It's been a historic year for our campaign to Save the Arctic. Hard to believe as it is, we only launched back in 2012, but our movement has grown to over six million and is getting stronger every day.

Here are five major things we achieved together this year.

1. We took our call for an Arctic sanctuary to the UN

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon felt the strength of our movement when we presented him with over 6.5 million Save The Arctic petitions in a meeting at the UN in September.

2. We broke up LEGO and Shell

We ended a 50-year partnership between LEGO and Shell with help from Greenpeace's most successful online video of all time and over a million individuals around the world.

3. Politicians and celebrities backed our vision of a sanctuary

The European Parliament backed our vision for an Arctic Sanctuary along with over a thousand public figures who have now signed the Arctic Declaration. President Tong of low-lying island state Kiribati and Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson joined us in the Arctic, to witness the region's beauty and understand the threats it faces first hand.

4. We occupied an oil rig for 90 hours to protect a nature reserve

We staged a 90-hour occupation of a Statoil rig to protect Bear Island, a nature reserve in the Norwegian Arctic threatened by drilling.

5. We fought against seismic testing in the Canadian Arctic

We joined forces with the tiny Inuit community of Clyde River in the Canadian Arctic to fight back against dangerous seismic testing in their waters.

These are truly some amazing achievements, but there is still a lot of work to do: in 2015 Shell is planning to drill for oil in the fragile Alaskan Arctic.

Our best chance to stop this madness is now, before it starts. We hope we can count on your support in the coming months and wish you all the best for the year ahead.

Together, we can Save the Arctic. Click here to join the movement.

Trillia Fidei-Bagwell is the international online campaigns co-ordinator for Greenpeace's Arctic campaign, and works with Greenpeace Argentina.

It's been a great year for Greenpeace and our supporters. Getting toxic chemicals out of our clothes. Putting sustainable seafood in our grocery stores. Giant internet companies breaking away from climate-denying lobbyists. We could go on (and we will). Here's just a small sample of the victories you helped make happen this year.

Detoxing our clothing

In June, Adidas laid out its plans to be toxic-free by 2020. The company agreed to phase out 99% of all polyflourinated chemicals (PFCs) from its clothing by the end of 2017, building up to a 100% phaseout by 2020. In November, Puma announced its commitment to eliminate hazardous chemicals from its products and supply chain. Puma will ensure 100% of all its products are PFC-free by no later than the end of 2017. The commitments came after international actions at stores, letters to the CEO and Greenpeace investigative reporting.

PFCs are used in the manufacturing of clothing and shoes to keep them dirt- and water-resistant. However, these chemicals are known to accumulate in the environment and impact human health. Some of them damage the immune and reproductive systems, and are linked to thyroid disease.

Saving our seas

Four retailers (Whole Foods, Safeway, Wegmans, and Trader Joe's) scored "green" and another 18 major supermarkets received passing grades in Greenpeace's 8th edition of the Carting Away the Oceans report this year. The report evaluates the sustainable seafood policies and practices of 26 major U.S. retailers.

"This work sends a strong message to consumers, supermarkets, and the fishing industry that we must protect our oceans," says Senior Oceans Campaigner David Pinsky. "I cannot thank Greenpeace supporters and volunteers enough for joining us over the years as we take a stand for our oceans. Without you, this wouldn't be possible."

Internet companies dump ALEC

In August and September, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Yahoo, and Yelp announced they were ending their memberships in the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). ALEC provides state legislators with model bills to repeal renewable energy laws, attack EPA standards for carbon pollution, and mandate climate denial instructions in schools, among other initiatives. Greenpeace and other organizations have been working to expose ALEC's hypocritical dealings.

Saving the Paradise Forest

All 8 US companies included on Greenpeace's 2014 Tiger Challenge made No Deforestation Palm Oil commitments, promising to move their palm oil supplies away from supply chains that result in cutting down tiger habitats. The 8 companies include Colgate-Palmolive, General Mills, Johnson & Johnson, Kellogg's, Mars, Mondelez (maker of Oreo cookies), PepsiCo and Procter & Gamble (P&G), the largest single corporate user of palm kernel oil in the world. Of all 8 company commitments, Pepsi's still needs a stronger policy behind it.

P&G's announcement came a few weeks after nearly 400,000 supporters emailed the company, and Greenpeace staged protests around the world and at the P&G's headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio. Following P&G's announcement, Cargill – one of the largest importers of palm oil into the US – also announced a No Deforestation policy. Clearing forests for palm oil plantations is the leading cause of deforestation in Indonesia's Paradise Forest, a critical hotspot for endangered animals like the orangutan and Sumatran tiger.

LEGO dumps Shell

LEGO building toys announced in October that it would not renew its partnership with Shell. The announcement came after Greenpeace supporters sent over a million petition signatures to LEGO–93,000 from U.S. supporters–calling on LEGO to remove Shell's logo from its toys and end its half century old partnership with the oil giant. Once again, everything is awesome in the LEGO world.

"The work we all did to pull Lego out of its partnership with Shell was a testament to what we can accomplish together," says Arctic Campaigner John Deans. "That millions of people worldwide are standing side by side demanding that the Arctic be off limits to oil drilling."

Oregon denies coal export terminal

In August the Oregon Department of State Lands denied a key permit for Ambre Energy's proposed Morrow Pacific coal export terminal. The decision was the result ofyears of grassroots organizing from a range of organizations, including, Greenpeace, Sierra Club, Columbia Riverkeeper, Climate Solutions, and many more.

The permit rejection poses an existential threat for the financially troubled Ambre Energy, and a major defeat for the coal industry at large. The coal industry is desperate to export coal as coal usage declines in the US. The decision leaves only three export terminal proposals left in Washington state and Canada. The other four proposals have seemingly been defeated.

Saving the Alaska Tongass and Island Wolf

In March the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed with Greenpeace that Endangered Species Act (ESA) protection "may be warranted" for Alaska's endemic Alexander Archipelago wolf. It's an important milestone for the wolf following years of action by Greenpeace and allied organizations, including our ESA petition filed in 2011 and legal actions against U.S. Forest Service logging of coastal old-growth forests there.

"Preservation of this species is important in its own right, and is also critical to the ecological system," says Greenpeace Forest Campaigner Larry Edwards. The final ESA decision is scheduled for December 2015.

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1. Their antlers are velvety fingerprints

Reindeer antlers are bony appendages that grow every year. The antlers grow quickly – up to 2 cm per day – in a blood-supply-rich material called "velvet", which is exactly what it looks like. That's why antlers feel warm as they are growing. Reindeer are the only mammals that grow new sets of antlers annually. Like humans' fingerprints, no two antlers are the same – every antler has its own shape and design.

2. Their name means "snow shoveller"

Reindeer and Caribou are two names for the same species (Rangifer tarandus), with reindeer generally referring to the domesticated variety that are herded by humans and pull sleds. The name Caribou originates from the Mi'kmaq word Qalipu (pronounced hal-lay-boo) which means "snow shoveller". This is a reference to the shovel-like design of the sharp edges of their concave hooves which they use when digging in the snow for lichen and other plants.

3. They have magical eyes that change color

Reindeer are the only mammals whose eyes are known to change color depending on the season. The eyes are gold during the summer when the reindeer experience almost constant sunlight, but in the darkness of winter their retinas become less reflective and their eyes appear blue.

4. Reindeer calves are faster than an Olympic runner

A one-day-old North American reindeer can outrun an Olympic sprinter. Adults can run at speeds of 40-50 mph. This is why reindeer are not hunted by polar bears – the bears would overheat while chasing a reindeer!

5. Santa's crew is all female

Male reindeer shed their antlers at the end of the mating season in early December. Females, however, keep their thinner antlers throughout the winter. If all the sightings are to be believed, then it is the ladies pulling Santa's sleigh full of presents through the sky.

6. They communicate with their knees

Some reindeer subspecies have knees that make a clicking noise while walking so they can stay together in a blizzard. They also vocalize: scientists found males are equipped with a large air sac in the neck that enables them to emit a hoarse rattling sound, or mating call. The throaty call could deter rival males while attracting a potential mate. For the females, such air sacs allow moms to individualize their calls when communicating with their young. Each reindeer makes a unique call.

7. They're energy-efficient

Reindeer are able to outperform all other land animals in their energy efficiency. They were built for the snow and cold, with hollow hairs that trap in air and keep them well-insulated. During the winter the facial hair of reindeer grows very long down to the lips, which helps to protect the muzzle when they graze in snow. Their noses are specially designed to warm the air before it gets to their lungs. In extremely cold weather reindeer are able to lower the temperature in their legs to just above freezing, which helps them to avoid loss of body heat.

8. They have fancy feet

Like their eyes, reindeer feet can change from season to season. In the summer, their footpads become sponge-like to give them extra traction in the soft tundra. In the winter, the pads shrink and tighten, exposing the hoof rim, which cuts into the ice and snow and allows them to dig for food.

9. Their antlers are delicious?

When reindeer shed their antlers every year, they don't just lie on the ground. Instead the antlers are eaten by rodents and other animals, and are a great source of calcium and minerals.

10. They have super-intense milk

Reindeer milk is said to be some of the richest and most nutritious milk produced by any terrestrial mammal. It has an impressive 22 percent butterfat and 10 percent protein; by comparison, cow's milk has only 3 to 4 percent butterfat.

Trillia Fidei is an International Online Campaigns Coordinator at Greenpeace Argentina.

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As a country with so much invested in high-tech export earnings, Korea's out-of-control distant water fishing industry must be starting to give its politicians and business leaders ulcers. The Oyang 75, sitting in Montevideo, Uruguay, after fishing just outside of Argentinean waters, demands international attention.

The blacklisted ship is owned by Korean fishing company Sajo Oyang. Or is it? The infamous vessel had been legally forfeited to the New Zealand government. Sajo paid a bond for its release, and continued to control and operate it out of reach of NZ authorities, who they now owe over NZ$400,000 (US$310,000) in unpaid fines. This has been going on for years – and it's high time Oyang 75 was seized and scrapped or sold to responsible owners.

Sajo Oyang has certainly demonstrated that it is far from responsible, regularly breaking both environmental and labour laws in its pursuit of fishing profits. We recently explored some of the troubled fishing company's deplorable actions in a blog about Korea's fishing crime wave.

In 2010, the company's reckless mismanagement led to many deaths when sister ship Oyang 70 sank in New Zealand waters. The coroner's report, which Sajo reportedly tried to suppress, was damning: The master ordered a net of fish to be hauled aboard despite safety concerns, and when the ship started to sink Korean officers evacuated while Indonesian and Filipino crew were left to fend for themselves, without lifejackets.

Earlier this month, another of the company's vessels, Oryong 501, went down in the Bering Sea with the loss of more than 50 lives. These deaths again focused international attention on Sajo, and raised yet more questions about how Korea can possibly claim to be in control of its distant water fishing fleets. Although the official report is yet to be published, information released so far suggests another preventable tragedy: Oryong 501 reportedly sailed without a qualified captain, and other senior officers and engineering crew were reportedly absent or unqualified when the ship left port using fabricated documents.

Oyang 75 has been listed on the Greenpeace pirate fishing blacklist for years, and Korea has recently received warnings for Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing from both the European Union and the United States. While companies like Sajo continue to tarnish Korea's international reputation with their blatant disregard for environmental, fisheries and labour standards, including the very lives of their crew, Korea cannot escape from the disgrace of being labeled an IUU country.

Right now, Oyang 75 is sitting in port in Uruguay, and it's time for governments to act. Co-operation between New Zealand and Uruguay could see the ship seized, and any profit from its sale and catch put towards compensating those who have lost so much putting their lives in the hands of this notorious company.

Karli Thomas is senior oceans campaigner with Greenpeace Aotearoa New Zealand. She has spent many months at sea in fishing grounds, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Pacific Ocean and as far south as Antarctic waters. Karli co-ordinates Greenpeace's pirate fishing blacklist and works on illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

A dirty business is going on in the English Channel. Each December, in its last mammoth fishing trip of the year, a huge fleet of trawlers heads to the narrow strait to hunt down the spawning herring.

Over the past few days I have been there with a small team of Greenpeace researchers to bear witness to a fishery whose wasteful practices so obviously belong to the past. In following the trawlers we've been competing with thousands of seabirds to collect samples of the leftovers that float in the wake of these monster boats.

It is almost beyond imagination that each one of the more than 15 giant vessels we have observed are able to catch thousands of tonnes of herring in just one fishing trip. Moreover, they throw away tonnes and tonnes of fish, so-called 'bycatch'. Allegedly, a lot of this fish is perfectly edible.

Considerable scientific effort is going into measuring the bycatch thrown back into the sea here, between the shores of England and France. It has mainly been Dutch observers on board Channel fishery vessels who have collected the data, and it is shocking to flick through their findings. In addition to fish species like mackerel, basking sharks, grey seals and pilot whales can also be scooped up in the supertrawlers' nets.

Official observers have documented up to 600 tonnes of fish being discarded in a single fishing trip by one single vessel, equivalent to around two million fish-based meals. The very scale of this discard makes it almost impossible to imagine the level of waste in this fishery.

Under new laws from 1 January 2015, European pelagic fishing vessels will have to land almost everything they catch. It is a major change to the fishing regime, but also an extremely challenging one. How will authorities enforce this progressive and positive piece of legislation? Right now, the truth is that they probably won't be able to if they do not get out from behind their desks.

Each year, a number of monster boats embark on fishing trips hundreds of nautical miles offshore, to the east of Ireland, in the northern North Sea, to west Africa or the South Pacific – fishing grounds far from the watchful eye of any observer. EU Member States will only be able to monitor and control the fishing effort if they ensure that observers are permanently stationed on board, together with complete CCTV coverage.

At the same time, there's a need for governments to increase support for low-impact fishing fleets operating along European coasts. Low-impact fishing belongs to both the past and the future. It is the only approach that can restore a healthy balance in our seas while providing a living for millions of people all over the planet.

At present, a small number of vessels not only discard large amounts of fish, they also catch more than their fair share. Governments must cut the capacity of the fishing fleet and these destructive monster boats should be the first vessels to go. Otherwise they will spell an end to the annual catch of herring spawning in the English Channel.

All of us who believe in low-impact fishing can send a clear sign to this selfish industry.

Support low-impact fishing by joining the more than 300,000 people who demand fair fishing.

Thilo Maack is a marine biologist with Greenpeace Germany.

In a victory for the freedom to engage in peaceful protest, 16 activists from Greenpeace Spain, along with a freelance photojournalist – together known as the #Cofrentes17 – were yesterday acquitted by a court in Valencia of causing public disorder and injury for calling attention to the dangers of nuclear power, during a protest in February 2011.

Nearly four years ago, the activists entered the 30-year old Cofrentes nuclear power plant, some 60 km from Valencia, and painted "Peligro Nuclear" (Nuclear Danger) on one of the plant's cooling towers.

Their argument rested in part on Article 45 of the Spanish Constitution that, "Everyone has the right to enjoy an environment suitable for the development of the person, as well as the duty to preserve it".

This didn't stop prosecutors from demanding prison sentences of two years and eight months for each of the #Cofrentes17. And Greenpeace Spain risked being saddled with a fine, and paying compensation to the operator of the plant, Iberdrola, that would have amounted to nearly €360,000.

Rejecting this, the court ordered the 16 activists to pay costs of €2,232 for damaging a fence around the plant, along with a daily fine of €6 over a six-month period, amounting in total to €17,280.

The freelance journalist who was reporting on the protest faces no costs or fines.

This is a welcome outcome that underlines the essential freedom of journalists to pursue their legitimate news gathering activities without fear of prosecution. Any other result would have had a 'chilling effect' on journalistic freedom in Spain.

Mario Rodriguez, Greenpeace Spain's director, was delighted by the verdict.

"The ruling shows that the protest at Cofrentes was peaceful and did not result in any injuries. It's an important blow against attempts to criminalise peaceful protest and environmental activism. Greenpeace Spain has a 40-year history of peaceful activism and this verdict only serves to strengthen our resolve to continue our work of protecting the environment."

The court's verdict makes it clear that the activists were justified in protesting against nuclear power and drawing public attention to plans to extend the life of the ageing nuclear plant.

The judgement is not yet final, however. Appeals against the verdict may be lodged with the provincial court during the coming 10 days.

In the meantime, Greenpeace Spain wishes to extend its grateful thanks to the thousands of supporters from around the world who took to social media to support the #Cofrentes17, as well as the nearly 200 organisations and individuals who publicly supported the activists and the photojournalist.

Andrew Kerr works on Greenpeace International's press desk.