Arctic defenders deported from Greenland

Posted by lisavickers — 4 September 2010 at 2:47pm - Comments

Sadly, all four of our climbers will not be coming back to the Esperanza after all. Jens, Sim, Timo and Matt are flying home to Germany, USA, Finland and Poland respectively. Their personal belongings are still on board and they are going home in spare clothes bought for them by friends in Greenland. I'm sure they'll be glad to see their families again but we're really going to miss them on the ship and we haven't finished our 'Go Beyond Oil' tour yet.

Yesterday we were hoping they would be back on board and Victor even made them a Welcome Home banner. I have sent them all the supportive messages people wrote us over the last few days by email so at least they can read those when they get home. The atmosphere on board feels very mixed. We're feeling pretty down about losing four of our crew who we all became friends with over the last few weeks. But we need to remind ourselves of what we have achieved as we say goodbye to our four heroes today.

Every minute they were up there occupying the rig was another minute Cairn Energy couldn’t drill. We want to stop them sparking an Arctic oil rush. And at the very least we've made it less likely they’ll strike oil this year before the winter weather conditions force them to leave the area.

Navy_rig

We shut down drilling by taking action on the high seas, but if dangerous deepwater oil drilling is to be stopped for good then action also needs to be taken in the world's capitals. Our leaders need to take us beyond oil, to invest in clean energy solutions for the sake of the climate and the preservation of pristine environments like the Arctic.

Later this month, environment ministers from countries bordering the North Sea will meet in Norway, where Germany is proposing a moratorium on new deepwater drilling. We're backing Germany's call because we don't want to see another disaster, similar to that in the Gulf of Mexico, happen at new deepwater sites across the world. And we need to go beyond oil to protect our climate.

Our journey continues…

--Lisa. 

FreshAIR

Image 1: (left to right) Jens, Timo, Sim and Matteo - waiting to be deported from Greenland today - wearing  clothes given to them by friends. © Greenpeace/ Sune Scheller

Image 2: The Stena Don oil rig in the Arctic - occupied by Greenpeace climbers for over 40 hours. © Greenpeace/ Will Rose

Image 3: Our four heroes getting some fresh air outside the police station yesterday while they were still in police custody.  © Greenpeace/ Sune Scheller

 

@ kickthehuskie

The Danish government said it was shut down, Cairn said it was shut down and Upstream said it didn't come back on again until we left.

We're going on the facts given to us by reliable sources. And as far as I am aware - it would be illegal if they were drilling while there were people within the 500 metre zone.

@ CHS

I'm sorry I haven't been able to reply to comments as much as I would have liked. As you are probably aware - the oil rig is north of 70 degrees and it's difficult to get a regular satelite communications service up there. Now that we're going south I will aim to respond to reasonable comments and questions. However, I will not be responding to anything hateful or offensive.

I'm very open to have a dialogue about this campaign now that I am have better internet access. 

Our campaigners have a lot of experience working in campaigns involving the oil industry and this campaign was heavily researched - including extensive investigations into the Stena Don oil rig and Cairn Energy's plans. Experts were questioned, briefings were given... and for those of us who aren't so experienced and knowledgable we've had piles and piles of literature and research available to read on board for the past 3 weeks. I must admit that I haven't read ALL of it but - everything I have said on my blogs is based on information from reliable sources and things I have experienced first hand.

I don't claim to be an oil industry expert and I certainly don't try to 'elasticate the truth' as you say.

Besides - it doesn't take an oil industry expert to draw a dotted line between the BP oil spill, global warming, the current state of the Arctic and Cairn's cowboy operations off the coast of Greenland - and realise what they are doing is dangerous.

Greenpeace doesn't exist to educate the public. We've done our homework and we're here to take action. That doesn't mean we're not open to a dialouge but it does mean that we're not going to change our minds on Arctic drilling... unless you can convince us that oil is safe, a spill wont threaten one of the most pristine environments on Earth and an Arctic oil rush wont totally screw up our chances of fighting climate change. 

I don't like your chances - but feel free to try. :-)

Lisa

Rather than making me go look for them on my crappy internet connection - it would be good if you could ask them all in one go and under the same username.

Thanks.

This thread, and one particular individual in particular, is clearly just yet another internet troll hurling abuse, and generally filling up the bandwidth with mindless idiocy.

Best ignore, and as ever stop feeding the trolls, they'll soon grow bored and go waste their lives on some other site.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_trolls

Unequivocal I find it hard to see how on earth you can suggest

"I guess some of those here who have commented, insinuating that RealityCheck121's comments pertain to insulting Lisa is not the case"

has any basis in reality, when the troll in question is posting comments like "DICKHEADS - answers please"

and yes those oil drillers are people too, with jobs and families, and its unfortunate that they work for an industry that is doing its level best to ensure we burn enough fossil fuels to get to a 6 degree temperature rise which will kill an awful lot of people, and put a whole load more into a famine / drought situation.

But that's ok the people who will be screwed by climate change are probably poor, and live in the global south.

What charity was it that you worked for again?

The UK, as one of the leading industrialized nations is about to take unilateral action to pass into law legislation that will control our national CO2 emissions. This is massive and a unique opportunity in the battle against climate change, the chance for ordinary UK citizens to do something. We haven’t had such a golden opportunity to influence government policy since the Kyoto process (1992-1997) And you have until June 12th to make your voice heard, so check out the DEFRA consultation website and shout loudly. Your voice counts. See here If we get this climate change bill right, then the world will follow us.

@ kickthehuskie

The Danish government said it was shut down, Cairn said it was shut down and Upstream said it didn't come back on again until we left.

We're going on the facts given to us by reliable sources. And as far as I am aware - it would be illegal if they were drilling while there were people within the 500 metre zone.

@ CHS

I'm sorry I haven't been able to reply to comments as much as I would have liked. As you are probably aware - the oil rig is north of 70 degrees and it's difficult to get a regular satelite communications service up there. Now that we're going south I will aim to respond to reasonable comments and questions. However, I will not be responding to anything hateful or offensive.

I'm very open to have a dialogue about this campaign now that I am have better internet access. 

Our campaigners have a lot of experience working in campaigns involving the oil industry and this campaign was heavily researched - including extensive investigations into the Stena Don oil rig and Cairn Energy's plans. Experts were questioned, briefings were given... and for those of us who aren't so experienced and knowledgable we've had piles and piles of literature and research available to read on board for the past 3 weeks. I must admit that I haven't read ALL of it but - everything I have said on my blogs is based on information from reliable sources and things I have experienced first hand.

I don't claim to be an oil industry expert and I certainly don't try to 'elasticate the truth' as you say.

Besides - it doesn't take an oil industry expert to draw a dotted line between the BP oil spill, global warming, the current state of the Arctic and Cairn's cowboy operations off the coast of Greenland - and realise what they are doing is dangerous.

Greenpeace doesn't exist to educate the public. We've done our homework and we're here to take action. That doesn't mean we're not open to a dialouge but it does mean that we're not going to change our minds on Arctic drilling... unless you can convince us that oil is safe, a spill wont threaten one of the most pristine environments on Earth and an Arctic oil rush wont totally screw up our chances of fighting climate change. 

I don't like your chances - but feel free to try. :-)

Lisa

Rather than making me go look for them on my crappy internet connection - it would be good if you could ask them all in one go and under the same username.

Thanks.

This thread, and one particular individual in particular, is clearly just yet another internet troll hurling abuse, and generally filling up the bandwidth with mindless idiocy. Best ignore, and as ever stop feeding the trolls, they'll soon grow bored and go waste their lives on some other site. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_trolls

Unequivocal I find it hard to see how on earth you can suggest "I guess some of those here who have commented, insinuating that RealityCheck121's comments pertain to insulting Lisa is not the case" has any basis in reality, when the troll in question is posting comments like "DICKHEADS - answers please" and yes those oil drillers are people too, with jobs and families, and its unfortunate that they work for an industry that is doing its level best to ensure we burn enough fossil fuels to get to a 6 degree temperature rise which will kill an awful lot of people, and put a whole load more into a famine / drought situation. But that's ok the people who will be screwed by climate change are probably poor, and live in the global south. What charity was it that you worked for again?

Hi all,

I'm glad there's an ongoing debate here about our action but don't apreciatte some of the trollish comments and offensive accusations here. I will do my best to reply to some of the serious concerns on this thread but have no intention to go round in circles with anyone and get distracted from the real issue here - which is moving beyond oil and stopping dangerous deepwater drilling.

At the end of the day - if anyone disagrees with our tactics and use of non-violent direct action - I'm not going to try and justify that here. You either agree with non-violent direct action or you don't. If you have genuine concerns that our action did not adhere to non-violent priniciples then that's something I would like address. And aside from the offensive name calling which I find totally unacceptable - realitycheck121 did ask some serious questions. 

Cairn energy made a statement to stock exchange that they had struck gas at the Stena Forth drill ship. They also stated that they had hit volcanic rock with the Stena Don and would continue drilling until mid-September. 

The company is clear that it is comfortable to carry out routine shutdowns of the rig and ship if ice bergs pose a serious threa - regardless of drill depth. We had confirmation that the rig was shut down within minutes of our climbers scaling the rig.

Although we don't have a oil industry engineer on board we have consulted experts from within the offshore oil drilling industry and have sources within Cairn Energy who have confirmed information with us. 

We informed the Stend Don rig manager of our intentions upon entering the restriction zone. Our climbers were suspended underneath the rig - towards the edge and posed no threat to the rig itself. 

We stopped Cairn's drilling at the Stena Don for 2 days. We narrowed their window for finding oil - not to close the well. They still have enough time to close the well. 

@ Realitycheck121 - you seem rightly concerned about safety but the real safety risk here is the drilling operation itself - not some experienced Greenpeace climbers who hung off the rig for 2 days. I don't know if you work for Cairn Energy but if you do - in the interest of openeness - could you please publish their contingency plan for an oil spill in the region of Baffin Bay - by submitting it below as a comment. 

@ CHS

As far as I am aware - a 'growler' is the smallest category of ice bergs. And having lots of them floating around the Esperanza in the fog at night time was dramatic for me because I've never seen so many chunks of ice around the ship before. Maybe it's not dramatic for you because you see it all the time. Maybe you are not surprised by the conditions up in the Arctic because you spend a lot of time on a drilling ship there

It is dramatic up here for me because I live in Amsterdam.

Although I do read all the comments on the blogs - I simply don't have time to answer them all. This is also the last time I respond to anyone who uses insults in an attemp to get their questions answered by me. All that did was make me more reluctant to respond.

Cheers

Lisa

 

 

 

 

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