Readers of this space read last week about the protests over Cairn Energy’s production activities in the Arctic.  Today’s WSJ has a nice piece by James Herron (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704206804575467390218464732.html?mod=WSJ_hps_LEFTWhatsNews) that reports on the end of the Greenpeace protest.  Did they stop their protest due to objections from the Greenland government?  No.  Did they see the error of their ways?  Nope.  Turns out, it’s darn cold up there in the Arctic!

Here’s Herron:

“Four Greenpeace protesters had attached themselves to the bottom of the rig, halting drilling operations for around 40-hours. They abandoned the protest Thursday due to freezing weather conditions by climbing aboard the rig, where they were arrested.

“‘Last night was freezing and now the sea below us is churning and the wind is roaring. It’s time to come down,” said Sim McKenna, one of the protesters, in a statement shortly before abandoning the protest. “We’re proud we slowed the mad rush for Arctic oil, if only for a couple of days.’”

Roaring winds, churning seas and freezing temperatures — nobody can blame the not-so-intrepid protestors for ending this one.  Maybe next time they’ll get the “living in a California treehouse” protest duty.  Maybe they’re rookies.  Or maybe there’s some sort of Greenpeace lottery.

While it’s easy to make fun, the government of Greenland, which takes environment and safety seriously, also took the protest seriously, condeming it as ’a very grave and illegal attack on Greenland’s constitutional rights.’

“‘It is highly disturbing that Greenpeace in its chase on media attention with all measures breaks the safety regulations put in place to protect people and the environment,” the government said in a statement.”

It takes all kinds, one supposes, but it sure would be more helpful if Greenpeace could channel some of its energy into constructive activities — like say helping come up with a sensible path forward to a clean enery economy that could garner widespread political support?  Just a thought . . . .

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