We need your help with Requiem for Arctic Ice: The Titanic inspired, ever evolving musical protest

LONDON - Aug. 4, 2015 - PRLog -- Monday 3rd August marked day one of Greenpeace’s musical protest against Shell’s Arctic drilling when the Crystal Palace Quartet and supporting musicians performed the opening recital of ‘Requiem for Arctic Ice’. The performance and composition were inspired by the famous story of the quartet continuing to play as the Titanic went down and is intended to rouse Shell’s UK staff to challenge their bosses on Arctic drilling and urge them to change course.

Every day throughout August, different musicians will be performing the requiem outside Shell’s offices on the South Bank. But the music doesn’t stop there. Whoever you are or wherever you are in the world, you can join the protest. We Make Awesome Sh, in collaboration with Greenpeace, have created an experiential website (http://music.savethearctic.org) (https://music.savethearctic.org) which generates an ever evolving piece of classical music in real time based on social and digital support for Greenpeace’s #SaveTheArctic campaign. This website plays variations of the fourth movement of the Requiem for Arctic Ice highlighting the need to act now and showcase the strength of the growing movement to Shell.

Each online engagement with the protest, changes a different aspect of the music. Tweet or Facebook Shell, share the page or sign the petition and you will be doing your part to save the Arctic and bringing the Requiem to a crescendo. The visualizer on the site also represents the online protest against Shell’s Arctic drilling.

Shell’s fleet is currently hovering at its Arctic drill site. Everyday it’s monitoring the melting ice edge, waiting for its moment to start boring holes deep into the seabed, hoping to strike oil. Shell wants to reach new oil fields under the melting ice and extract more of the stuff that caused the melting in the first place.

The extreme Arctic conditions, including giant floating ice-bergs and stormy seas, make offshore drilling extremely risky. The US administration acknowledged a 75% chance of a large oil spill (http://www.boem.gov/uploadedFiles/BOEM/About_BOEM/BOEM_Re...) over the lifetime of the wells. And scientists say (http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/reports...) that an oil spill in the Arctic would be impossible to clean up, endangering the Arctic’s unique wildlife. Earlier this year, researchers concluded Arctic drilling is incompatible with limiting global warming to 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels (http://www.nature.com/articles/nature14016.epdf?referrer_access_token=0BPsJDUnSCqYkRMbSv7K4NRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0MEzzy4wDRQte5fViQxiPJjD2pVn_VEiIJXUIpylA0k52au177nPq6MK1EoZ4XWOqKviWFcWiotwOKaqMCCDQwv5MxrZGFxcncDB9ccGFis7YH2s39Ho2Z7p0b9IYK_MARdeXuDq8xxhmAWrIot5xnQgJEjOSfHkyc-1jKtKIwFrKoRfzyu-vsCYqVo9h7QACajJF7-kGrZLxxr9_3rAHbziqnq1WV_iIcLrQ1KmlIxAngdvUUoHV3BSOdGcxkDIhw%3D&tracking_referrer=www.theguardian.com), a target agreed by most governments.

Requiem for Arctic Ice is an attempt to change the hearts and minds of the people at Shell who can make the decision not to risk the Arctic's future. Change the music, change their minds, change the future of the Arctic.

Additional Links

The Site: https://music.savethearctic.org

Press Kit: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/yrmkx0dccr19aw0/AADZW9akJn7haxyXIaDPWzHga?dl=0

Video from outside Shell’s HQ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7q1MGttszHA