Arctic oil drilling plan approved 10 Dec 2009, 7:08 PM Photo: Inuit/Red Oil
By Red OIL
COPENHAGEN -- Alaska Natives from the Chukchi Sea, in Copenhagen for the Climate Talks, are reeling today after an announcement that the Obama administration has approved Royal Dutch Shell Plc's (RDSa.L) plan to drill for oil off Alaska's northwest coast as early as next summer. In a move revealing of the US agenda at Copenhagen, the Department of the Interior has endorsed drilling for fossil fuels in the climate-effected ecosystems of the Arctic, where global warming already impacts Alaska Natives and entire villages are in danger of losing their lands and way of life. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar addressed the COP 15 conference on Thursday at 12:45 local time at the US Center Meeting Room in the Bella Center. "Shell says 'the Chukchi Sea could be home to some of the most prolific, undiscovered hydrocarbon basins in North America,' but we're here to remind Salazar and Shell that it is our home and our lives that will be devastated by the drilling," said Faith Gemmill, Executive Director of REDOIL, who is attending the Copenhagen Climate Talks. "More fossil fuel drilling will only bring more pollution to the Chukchi Sea, and ultimately, more devastating climate change to the world. Salazar should know: We must leave those fossil fuels in the ground and invest in real renewable solutions that uphold Indigenous Peoples rights." The effects of global warming in Alaska include thawing permafrost, melting sea ice, declining fish populations, migratory and habitat disruptions of key subsistence resources -- all direct, disruptive impacts that Alaska Natives are already experiencing. Alaska Native communities are struggling with forced relocation as coastlines no longer protected by sea ice erode, and are now, in essence, "climate refugees." "As Alaska Natives, our ancestral ways of life and homelands are imperiled by devastating proposals for fossil fuel drilling and development," said Colleen Swan of Kivalina, a community located adjacent to the Chuckchi Sea who is in Copenhagen this week on her first international journey. "These fossil fuels are carbon that will compound climate change, and the ecological devastation we see is also compounded by the impacts of climate change, and so it is a lose-lose. That's why we are here in Copenhagen to tell the world our story, and demand real action by the Obama Administration."
REDOIL is a network and movement of Alaska Natives who are challenging the fossil fuel and mining industry and demanding our rights to a safe and healthy environment conducive to subsistence. The REDOIL network consists of grassroots Alaska Natives of the Inupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Tlingit, Gwich'in, Eyak and Denaiana Athabascan tribes. We aim to address the human and ecological health impacts brought on by the unsustainable development practices of the fossil fuel and mining industry. REDOIL strongly supports self-determination rights of tribes in Alaska, as well as a just transition from fossil fuel and mineral development to sustainable economies, and promotes the implementation of sustainable development on Alaska Native lands. Visit: http://www.ienearth.org/redoil
Nikke Alex's photos sent via phone from Copenhagen
DEMOCRACY NOW!
Indigenous Activists March on US Embassy in Copenhagen Urging Obama to “Stop the US Energy Industry’s War on Native Peoples and Lands” Shortly before President Obama received his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, a coalition of North American indigenous groups marched to the US embassy in Copenhagen calling on Obama to stop what they described as the war on native peoples and lands waged by the US energy industry. Speakers at the protest included Faith Gemmill from Arctic Village, Alaska and Clayton Thomas-Muller of the Canadian-based Indigenous Tar Sands Campaign. [includes rush transcript] Filed under Copenhagen Climate Summit AMY GOODMAN: Shortly before President Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize today, a coalition of North American indigenous groups marched to the US embassy here in Copenhagen, calling on Obama to stop what they described as the war on native peoples and lands waged by the US energy industry. Speakers at the protest included Faith Gemmill of Arctic Village in Alaska—she works with the group Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands—and Clayton Thomas-Muller of the Canadian-based Indigenous Tar Sands Campaign. FAITH GEMMILL: We’re here today to send a message to the US government that no longer can their energy policy and their unsustainable development practices threaten the future of indigenous peoples. This is what’s happening in America. All these indigenous communities are under threat by fossil fuel extraction and the fossil fuel issues that affect us, the energy issues. Alaska is ground zero for US energy policy. Many of our indigenous homelands, our ancestral territories, are under threat, and it threatens the very existence of our communities. We live a subsistence way of life that’s very, very much connected to our homelands. And for us to live that way of life, our homelands have to be intact. CLAYTON THOMAS-MULLER: You know, today President Obama accepts his Nobel Peace Prize, when we all know that it’s just representing such immense hypocrisy, with calling out 30,000 US troops to continue to go into Afghanistan and oppress peoples in the Middle East. The administration continues to oppress indigenous peoples and racialize communities in the United States and in Canada through their energy and climate policies. So we’re here in Copenhagen at the United Nations international climate negotiations to call out the US government and their little bully brother, the Darth Vader of Copenhagen, the Canadian government, in their ridiculous and oppressive energy policies and to say we want a just and clean future, a new economic paradigm that doesn’t sacrifice our communities at the altar of irresponsible policies for the economic benefit of the select few who pull the political strings. AMY GOODMAN: The indigenous activists then delivered their letter to the US embassy in Copenhagen. INDIGENOUS ACTIVIST: …the United States respect the rights of indigenous peoples and that they endorse the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. TERENCE McCULLEY: As you know, the United States has a very large delegation here at COP15. The United States is committed to active participation in this dialogue. I have a Cherokee background myself, and it’s an honor for me to accept your statement, which I will ensure gets to the ambassador. AMY GOODMAN: Indigenous leaders delivering a letter to the US embassy in Copenhagen. They delivered it to Terence McCulley, the chargé d’affaires of the embassy. Related stories •“We Are Having a Hard Time Surviving” Gwich’in Elder Sarah James on How Climate Change Is Altering Life in the Alaskan Arctic •Amidst Uncertainty on US Role in Upcoming Climate Talks, 350.org Holds International Climate Action Day in 170 Nations •Naomi Klein on Climate Debt: Why Rich Countries Should Pay Reparations To Poor Countries For The Climate Crisis. •Climate Countdown: Largest Climate Summit in World History Opens in Copenhagen •Ahead of Copenhagen Talks, Tens of Thousands Protest Across Europe Calling for Climate Justice
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