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For those of you who may not know, Pete Seeger is a rather important figure in the environmental movement as well as a key player in the American Folk music industry. But why would Seeger be involved in this?
Let's start at the beginning.
The Arctic 30 comprises of various crew members, activists, and two freelance artists aboard the Greenpeace vessel Arctic Sunrise that attempted as peaceful protest over two months ago at Gazprom's oil rig that ended with all crew members being thrown in Russian prison. They were attempting to call attention the dangers oil drilling to the environment and it's impact on climate change.
Two activists attempted to board the rig when the Russian Coast Guard came sweeping in. A detailed timeline of what happened can be found here.
Long story short, the activists were all out in jail and slapped with charges of piracy and hooliganism. This caused a uprising of outrage against the Russian government and uprising of support for the crew members. Among the many supporters are a number of celebrities.
Even Sir Paul McCartney wrote a letter to sway Putin into letting the Arctic 30 go free.
As of November 28th, all the everyone from the ship has been released on bail but still have to face the crimes they were charged with. The Piracy charge was dropped but even the hooliganism charge could have them in jail for up to seven years.
But how does this tie into Pete Seeger? [Don't worry. I didn't forget about him!] With good reason, Seeger doesn't do as much as he used to in terms of environmental action.
On Greenpeace's blog, Willcox is quoted as saying, "I started sailing for the environment in 1973 on the Clearwater, the boat started by folksinger Pete Seeger. When Seeger was learning to sail in the early 60s, he would bring his boat down to our house, and get lessons from my father. I became captain of the Clearwater in 1976, and stayed for four and a half seasons. Since 1981, I guess about 90% of my life has been skippering Greenpeace boats."
While McCartney's letter was lovely, cordial, and even slightly longer than Seeger's, I think perhaps Seeger has the better "punchline".
"The people of the world are watching."
And we are. So here are some further links to learn more about this:
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/climate-change/arctic-impacts/Peace-Dove/Arctic-30/
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/Blogs/makingwaves/getting-the-arctic-30-home/blog/47569/
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/climate-change/arctic-impacts/free-our-activists/
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/nov/28/arctic-30-final-greenpeace-activist-bailed
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24529043
I also encourage you to simply google "The Arctic 30" and hit the news filter to get more reading.
Let's start at the beginning.
The Arctic 30 comprises of various crew members, activists, and two freelance artists aboard the Greenpeace vessel Arctic Sunrise that attempted as peaceful protest over two months ago at Gazprom's oil rig that ended with all crew members being thrown in Russian prison. They were attempting to call attention the dangers oil drilling to the environment and it's impact on climate change.
Two activists attempted to board the rig when the Russian Coast Guard came sweeping in. A detailed timeline of what happened can be found here.
Long story short, the activists were all out in jail and slapped with charges of piracy and hooliganism. This caused a uprising of outrage against the Russian government and uprising of support for the crew members. Among the many supporters are a number of celebrities.
Even Sir Paul McCartney wrote a letter to sway Putin into letting the Arctic 30 go free.
As of November 28th, all the everyone from the ship has been released on bail but still have to face the crimes they were charged with. The Piracy charge was dropped but even the hooliganism charge could have them in jail for up to seven years.
But how does this tie into Pete Seeger? [Don't worry. I didn't forget about him!] With good reason, Seeger doesn't do as much as he used to in terms of environmental action.
On Greenpeace's blog, Willcox is quoted as saying, "I started sailing for the environment in 1973 on the Clearwater, the boat started by folksinger Pete Seeger. When Seeger was learning to sail in the early 60s, he would bring his boat down to our house, and get lessons from my father. I became captain of the Clearwater in 1976, and stayed for four and a half seasons. Since 1981, I guess about 90% of my life has been skippering Greenpeace boats."
While McCartney's letter was lovely, cordial, and even slightly longer than Seeger's, I think perhaps Seeger has the better "punchline".
"The people of the world are watching."
And we are. So here are some further links to learn more about this:
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/climate-change/arctic-impacts/Peace-Dove/Arctic-30/
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/Blogs/makingwaves/getting-the-arctic-30-home/blog/47569/
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/climate-change/arctic-impacts/free-our-activists/
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/nov/28/arctic-30-final-greenpeace-activist-bailed
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24529043
I also encourage you to simply google "The Arctic 30" and hit the news filter to get more reading.
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