Sixteen Greenpeace activists, including Hollywood actor Ezra Miller and three other international youth ambassadors [1], set out today on a trek from Barneo base to the North Pole. The campaigners are carrying with them a specially designed capsule that contains a 2.7 million signature declaration demanding that the Arctic be designated an internationally recognised global sanctuary. They plan to lower the capsule, and a flag, through 4km of freezing water to the seabed beneath the North Pole.
Etched onto the inert titanium ring that encases the glass capsule is a quote from Arundhati Roy: “Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.”
Once they arrive at the North Pole, the group intend to meet with the Arctic Council — the governing body that regulates the Arctic and is made up of politicians from Arctic states — who will coincidently be there at the same time. The Greenpeace team intend to this meeting to demand that the Arctic Council agree to support growing demands for the Arctic to be made an international sanctuary, free from oil and mineral exploitation that poses such a huge threat to the delicate natural habitat in the region.
In her message to the activists, Arundhati Roy said:“Dear Renny, Kiera, Josefina, Ezra and all the other members of the expedition, I am writing to send you my love. You walk for all of us. I wish I could have come with you. I hope you will send me some photographs of your journey and the pod. Go well ye wolves. Arundhati”
Speaking from the Greenpeace base camp at Barneo, Renny Bijoux, one of the Greenpeace Arctic team and the first official Polar ambassador from the Seychelles, said:
“We’re going to the top of the world on behalf of all humanity, and when we get there we’ll lower the names of millions of people and a Flag for the Future who want to see this precious, beautiful region protected. We have to make the politicians at the Arctic council understand that unless they protect the future of the Arctic then the impact on the planet — including southern countries and my home in the Seychelles — will be devastating.”
ENDS
For more information, or to arrange interviews with the team at the Pole, please contact:
Madhulika Verma, Media Officer, Greenpeace India +91 9971137736
Jessica Wilson, Greenpeace International Arctic communications, +44 7896 893 118|
Anna Jones, Greenpeace International Arctic campaigner, +44 7717 311 103
Images
Images can be viewed at the link below and are available in high resolution from the Greenpeace picture desk. Please contact John Novis at +31 (0) 629001152 or 
http://photo.greenpeace.org/C.aspx?VP3=ViewBox&STID=27MZIFVQYI38&CT=Story
Video
Various video elements can be downloaded from our publicly accessible ftp server. They include a b-roll package of actor Ezra Miller being trained, profile videos of the three young ambassadors and a video + b-roll package about the "Flag for the Future". This can all be downloaded from the following ftp location:
server: ftp.greenpeacemedia.net
login: dvout
passw: 0utput (first digit is a zero)
folder: 1304_North_Pole_expedition"
Notes:
[1] Actor and musician Ezra Miller will be joined by three other youth ambassadors, each with a different connection to the Arctic. Renny Bijoux is from the Seychelles, an island nation that could disappear due to rising sea levels. Josefina Skerk is from the Indigenous Sami community in Sweden and a member of the Sami parliament. Kiera Kolson is a young Tso’Tine-Gwich’in woman from Denendeh, Canada. She works to protect the Arctic with Greenpeace and defends the rights of Indigenous Peoples.