Arctic sea ice has hit its sixth-lowest point on record. The figure is an improvement over last year’s record low, but still marks the latest in an overall trend of long-term decline caused by global warming. The Arctic has lost around 40 percent of its ice sheet since 1980. On Wednesday, Russian coast guards arrested two activists with the group Greenpeace after they tried to scale an oil platform in the Arctic’s Barents Sea. A Greenpeace member spoke out from the group’s ship, the Arctic Sunrise.

Faiza Oulahsen: “We’re here in the Russian Arctic taking action against the first Arctic oil platform to go into production, which pose a huge threat to the fragile environment. Gazprom is known for its poor safety standards, and we’ve seen Shell screw up in the Alaskan Arctic last year, and now these two reckless oil companies are teaming up. It’s a disaster waiting to happen. We can see the Arctic sea ice melting in front of our own eyes, and instead of seeing that as a huge threat to mankind and the planet, oil companies are rushing into the Arctic to drill for the oil that caused climate change in the first place.”