Despite damp, grey conditions members of Greenpeace Worthing, along with their resident Polar Bear, Percy, paid a local Shell filling station a visit to raise awareness about Shell’s Arctic drilling campaign. Shell is the first of an onslaught of companies planning to open up the Arctic to oil exploration, the tip of a corporate iceberg upon which BP, Exxon, Gazprom, Rosneft and others wait, watching with ravenous eyes. Although drilling in the Arctic is especially dangerous because a spill in the remote region would be near impossible to clean up, Shell and others are willing to risk habitat destruction and exacerbate climate instability, all for just enough oil to last the world three years.
Appropriately distressed by this notion, Percy suggested that we visit a nearby forecourt in order to inform customers of Shell’s plans for one
of the few remaining untouched areas of our planet. With soggy posters in hand and grins on our faces we stood beside the A259 and delivered the message: ‘everyday people will not sit by while corporations get rich exploiting the Earth, which belongs to us all.’
Find more about the Save the Arctic campaign at www.savethearctic.org
Article by George Whitcombe
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