Help Elena's Antarctic Conservation Aspirations
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*IMPORTANT UPDATE*
Based on extensive deliberations amongst the 2041 ClimateForce leadership team, they have collectively decided with Robert Swan to move the 2041 ClimateForce Antarctic Expedition to 17 March - 28 March, 2022.
This was their statement regarding the charge in date:
"With a ship-based expedition to such a remote part of the planet, safety must always be the absolute priority. This difficult decision took many different factors into consideration, including slower-than-expected progress and closed borders in Argentina (and resulting travel restrictions), Covid-19 projections and trend forecasts from various experts and responding organizations, as well as continued restrictions in many of our team members’ home countries - among others.
However, with almost everything there is always an upside, and we prefer to look on the ‘bright side’ of all this. With this new departure date in late March:
- More of our team members from around the world will likely be able to join us given the projected improvement in conditions internationally by spring 2022.
We will be able to explore more of the Peninsula in March and April (i.e. ‘Antarctic autumn’) because more seasonal sea ice will have receded by then.
We will most likely see a greater number of whales than in November, because of increased krill activity!
Sunsets will be even more striking and you will get to experience full night-time darkness in Antarctica (not just twilight like in November). If you have never seen the stars and planets in a properly dark sky with no light pollution, prepare to have your mind explode!
Furthermore, this gives team members extended time to fundraise, and it gives the world (and particularly international travel) more time to heal and normalize."
****
As I stare out of my room in a small central London flat and observe the snow covering the hoods of cars, I can’t help but ponder the deceit that weather brings. While children build snowmen and lick their snowflake-crusted lips, simultaneously glaciers around the Antarctic Peninsula are shrinking rapidly, exacerbated by ice shelf collapse.
Weather is random and fluctuates to the beating of a butterfly’s wings, yet climate remains predictable, and it is through climate models that researchers have revealed the dire need for climate acknowledgment, education, and most of all, effective action.
In March 2022 I plan to embark on a journey to the Antarctic with world-renowned explorer Robert Swan, in an effort to spread awareness on climate change and renewable energy solutions. After putting forward my application and being interviewed, I am so proud to say that I was selected from thousands of applicants to be a part of this extraordinary adventure with approximately 100 others.
Due to the remoteness of the location, airfare to and from Argentina, as well as gear required to withstand such extreme temperatures, my estimated cost for the expedition is £14,000 (£700 for equipment and insurance, £1,000 for airfare, £12,300 for the expedition) for which I desperately need the help of all of you to acquire.
Being a physics student originating from a Portuguese background that unfortunately leaves me all too familiar with the devastation that climate change can cause to communities, ecosystems and landscapes, it has always been a dream of mine to travel to such a significant continent which symbolises the damage brought about by anthropogenic climate change.
As well as this, my passion for education and sustainable change (shown through my previous endeavours such as the 2019 volunteering experience in rural Uganda) implores me to utilise my skills in journalism and story-telling, combined with a strong connection to the scientific community, to become part of a “bridge” that hopes to spark passion among the public to become part of a global collaborative effort to preserve, our currently extremely vulnerable, natural world.
With the opportunity just inches from my grasp, I implore you to help me realise this dream. Robert Swan once said, “The Greatest Threat to Our Planet Is the Belief That Someone Else Will Save It” and I am confident that with everyone’s help, the goal of this expedition can be made attainable and Together we can inspire Change where it truly matters!
Thank you for your support as I embark on this incredible journey. I greatly appreciate it and I can assure you so does our planet.
Check out my Linktree for more information on my fundraising and public engagement campaigns surrounding this mission!
https://linktr.ee/EPR2000
For more information regarding Project 2041, ClimateForce, and the Explorer’s Passage, please see the links below:
ClimateForce/Project 2041: https://2041foundation.org/
Explorer's Passage: https://explorerspassage.com/robert-swan-antarctica-expedition/
Additional links as to why it is imperative that we save the Antarctic:
“Ice is melting across the globe at a faster rate than before”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/55812735
"I explored the Antarctic deep seas for Blue Planet II – and it was like going back 350 million years":
https://goo.gl/rWtiH4
“Earth Has Lost 28 Trillion Tons of Ice since the Mid-1990s”
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/earth-has-lost-28-trillion-tons-of-ice-since-the-mid-1990s/
“Nasa satellite images show how the climate crisis is transforming the planet”
https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/nasa-climate-change-before-after-photo-extreme-weather-b1782576.html
Based on extensive deliberations amongst the 2041 ClimateForce leadership team, they have collectively decided with Robert Swan to move the 2041 ClimateForce Antarctic Expedition to 17 March - 28 March, 2022.
This was their statement regarding the charge in date:
"With a ship-based expedition to such a remote part of the planet, safety must always be the absolute priority. This difficult decision took many different factors into consideration, including slower-than-expected progress and closed borders in Argentina (and resulting travel restrictions), Covid-19 projections and trend forecasts from various experts and responding organizations, as well as continued restrictions in many of our team members’ home countries - among others.
However, with almost everything there is always an upside, and we prefer to look on the ‘bright side’ of all this. With this new departure date in late March:
- More of our team members from around the world will likely be able to join us given the projected improvement in conditions internationally by spring 2022.
We will be able to explore more of the Peninsula in March and April (i.e. ‘Antarctic autumn’) because more seasonal sea ice will have receded by then.
We will most likely see a greater number of whales than in November, because of increased krill activity!
Sunsets will be even more striking and you will get to experience full night-time darkness in Antarctica (not just twilight like in November). If you have never seen the stars and planets in a properly dark sky with no light pollution, prepare to have your mind explode!
Furthermore, this gives team members extended time to fundraise, and it gives the world (and particularly international travel) more time to heal and normalize."
****
As I stare out of my room in a small central London flat and observe the snow covering the hoods of cars, I can’t help but ponder the deceit that weather brings. While children build snowmen and lick their snowflake-crusted lips, simultaneously glaciers around the Antarctic Peninsula are shrinking rapidly, exacerbated by ice shelf collapse.
Weather is random and fluctuates to the beating of a butterfly’s wings, yet climate remains predictable, and it is through climate models that researchers have revealed the dire need for climate acknowledgment, education, and most of all, effective action.
In March 2022 I plan to embark on a journey to the Antarctic with world-renowned explorer Robert Swan, in an effort to spread awareness on climate change and renewable energy solutions. After putting forward my application and being interviewed, I am so proud to say that I was selected from thousands of applicants to be a part of this extraordinary adventure with approximately 100 others.
Due to the remoteness of the location, airfare to and from Argentina, as well as gear required to withstand such extreme temperatures, my estimated cost for the expedition is £14,000 (£700 for equipment and insurance, £1,000 for airfare, £12,300 for the expedition) for which I desperately need the help of all of you to acquire.
Being a physics student originating from a Portuguese background that unfortunately leaves me all too familiar with the devastation that climate change can cause to communities, ecosystems and landscapes, it has always been a dream of mine to travel to such a significant continent which symbolises the damage brought about by anthropogenic climate change.
As well as this, my passion for education and sustainable change (shown through my previous endeavours such as the 2019 volunteering experience in rural Uganda) implores me to utilise my skills in journalism and story-telling, combined with a strong connection to the scientific community, to become part of a “bridge” that hopes to spark passion among the public to become part of a global collaborative effort to preserve, our currently extremely vulnerable, natural world.
With the opportunity just inches from my grasp, I implore you to help me realise this dream. Robert Swan once said, “The Greatest Threat to Our Planet Is the Belief That Someone Else Will Save It” and I am confident that with everyone’s help, the goal of this expedition can be made attainable and Together we can inspire Change where it truly matters!
Thank you for your support as I embark on this incredible journey. I greatly appreciate it and I can assure you so does our planet.
Check out my Linktree for more information on my fundraising and public engagement campaigns surrounding this mission!
https://linktr.ee/EPR2000
For more information regarding Project 2041, ClimateForce, and the Explorer’s Passage, please see the links below:
ClimateForce/Project 2041: https://2041foundation.org/
Explorer's Passage: https://explorerspassage.com/robert-swan-antarctica-expedition/
Additional links as to why it is imperative that we save the Antarctic:
“Ice is melting across the globe at a faster rate than before”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/55812735
"I explored the Antarctic deep seas for Blue Planet II – and it was like going back 350 million years":
https://goo.gl/rWtiH4
“Earth Has Lost 28 Trillion Tons of Ice since the Mid-1990s”
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/earth-has-lost-28-trillion-tons-of-ice-since-the-mid-1990s/
“Nasa satellite images show how the climate crisis is transforming the planet”
https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/nasa-climate-change-before-after-photo-extreme-weather-b1782576.html
Organizer
Elena Priesen-Reis
Organizer
