100 Celebrities Back Greenpeace in Fight against Oil Drilling in Arctic

Like a pebble hitting the Atlantic Ocean, the recent global environmental conference in Rio de Janeiro hardly caused a ripple. Too many political leaders were too busy to come because of problems at home over a mountain of government debt and too few jobs for their citizens.

Nevertheless, Greenpeace did make a tiny splash by announcing that 100 celebrities – including Paul McCartney, Robert Redford and Richard Branson – had signed the group’s pledge against oil drilling at the top of the world.

Even if Greenpeace had gotten 1,000 celebrities to sign, however, the group would still face a tough fight, given that the Arctic region represents the last great unexploited region of oil and natural gas reserves on earth. A number of countries, including Russia, Canada and the U.S., are racing to plant their flags in the area.

It will be interesting to see whether any of Greenpeace’s celebrities really roll up their sleeves to try to prevent the new oil drilling.

To learn more, read this post at Reuters.