Arctic exploration is not new, just different – and safer

Recently, activists paddled a flotilla of kayaks – made from petroleum products – into the Seattle harbor in an attempt to blockade a Shell Oil offshore drilling platform destined for the Arctic.

Then activists in Portland suspended themselves from the St. Johns Bridge – using all sorts of equipment and supplies made from petroleum products – in an effort to stop Shell’s ice breaker from leaving a local shipyard.

Their goal was to stop Arctic oil exploration. But oil and gas exploration in the Arctic has been happening for nearly 50 years. It is not new, it is just different – and safer.

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