Six Greenpeace activists have boarded a Shell oil platform, the Polar Pioneer, located in the Pacific Ocean 750 miles north-west of the Hawaiian Islands and bound for the Arctic, the environmental organisation itself has announced.

Save the Arctic from drilling

The demonstrators occupied the lower section of the main deck of the platform, where they unfurled a banner bearing the names of millions of people opposed to Arctic drilling and declared that they would not interfere with the navigation of the vessel carrying the platform. "We are here to remind people that in less than one hundred days Shell will be in the Arctic to drill," said Johno Smith, one of the six activists on board. The Greenpeace action comes following the approval of Shell's Arctic Drilling Plan, an Arctic drilling project, by the United States Department of the Interior. Oil exploration in the Chukchi Sea, Alaska, could therefore begin within a hundred days.

The environmental damage

According to environmentalists, hydrocarbon extraction in the Arctic will have numerous negative effects: first and foremost, it risks compromising a unique and largely unspoiled ecosystem, home to endangered creatures such as the polar bear (Ursus maritimus) and the narwhal (Monodon monoceros), and rich in diverse habitats. Likely oil spills would contaminate the waters, damaging wildlife and the local communities that depend on it. Arctic fishing also has global significance and generates a considerable volume of business.

Accelerating the melting of ice

Finally, extraction activities would increase greenhouse gas emissions, in one of the areas most threatened by climate change, where sea ice has reached its lowest ever recorded level. "Shell's actions are exploiting the melting of the ice to compound a man-made disaster – reads a message from Greenpeace activists – climate change is real." Shell stated that it respects Greenpeace's point of view but condemned the activists' incursion. "We confirm that Greenpeace protesters have illegally boarded the Polar Pioneer, endangering the safety of the crew on board, as well as the activists themselves."

The six activists have supplies to hold out for several days and are equipped with technology that will allow them to communicate with supporters around the world in real time, hoping that public opinion will stand alongside them in defence of the Arctic, because the future of the planet is not worth gambling for the sake of a little oil.