Greenpeace Seeks Protection of Arctic and Polar Bears

Dressed as polar bears, Greenpeace activists across the world are rallying today to support a “green” call for the governments to stop subsurface resource exploration in the Arctic. In the photo: a Greenpeace campaign in India.

The start of the Greenpeace campaign was announced at a news conference at the Rio+20 international conference, currently underway in Brazil. In the photo: a Greenpeace campaign in Sydney.

Around noon, a Greenpeace activist dressed as a polar bear strolled up St. Basil’s Descent, by Red Square, to the Spasskaya Tower where – according to another Greenpeace representative, Dmitry Kuznetsov – a police officer “suggested the ‘bear’ leave Russia’s main square and continue its walk on Manezh Square.” (photo courtesy of Greenpeace Russia)

Kuznetsov noted that “the Greenpeace supporter felt really hot in a bear costume but the life of the Arctic polar bears must be even harder.”

It is not the first time Greenpeace has protested oil exploration of the Arctic. In the photo: a Greenpeace campaign in Germany.

Last May, environmentalists locked themselves inside a rescue capsule that was hanging right above a drill of a Cairn Energy oil rig in the Arctic. In the photo: a Greenpeace campaign in Austria.

As a result, drilling was halted for 48 hours. In early September 2010, Greenpeace activists landed on a Cairn Energy drilling platform, hindering exploration in Baffin Bay off the coast of Greenland for two days. In the photo: a Greenpeace campaign in Denmark.

Greenpeace protests oil exploration of the Arctic at Niagara Falls in Canada.

Greenpeace protests oil exploration of the Arctic in Rome.

Greenpeace protests oil exploration of the Arctic in China.