Deal With IT's Secretary Victoria Nicholls writes a regular column in the East Kent Mercury: A recent report tells us of the success of environmental campaign group Greenpeace in its protest against oil company Shell’s plans to drill for oil in the Arctic. Greenpeace has been targeting toy maker Lego which has had a contract with Shell since 1960 to distribute toys in petrol stations in 26 countries around the world. As a result of the campaign Lego has agreed not to renew its current contract with Shell. This has raised awareness with the public and many people have found that they dislike the fact that the toy maker has been in, what they see as, an inappropriate partnership with the oil giant.
As a result of the ongoing Greenpeace campaign, Shell announced, in January, that it was putting on hold its plans to drill in the Arctic in the summer although it gave its reasons as poor market conditions and internal failures. However, it then submitted plans in August to the US authorities for a new offshore drilling plan that could see the company drilling for oil off the North West coast of Alaska in 2015. For Greenpeace, the campaign goes on.
It is imperative that investment is put into renewable technologies, not into technologies that will produce oil the use of which will contribute to climate warming. It is horrendous to think that there could possibly be drilling for oil in a pristine ecosystem such as the Arctic and if this is allowed to go ahead, how long before applications are made for Antarctica?
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