board the drilling rig Transocean Spitsbergen, which was en route to the Hoop area in the Barents Sea, after learning that the Norwegian government had reversed an earlier decision blocking drilling in the region. See also: Another Day, Another Tech Protest — But Not for the Reason You Think Greenpeace says the drilling site, the most northernmost well in the Norwegian Arctic, is too close to the Bear Island nature reserve — and an oil spill would devastate the island's unique and unspoiled habitat. Greenpeace's message: Pull out.

Dutch Arrest 44 Greenpeace Activists Blocking Russian Arctic Oil Tanker

May 1, 2014 John Vidal, www.theguardian.com Resist! Arctic, Greenpeace, Oil, Russia

The very different reactions of European countries to Greenpeace protests was seen on Thursday when 10 Dutch armed anti-terror police boarded the environment group’s flagship outside Rotterdam port and arrested 44 activists trying to stop a Russian tanker from unloading its shipment of Arctic oil. Although the activists were taken to several Rotterdam police stations and the Rainbow Warrior towed ashore, the ship and most of the protesters were released without charge within a few hours. This represented a stark contrast to September 2013, when 20 armed Russian navy commandos boarded the group’s Arctic Sunrise icebreaker, towed it 200 miles to Murmansk and jailed the crew of 28 environmental activists and two freelance journalists for more than two months on charges of piracy and then hooliganism. Greenpeace activists, who used paragliders, climbers, a fleet of boats and inflatables in Rotterdam, said the action was a serious attempt to prevent the Gazprom tanker Mikhail Ulyanov from entering the port and was not stage-managed, despite a boatload of journalists being present and the port given advance warning of a protest.

Greenpeace Readies To Confront First Arctic Oil Shipment

April 30, 2014 Andrea Germanos, www.commondreams.org Resist! Arctic, Greenpeace, Oil

The first Arctic oil is making its way towards Europe, and environmental campaign group Greenpeace International announced that it is preparing to confront that shipment as part of its ongoing fight to save the Arctic. Russian's state-owned Gazprom sent off on April 18 70,000 tons of oil from the Prirazlomnaya oil field in the Pechora Sea to Rotterdam. The Prirazlomnaya rig is the the same one challenged last year by members of Greenpeace's "Arctic 30," who were detained and charged with hooliganism following their peaceful protest to protect the region from fossil fuel exploitation. Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior III, captained by an Arctic 30 member, set sail Monday from Rotterdam to intercept the Arctic oil shipment, though it is unclear what kind of confrontation is planned. "We do not disclose in advance what we are going to do, but I can assure you we will send a clear message to the world that this oil is very dangerous," campaigner Willem Wiskerke, who was aboard the Rainbow Warrior, told Agence France-Presse.

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