Casson Trenor, senior markets campaigner for Greenpeace USA, has a bit of a victory to report: U.S. consumers can now buy “environmentally preferable” tuna without spending any extra cash.
A short while ago, seven Greenpeace International activists, including Executive Director Kumi Naidoo, headed toward Gazprom’s giant drilling platform in the Russian Arctic for the second time in three days. The activists, in two high-speed boats, intercepted a supply vessel as it prepared to drop off the workers to the oil platform.
Our tiny boat is facing massive ship with huge water cannons. One of our RIB attached to the anchor has been flipped by hoses… Activists were in the water. They are now safe, and well, in another boat. Action is going on as another team is moving into position … stay tuned !
Kumi’s boat is now attached to anchor chain of this vessel – it’s not moving anywhere and so the platform workers can’t get on-board, effectively stopping its preparations to drill for oil in the Arctic.
A Russian Coast Guard vessel is nearby, and presumably assessing the situation.
A second load of activists have been brought to the scene – now 14 in total.
This evening, 15 hours after boarding Gazprom’s Arctic oil platform in the Pechora Sea, six Greenpeace International activists including Greenpeace International executive director Kumi Naidoo voluntarily left the platform. In freezing temperatures, the climbers were constantly hosed with water by Gazprom workers who appeared more intent on endangering the safety of peaceful activists than operating the platform above.
To avoid unnecessary risk in these freezing Arctic conditions the activists have decided to come down. The same cannot be said of Gazprom, which appears determined to continue its reckless drilling programme in one of the most fragile places on earth. The bravery of all of these climbers interrupted a major Arctic oil operation and by doing so brought the world’s attention to this era defining issue. This occupation was just one part of a new movement to save the Arctic that will not be intimidated by water cannons or other forms of corporate brutality.
This is a blog post from Greenpeace International’s Executive Director Kumi Naidoo. Read the original here.
Dear Russian friends,
You may be aware that this morning at approximately 4am, five activists and I scaled the Prirazlomnaya oil platform to take peaceful action against Gazprom’s work in the Arctic, to highlight the dangers of its plans to drill here in the Pechora Sea.
The amount of oil that is lost every year in spills throughout Russia is roughly equivalent to the amount that Prirazlomnaya would produce annually. It would be far less expensive for the oil companies, the government, the people of Russia, and certainly the Indigenous Peoples who depend on this environment, to simply recover and use the oil lost in spills, than it would be to exploit the pristine Arctic shelf. In short, drilling in the Arctic will not benefit the average Russian citizen.
Gazprom is set to begin dangerous drilling on the Arctic shelf with no viable oil spill response plan. It’s not a question of if an oil spill will happen, but when — and when it does, Gazprom would be powerless to stop it. Just last week Greenpeace Russia uncovered a startling secret: Gazprom’s emergency plan has expired, meaning any drilling they do here would be illegal under Russian legislation.
During my time in Moscow last week, I met with the Federal Minister of Environment and Natural Resources and his senior advisers. I met with several journalists and civil society activists, and had the privilege of speaking with Indigenous Peoples representatives on whose traditional territory much of Russia’s onshore oil drilling is carried out, with disastrous results.
Together with Greenpeace Russia, we presented data from esteemed Russian scientists — the same ones often hired by the oil industry — that confirmed those fears: Gazprom and emergency services could not cope with an oil spill disaster here. The scientists calculated 60,000 different scenarios if an oil spill were to occur at this platform, and their research showed very clearly that in fact it would take the company days to mount a serious response. Meanwhile, the toxic oil would reach the shores of three protected wildlife and nature reserves in just 20 hours.
I took part in this peaceful action today to declare — together with Russians and citizens around the world — an end to the madness that is putting the profits of an elite few above the interests and safety of the rest of us. We are also here standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the Indigenous Peoples of Northern Russia, many of whom last week signed a powerful joint statement opposing further disastrous oil drilling on and near their traditional territories, and demanding that their voices be heard in this critical debate. We humbly stand with them in their struggle.
In our desire to highlight this plight, we hope – and know – that actions do speak louder than words.
As you well know, Russia is also experiencing climate impacts. Scientists have concluded that the 2010 heat waves and forest fires were induced by a changing climate. In addition, more than 60% of Russia is covered by permafrost, which releases methane gas as it melts — a powerful greenhouse gas that is even more dangerous than carbon dioxide. And as the permafrost melts, the ground shifts, damaging buildings, bridges, roads, and dangerous oil and gas infrastructure. Even the Russian Ministry of Emergency has warned that by 2030, more than 25% of all buildings in Northern Russia could be damaged by the impacts of melting permafrost.
Time is running out for us to avert catastrophic climate change — and oil giants like Shell and Gazprom must be stopped from profiting from a disaster of their own making while doing further damage to our planet. It is clearly madness to ignore the fact that the only reason we are able to even consider drilling in these remote parts is as a result of the melting arctic ice, which is caused by emissions from oil, coal and gas. As the ice melts, our planet warms, which causes the ice to melt, and our planet to warm — it is a vicious circle.
We are effectively destroying the refrigerator or the air conditioner of our planet, destabilizing our global climate and threatening our children and grandchildren’s future. Any day now, the scientific community will announce that the Arctic sea ice has reached an all-time low, below even 2007 levels. This is a disastrous record that we continue to break, and a warning cry of a planet in peril that we must not ignore.
Join me and my fellow activists at www.greenpeace.org or www.savethearctic.org and watch for live updates as the action unfolds. And please, take action with us – you can follow me onTwitter and Greenpeace on Facebook. Please share with your friends, so that together we can shine a light on this global environmental crime, and stop it before it becomes a global disaster.
Organizing to quit coal at the Montana State Capitol
As I type this, people from across the region are sitting in break-out groups on the floor of the central rotunda. Some are discussing impacts of rail traffic to local business and health, others, the impacts of climate change in the West. Folks have come here today from all across the state, as well as Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, Texas, Illinois, California, West Virginia, Rhode Island, Ohio, Massachusetts, and Louisiana. People here have one thing on their mind: stopping coal exports. Continue reading →
It is now 8 days since I departed from Portland, OR on the Coal Export Roadshow. Since my last blog update from Spokane we traveled east into Idaho and visited the idyllic town of Sandpoint, nestled on the shores of Lake Pend Oreille. I have rarely seen a more beautiful place or had a more pleasant experience than that cool, summer day spent on the lake and by its shore. The local Waterkeeper chapter took us out on their boat and I got a great first-hand experience of all that region’s beauty. Continue reading →
Today marks my third visit to Russia, the last being in 2006 when I had the privilege of meeting President Putin to talk about the freedoms with which NGOs can operate in this country. In a curious turn of events, and some six years later, both Putin and freedoms are still very much in the news.
You can take your pick from any number of scandals currently making headlines in Russia: planned legislation aimed at hampering NGO activity and the right to protest, draconian laws aimed at internet censorship – even the fallout from the recent performance by punk group Pussy Riot, which has garnered international attention.
What is different, between my last visit and now, however, is the scale and unbridled nature of the public’s response. Russians have taken to the streets en masse to protest the shrinking democratic space in their country – up to 100,000 at various times in Moscow alone to speak out against Putin’s rule. It’s clear that Russians are no longer prepared to tolerate civil injustices and are increasingly prepared to speak up fearlessly in their own defense. Continue reading →
Across the country, citizens are succeeding in shutting down coal plants and holding corporations responsible for the pollution they spew into our air and water. However, coal companies like Peabody and Arch are still looking to make the quickest, dirtiest buck at the expense of our health and climate. With declining demand at home, industry is moving forward with aggressive plans to export taxpayer-owned American coal to countries throughout Asia. The video above unpacks the issue of coal exporting and how it affects all of us. Continue reading →
The U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) and its chairman, Fred Hochberg, are facing a big decision about a coal project in one of the world’s most treasured places. Disturbing reports are emerging that the bank is considering financing a massive coal project in Australia with taxpayer money that would include an export terminal inside theGreat Barrier Reef.
We need your help to put the brakes on this project now. This is only the latest in a string of coal projects supported by Ex-Im Bank that are harming communities and the environment in South Africa, India, and even here in Appalachia.
The project’s backers, India-based GVK and Australia-based Hancock Coal, are telling various media outlets that Ex-Im is prepared to finance equipment for their massive Alpha mine in Australia’s Galilee Basin. The Galilee Basin is ground zero for Australia’s push to triple coal exports, a move that would put Australia well ahead of Saudi Arabia for total carbon exports. The planned projects from Hancock Coal, including the Alpha mine, would not only flood the international market with nearly 8 billion tons of coal (double China’s current annual consumption) but also ravage one of the world’s unique natural treasures — the Great Barrier Reef. Continue reading →
6am PST Aug. 7th. The sun is just about to crest over the hills on the Washington side of the Columbia River – it’s a beautiful morning.
Yesterday we set off from Portland, Oregon to follow the rail lines to Helena, Montana. We are experiencing first hand the route that trains full of coal would travel were the coal industry to get its way and “railroad” through six proposals to export up to 157 million tons of U.S. coal to Asia every year. Continue reading →
