I’m writing this from the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise, somewhere in the North Sea…
A few days ago I completely unexpectedly found myself on an all-nighter from London to Scotland. It’s a long story but really, I was only going up there to walk my dog! While crawling around gorse bushes 19 hours later with binoculars (and said dog) and so wet that I could barely get my phone out of my pocket, I got a phone call.
It's 10 whole days that our activists have prevented BP's oil rig reaching the drill site in the North Sea. Current status: going round in circles, pursued by a Greenpeace ship. Bit like BP's oil-based business plan… #BPShutdown pic.twitter.com/y65zHAdOg9
— Greenpeace UK (@GreenpeaceUK) June 18, 2019
And now, five days later I’m in some kind of groundhog day following a BP oil rig and its entourage backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards, from shore to the rig site out in the North Sea. Since we first occupied the BP oil rig in Scotland’s Cromarty Firth, it’s done a complete u-turn three times.
Through all the sleeplessness and adrenaline out here, all we know is that this is day ten of us stopping BP from drilling its only UK oil project in 2019. We’re stopping them from dredging up another 30 million barrels of oil to fuel this climate crisis. We are throwing everything, EVERYTHING at this; to stand between BP and the production of more fossil fuels than our climate can take.
.@BP_plc like to claim they love clean energy while still searching for more oil. But one thing we do know is that BP are guilty of human rights abuses and blocking action on climate breakdown. Share this video to expose BP's crimes #ClimateEmergency #BPShutdown pic.twitter.com/cYPQ0XAmuH
— Greenpeace UK (@GreenpeaceUK) June 18, 2019
I am so proud of all the activists and land crew that have spent the last ten days stepping up and taking on this company. Finally, I feel like I’m doing what we all need to be doing in a climate emergency. How unexpected. How good. Maybe this will all be over in the next few hours and we will be making our slightly sad way back into port. Or maybe, just maybe, this will be the last nudge BP needs to change its ways and stop all their oil drilling plans.
Everything sounds impossible until it’s done.
Rise up.
