‘The first time I set foot in the Arctic, Paul was waiting outside the tiny airstrip, to collect me,’ @cobbing
Written by duckrabbit
The first time I set foot in the Arctic, Paul was waiting outside the tiny airstrip, to collect me, calmly smoking a cigarette in -40 temperatures. That bumpy snow-scooter ride across the frozen pressure ridges of the Beaufort sea was an introduction to many adventures.
Paul has been first mate on most of Greenpeace’s Arctic expeditions, it’s been my good fortune to photograph alongside him for some of those. Paul and his crew helped make many of the images, by watching over each helicopter journey with hawk-like eyes or banging stakes into the ice to hold the ship fast to an ice floe.
Paul has a super-loud voice, if he shouts from the bow of the ship, you can hear his clear Canadian accent from the stern. This is an asset at sea, could make the difference that a fire gets extinguished in time, could make the difference between a man overboard being plucked from the sea whilst still conscious, or being lost to the waves.
When I heard he’d been jailed along with 29 others, locked up for 23 hours a day I was worried because a man that spends most of his time outdoors, half his life at sea, is going to have a tough time in any jail. During a brief court appearance today he made this statement.
“We are peaceful activists from around the world, working for a common goal. We are basically asking for Green and Peace. We do this to raise public awareness by exposing the destructive actions of multinational corporations. We use non violent practice and we bring the global media with us to give a voice where there is no voice. We have nothing personal to gain by our non-violent actions, on the contrary we have everything to loose: Our freedom, family and friends. I hope you understand this. We do this because we are fortunate enough and we are able to. Myself and many other people involved have seen many of these injustices mostly for the greed and money. We do this so our children will have a quality of life worth living.”
That was said from inside a cage in a courtroom, after more than thirty days locked up with very little human contact.
Nick Cobbing
If you are in the UK send a letter to the Russian Embassy here: http://act.greenpeace.org.uk/
More ideas how you can help Paul and the Arctic Thirty: http://greenpeaceblogs.org/
Author — duckrabbit
duckrabbit is a production company formed by radio producer/journalist Benjamin Chesterton and photographer David White. We specialize in digital storytelling.