The animal that comes most readily to mind when thinking of the Arctic, climate change, or sea ice melt is certainly the polar bear. Who woulda thunk, then, that the walrus would turn out to be the most headache-inducing megafauna for Shell as the global oil company tries to drill in the melting Arctic this summer.

Yesterday marked a major development in the ongoing battle royale between Shell, the Obama administration, federal regulators, and environmentalists.  The quick and dirty? As part of Shell’s exploration plan to drill for oil in the Chukchi Sea off the coast of northern Alaska this summer, the company had planned to drill two simultaneous wells, 9 miles apart. Yesterday, the Department of Interior, the federal agency in charge of regulating Shell’s Arctic drilling project, said... Read more >

It’s a rare and beautiful thing when people all across the world unite in defense of peaceful protest and action on climate change. That’s what happened this past weekend when thousands of people took part in solidarity events for the Arctic 30, a group of activists and independent journalists currently detained on piracy charges in Russia after a peaceful protest to stop climate change.

Thousands of people raised their voices at 250 solidarity events in nearly 50 countries across every continent. The vigils started at sunrise and continued all day until sunset the other side of the world in cities from Bangkok to Washington DC, from Moscow to Mexico City. They were joined by human rights groups, trade unionists, faith groups, students and environmentalists. Global figures like Alejandro S...

This has been a particularly active week for exercising your right to peacefully protest from workers all across the country protesting the government shutdown to several activists now charged with piracy after taking action on climate change. Coincidentally, this week marks Ghandi’s birthday as well as the UN’s International Day of Non-Violence.

In case you’ve considered exercising your right to peacefully protest, you can start today by standing in solidarity of the activists in Russia.

Here are some reasons why.

11. Occupy Wall Street did more than just carry signs.

Maybe you think of this group as freeloading-hippies spending their days in the park. However on top of raising national attention to the shameful wealth disparities in this country with peaceful protests, Occupy Wall Str... Read more >

Gazprom may not be as familiar to you as BP or Exxon, but they’re just as capable of making history with a catastrophic oil spill. The Russian oil giant is the first company to start oil production in the Arctic after their failed attempt last year in addition to Shell’s year of drilling mishaps.

Greenpeace sent the Arctic Sunrise and its activists to Gazprom’s platform, the Prirazlomnaya, since the company’s drilling plans in the region threaten three surrounding nature reserves and their inhabitants with a major oil spill. Russian authorities have nearly 30 Greenpeace activists and its ship, the Arctic Sunrise, in custody without communication for more than 100 hours now after the activists attempted a peaceful protest  against oil drilling by Gazprom.

Gazprom is Russia’s biggest comp... Read more >

When what you do is hundreds of miles from civilization, it’s pretty easy to get away with some messed up stuff.  The tuna industry in particular can reap the benefits of an “out of sight, out of mind” existence. Here are some of the worst fishing practices tuna companies execute in order to plop colorful cans of tuna on grocery story shelves across the world.

6. Fish aggregating devices

n illegal fish aggregation device (FAD) anchored in the waters of Palau’s Exclusive Economic Zone

Fish aggregating devices (aka FADs) are floating objects that tuna vessels cast in the open ocean.  Small plants anchor themselves to the physical body of the FAD, small fish use it as a hiding place, and larger animals flock to it as a source of shade and as a fertile hunting ground. After a few weeks...