Voice of anger as Church protests at drilling
SINGER AND activist Charlotte Church has performed a Titanic-inspired protest song over oil giant Shell’s efforts to drill in the Arctic.
Ms Church sang with a string quartet close to the oil company’s London headquarters as part of a month-long protest by Greenpeace, who warn drilling in the Arctic could lead to environmental disaster.
She told supporters her rendition of Dinah Washington’s This Bitter Earth was aimed at Shell staff in a bid to make them question the company’s actions.
The performance, sheltered from the pouring rain under a railway arch, was inspired by the string quartet on the Titanic who continued to perform as the ship sank after hitting an iceberg, Greenpeace said.
Ms Church said: “This is aimed at the people who are working at Shell... to do something so emotive outside their offices and make the people who are working there question some things.
“I think it’s a really interesting form of protest to meld protest with art and I think this was really smart.”
The US government this month gave Shell the final permit it needs to drill for oil in the Arctic Ocean off Alaska’s north west coast for the first time in more than two decades.
Shell hopes to drill two exploration wells during the short 2015 open-water season which lasts until late September.
After her performance, Ms Church covered her face with her hands which were painted with the words “Save the Arctic”.
She said: “Really it is just about nothing else but profit, money and big business and I just think it affects us all on the entire planet.
Shell said it respected people’s right to protest, but criticised the campaign group’s “publicity stunt”.
A spokesman for the company said: “We believe we can play an important role in developing the Arctic’s energy resources.
“We choose to explore there because we have the expertise and experience to operate responsibly and be profitable at the same time.”