As many of you are surely aware right now, we've been doing our best to drum up support for the preservation of the Arctic. With the Arctic Council meeting in just a few weeks time, we thought this was the perfect opportunity for us to really stir up popular backing to keep resource exploration off the cards in time for the multi-national conference. With the Arctic sea ice being recorded at it's lowest levels ever, it's high time the powers that be took some initiative in slowing down and reversing the damage we've inflicted on our life source.
The Council itself consists of Norway, Canada, Denmark (including Greenland & The Faroes), Finland, Iceland, Russia, The USA and Sweden (who are hosting the event in Kiruna on May 15th). On top of this, there's also a host of "observer" members, who, including the UK, will also find themselves present. France, Germany, The Netherlands, Poland & Spain add themselves to the list of attendees. But as if that somehow wasn't enough, ad-hoc observers include: China, the WHOLE European Union(!), Italy, Japan, South Korea & Turkey; each one of these vieing to extend their influence in this region of global geographic importance. Whilst Governments across the globe are reluctant to publicly admit the scale of the ecological crisis we are facing, the inclusion of so many seemingly far out countries gives us a glimpse into the private concern held by political leaders over the future of our planet.
We certainly picked a good day to go out and meet the public about this. Not far from Market Street where we pitched our table, just around the corner, a huge and busting Vegan festival was taking place. If there ever was a wide demographic sympathetic to environmental causes, you'd certainly find them congregating there! We were able to gather Arctic Defender photos and advertise our main event on the 20th in a big way, and got a full day in of engaging with the public, and bringing attention to the threats that we all face if left unchecked.
The following week, we were fortunate enough to have the support and collaboration of Ali Abbas (from FoE), Judith Emanuel (Steady State Manchester) and Erika Nagae (who has been to the Arctic to study climate change) who came to speak at the Central Methodist Hall on Oldham street. Here our speakers helped share wider perspectives on what is going on, and what needs to be done to solve our problems, before we finished with some workshops with a "what can I do?" theme and relocating to the pub!
A massive thank you to all those involved, regardless of who you are. Keep your eyes on this space to see what comes next!
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