This morning, Tuesday December 11th, at 10am, two members of “Arctic Associates” (aka Bristol Rising Tide), and one grumpy refugee polar bear paid a visit to the national offices of the BBC Wildlife Magazine at the top of Tower House in Broadmead, Bristol. More than a hundred employees looked on aghast (some winking in support) as “J. Smith” from Arctic Associates, flanked by Mr. Pole R. Bear, made a long and passionate speech about the sad and dangerous irony of allowing the world’s second largest oil company- responsible for endangering thousands of species through oil spills, toxic pollution, and climate change- to sponsor their Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award Contest, which is coming to Bristol Museum this Saturday December 15th.
The visit evidently created quite a stir, as employees of BBC Wildlife gathered around to hear what the commotion was all about, and the press team, directors, and building security simultaneously converged on the protesters, who were finally asked to leave, after circulating through both the 9th and 14th floors of the building, and speaking to the entire national staff of the BBC Wildlife Magazine, who are now more aware than ever of the historic blunder than was made when Shell’s £1,500,000 two year sponsorship deal was accepted.
Ironically, the poster child of this year’s Photography Award is a polar bear stuck on a melting iceberg, the most visible symbol of the climate-damaging nature of Shell’s core business.
If you’d like to get involved, come to the sHELL Wildlife Photography Exhibit PROTEST this Saturday Dec. 15th starting at Noon, in front of the Bristol Museum at the top of Park St. Please come dressed as any wildlife that sHELL is endangering, and invite all your friends- putting a stop to greenwashing is a key battle in the war against climate change, and we want to stop our public museums being used for this purpose**
The exhibit will remain at the Museum until the 13th of January.
**We are having a costume making party/ planning session this Wednesday the 12th at Kebele- 14 Robertson Rd. in Easton from 1700 to 2200 or so, with an open discussion happening at 1930. There will be at least one sewing machine there, so bring material, (fake) fur of the Shell- damaged wildlife of your choice- available at all fine fabric shops, newspaper, black felt, banner and sign making materials, and your favourite beverage to share.**
More information about the campaign:
Despite dozens of people contacting the Bristol City Council and the museum and asking them to reject the exhibition, these requests have been met with excuses, buck passing, or simply silence. It’s clear that our leaders would rather not face up to the fact that our public museum is in fact advertising and greenwashing one of the worst multinational oil companies which is wreaking havoc on people, wildlife, and habitat the world over (all in the name of wildlife protection?)
Apparently the Bristol Museum, Bristol City Council, the Natural History Museum, and BBC Wildlife Magazine see no problem with exhibiting photographs of endangered polar bears on melting ice as part of a photography exhibition sponsored by Shell. Do they think we’re stupid?
Our goal is to put pressure on the latter two organisations to reject Shell as a sponsor, and for Shell to decide that the negative publicity involved with sponsoring the competition simply isn’t worth it anymore.
More information about Shell:
http://onthelevelblog.wordpress.com/2007/10/04/shells-wild-lie/
Shell operates in 145 countries worldwide- one of the worst impacts is in Nigeria, where Shell was complicit in the 1995 murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa, an environmental activist, as well as eight others by the Nigerian military junta.
Shell has been working in the Niger Delta since 1956, causing problems to:
• local communities – gas flares burn day and night, roaring like jet engines and polluting the air with thick sooty particles that stick to almost everything and have serious health impacts
• livelihoods – oil is a root of conflict and suffering in Nigeria. Over 1000 law suits have been filed against Shell, yet it still refuses to pay compensation costs.
• the environment – polluting oil spills and fires have occurred for decades due to Shell’s rusting pipes seriously affecting local villages, biodiversity, and contributing towards climate change.
Come to the protest at noon on Saturday, and let ‘em know that Bristolians won’t stand idly by while our planet is ravaged, and our museum is complicit in covering up oil company lies.
The time for blind obedience has passed- it’s time to start disobeying…..
“Where oil reigns, life is hell”
-Oronto Douglas, Environmental Lawer, Niger Delta