Proving that she's still every bit the warrior she was when she played Xena Warrior Princess on the popular TV show, Lucy Lawless and fellow Greenpeace activists took control of an oil drilling ship off the coast of New Zealand yesterday to stop them from drilling in the Arctic and potentially causing environmental damage. Here's what the brave and beautiful Ms. Lawless had to say about the incident via live-tweet:
…The world has been putting fossil fuels in the air and the scientists have been screaming from the rooftops. The fact that now the major oil companies are spearheading this mad oil dash to the Arctic, one of the most pristine environments left on the planet, it’s the definition of madness. They think the melting ice caps is not a warning to humanity about climate change—they think it’s an invitation. This is unacceptable. We cannot allow our grandchildren to grow up with a terrible burden. That’s what we’re doing here today. Hands off the Arctic!
I bet the crew on board the oil drilling ship were glad that she didn't bring any Chakram (razor discs) with her, but wearing her battle armor during the hijacking would have been a nice touch!
--via The Mary Sue
"Americans love their big cars and trucks, the out of season fruit and veg shipped from south of the border to Maine. There’s also a stigma in America that you only ride public transport if you’re poor and that small economy, gas saving cars, are unsafe and break easily."
Try this one on for size...I live in Texas. Texas is a big state. Texas is bigger than several European countries combined. Not only is Texas a big state, but everything here is spread out. A lot. So yes, a vehicle is required for driving places, especially if you live in a rural area.
My family owns two SUVs. Why? Because we have a lot of extended family and we carpool. We also make several 10 hour trips a year to visit even more extended family in another state. Of course, my husband works at home so at least we don't have a daily work commute, just my kid's school (which is a 30 minute drive away). Sure, we could survive with a smaller vehicle but I dare you to spend 10-12 hours in a Prius with two small children and a dog.
Public transportation? Yes, I used public transportation...when I lived in Dallas. My city doesn't offer any sort of public transport, and if I have to spend a day in the city I end up driving 10 miles to the train station.
As for these hybrid and electric cars...the cost to create, maintain, and dispose (batteries) of these cars is the same if not more than gas-powered cars, and electric and hybrid cars suck for long-distance highway driving.
Now to end my rant...and I'll just close with the pointless information that I'm currently re-watching the entire Xena series on Netflix. Almost done with season 2 right now.
I know the Dutch statistically have equal or even less rates of usage then other countries... I am just saying that Greenpeace didn't move their headquarters to Amsterdam for the tax breaks.
I work in the environmental field and have know people in Greenpeace. They are a bunch of whack job suburban terrorists.
I was referring to the comments made by Ee trying to imply that he/she was eking out an idyllic existence in perfect harmony with Nature. There's nobody with "no impact" on their environment. That was pretty much my point - you know, questioning the whole "holier-than-thou" stuff.
Oh, and the fact that kittens would probably be some other type of fuel than fossil fuel.
I'm not sure what deeper meaning you're looking for in my comment. Please don't put words in my mouth otherwise.
@Sandi Craws: it's hard to say what it accomplishes. At least now these issues are on the political agenda, at least they are trying to do something about it. Without protests like this ever happening nothing at all would be done.
And if you think all people in the netherlands are permanently high, it is you who is smoking some strong stuff.
Lots of hatred in these comments. We all have an impact on the environment to some extent, just by our own existence.
Unless you live in the wild and eat your own poop, I'm pretty sure you have some impact on the environment.
This kind of activism doesn't accomplish anything except making Greenpeace look bad.
I mean how can you take an organization that moved their headquarters to Amsterdam seriously? All their board meetings are catered with Space Cake.
And war is still war. You like war don't you? You types usually do. Well; you seem to have no problem going to war if somebody does something that you don't like.
Yes technically they are breaking the law, but for good reasons (in this case).
Point is: if they don't want to listen, you have to do more than just talk.
>> and climate change isn’t manmade.
Either you people are being paid to make comments like that or it's even worse than I thought.
(If it's not one person with different nics.)
There are people who care about future generations, and people (like slander) who don't.
There are people who understand the role big corporations play in all this, and people (like slander) who don't.
And apparently there are people who like big oil companies, and people who don't.
"It’s crazy to imagine that we could live our everyday lives without using fossil fuels. I couldn’t, that’s for sure. Could you?"
Actually, yeah, it's not all that hard. The only thing in out lives that currently requires fossil fuel are internal combustion engines - and we have many more of those than we need due to cultural tendencies and poor (sub)urban planning. Alternative energy and newer, safer forms of nuclear energy can easily provide all the power we need, if there were an appropriate momentum to move that way.
The only reason we continue to consume what we do, like we do, is momentum and money, and even the oil industry admits that.
I'm really rather amazed at the blind black-and-white support of the oil companies, who pretty clearly do not have the best interests of the general population of this planet at heart. Are Americans really that desperate to make themselves a cliche?
And you're right, being a bit revolutionary never got anyone anywhere. Like dumping a fortune's worth of tea into a harbor.
You can try to do good to the Earth, the environment, but *reducing* your impact. You can still make things change AND use a car/have plastic items @ home, by *reducing* their numbers.
And on the topic of legal, "banners and petitions" protesting, unfortunately the past 40 years (GreenPeace is 38yo) of history can show you the limits of this approach. Time is running short, we need stronger actions to be taken.
And as to the topic of the story, what she did was illegal. There are better and legal ways to protest a situation. It is actions like this that make Greenpeace lose a lot of credibility with me.
And yes, it's pretty easy to not rely on oil, in fact most countries don't heavily rely on it. Not like America which is by faaaar the biggest consumer of oil on the planet. Topping even (what people consider a highly polluted country) China. But Americans love their big cars and trucks, the out of season fruit and veg shipped from south of the border to Maine. There's also a stigma in America that you only ride public transport if you're poor and that small economy, gas saving cars, are unsafe and break easily. Did you know that the US consumed more oil than China, Russia, and India combined in 2009? http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/ene_oil_con-energy-oil-consumption
It's easy to keep up your bad habits, much harder to change them.
So yes, I certainly could, and do, live my every day life without fossil fuels and rarely use anything that requires it, actually. Not because I'm a snob, it's just my normal way of living. But then, I don't live in America.
Lucy Lawless is still hot, still making TV shows, so still relevant. She can take over my boat.
"She's a pirate!" "it's against the law!!" "put her in prison, let her freeze to death!!"
Well, sometimes what's legal is NOT what's moral, deal with it. Sometimes we just don't have enough time to just follow the rules to make things change.
So she took action.
Did this change the world? Certainly not, but she tried, and I deeply respect her action for that.
Jim, Sea Shepherd volunteer - yet another pirate, haters I don't care what you think. :-)
Of course, it is unhappy news when an accident happens in the oil industry but the benefits of what they do for us are much more numerous than the few accidents that occur.
It's crazy to imagine that we could live our everyday lives without using fossil fuels. I couldn't, that's for sure. Could you?
I live in New Zealand. We are very familiar with the location of the Antarctic. This ship, however, is not headed there.
Nothing that simple research wouldn't have confirmed had you bothered instead of trying to be wiser than you actually are.
New Zealand is in the southern hemisphere. The Arctic is in the northern hemisphere. Bob was pointing out that the article should read "Antarctic."
Nothing that an elementary school education couldn't have told ya.
The ship is currently in port in New Zealand, where it has been doing exploratory work offshore. It is now about to sail to the Arctic. Lucy Lawless is a New Zealander, so she is protesting at home.
Nothing 2 minutes on Google couldn't have told ya.
Later in that decade:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugEzQAAGMSQ&f
It is neat to catch up on obscure celebs from bygone days. Have you seen the kid from "Home Alone" lately?
Either Greenpeace, Jamie Frevele (the writer) or both, don't know one end of the planet from the other.
No.
Hope she has a very good lawyer.