Greenpeace protest against drilling as Arctic ice reaches record low
A team of Greenpeace activists attach themselves to the anchor chain of the Anna Akhmatova, a Gazprom passenger vessel. The team is preventing the ship from lifting anchor and sailing to the Prirazlomnaya oil platform to complete the work that will allow them to begin drilling in this fragile region. Photo by Denis Sinyakov / Greenpeace
Well, it has finally happened as feared. The National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado has confirmed the summer sea ice in the Arctic has melted even further than in the record year 2007 – and it’s not at its annual summer minimum yet. It’s likely to melt more in the next three weeks. Must be a very frustrating feeling for the Greenpeace activists who have been hovering around the Russian Arctic drilling platform Prirazlomnaya, belonging to Gazprom, for the last five days. They have been trying to hold up the completion of the platform, which is scheduled to start drilling in the near future. It would be the first ever company to start commercial oil production in the offshore Arctic. Greenpeace is also generally campaigning against the oil companies lining up to drill for oil in the Arctic as it becomes more accessible. It is a paradoxical kind of situation. Global warming caused to a large extent by burning fossil fuels is melting the Arctic ice making it easier to get to more fossil fuels which will warm the planet even further. Greenpeace International Director Kumi Naidoo, who was one of the activists who scaled the Russian Arctic platform on Friday, sent the message “being here at this giant platform as the world hears that the Arctic sea ice has reached a record low is mind boggling. The arrogance of companies to knowingly forge into this region at such a precarious time in our history is staggering. This moment should be seen as a reality check for the likes of Gazprom and Shell, rather than an open invitation for them to plunder the far north.”
WWF is also drawing attention to the increasing summer melt of the Artic sea ice.
“Record-breaking ice minimums are becoming the new normal”, says Clive Tesar of WWF’s Global Arctic Programme. “We’re breaking records on a regular basis as the sea ice continues its decline. A week ago in Grise Fiord, Canada’s northernmost community, we saw an ice-free horizon that astonished local people. This ice-loss is affecting Arctic life, and the lives of people around the world. As this new record shows, we have little time left to take effective action to help Arctic life adapt.” Little time indeed. I was flabbergasted when a friend said to me yesterday “yes, it’s dramatic, but there isn’t really much we can do about it”. – Isn’t there??
