Going beyond oil

Transition is defined in part as a community response to peak oil and climate change. Often those two forces go hand in hand. Now as the era of "Goldilocks" fossil fuels comes to an end, and extreme unconventional energy comes into play, I'd like to cross-post this latest message from Greenpeace - as part of an occasional series on associated movements. Greenpeace are taking action today in the UK against Shell, who plan to start drilling for oil this month in the pristine and fragile ecosystems of the Arctic:

Right now, Shell petrol stations are being shut down across London and Edinburgh.

Teams of Greenpeace volunteers are fanning out across the two cities, going station to station shutting down the pumps. In total, over 100 forecourts will be out of action. We're broadcasting live throughout the day on a special online TV channel – watch live now.

Why are we doing this? Because you wrote to Shell, asking it to halt risky plans to drill in the Arctic. Thank you so much for doing that, but the bad news is that Shell didn't listen.

Instead, the oil giant is lining up a fleet of huge oil drilling vessels and later this month will start drilling for oil in the frozen north off the coast of Alaska.

There isn't much time to stop Shell's plans, so Shell needs to hear from you again.

Shell has its own loyalty card for regular customers. So we're offering you the chance to get a Disloyalty Card and send it Shell to register your outrage. . You can print it off, fill it in and post it free of charge, using Shell's own freepost address.

You already know how the Arctic is a dangerous place to go drilling, and how an oil spill would wreak havoc on the fragile, vulnerable environment. Shell's own plans show how difficult it will be to mop up if a spill happens in the Arctic.

By chasing after hard-to-reach oil in remote and dangerous places, Shell is putting polar bears, walruses and other Arctic wildlife at risk.

That's why you wrote to Shell, and why we're shutting down the pumps at so many Shell petrol stations.

But you can help protect them. You can stop Shell. Send in your Disloyalty Card now and tell Shell you won't let it destroy the Arctic.

Let's go!

Jamie Woolley
Greenpeace UK

PS Tune in to our live online TV channel to get the latest updates from the closed Shell forecourts, throughout the day.

Imagea; Go beyond oil (Greenpeace); June hottest record in Arctic (Creative Commons)