MJ Kim/MPL Communications Ltd.Paul McCartney has written a long message imploring people to join him in supporting Greenpeace's recently launched campaign to convince the United Nations to declare Earth's Arctic region an ecological sanctuary. In the essay, the Beatles legend points out how drastically the polar icecap has receded since 1968, the year his old band released "The White Album" and when a famous photo of the Earth was taken by an astronaut from outer space.
McCartney notes that our continued use of fossil fuels is one of the major reasons for global warming, which is putting the wildlife in the Arctic in great danger.
He explains, "By digging up fossil? fuels and burning our ancient forests we've put so much carbon into the? atmosphere that today's astronauts are looking at a different planet."
Sir Paul adds that, rather than trying to reverse the damage already caused by fossil fuel extraction, oil companies are "eyeing the previously inaccessible oil beneath the sea bed ?at the top of the world. They're exploiting the disappearance of the ice to ?drill for the very same fuel that caused the melting in the first place."
McCartney goes on to ask people to sign Greenpeace's Arctic Rising petition, which seeks the creation of "a legally protected sanctuary around the North Pole and a ban on oil ?drilling and industrial fishing in Arctic waters." More than 1 million people already have signed the online document, and the environmental organization is planning to plant a copy of the petition beneath the seabed at the North Pole as a symbol of its dedication to protect the region.
McCartney also explains that, as part of the initiative, people can choose one of five Arctic animals -- a polar bear, a snowy owl, an Arctic fox, a walrus? or a narwhal -- to represent them in their efforts to recruit other people to support the petition. Quips the singer, "So now I've got to decide which animal I'm going to be. Yeah, you've guessed it. I am the Walrus."
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio
