Recently, Shell worked with the port of Seattle behind the scenes. They were able to work out a deal in which the port gets loads of money…and Shell is able to keep their oil drilling ship in our port until they go to the Arctic to drill for oil. Now, after the deal has already been made, the deal itself has been revealed to the public. Shell knows they have a 75% chance of an oil spill, but they don’t care. People at Shell obviously know about Climate Change, but once again…they don’t care. They are thinking about their future as a company, not the future of the planet. We need to make them shift gears before it’s too late.
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Activists met at the downtown Seattle waterfront on April 26th. All of us shared one thing in common-we care about the future of the planet. It was hard to tell how many people attended, but the press has said 1,000 or even 1,500.
People like Annie Leonard (the director of Greenpeace and the creator of The Story of Stuff) and Sundance Chief Rueben George were on stage, rallying the crowd and talking about a better future. Annie Leonard was joined by the Greenpeace activists who boarded the oil ship while it was in the middle of the ocean. After the moving speakers had finished-and a eco-friendly cover of “Uptown Funk”, led by two brothers from Plant-for-the-Planet, Aji & Adonis- all of us rallied down the waterfront park, until we got to the Port of Seattle. Wren, a 14 year old activist from Plant-for-the-Planet, gave a speech at the foot of the Port as we gave them a kayak full of salmon-shaped letters.
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We need to save the planet now. It’s not something to do later. Putting it into more harm is a terrible idea, and what Shell plans to do in the Arctic radiates danger.
Shell’s oil drilling ship is currently in the port for repairs. A plan is in the works to stop it from leaving or draw more attention to this issue at the very least. We will need a “flotilla” of 1,700 kayaks, which could block the ship from leaving the port. Any help on this project is needed, as we are currently in the middle of a huge fight. Just remember: do we want to let this pass, letting them destroy the planet? sHell No!
Reed is an ambassador with Plant-for-the-Planet. Go to SHELLNO.org to find other groups collaborating to stop Arctic drilling rigs in Seattle.