As newly appointed U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry serves as a delegate on the Arctic Council, the only diplomatic forum dedicated entirely to the Arctic region. Secretary Kerry will meet with representatives from seven other Arctic states to discuss the environmental and biological changes to the area.

Greenpeace has worked hard to encourage Secretary Kerry to be a champion for the Arctic as the U.S. delegate.  We even sent a cheerleading squad and a marching band to our meeting at the State Department in Washington, DC last week!

The Arctic faces imminent threats from climate change, oil drilling and industrial fishing, but Secretary Kerry has the power to protect it from all three. Based upon his Earth Day speech, Secretary Kerry plants to work hard on climate change and protecting our beautiful planet. It’s our job to make sure he doesn’t forget the words he spoke.

The science is screaming at all of us and demands action. From the far reaches of Antarctica’s Ross Sea to tropical wetlands in Southeast Asia, we have a responsibility to safeguard and sustainably manage our planet’s natural resources, and the United States remains firm in its commitment to addressing global environmental challenges.

-Secretary John Kerry, Earth Day 2013

 

Check back for live updates from the Arctic Council meeting next week. In the meantime, you can call the State Department directly and request Arctic protection.

Team Aurora lowers a titanium time capsule with the names of 2.7 million people who want to save the Arctic from the impacts of climate change and pollution of oil production.

Here Team Aurora prepares to lower a titanium time capsule through a hole in the ice and down to a permanent resting place on the seabed. On top is the “flag for the future” a design selected in a global competition. The orb holds the names of 2.7 million people from around the world who signed on to support protecting the Arctic.

This globe is a marker that stakes a claim for all people on the earth that the Arctic should remain as it is, unspoiled and undeveloped. Team Aurora represents people already impacted by climate change. Josefina Skerk, a Swedish-Sami student and member of the Sami Parliament; Renny Bijoux from Seychelles — a nation under grave threat from climate change; 20-year-old musician and Hollywood actor Ezra Miller and Kiera Dawn Kolson of the Tso’Tine-Gwich’in nations in Northern Canada.

Their journey to the top of the world in April 2013 highlights the urgency of stopping the rush to industrialize this wild and stormy region. For a million years, ice prevented fishing, mining and oil drilling. Now as we endure an unpredictable climate with carbon in the atmosphere measured at 400 ppm, a dire situation brought about by the uncontrolled runaway burning of fossil fuels, we should pause before allowing the destruction of the last great wilderness on the ends of the earth.

The future of the Arctic is the future of the Earth.

138,500 whales and dolphins will be injured and possibly killed

It was only a couple months ago that Greenpeace celebrated a big victory on the West Coast when the California Coastal Commission voted to deny the Navy permission to conduct seismic testing in the Pacific Ocean, risking the lives of whales, dolphins and other marine life.

Now we’re up against a similar fight on the East Coast.

The Obama administration is considering allowing the use of deadly seismic airgun blasts to search for oil and gas under the ocean floor, the first harmful step toward expanding dangerous offshore drilling to the Atlantic. The U.S. Department of the Interior estimates that 138,500 whales and dolphins will be injured and possibly killed along the East Coast if these tests are allowed to go through. These blasts are 100,000 times louder than a jet engine, and they will happen every 10 seconds for months.

Tell President Obama to protect marine life from seismic blasts from oil and gas exploration before May 15!

Ted Danson is one actor that deserves a huge round of applause for his work promoting ocean conservation. He has sponsored a White House petition to stop this devastating proposal  in the Atlantic region.

You can add your voice to thousands of others asking President Obama to protect our oceans from this needless destruction. It will take you a couple of minutes to fill out the petition because it’s an official White House web form. However, it’s well worth your time to help us force the White House to issue a public response.

The marine conservation community including International Fund for Animal Welfare, National Resources Defense Council, Oceana and many other groups are united and working collaboratively on stopping the Obama Administration from permitting this seismic testing.  Oceana has produced a very comprehensive report on this proposed Atlantic seismic testing.  Learn more about how Greenpeace has investigated seismic airgun surveys and ocean noise pollution for many years.

The White House has committed to respond to every petition that gets more than 100,000 signatures in 30 days. We need to get 100,000 petitions by May 15, and with your voice we’re one step closer.

These seismic airgun blasts will injure some of the last surviving North Atlantic right whales. Seismic airguns also scare away fish and could pose a risk to East Coast fisheries, which are home to 200,000 jobs and nearly $12 billion in economic activity each year. We need to convince the Obama administration not to do this.

Add you voice to protect marine life!

Greenpeace marching band and cheerleader activists help call attention to the threat the Arctic faces from climate change and off-shore drilling during a visit to the State Department

Today is Foreign Affairs Day, a holiday for the US Department of State, where Greenpeace will be among world diplomats communicating with Secretary Kerry. Our message: the United States loves the Arctic! We delivered a photo album to Secretary Kerry with photos from around the country of people showing their love for the Arctic. And we delivered that message in a very unique way: with a marching band and Arctic cheerleaders!

Call the State Department now and ask Secretary Kerry to be an Arctic champ! 

An increasing amount of attention is focused on protecting the Arctic Ocean. The White House is apparently holding emergency meetings to discuss the urgency of the melting Arctic, and hopefully improve the policies set by President George W. Bush. For the most part, Arctic policy has focused on national security and scientific research. But, as we are all too aware now, much of the attention on the Arctic now is due to serious ecosystem impacts from global warming. It doesn’t help that big oil companies like Shell and ConocoPhillips want to go drill where their carbon pollution is making more accessible due to melting polar ice.

Lucky for the planet, Secretary Kerry has a long record indicating he cares about the Arctic. His effort to promote climate policy is well known. He even introduced a bill making it illegal to drill for oil in polar bear habitat until the bear is listed as an endangered species (the polar bill is still unlisted). Now, Kerry is in charge of developing and implementing much of the policies we need.

On May 15th, Secretary Kerry goes to northern Sweden to meet with countries who are part of the Arctic Council. Kerry can use the opportunity to take positive steps toward international protection. More than 40,000 Americans have already signed onto a petition asking Secretary Kerry to be an Arctic champ.

Add your voice to the chorus of Arctic protection, and we’re one step closer to saving the Arctic for good!

This blog was written by Emily Blase, a Greenpeace Semester student with the spring 2013 class.

I’m walking away from the Greenpeace Semester program saddened to say goodbye, but empowered by all the skills now under my belt. The program aims at giving students an in-depth understanding of environmental campaigning and strategy, organizing, messaging, and non-violent direct action, a peaceful tactic to protect our natural ecosystems.. Through the course of this program, we’ve had the chance to talk to many of the people at Greenpeace working directly on environmental issues. In March, our class traveled to Raleigh, North Carolina to help with a campaign that Greenpeace is running against Duke Energy, the nation’s largest utility company and gobbler of dirty energy including coal and nukes. You can see all the action from our trip on our Tumblr.

We also take a few days during the semester to actually witness what’s at stake if we don’t work hard for environmental protection. We spent a week in Florida to bear witness to active environmental destruction affecting our ecosystems now. Earlier in the semester, Greenpeace Oceans Campaigner John Hocevar talked to our class about coral bleaching, but I never thought I’d have a chance to witness it firsthand. This was an experience that will definitely be sticking with us for the rest of our lives, and a great reminder of what we’re fighting for.

Greenpeace Semester students snorkeling in the Dry Tortugas

Snorkeling in the Dry Tortugas is what really brought everything home for me. Fortunately for us, we didn’t see any pirates while we were there, but we did run into a lot of destroyed natural treasures. Coral bleaching is a huge problem Florida, and many of their reefs have suffered as a result. So while snorkeling and gazing upon what looked like a normal ocean floor, we were in fact looking at the skeletons of countless numbers of dead pieces of coral. Without coral reef of course, we lose entire ecosystems.

But all is not lost. While snorkeling I came across a piece of brain coral that was bleached on one side, and living on the other. There is still time to protect our still-living coral, our oceans, and in fact the entire planet, but we need to take action to do so.

The Greenpeace Semester also got to spend time in Key West while in Florida. Key West is a beautiful island paradise, with a strong sense of community that was clear to see, and a treat to get to be a part of, if only for a few days. Unfortunately, their island paradise could be underwater due to sea level rise from global warming within our children’s lifetimes.

So yes, there was a slightly negative cast on the trip, seeing paradise slowly being poisoned – mostly because of problems associated with global warming and human impact. However, going to Florida and connecting with my fellow Greenpeace Semester students was also invigorating. We do have very real problems facing our natural world today, and mine is without doubt the generation that will face them. The Greenpeace Semester is making its effort to equip young people to stand up effectively for the planet.

Completing this Semester has taught me so many facets of running a successful campaign, and shown me that it is possible to win when you’re on the right side.

Does a semester with Greenpeace sound perfect for you right now? Apply today! Your future needs you.

Too old for a semester with Greenpeace? Start protecting our oceans now! By setting aside marine reserves, we can save global oceans.