The message is clear: Norway, it’s time to choose people over oil. 35 activists from 25 countries around the world are in the Barents Sea to demand an end to Arctic drilling.

137767_246682|Arctic Sunrise Protests Arctic Oil Drilling in Barents Sea|Arctic Sunrise Protests Arctic Oil Drilling in Barents Sea|Arctic Sunrise Protests Arctic Oil Drilling in Barents Sea
|Four people in kayaks have reached Statoil’s rig, the Songa Enabler. They are bringing a huge globe with messages from people around the world urging the Norwegian government to end its Arctic oil expansion.

The Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise is in the Norwegian Arctic to document, expose and challenge the Norwegian government and Statoil’s aggressive search for new oil in the Barents Sea. Statoil has just started their drilling operations at the Korpfjell site using the rig called Songa Enabler. The Arctic Sunrise is carrying activists from all over the world, who are ambassadors for the People Versus Arctic Oil movement.

Greenpeace Nordic and its co-plaintiff, Natur og Ungdom (Nature and Youth), will face the government in Court in Oslo in November, where the new drilling will be subject to a historic climate lawsuit. They argue that granting licenses to open a new oil frontier breaches the Norwegian Constitutional right to a healthy and safe environment for current and future generations and contravenes the Paris Agreement.|Kayaktivists (pictured left to right), Hanna Jauhiainen of Finland, Miriam Friedrich from Austria, Andreas Widlund form Sweden, and Dalia Kellou from Austria.

The Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise is in the Norwegian Arctic to document, expose and challenge the Norwegian government and Statoil’s aggressive search for new oil in the Barents Sea. Statoil has just started their drilling operations at the Korpfjell site using the rig called Songa Enabler. The Arctic Sunrise is carrying activists from all over the world, who are ambassadors for the People Versus Arctic Oil movement.

Greenpeace Nordic and its co-plaintiff, Natur og Ungdom (Nature and Youth), will face the government in Court in Oslo in November, where the new drilling will be subject to a historic climate lawsuit. They argue that granting licenses to open a new oil frontier breaches the Norwegian Constitutional right to a healthy and safe environment for current and future generations and contravenes the Paris Agreement.|Andreas Widlund watches from the bridge, the Norwegian coastguards on the deck of the Arctic Sunrise.

The Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise is in the Norwegian Arctic to document, expose and challenge the Norwegian government and Statoil’s aggressive search for new oil in the Barents Sea. Statoil has just started their drilling operations at the Korpfjell site using the rig called Songa Enabler. The Arctic Sunrise is carrying activists from all over the world, who are ambassadors for the People Versus Arctic Oil movement.

Greenpeace Nordic and its co-plaintiff, Natur og Ungdom (Nature and Youth), will face the government in Court in Oslo in November, where the new drilling will be subject to a historic climate lawsuit. They argue that granting licenses to open a new oil frontier breaches the Norwegian Constitutional right to a healthy and safe environment for current and future generations and contravenes the Paris Agreement.

The message is clear: Norway, it’s time to choose people over oil. 35 activists from 25 countries around the world are in the Barents Sea to demand an end to Arctic drilling.

Greenpeace activists protest Arctic oil drilling 17 Aug, 2017 © Nick Cobbing / Greenpeace

Today, activists from the Arctic Sunrise on inflatable boats and kayaks entered the exclusion zone of Statoil’s Korpfjell well, Norway’s most northern oil drilling site to date, and attached a giant globe to the rig Songa Enabler.

The globe carried written statements from people from all over the world, with a message to the Norwegian government to stop the oil drilling.

The activists halted the operation of the rig, and after several hours of demanding an end to the drilling in the Arctic, the Norwegian Coast Guard interfered with the peaceful protest, arresting the Arctic Sunrise ship, the activists and crew members.

Norwegian Coast Guard arriving to seize the Arctic Sunrise and arrest activists and crew members 17 Aug, 2017 © Greenpeace

Just 10 days before ratifying the Paris Agreement, in June 2016, the “environmentally friendly” Norwegian government granted new oil licenses. Now, a year later, Statoil has just started to drill for oil in the northernmost area ever licensed by Norway.

4 people in kayaks have reached Statoil’s rig, the Songa Enabler. They are bringing a huge globe with messages from people around the world urging the Norwegian government to end its Arctic oil expansion. 17 Aug, 2017 © Nick Cobbing / Greenpeace

But this won’t stop us. It’s time to get ready for our new battleground: the courtroom—where Greenpeace Nordic, together with Nature and Youth, will face Actic Oil this November.

With your witness statements we will achieve it. Add your name to the more than 350.000 others and become part of the evidence that the people know a better world is possible.