April 2013

We fought for over a decade to protect Canada's Great Bear Rainforest. Over half of this ancient temperate rainforest is now protected from logging and pipelines. Now it's time for the provincial government to keep its promise and put 70% of the forest out of harm's way by the end of next year.

Yesterday morning, two polar bears scaled the Statoil oil rig West Hercules bound for the world’s northernmost drilling sites in the Arctic. Just a few hours later the Norwegian state-owned oil company announced that these frontier drillings will not take place this year. And just now, ConocoPhillips announced that they too will be cancelling 2014 drilling plans north of Alaska due to 'regulatory uncertainties.'

I’m eating butter straight out of the package to keep my body fat high enough to withstand the cold and to resupply myself with sufficient energy. But this morning I’ve received an energy boost far better than any free-roaming cow can produce. Before setting out, I got news from my friends and colleagues home in Norway that they took action today at the Statoil oil rig, West Hercules, that is about to set out to drill for oil in the Arctic.

Good news! Fracking doesn’t cause earthquakes. Or, to be more precise, hydraulic fracturing for gas is not a significant cause of felt seismic activity. Or, to be even more precise, it does cause earthquakes, but it’s not one of the biggest man-made causes of large (that is, noticeable at the surface) earthquakes. A new study shows that fracking can reactivate dormant faults, but if frackers use 3D seismic imaging, then according to Richard Davies, director of the Durham Energy Institute and study leader, they ‘can avoid faults that are critically stressed and already near breaking point”.

As some of us were heading off for the Easter holiday weekend, the Brazilian government was quietly releasing deforestation trends showing an increase in deforestation for the first time in five years.

A closer look at the capsule containing the names of 2.7 million Arctic defenders that will be lowered onto the seabed at the North Pole.

Every couple of months, something bizarre happens at work that convinces me I must have one of the strangest jobs on the planet.

Today is the day we have been all been waiting for, and we have some exciting news to share with you. When we planned this expedition, our ambition was big already — to ski to the North Pole to lower a special pod and a flag for the future to the seabed below.