Activists have chained themselves to the anchor chain of Shell's drilling support ship Arctic Challenger in Bellingham Bay, WA, in a protest to raise awareness of the serious impacts of Shell's proposed oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean.
Shell's plans to drill in the Arctic have been the center of a storm of controversy this spring. Large protests in Seattle have focused on plans to park oil drilling rigs at the Port of Seattle. At the Shell annual shareholder meeting, questions about Arctic drilling received at a lot of attention. Even as Shell plans to drill the Arctic, an internal document revealed that the company fully expects to see global warming that exceeds the 2C threshold that scientists have identified as the maximum warming our ecosystems can tolerate.
The activists on the Arctic Explorer's anchor chain are Chiara D'Angelo and Cory Erdman. As events unfolded yesterday, Chiara had a conversation with one of the ship's crew members.
The crewman called down "What are you thinking?"
Chiara's reply, as written down by a member of her support team:
She's not focusing on her needs, but the needs of the Arctic while keeping in mind a wider perspective on the needs of future generations.
She's thinking about the Inupiaq subsistence culture and how drilling could ruin their way of life.
She's thinking of the Pacfiic Herring at Cherry Point being at 3% of their normal population. They are a keystone species holding up the entire web of life in the Salish sea, and they face extinction.
She's thinking about the fact that she's near a state Superfund site, and she can't helping thinking about the pollutants below her feet in the sediment.
We can't leave any more sacred sites in the hands of the fossil fuel industry, especially now with global temperatures rising.
Andy Ingram, who has been providing support for the action, said:
The indigenous communities that live in the Arctic depend on species that have been sustainabily harvested since time immemorial. The high likelihood of a major oil spill in the region is completely at odds with the sovereign rights of people to live their lifestyle in perpetuity. They are already impacted by global warming, which the drilling will also worsen.
It's the perfect storm of harmful impacts, and we don't want to see it go forward.
Whatcom County Council member Carl Weimer has spent years working to improve oil safety as Executive Director of Pipeline Safety Trust, which was created after the Olympic Pipeline explosion in Bellingham WA killed three people in 1999. He said about the action:
It seems the dots are starting to connect. I spent all week talking with people about the effects of the oil spilled in Santa Barbara. Now we are looking at plans to drill in the Arctic.
This protest is an attempt to raise awareness that we need to change the way we obtain and use energy.
As a long, cold night above the waters of the bay neared its end, Chiara reportedly told her support crew early this morning:
I'm doing ok. Just want to see the sun rise and the earth healthy.
"There are no unsacred places;
there are only sacred places
and desecrated places."
- Wendell Berry
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James R. Wells is the author of
The Great Symmetry