Greenpeace, business leaders and many celebrities will make an announcement today, June 21st to call for a global sanctuary in the Arctic. It is timed to coincide with the longest day, the summer solstice, when the Arctic is bathed in 24 hours of sunlight. The campaign is being launched worldwide with "polar bears" appearing in many capital cities.

The campaign is being launched by entrepreneur Richard Branson, actress Lucy Lawless and the Greenpeace International executive director Kumi Naidoo at the Rio+20 Earth summit. This is where government level efforts to establish a protected area around the pole were killed by the three countries pushing hardest to develop the region: the US, Canada and Russia. Norway is a 4th country who is also interested in developing the Arctic for oil.

Organizers are hoping that the star-studded initiators of the campaign, (who include nine Oscar winners, ten Golden Globe winners and five Grammy Award winners) will help to attract a million other supporters from the wider public via an online petition. Some of the celebrities who are backing this are Robert Redford, Sir Paul McCartney, Penelope Cruz, Jude Law, Pedro Almodovar, Thom Yorke and many others whose names will appear on "the Arctic Scroll" that will be planted on the seabed at the North Pole. This is part of a major new drive to halt oil drilling and unsustainable fishing in the region.

Greenpeace International executive director Kumi Naidoo has said;
"The Arctic is coming under assault and needs people from around the world to stand up and demand action to protect it. A ban on offshore oil drilling and unsustainable fishing would be a huge victory against the forces ranged against this precious region and the 4 million people who live there. And a sanctuary in the uninhabited area around the pole would in a stroke stop the polluters colonizing the top of the world without infringing on the rights of indigenous communities."

Many of the Indigenous groups have also given their backing. Rodion Sulyandziga, from the Udege people and first vice president of the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North agrees with this; "A large-scale oil exploration 'development' can irreversibly destroy the virgin purity of the Arctic region, putting at stake the physical existence and survival of indigenous peoples who, without their traditional living patterns, without their eternal habitat, will have no future."

Once a million people sign the Arctic Scroll, it will be taken to the north pole and planted on the sea floor. Please take a minute to click on the link and add your signature now to the Arctic Scroll to support this very important effort to save the Arctic from drilling for oil.