Activism

"Greenpeace halted exploratory drilling by a Scottish oil firm off the coast of Greenland on Tuesday after four protesters scaled an oil rig and suspended tents from its underside."

"Above the Arctic Circle in Canada near Greenland, five Inuit villages have won a court order that blocks a German icebreaker from conducting seismic tests of an underwater region that abounds with marine life -- and possibly with oil, gas and minerals."

EPA officials in New York had to postpone a planned hearing on the impact of the natural gas drilling method known as hydraulic fracturing. The reason: the large number of passionate people planning to attend or demonstrate.

"The front-runner for the Republican nomination in the Colorado governor’s race is causing a stir with claims that his likely Democratic opponent, Mayor John Hickenlooper of Denver, is bringing the city under United Nations control by promoting bike riding and other sustainability measures."

"When Barack Obama took over the White House from George W. Bush, environmental activists breathed a collective sigh of relief. ... But recently, Obama and his administration have been taking flak from the left on the environment."

"Annie Leonard used to spout jargon. She reveled in the sort of geek-speak that glazes your eyeballs. ... Today the 45-year-old Berkeley activist is America's pitchperson for a new style of environmental message. Out with boring PowerPoints and turgid reports; in with witty videos that explain complex issues in digestible terms."

"A Japanese court on Wednesday convicted an anti-whaling activist from New Zealand of assault and obstructing Japan's whaling fleet in the Antarctic. But his sentence was suspended, meaning he will not be jailed."

"Environmental groups filed two new major lawsuits Thursday, aimed at forcing the coal industry to stop violations of water-quality limits for toxic selenium."

"For 16 months, they have protested mountaintop mining. Now the coal giant is pursuing court injunctions, and the demonstrators are facing more severe punishments for their civil disobedience."

The Nature Conservancy, scrambling to shield oyster beds from the Gulf Oil Spill, faces a PR backlash as a result of its partnership with oil giant BP to help fund its work.