OK, by now you probably know about the campaign to Save the Arctic (or for the twitterati, how we #tellshell to #savethearctic), but what do we, as volunteers, actually do and why do we do it?
Well, we don't do it because we're unemployed and have nothing better to do - that's just a troll's view and most of us have jobs, houses, kids... you know, normal life stuff and that's one of the main reasons we take the action we do. We use our 'spare' time (or take time off work) to go out and ask people to sign campaign cards, join up on the web, write to their MPs - that sort of thing. We go online and spread the #savethearctic and #tellshell message. We visit Shell garages to wave banners and hand out campaign leaflets to drivers and passers-by. We organise public meetings, film screenings and other events. We fundraise. We dress up in silly costumes. We write to company CEOs. We put videos on Youtube. We take our campaigns to festivals and green fairs. We visit our MPs and MEPs. We make banners, witty jpegs, spoof logos, and little tableaux with model Shell barrels. And yes, occasionally, a few might take non-violent direct action. In the end, different volunteers do different things, some do a lot, some do a little, but it's all worthwhile and done by people who care, not who are paid to. We do all this with almost no money while Shell (which was the world's 2nd largest company by revenue the last time I looked) has hundreds of billions of dollars to its name and is at the forefront of moves to drill in the Arctic. So why do we do this?
Well, for a start, none of us want our kids, grandkids and so on to grow up in a world with a climate wrecked beyond what we and other species can cope with, and the state of the Arctic is a really clear indicator of what's going wrong, with ice melting at an unprecedented rate. It would be great if governments and corporations would get a grip and work fast towards a low-carbon world (I for one could have some 'spare' time again which would be nice), but even though the effects are already being seen (a monsoon-like British 'summer', heatwaves and droughts elsewhere, and even the US seeing massive cereal crop failures), politicians prevaricate, wrangle, argue, and ultimately fail to act, while oil companies aim to do exactly the opposite of what's needed by opening up more and more marginal and polluting oil deposits. Why? Well, it's not because climate change science is uncertain or that no-one knows what to do; it's really very clear that human activities are pumping out carbon by burning fossil fuels and removing carbon sinks by trashing ancient forests and other ecosystems, and that the action needed is to move to a low-carbon world; making the transition to a post-carbon economy if you like. Yes, there are plenty of climate change sceptics and poor-quality journalists out there who deny this, but frankly they are talking dribble for whatever peculiar reasons they have. No, the reason is simple - greed - quick bucks from dirty oil, big dividends for shareholders, and stuff the consequences. Decades down the line, oilmen's grandkids are not going to thank them for this.
Also, there's justice pure and simple - environmental justice for ecosystems and the species that rely on them, and social justice for the many communities that equally do so. Yes, the world will recover eventually if we allow Shell and chums to mess it up, but that's not the point - they simply don't have the right to decide that biodiversity doesn't matter, that it's fine to trash whatever habitats and communities get in the way, and that $$$ over-ride everything else.
So, until companies start taking responsibility for their actions and changing how we fuel the world (the technologies are all there, they just need implementing), and politicians start tackling those who don't want to play nicely, it's up to volunteers - ordinary people who've decided enough is enough - to take action to stop Shell, save the Arctic, and with it a future where the climate still works. What can you do? Well, there are plenty of things, but your local Greenpeace group's a good starting point...
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