EyeSpy: Greenpeace Arctic Christmas campaign

Greenpeace have revealed their 2013 Christmas campaign which aims to highlight the urgent need for action to stem the decline of the Arctic.

Downton Abbey actor Jim Carter has taken on the role of Santa for the promotion. In the one and a half minute video he notes the concern that his North Pole home is disappearing.

Entitled ‘An urgent message from Santa’, Jim Carter’s Santa home at the North Pole is collapsing around him with flooding and power failures. It is disabling preparations for Christmas as the Arctic ice melts around him – weeks before Santa’s busiest day of the year. Santa delivers a stark warning that Christmas could be cancelled unless world leaders take action.

I want to do my part to help raise the profile of the threats posed to the Arctic by oil drilling and climate change. So I was pleased to have this opportunity to support Greenpeace and their Christmas campaign. – Jim Carter

The film ends with an emotional appeal from Santa for help to save his Arctic home, and a dire warning of the potential consequences of inaction – empty stockings, forevermore.

The film is part of Greenpeace’s ‘Save the Arctic’ campaign, the body note that in 30 years 75 per cent of the Arctic summer sea ice volume has been lost.

Everyone loves Santa and nobody wants him to lose his home. We should all be worried about the ice melting around the North Pole. If enough people support our campaign to protect the Arctic then the younger generation will be able to sleep well on Christmas Eve, safe in the knowledge that Santa’s home will be saved. – Executive Director of Greenpeace UK, John Sauven