Page 41: of Marine Technology Magazine (January 2024)

All images copyright Jim McNeill/Global Warrior

Since Ice Warrior’s founding 23 years ago, more than 450 that our part can be proven, improved and expanded upon,” people have been trained, helping scientists discover Arctic implored McNeill. By assessing the extent of anthropogenic change and delivering this information to global audiences. impacts in extreme environments, which are the best regions

Ocean Warrior will continue this theme, sampling in remote for evaluating global change, it becomes easier to identify and regions and rapidly communicating ? ndings to scientists counteract future problems earlier. and the public sphere. “To give people real purpose and al- “Our remit is to discover indisputable evidence and to convey low them to do something truly positive about the biggest that in every way, shape and form we can in near real time,” he crisis humanity has faced will hopefully inspire them to tell added. In doing so, governments and industries can be better their own stories of their involvement, which reaches a much informed and held accountable for their actions—and just as broader and deeper audience,” explained McNeill. “The more crucially, their inactions.

we can engage the general public in science, the more they can Understanding the planet as climate warriors isn’t limited to be aware of the real image of what is happening to our world polar regions and the ocean. Global Warrior, which represents and cut through the sensationalism of the press and the lobby- all of McNeill’s extreme climate expeditions, will extend its ing of the commercial entities.” reach into the desert sometime this year. Jungle and mountain

The expeditions further support the power of citizen science programs will follow in 2025. by combining the skills and passions of scientists, organiza- Ocean Warrior has a daunting, yet admirable task ahead of tions, students, technologists and even those with no prior ex- itself in scienti? c sampling, exploration and storytelling, en- posure to science. Sampling will also provide a platform for gaging humanity everywhere and mobilizing interdisciplinary novel science, supporting new technologies and methods. skills to understand the deep blue sea—a mystery to humans since time immemorial. The urgency, however, to crack the unknown and by extension mitigate and perhaps ameliorate

ALL HANDS ON DECK “We need everyone—sponsors, technologists, scientists, anthropogenic harm is growing exponentially. Maybe now, grant-giving bodies, philanthropists and ordinary people to en- with a pulse on the planet and McNeill’s ocean warriors at the gage, help and support Ocean Warrior in the initial stages so helm, humanity can do just that.

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