13 August 1997

Greetings from the Arctic Sunrise.

It's close to 11pm and I've been up since the wee hours of the morning. Needless to say I'm exhausted, but so inspired by the events of today that I feel compelled to write.

Very early this morning the Captain of the Arctic Sunrise -- Arne -- fired up the engines and moved the ship to anchor within a few hundred feet of the Glomar Beaufort Sea I, the giant mobile exploratory drill platform that we had within view of our base camp for weeks.

A few hours later, we launched inflatables into the water. They took off towards the drill rig, carrying banners that read,"STOP OIL, GO SOLAR". They drove up to giant chains on the bow of the drill rig that -- if ARCO is successful -- will be used to tow the rig 75 miles to the east where it will be used to explore for oil just offshore from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Crew in the inflatables then hung on to the chains to keep the inflatables alongside.

As it turns out, our timing was right on. At about 1pm, two large tugs were sighted moving towards the drill rig. They pulled up very close to the drill rig, but were blocked from reaching it by the Arctic Sunrise and the inflatables hanging on to the tow chains. After a few hours, the tugs turned around and left. They had come to hook up to the towing chains on the drill rig as a first step towards moving it to the waters near the Wildlife Refuge, and we had stopped them.

I spent some time in one of the inflatables with my fellow Egg Islander, Doug. We'd been staring at this drill rig for weeks and now, finally, we had an opportunity to actively oppose ARCO's plans to use it.

The workers on board the drill rig peeked their heads over the side of the platform 40 feet above us to see what we were up to. They seemed pretty friendly. They waved, and we sent up some Greenpeace hats for them to wear. The only thing that bothered me was not having the opportunity to respond to the charge that Greenpeace is contradicting itself by using ships and inflatables that rely on fossil fuels to protest ARCO's oil exploration.

The fact of the matter is that if there were viable alternatives to fossil fuels for our ship and inflatables, then we would be the first to use them. In 1994, Greenpeace used a truck that ran soy diesel (an oil made from soybeans) to tow its mobile solar generator CYRUS across the US. Likewise, the electronics at our arctic base camp on Egg Island are powered by a wind generator. Unfortunately, such an alternative doesn't exist for our ships. And every step ARCO takes towards drilling for yet more oil leads delays the implementation and availability of safer alternatives to fossil fuels.

The shift from fossil fuels to alternatives like solar and wind won't happen overnight, but it has to begin now, and it has to start with ARCO halting its search for new oil reserves. Instead, ARCO should redirect its resources towards phasing out of the fossil fuel business and making safer alternatives available.

During our stay on Egg Island we had many opportunities to drive right up to the drill rig in our inflatables, and it was quite an extraordinary experience being so close to such a large structure, especially one with such a destructive remit. Today however, gazing at the drill rig from the deck of the Arctic Sunrise was inspiring in a whole new way. Onboard the Arctic Sunrise, one can truly grasp the full power and reach of Greenpeace. Everyone on board, folks from all over the world, are here to protect the earth's climate by stopping companies like ARCO from drilling for new oil. It's a particularly powerful experience when I think of all the people around the world who support Greenpeace and make it possible for us to be here.

So, to all of you, THANK YOU for supporting us and for making it possible to do this work.

Signing out from the Arctic Sunrise,

Melanie