I’m challenging myself #BECAUSE I want to protect the planet.

Thank You and What It is All About

Saturday 23rd Jan

Yesterday morning the clouds parted, the sun shone, and the big event went down swimmingly! 

A HUGE thank you goes out to friends and family who generously supported this chilly endeavour. Together we raised $910 for Greenpeace Canada, which, at $5 a stroke, equated to 182 QUICK crawls in the North Sea off the coast of St Andrews, Scotland. 

There was a degree of apprehension about how long I was going to need to stay in the 6 ˚C water yesterday. Excitement for the big day, and warm feelings from re-connecting with friends through this campaign, ultimately won out and every stroke was completed. I hope the pictures give a sense of the trepidation, fun, and relief associated with the various stages of the morning dunk.

This (really cold!) dip was chosen as my fundraising event because, in addition to hopes of grabbing attention, focusing on the sea and coastline allows me to connect to my research into glacier retreat in Antarctica. The observed and expected changes to the Antarctic Ice Sheet will change the coastline we were along yesterday in Scotland, coastlines in Canada (the longest in the world!) -  everywhere.    

As a glaciologist, I volunteer my time with Greenpeace because the organization demands the degree of action that I know is necessary given the magnitude of climate change we (including glaciers) face. My involvement with the organization has evolved over 15 years from grassroots activities in San Francisco, Thunder Bay and Ottawa to taking on a governance role as a member of Greenpeace Canada's Board of Directors.  

I also give my time to Greenpeace because it is a solutions-based and independent organization. That means it doesn't take money from governments or businesses, which allows the organization to say what needs to be said and, as mentioned above, demand the level of change necessary given the alarming climate change and biodiversity loss that is currently underway. 

That principle of independence also means that Greenpeace relies on donations from folks like us. Greenpeace Canada has recently developed a peer-to-peer fundraising platform, which I used to connect with you all and organize this event. The platform allows us all to be involved in spreading awareness of environmental issues and Greenpeace Canada's efforts to address them, and ensure that the organization gets the financial support it needs to carry out this work that benefits us all. These events or challenges can take many forms and I fully recommend organizing one yourself. I can't overstate how rewarding and warming (after a bit of distance from yesterday's beach adventure) this experience has been. 

Be well, everyone!

Anna

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Weather delay

Thursday 21st Jan Thank you, everyone, for your generous support! It's really fun for me to connect again with you all and have you all "with" me in this adventure. The wind, waves and precipitation made it (even more) uncomfortable to do the plunge today. Fret not! We're on for tomorrow morning. I'm hoping to be able to share some pictures of a St Andrews sunrise with you. Those scenes are fantastic!
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