2012

Updated: January 2012

 

 

In November 2012, renowned polar explorers and educators Liv Arnesen and Ann Bancroft will lead a team of six women, from six continents, on an 800 mile, 80-day long expedition to the South Pole.

 

Each of the women will be representing the key water challenges on their continent. Together, their journey will be the centerpiece of a global awareness and outreach program that will spur us all to join hands in solving our global water crisis.

The expedition will embrace worldwide media coverage, the global classroom and conscious business partnerships to create awareness of the critical water crisis and to encourage a move to action on global and local levels.

The project is designed to complement the efforts of international conservation organizations, institutions, government and enterprise on this vitally important subject. As with the other successful Bancroft-Arnesen expeditions, this project will make a determined effort to engage with youth by means of technology and a tailored educational methodology and curriculum.

Our goal is to reach 2 million classrooms and 50 million youth.

The expedition provides a unique partnership opportunity for organizations that are committed to the same values as those celebrated by Bancroft Arnesen Explore:

  • Environment, currently emphasizing the fresh water crisis;
  • The essential role of education in making sustainable changes;
  • Empowerment of girls and women to achieve their dreams;
  • Cross-cultural communication and understanding;
  • The ability of each person to make a difference in the world
Sponsor and partnership opportunities

 

 

 

Why Water?

Humans need fresh water to survive. We grow food with it, drink it, cook with it and bathe in it. We use it to create the goods and services that form our global economy. There is no substitute for fresh water. It is more crucial for human survival than any source of fuel.

But fresh water is becoming scarce. One in eight people lack access to clean water and more than three million die each year from water-related health problems. Battles for water are creating tensions between people, interests groups and regions. In some cases, they are causing armed conflicts. Left untouched, these challenges will only worsen. Within just 15 years from now, nearly two billion people will live in areas of severe water scarcity. The consequences are clear.

We can solve the water crisis by bringing it to the forefront of the global agenda. This means raising awareness on water access issues, promoting resource efficiency and cooperation on the problems of pollution and climate change.

Quick Facts

• 1.1 billion people in the world do not have access to safe drinking water, roughly one-sixth of the world’s population.

• 2.2 million people in developing countries, most of them children, die every year from diseases associated with lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene.

• Half of the world’s hospital beds are filled with people suffering from water related illnesses.

Source: Blue Planet Network

Why Antarctica?

Antarctica, home to our planet’s largest fresh water reserves, will again be visited by Bancroft Arnesen Explore. Where in the World is Antarctica? Why, at the bottom of the world of course! Seems like an easy answer, but you would be surprised how many people get Antarctica and the Arctic confused. The early Greek geographers believed there must be a large land mass around the South Pole to “balance” the known land in the Northern Hemisphere. They named it the opposite of the Arctic, The Anti-Arktikos or Antarctic, which means literally “opposite to the Arctic.”

Antarctica is the windiest and driest continent on the earth. Most people do not know that Antarctica is considered a polar desert because it receives on average of only about 2 inches of rain per year. (In comparison, the Sahara desert receives a little over an inch per year.) The average temperature during the summer months is plus +2 degrees C (+36 degrees F) and during the winter months the average temperature drops to minus 10 degrees C (+14 degrees).

Below, you can see the Antarctic continent thru Google Earth. The blue dots mark the route Ann and Liv took when crossing the continent in 2001.

View the 2001 Antarctica Crossing in a larger map

The Access Water Project will be a global catalyst for positive change.