As many as 3,000 protesters took to the streets of London and marched alongside a double-decker-bus sized polar bear puppet, calling for bans on oil and natural gas drilling in the Arctic.
The environmental group Greenpeace, which organized the protests, argues that oil and gas drilling contributes to global warming, which in turn reduces Arctic ice cover and causes polar bears to become endangered species.
“That ice is melting at a rapid rate meaning the ocean absorbs the sunlight resulting in a warmer earth,” writes Kumi Naidoo, Greenpeace’s international executive director. ”Polar bears, seals, walruses and whales are just some of the species that call the Arctic home. And it’s all in danger.”
The protest comes amid news that the Arctic Sea’s ice coverage increased 60 percent — now covering one million more square miles of ice than at the same time last year. Media reports also show that there are more polar bears today than there were 40 years ago.
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