The morning of July 27th, 2013 I woke up in Toronto thinking about the Arctic...and water balloons. I know, it doesn't really sound like the two things are connected and I bet nobody else on the planet has ever woke up thinking about that, except maybe the participants who joined our Save the Arctic flashmob activity that day. But let's just say, as a volunteer organizer at Greenpeace my job quite often involves pulling together creative, albeit unusual events to get more and more people aware and involved in our justice campaigns.
In this case, it meant organizing a flashmob of people tossing oil-like blobs at each other in the park (and that's where the water balloons come in!). This eye-catching flashmob helped Greenpeace volunteers educate passers-by about the very real threat that oil drilling poses to the pristine Arctic. Though the issues Greenpeace campaigns on are all serious ones, we sometimes have to use lighter engagment tactics to get the world to stop and listen. Reaching out to people in friendly and unusual ways means a better chance at reaching and politicizing them, which in turn grows our movement, grows our power, and ensures we makes change. So in addition to our symbolic oil-spill themed balloon toss, we also had interactive banners with messages like, "Harper, there will be the spills. Save the Arctic", and "Oil-drilling = spilling", which got people to stop, listen and contribute to our campaign.
I'll let the photos and video speak for themselves. But if you havnen't yet, make sure to join the thousands in Canada and millions around the world in our movement to Save the Arctic.
Join the movement here! Remind Prime Minister Harper and reckless corporations that if they keep pushing for oil drilling in the Arctic, it's not a matter of if there will be spills, but when.
You can also read much more about threats to the Arctic and our campaign to protect the uninhabited areas around the North Pole here.
Get more involved! Become and Arctic Ambassador and help us grow the movement in your community. Visit greenpeace.ca/arcticchallenge
Check out the photo gallery for the Arctic Oil Balloon Toss!