Posted by jamess — 19 September 2010 at 5:37pm
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"I've always wanted to meet someone from Greenpeace. Are you one of those nutters who climbs stuff?"
"Unfortunately not." I had to explain sheepishly to Paul – my newfound friend in Old Blackfriar's, an Aberdeen pub – that not all of us at Greenpeace are daring heroes who can nimble up Arctic oil rigs.
Behind those taking action in front of the camera, there are loads of others in the background: from cooks to deckhands, from radio operators to - in my case - web geeks. Together, we're a veritable army of activists.
Today is the 39th birthday of Greenpeace and we have just arrived in Aberdeen on the Esperanza. Back in 1971 on September 15th, the first Greenpeace ship set sail to protest against a US nuclear test zone and peacefully prevent the destruction of Amchitka, a pristine island ecosystem off the coast of Alaska. They didn't make it all the way to Amchitka but what followed was a wave of public support that ultimately shut down the US nuclear testing program, won Amchitka designation as a wildlife sanctuary and gave birth to the Greenpeace movement.
Serendipitously, we have just returned to the UK on Greenpeace's birthday from a mission to the Arctic where we peacefully stopped offshore drilling for 40 hours to minimise the chances of an oil strike before drilling stops for the winter. But while Cairn Energy continues dangerous drilling in the Arctic, we're hoping that together with our supporters we've helped to catalyse the movement to go beyond oil.
Posted by jamie — 9 September 2010 at 3:43pm
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Belatedly, here's a video from the Esperanza featuring climbing superstar Sim, one of the four activists who scaled Cairn Energy's rig last week. As well as revealing Sim's personal reasons for wanting to stop the drilling, there are some spectacular shots from the action itself.
Posted by lisavickers — 3 September 2010 at 7:00pm
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We are still waiting for our climbers to be released but hoping they will be back on board the Esperanza soon. They are sorely missed - especially Timo's lovely guitar playing in the evenings. Anais is talking about preparing a "Welcome Back!" banner for them and every time the captain or our campaign leader walks past we keep asking "any news?". The answer is still no. Nobody knows exactly when they will be out and perhaps they wont be allowed back to the ship at all.
Greenpeace lawyers today revealed they have threatened the UK government with legal action over deep sea drilling in British waters, as four Greenpeace climbers who spent nearly 48 hours in sub zero temperatures on an Arctic oil rig ended their occupation early this morning.
Freezing conditions and strong winds forced the climbers to abandon plans to spend a third day in tents suspended from ropes attached to the underside of the rig, owned by British company Cairn Energy.
Posted by jamess — 1 September 2010 at 5:46pm
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Watch Sim talk about his "relatively comfortable" night dangling off the underside of Cairn's Stena Don rig. Our four climbers are still on Cairn's rig, stopping the company from continuing its dangerous drilling in Arctic waters.
Posted by jamie — 31 August 2010 at 1:49pm
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In the last couple of hours, we've received this footage from the Esperanza from this morning's daring occupation of the Stena Don, the oil rig operated by Cairn Energy. It shows just what an amazing feat the guys and gals there have pulled off, not least evading the Danish navy and scaling the oil rig legs.
Campaigners have evaded a huge military security operation to scale a
controversial oil rig in the freezing seas off Greenland. At dawn this morning
four expert climbers in inflatable speedboats dodged Danish Navy commandos
before climbing up the inside of the rig and hanging from it in tents suspended
from ropes, halting its drilling operation (video and stills available
soon).
Posted by lisavickers — 31 August 2010 at 9:55am
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From this morning's ongoing action against Cairn's reckless drilling
Just a moment ago we launched our inflatables at the crack of dawn in the misty Arctic waters of Baffin Bay and headed straight for Cairn Energy's deepwater drilling rig, the Stena Don. A group of highly experienced climbers are now scaling the rig in order to stop the drilling and defend the Arctic. I'm writing this with a deep sense of pride in my fellow activists who are out there in near freezing conditions - taking action on behalf of all of us.
They had to outrun the Danish navy and dodge special forces to get onto the rig but they've done it! And I'm writing this for you -- to make sure you are the first to know about what we're doing today and to say thanks for sticking with us since we left London three weeks ago.
Posted by jamess — 31 August 2010 at 9:38am
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From Leila, campaigner on board the Esperanza...
Dear Mr Bill Gammell,
I am writing to you from the bridge of the Esperanza. My friends are currently hanging in tents under the Stena Don oil rig that you are using to search for the last drops of oil here at the end of the Earth. We want to stop you from drilling here. I thought it appropriate to write to you, to back up our action with another letter, asking you again to please rethink your current plans.
Yesterday, I sat under an iceberg that had just been released by your tug-ships. They had been towing it out of the path of your oil rigs up here in the Arctic. Next to our inflatable boat, a seal popped his head up to get a look at us. As we floated there huge chunks of ice sheared from the side of the iceberg. It frightened me. It echoed the fate of our planet as it melted and crashed into the ocean.
