Looking back on July 25th, 2015, the Shell Corporation’s notorious icebreaking ship, Fennica arrived in Portland, Oregon near Swan Island where it was confronted by droves of climbers and kayaktivists on a mission; to keep the ship from Arctic drilling in the Chuckchi Sea off the northwest coast of Alaska. As 13 Greenpeace activists hung from the St. Johns Bridge, and hundreds took to the water in kayaks to stop the Fennica, the delay of the ship’s arrival in the Arctic was a sign that Shell couldn’t begin drilling by it’s late September deadline. While the Fennica eventually made it’s way through the blockades, the events of that day were considered a win by climate justice activists. In an interview with Greenpeace executive director, Annie Leonard, she stated, “this was an historic achievement not just because it blocked Shell’s icebreaker from reaching the Arctic, but because it helped to spark an even bigger movement of people to raise their voices for something they believe in.”

As Indigenous Peoples Power Project expands its training network in multiple regions of Turtle Island, we recognize the need to organize and train on all activist fronts, and to protect our water from exploitative resource extraction that harm our streams, lakes, rivers and oceans. Nearly 7 years after the SHELL NO campaign that took place on the Willamette River that day, we are excited to gather in the same location with Mosquito Fleet, a regional network of paddlers, sailors, and community activists fighting for climate justice and a fossil free environment through creative on water direct action and grassroots movement building. On June 24th through the 26th, Indigenous Peoples Power Project and Mosquito Fleet will meet under the St. Johns Bridge at Green Anchors PDX for a 3 day training to prepare the next wave of climate justice activists on the water, and to offer tools to help in our collective fight to save the planet. Huge shout out to Mosquito Fleet trainers for your time, and to Green Anchors PDX for sharing space with us!

Stay tuned and check our calendar for future kayak and direction action training events!

The IP3 Team