Shell, who have such ill-thought out plans to drill for oil in the natural wonder of the Arctic, opened a new garage in Bristol this weekend. The city's Greenpeace groups could not let the occasion go by without making their concerns known - so a peaceful protest was organised for the morning of the opening. It was only when we left at noon that the staff prepared the garage for opening -so perhaps we delayed its opening by an hour or so!
It was good to see a dozen volunteers turn up to hand out leaflets, don polar bear outfits and wave placards which attracted plenty of car horn beeping support from the passing traffic. It was equally gratifying when people passing by acknowledged your efforts with comments like, "You're doing a good job!" and "Keep up the good work!" They far outweighed the rare negative comments from the public. Seems funny how we live on the same planet - but occupy different worlds!
Following a press release, media attention included a radio interview on Jack's Fm by Richard L (included in video below). BIG thanks to Dan, Fi, John, Lauren, Loz, Mark I, Mark U, Natasha, Paul, Richard L, Richard B and Wilf.
The garage use to be owned by Total and last week the company stated in the Financial Times that "Energy companies should not drill for crude in Arctic waters." and warned that "The risk of an oil spill in such an environmentally sensitive area is simply too high." For a major oil company to admit what Greenpeace has been saying all along vindicates our position. Let's hope the other companies actually take notice of this frank view and withdraw their plans to exploit this harsh yet delicately balanced environment.
We are aware that a couple of other Total garages in the area have been acquired by Shell, so I suspect we will be affording them similar special Greenpeace welcomes in the near future. Watch this space.
Some of the volunteers present give their views in the video below on why they attended the protest
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