In Pictures: Slicks Seep on in the Amazon

“The water is ruined – we’re all getting sick from it,” Ines turned the fussing baby from one hand to the other. She told me he had been suffering from diarrhea, likely due to the contamination of one thing or another, as everything seemed to have been touched. “I gave him a bath in the river water and he’s had stomach problems since. It’s the same with this one,” she pointed to the infant’s sister peeking out from behind Mama’s legs. “…with all the children really.”

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Stop Shell Oil from harming walruses in the Arctic’s Chukchi Sea! Chip in to support our critical efforts in court.

Their homes are literally melting away due to extreme climate change. They’re being forced ashore, where they are far from food and vulnerable to injury. Their calves are dying in stampedes caused by disturbances at these coastal aggregations.

And now our government is giving Shell Oil and other oil companies the green light to drill and conduct deafening seismic surveying in their home, chasing them from feeding and resting areas and adding to their mounting misfortunes. Will you help us fight back?

Walruses are the Arctic’s canary in a coal mine. And now more than ever, they are struggling to survive.

Recently my team and I filed a lawsuit to challenge a U.S. Fish and Wildlife rule permitting companies like Shell Oil to harm Pacific walruses during reckless Arctic Ocean oil drilling. Help us see this fight through.

Make a tax-deductible gift today to support our efforts in court.

Pacific walruses—which the government has determined need protection under the Endangered Species Act—depend on Chukchi Sea ice in the spring and summer for resting, raising their young, feeding, and avoiding predators. But in recent years this sea ice has shrunk substantially—and with it, much of the walruses’ prime habitat.

Now Big Oil wants to drill offshore and disturb these majestic creatures with seismic testing; risky, dirty, and loud drilling; ice-breaking; and airplane and helicopter use during the time of year they’re most vulnerable, and in the region most critical to their survival.

Adding insult to injury, the drilling would accelerate climate change, which is already putting this species at risk.

We at Earthjustice are doing everything we can to fight back and save walruses from oil drilling and the worst effects of climate change, but we need you to stand with us.

Together we can fight back.

In 2012, Arctic sea ice shattered previous low records, covering only about half the area covered on average from 1981 to 2010. The extent of Arctic sea ice is declining faster than predicted, in a dramatic change that is a major stress on walruses.

Without sea ice, walruses are flocking to land in large numbers, where food becomes scarce. Loud noises or disturbances can cause herds to become alarmed and stampede into the water, trampling and killing small walruses and baby calves in the process. Reckless and irresponsible oil development could make things much worse.

Walruses are struggling—they need a good lawyer. We’re fighting multiple battles to stop reckless and irresponsible drilling in the Arctic. Help us win this and other critical fights!

Thank you for all that you do,

Erik Grafe Staff Attorney Earthjustice, Alaska Office