Sea birds fight over the remains of a dead polar bear on a ice flow in the Canadian Arctic in 2008. The Inuit and Greenpeace are warning that seismic testing for oil and gas is grave danger to the environment. The photo shows a polar bear lying on the ice. We see his face and front paws covered in white fur but the rest of his body has been eaten away. We see his ribs stripped bare and covered in dried blood. Two of the white sea birds are situated toward the rear of the bear's body. Their wings are spread. Toward the front of the bear's body is another bird. He is sitting just below the bear's neck. The bird's mouth is open as if yawning or crowing. In the background are white ice and blue-tinted water.

Sea birds fight over the remains of a dead polar bear on a ice flow in the Canadian Arctic in 2008. The Inuit and Greenpeace are warning that seismic testing for oil and gas is grave danger to the environment.
Photo Credit: Canadian Press / JONATHAN HAYWARD

Inuit and Greenpeace issue warning about Arctic seismic testing

Activists from Inuit communities in Canada’s far north were set to take part in protest Wednesday in Nunavut.

The protest at Clyde River, a tiny Baffin Island hamlet just above the Arctic Circle. is part of a growing backlash against seismic testing for oil and gas in the Canadian Arctic.

The Inuit and Greenpeace say federal government plans to gauge reserves with high-intensity sound waves pose a grave danger to marine life.

Last week, Greenpeace took the issue to the United Nations.

Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq sharply criticized Greenpeace this week, slamming its opposition to the seal hunt, saying the group is using the Inuit to advance its own causes.

But an Inuit environmentalist fired back at Ms. Aglukkaq. Niore Iqalukjuak accused the Conservative government of “cultural genocide” for its efforts to open up the Arctic to oil and gas exploration.

He says the Inuit depend on the Arctic waterways for food and that Inuit lives depend on them.

Greenpeace fought the commercial seal hunt in the 1980s. Recently, the environmental grouip apologized for the detrimental impact that campaign had on the Inuit.

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