“Mission Arctic”, traveling with the WWF

“The Arctic is not a place like any other, it is one of the engines of the planet’s climate”. Isabella Pratesidirector of the WWF Italy Conservation Programme, is on board the Quicksilver sailboat and is fulfilling her desire to see the second coldest place on Earth again and find out how much habitats and the life of living beings change with the effects of climate change.

“The chance to make the arctic dream come true last summer, when the whole planet seemed unable to escape the bite of the climate crisis and when my friend Paolo proposed me to go back to Greenland to sail along the east coast : the coldest, most difficult and least explored – says Isabella Pratesi – The goal, shared with the WWF, was to witness and tell the impact of the climate crisis in the Arctic environment”.

That’s how she was born “Mission Arctic”an exploratory expedition that has now become a short film in 5 episodes, testimony of how the most extreme places on earth change and thus, even those closest to us. A journey that opens your eyes to how fundamental it is to act today, choosing to eliminate fossil fuels from our lives and starting climate adaptation processes. In the documentary the important contribution ofESA (European Space Agency)which confirms on the scientific basis provided by the precision of satellite monitoring what the WWF has physically discovered and the need for institutions to always take into account the importance of the scientific contribution for defining the right choices aimed at a true ecological transition.

Arctic ice, cold and white, plays a crucial role in climatic balance: they contribute to sea currents and the redistribution of heat between the north and south of the planet, they prevent, by reflecting the sun, sea waters from heating up too much (albedo effect) and are a fundamental element for the global climate. The increase in temperatures in the Arctic is about 3 times more intense than the average increase in temperatures in the rest of the planet and Greenland’s glaciers are melting six to seven times faster than they were 25 years ago.

“Delicate ecological balances and organisms adapted to survive in the Arctic environment are struggling to cope with a climate crisis, which in the space of a few years has changed or canceled seasonal cycles, ecosystems and ecological processes. Bears and sapiens they no longer have ice in which to hunt, belugas, walruses and narwhals are quickly migrating north in search of climatic shelters in which to survive and reproduce, human communities are losing the tools and the meaning of living in one of the most difficult and extraordinary places in the world”. adds the director of Conservation of WWF Italy.

Among the testimonies collected also those of the citizens of Ittoqqortormiit, where all the more traditional ways of life are slowly being lost. We’re reaching a tipping point if we don’t do something impactful today, by 2060 the summer sea ice in Greenland will have completely disappeared and as a result ocean levels could rise by more than 7 meters.

With “Mission Arctic” the WWF focuses attention on climate and naturea commitment that will culminate on Saturday 25 March at 20.30 with Earth Hour, Earth Hour. International WWF event in which we invite you to turn off the lights for an hour and ask us to act, even starting from small daily gestures, to have “-CO₂ and +Nature” in our lives.