Press Release - “On the Shoulders of Shackleton” Expedition to the Antarctic”
Green Cross International and Pax Arctica
launch the 2014
“On the Shoulders of Shackleton” Expedition
to the Antarctic”
The mission commemorates the centennial of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s 1914 epic
expedition to Antarctica.
26
September 2014, Geneva/Paris: A six-week expedition by Pax Arctica, in
collaboration with the National Centre for Scientific Research/Pierre and Marie
Curie University (CNRS/UMPC), Laboratoire LOCEAN and Green Cross International
(GCI), will be launched on 5 October 2014 to raise awareness about the impact
of climate change on polar regions and to gather scientific data, pictures and
films of this remote part of the world.
Luc
Hardy will lead a Franco-British team of nine professional adventurers, polar
guides, scientists and sportsmen/women on this expedition retracing the 800-mile
journey of celebrated explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton between ice-covered Elephant
Island and the island of South Georgia in the Antarctic region.
Luc
Hardy founded the Pax Arctica expedition platform to raise awareness about the
impact of climate change on polar regions. Luc is also the Vice-President of
Green Cross France et Territoires, part of the GCI network, a non-governmental
organization addressing the inter-connected global challenges of security,
poverty and environmental degradation.
During
this expedition organized in partnership with GCI, data will be collected for oceanographic
research including measurements of salinity, atmospheric dust and CO2
concentrations in ocean waters and currents to gain a better understanding of
changes occurring in the oceans due to climate change.
“Our team will attempt to retrace
part of the route of Shackleton’s expedition and we will trek and climb glaciers
and mountain peaks”, said Luc Hardy. “We will also collect fauna observations and discuss our findings
with interested scientists”, he added.
“As climate change reshapes the poles, there
is a growing interest by many countries in these strategically important
regions. This raises major security and environmental challenges”, said
Green Cross Chief Operating Officer, Adam Koniuszewski, welcoming the pledges
made by governments and the private sector at the UN Climate Change Summit in
New York. He concluded: “Much more is
needed urgently if we are serious about averting a climate catastrophe.
Business as usual is not an option.”
The corporate
partners include SOPRA and La Française among others.
The expedition can be followed on:
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Facebook
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Twitter
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Blog
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Youtube
- ENDS -
About Pax
Arctica
The Pax
Arctica Initiative was created to promote awareness of the threats facing the Polar
regions, to convey a global message of peace and to support the introduction of
new ecological regulations for the Arctic region. Luc Hardy is the leader of
the Initiative, he is an adventurer, author, and member of the Explorers Club.
An engineer from Ecole Centrale Paris, he is president of Sagax, a US-based investment
and advisory firm.
More
information: http://www.paxarctica.org/
About
Laboratoire LOCEAN
LOCEAN is
a laboratory whose work is devoted to the study of ocean variability and their
interactions with climate variability.
More
information: https://www.locean-ipsl.upmc.fr/
About
Green Cross International
GCI was
founded in 1993 by Nobel Peace Laureate Mikhail Gorbachev and is an independent
non-profit and nongovernmental organization advocating and working globally to
address the inter-connected global challenges of security, poverty eradication
and environmental degradation through advocacy and local projects. GCI is
headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, has offices in some 30 countries and runs
local and regional projects around the world.
More
information: http://www.gcint.org/water-for-life-and-peace
About SOPRA
Sopra is
a leader in consulting, IT services and software development in Europe,
providing assistance and guiding its clients to ensure the success of their
complex transformation projects. Sopra is the partner of choice for large
enterprises and organisations seeking the best usage of information technology
to enhance their development and competitive edge. Sopra is a brand of the
Sopra Steria Group, a European leader of digital transformation established in
September 2014 following the merger of Sopra and Steria.
More
information: http://www.sopra.com/en/home
About La Française
Over
close to forty years, La Française has developed core competencies in third
party asset management. La Française has a multi-affiliate business model
organized around four core activities: securities, real estate, investment
solutions and incubation. The group caters to institutional and private clients
throughout the world. With 480 professionals and offices in Paris, Frankfurt,
Hong Kong, London, Luxembourg, Madrid and Milan, La Française manages over 45
billion euros in assets. La Française has a unique and solid shareholder
structure that associates a well-known bank, Credit Mutual Nord Europe, with
company employees and directors and grants the group total independence in the
daily exercise of its business activity.
More
information: http://www.lafrancaise-group.com/en/