In her spare time, while not playing various warrior asskickers, Lucy Lawless is a Greenpeace activist. And yesterday, while we were all sitting around watching puppy videos, Lawless and six other activists hopped aboard a Shell drilling ship off the coast of New Zealand. Actually, they weren’t allowed to, so it’s technically a hijacking. They were protesting the potential environmental damage caused by oil drilling in the Arctic, where the ship was headed. Lawless and her fellow activists were threatened with arrest, but stood their ground. Because seriously, would you expect anything less from Lucy Lawless? She is a warrior princess — for the Earth.

Lawless live-tweeted the protest after illegally boarding the Noble Discoverer, and later admitted to MSNBC that she was “shell-shocked” that she was actually taking part in it. Despite her nerves, she defended her mission, but stopped short of calling herself an activist:

“…The world has been putting fossil fuels in the air and the scientists have been screaming from the rooftops. The fact that now the major oil companies are spearheading this mad oil dash to the Arctic, one of the most pristine environments left on the planet, it’s the definition of madness. They think the melting ice caps is not a warning to humanity about climate change—they think it’s an invitation. This is unacceptable. We cannot allow our grandchildren to grow up with a terrible burden. That’s what we’re doing here today. Hands off the Arctic!”

Lawless first became involved with Greenpeace in 1992 after playing an activist in The Rainbow Warrior. And now, a wife (of producer Rob Tapert) and mother of two, she uses her clout to stand against companies that she believes are causing irreparable damage to the planet. Shell, Greenpeace says, has a bad record on oil spills and killing animals. Because it’s the Arctic, Greenpeace also believes that a spill would be “nearly impossible” to clean up.

The protest was cut short by police, who said they respected a peaceful protest, but had to stop any law-breaking, and one person (not Lawless) was arrested. However, their effort did result in the ship being delayed for departure.

Top pic via Greenpeace

(via MSNBC, Blastr)

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