Halloween is here, and some pretty scary things about our climate crisis are weighing on my mind.

Halloween season has me reflecting on fear. Although I am incredibly hopeful for the future of our planet and proud of the activists and changemakers who have fought so hard for so long, there is power in naming those fears. Here are some pretty scary things on our minds.

1. Plastics are a growth area for the dying fossil fuel industry

A new report released by Greenpeace USA reveals that Big Oil companies — think ExxonMobil, Shell, and Chevron — supply the plastic resin or petrochemicals that makes the plastic packaging for companies like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestlé.

Plastic-Spitting Dragon Protests at Our Oceans Conference in Malta. © Bente Stachowske / Greenpeace
Greenpeace protests with a plastic-spitting dragon in front of the ‘Our Oceans 2017’ conference-building in Malta. The four-meter high dragon spits single-use plastic to present a new way of exposing plastic pollution offenders as a part of the Break Free From Plastic movement. Greenpeace demands of targeted culprits such as Nestlé, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Coca Cola etc to stop producing single-use plastics. The ‘Our Ocean 2017’ conference brings together representatives of governments, civil society, science, finance and businesses from around the world to discuss ocean protection. This year they are discussing marine litter.
© Bente Stachowske / Greenpeace

2. Congress gives billions in taxpayer money to fossil fuel corporations annually

Another thing keeping this zombie industry alive? The U.S. government hands out $15 billion in direct subsidies to the fossil fuel industry every year. 

API Subsidies Check Delivery in Washington DC. © Greenpeace / Tim Aubry
Greenpeace USA activists hand-deliver a 4×8’ taxpayer-funded “150 billion dollar check” to American Petroleum Institute Headquarters to call for an end to fossil fuel subsidies and demand Congress pass the End Polluter Welfare Act. The American Petroleum Institute is the largest oil and trade association whose members include polluting companies such as BP, ConocoPhillips, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Shell. As a collective, these companies have deceived the public about the impacts burning coal, oil, and gas has on our climate and have benefitted from fossil fuel subsidies for decades yet still claim to receive “no special treatment from the federal government.” On April 23, an API executive testified at a House Oversight hearing defending oil and gas industries subsidies. The delivery will featured activists dressed like Senator Chuck Schumer and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi intercepting the check delivery to demonstrate the role Congress can play in eliminating fossil fuel subsidies.
© Greenpeace / Tim Aubry

3. Rainforests signal a worsening of the climate crisis

A decades-long study released in July 2021 shows that parts of the Amazon rainforest are releasing more carbon dioxide than they absorb. The study results suggest that deforestation and fire, among other factors, have dramatically undercut the Amazon’s ability to absorb heat-trapping carbon emissions from the atmosphere.

Fire Monitoring in the Amazon. © Christian Braga / Greenpeace
Fire line moves through a degraded forest area in an undesignated public forest area in Porto Velho, Rondônia state. Every year, Greenpeace Brazil flies over the Amazon to monitor deforestation build up and forest fires. From July 29th to 31st, 2021, flights were made over points with Deter (Real Time Deforestation Detection System) and Prodes (Brazilian Amazon Satellite Monitoring Project) warnings, besides heat spots notified by Inpe (National Institute for Space Research), in the states of Amazonas, Rondônia, Mato Grosso and Pará.
© Christian Braga / Greenpeace

4. The Arctic ice is melting rapidly

Scientists studying Arctic sea ice have just announced the last 15 years are the lowest 15 sea ice extents in the satellite record. The Arctic sea ice has already lost two-thirds of its volume and there is a consistent decline in sea ice extent over the past decades.

MY Arctic Sunrise in the Arctic. © Christian Åslund / Greenpeace
Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise surrounded by ice floes. The Esperanza and Arctic Sunrise are in Svalbard on the first leg of one of Greenpeace’s biggest ever expeditions: an almost year-long pole to pole voyage from the Arctic to the Antarctic, to highlight the many threats facing the oceans and to campaign for a Global Ocean Treaty covering all seas outside of national waters. The ‘Protect the Oceans’ expedition will see scientists and campaigners team up to research the threats of climate change, overfishing, plastic pollution, deep sea mining and oil drilling.
© Christian Åslund / Greenpeace

5. The Climate Crisis and its deadly effects are already here

This year’s report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirmed what we’ve been saying for years: Climate change is not a future threat. Climate change is happening right now, and it’s getting worse. The IPCC report called this moment a “code red for humanity.”

Swimmer in front of BP Oil Rig in North Sea. © Greenpeace
Greenpeace campaigner Sarah North holds a banner reading “Climate Emergency” whilst floating in front of BP oil rig on day 11 of the protest in the North Sea. Greenpeace is calling on BP to halt drilling for new oil in light of the climate emergency and refocus their business on renewable energy.
© Greenpeace

For 50 years, Greenpeace has been preparing for this exact moment. We’ve been building a movement that is better positioned now than ever before to tackle big problems like these. I know that with the passion, resolve, and determination of the millions of Greenpeacers around the world, we can accomplish anything — but we need to act NOW.

I’m hopeful because of you, because of all of us who are in this fight together. I am so excited to see what we can get done together in the next year.