In the last month over a eight hundred activists just like you took the time to create a beautiful message for Royal Dutch Shell and our leaders in Washington, DC: Don’t Destroy the Arctic.

Volunteers went to their schools and libraries, threw parties and put in so much hard work to build support for the Arctic. Not content with simply raising awareness, they also lent their creativity to make thousands of beautiful color in petitions.

We’ve taken as many of these as possible onboard the Esperanza on our Save the Arctic Tour. Today, our first day in Alaska, I strung a few up in front of the bridge so, as they flapped in the wind, we could be reminded that beyond our small crew millions of people are dedicated to saving the arctic from climate change and disastrous oil drilling.

In the coming month and a half we’ll be taking these petitions all the way to the Arctic. I hope my photos do them a small amount of justice.