by Courtney Mattison
A major environmental campaign is reaching a tipping point in Spain and making waves around the globe, and you can get involved. After years of prolonged opposition in and out of court by environmental and political groups, in August the Spanish government granted permission to Spanish oil giant Repsol and its partners to conduct exploratory drilling for oil and gas in the waters surrounding the Canary Islands, an ecological hotspot and popular tourist destination. An extraordinary group of activists, celebrities, governments, universities, scientific committees, tour operators, foundations and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) including WWF, Greenpeace and Oceana are uniting in the fight against this controversial prospecting project as Repsol prepares to begin drilling in upcoming months. This opposition movement is ramping up its efforts with an international campaign – Save Canarias – to protect the Canary Islands from oil spills and other potentially catastrophic threats associated with underwater hydrocarbon exploration and drilling.…