Get Up Stand Up

A few weeks ago I mentioned an interest that I shared with a few others at Pilsdon in getting involved with the local Greenpeace group, partly to quell the sense of embarrassment that despite having been in existence for some months, our Activist Club had done nothing more active than to watch a few films and chin-wag before turning in with our hot chocolates.

So early this month four of us jolly well got up and did something. One dark Wednesday evening we piled into a car, drove to Dorchester and had an Activist curry.  After months of incarceration at Pilsdon, eating all together in the mess hall whenever the bell rang, eating out seemed a forgotten decadence. There were menus we could choose whatever we liked from!  There was music piped from speakers! And there were numbers next to each dish we chose which turned out to equate to the amount of money they seemed to expect from us as we rose to leave.

To our credit we had come to Dorchester for more than sampling spicy food from Uttar Pradesh. We crossed the road to the pub where Greenpeace were having their monthly meeting and hung by the bar trying to look as green and peaceful as possible so our intentions could be identified. It worked, as we were approached by a woman calling herself “Irene” (surely a codename) and told that they were meeting at the back of the pub, which rather bizarrely turned out to be a small bowling alley.  Six others were gathered there and “Irene” proceeded to lead us through the various national campaigns that are ongoing and what the West Dorset branch had been doing specifically. Discussion ensued on what might be done in the upcoming months, and somehow I found myself agreeing to put on a ‘Save The Arctic’ presentation at Pilsdon, to which this group would come along as they were interested to see Pilsdon for themselves. The date was set for Saturday 24th November.

Things had got serious. Stuff was happening, or rather, I had to make some stuff happen. I was no longer an Armchair Activist. 

They had given me an arsenal of video clips, photos of icebergs, and reams of text about why and how the Arctic needs saving but neglected to explain how to turn it all into an actual presentation. I realised early on that no-one wants to hear me drone on for forty minutes about sea ice so decided to appeal to the competitive spirit that perhaps surprisingly is alive and well even in a community such as Pilsdon and made up an Arctic Quiz, after which I would play some videos and scatter my talky bits between them.

The day itself was wet and cold, although not quite as cold as the average winter temperature in the Arctic (Answer: -37 degrees C). People gathered in the chilly Common Room after lunch, about fifteen of us, and off we went. Afterwards there were some questions, always a good sign, and people seemed engaged by the topic, which after all, is quite an attention-grabber when you hear about it.  

In short, the Arctic sea ice is melting due to climate change and if we don’t do something, it will be gone in a few decades. The ice itself acts as a giant mirror reflecting the sun’s rays, so the less of it there is, the quicker the Earth heats up. Rather than treating this as a wake-up call to make a concerted effort to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy, the Arctic nations (including the US and Russia) are beginning to explore for more deep-sea oil as the ice retreats. Greenpeace wants the UN to declare the High Arctic a sanctuary for scientific research only, similar to the Antarctic. They are collecting names on a so-called Arctic Scroll (almost as tasty as an Arctic Roll - remember them?) which they plan to tuck inside an indestructible time capsule and in April place at the bottom of the sea below the North Pole, planting a Flag for the Future in the ice above it. To add your name, politely ask your preferred Web Browser to take you to the following location : www.savethearctic.org.

There we have it. An activist is born. OK, it’s not exactly Gandhi but it’s a start.