Ten Fights That Made the Green Movement: 6. Arctic 30

Ten Fights That Made the Green Movement: 6. Arctic 30

July 13, 2026 · 15 min · Season 12 · Episode 6

About this episode

The episode discusses a Greenpeace campaign against oil drilling in the Arctic and the ensuing debate about activist safety and risk management.

“Helicopter” - an activist yells. Then gun-wielding agents in balaclavas abseil down, onto the Greenpeace ship, to tow it to Russia. This is the story of a campaign against oil drilling in the arctic that takes a dangerous turn. And the debate it sparks within the movement - should the organisers have better anticipated the risks of their campaign? Who is responsible for activists’ safety? Presenter: Justin Rowlatt Producer: Alix Pickles Series Producer: Ellie House Editor: Matt Willis Sound Design and Mix: James Beard Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele, Brenda Brown, Sabine Schereck Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke Archive: Prirazlomnaya Gazprom Oil Rig Protest in the Pechora Sea, Russian Investigative Committee, 18/9/2013 Other archive footage provided by Greenpeace

People in this episode

Host: Justin Rowlatt

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Greenpeace, Gazprom

Places: Arctic

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