Greenpeace Board Shell's Polar Pioneer En Route To The Arctic

Tuesday, 7 April 2015, 9:33 am
Article: The Scoop Team

Six Greenpeace activists have boarded Shell's exploration drilling rig the Polar Pioneer while it is en-route to the Arctic. The activists are planning to disrupt Shell's attempts to drill in the Arctic. One of the activists who is now high up on the giant oil rig in the Northern Pacific is Kiwi Johno Smith. Johno's email message to Kiwi supporters of Greenpeace is included in full below.

Also below is a report from one of the activists penned before they set off on their mission and published this morning NZ time.

The images below of the boarding you see below were filed via twitter from the Esperanza which has been shadowing the Polar Pioneer since it left port in South East Asia. The mission set sail from Borneo on March 15th.

You can follow the action live here: https://www.savethearctic.org

By the time you read this, I will be 40 meters up ...

By the time you read this, I will be somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, literally closer to satellites than land. And if you choose to join the six of us, these past few weeks and the ones still to come will have been worth it.

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If you decide to stand with us, all of the worries that are swimming round and round in my mind right now will have become inconsequential. I may have scaled an oil rig on its way to the Arctic, or I may have run into insurmountable obstacles in the process. But I will have tried and we will have poured every ounce of perseverance and skill into the trying.

I would like to think that I’ll be about 40 meters up, literally in the belly of the beast, shining the brightest light we can muster at a devastatingly foolish plan. Shell is determined to drill in the Arctic, even with the knowledge that it is a critical battleground for the preservation of life on the planet. And even with the evidence that it is not properly prepared to run a safe operation in that severe environment.

Time is short, so we must be just as determined to stop them. They have already ruined enough lives with their insatiable greed, and I for one still want to be able to step outside on a crisp morning and take in a long, deep breath of clear air that you can feel travel all the way to your lungs. I want to live on a planet with weather patterns that are stable enough to grow all varieties of food. I want the beaches of my childhood to still be above water in 50 years, so that I can feel the same sands beneath my bare feet when my hair has turned white. The same sands that I walked on as a baby. And beyond all this, I want to be able to bring new life into this world without the ever-looming fear of an inhospitable future. That’s why, as you read these words, I will have put aside my fear of heights (yes, I’m afraid of heights) and my desires for comforts like hot food and showers and even a solid surface to sleep on. I will have ignored any number of aches and pains and put aside communications with the people I love. I will have done everything in my power to stop one of the world’s largest corporations from thinking it can buy a pass for whatever destruction it finds convenient.

If you join me, my five teammates and the more than 6 million people around the world who have already said the Arctic is where we draw the line - if you join your voice with ours in any way you can - then it doesn’t matter if I was able to board a ship on the high seas, or keep the contents of my stomach where they’re meant to be, because regardless, we will have succeeded. We will have gained an invaluable ally in a battle that is going to take all of us to win.

- Aliyah Field on board the Polar Pioneer

See Below Email Message to Greenpeace supporters sent this morning from Kiwi Johno Smith, aged 31, from South Auckland, who is now aboard the Polar Pioneer in the North Pacific bound for the Arctic participating in a globally coordinated action to stop Shell Oil drilling in the Arctic.

Johno's Bio : " Johno lives in South Auckland, New Zealand. He travels New Zealand in his own bus. As well as being an arborist, he likes to climb trees for fun. He also loves free diving, spearfishing and sports like rugby league and basketball. In the evening he keeps fit by chasing his English Staffordshire Bull terrier, Kowhai (the love of his life). Johno’s a proud supporter of the Warriors and the Kiwis in rugby league. And his true passion is “Living life” with his family, friends and partner, as well as using his skills to protect the planet we live on and the remaining species found on it."

Hi

If you're reading this email, I have left the Greenpeace ship Esperanza and I am attempting to get aboard Shell's gigantic oil rig - the Polar Pioneer - as it heads towards the Arctic to drill this summer.

All going well, by the time you read this, I will be on the rig with my five companions, Jens, Aliyah, Miriam, Zoe and Andreas.

You are very much a part of this so please help spread the word -- click here to join the movement, see the latest updates and share with all your friends.

The rig is overwhelmingly huge and inhospitable. It’s likely to be problematically windy and it will be near dark when we make the attempt. But all six of us will be climbing out of the Esperanza's small inflatable boats and on to the rig.

Once aboard we will find a place to camp where we can be as secure as possible - and we will stay there as long as it takes to make this rig infamous.

We want to world to know what a reckless risk Shell is planning to take with the precious Arctic environment.

We've taken smartphones, a laptop and solar panels with us so that we can continue posting updates to #TheCrossing using the Esperanza's extended wifi network - so log in now to see how we're getting on. And stick with us.

We will need your help. If we are to succeed in shining a global light on Shell's crazy plans we will need all of you out there to amplify our message.

I’m doing this because I think that Shell has gotten away with far too much for far too long and I refuse to concede to their dangerous Arctic plans.

We hope our action will bring the world's attention to Shell's oil rig - but we are just six people in the middle of the ocean, with nothing but blue around us. The role you can play, by lending your voice to this issue, is what will make the difference.

I can do my best to hold on to this rig and we all intend to do it for as long as we can - but we can’t do what you can do. We can’t be 6.7 million people with 6 million voices. I only have one. I need you and all of the people like you who know that the Arctic is a step too far to help make a chorus of protest that is loud enough to shake the very foundations of big oil.

Just as I’m up there despite some nerves, I know you can help make this big too.

Join us - amplify our message, and stay with us - we don't know how this will end but we do know that we'll need you with us.

In solidarity,

Johno Smith with Aliyah, Jens, Miriam, Zoe and Andreas

PS. We are safe. And we’ve taken every safety precaution possible. I trust myself, my teammates, my skills and my equipment. What I want you to know is that I didn’t have any reservations, or questions, or doubts about doing this. Whether it goes well, or doesn’t go well, whatever happens, I was very clear about wanting to do this thing. Now I hope you can join me.

ENDS

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