Emma Thompson and daughter join Greenpeace ship on voyage to protect the Arctic

1 August 2014 (Toronto) – Actor Emma Thompson and her 14-year-old daughter Gaia Wise will sail aboard a Greenpeace ship in August to raise awareness of the melting Arctic environment. The Saving Mr. Banks and Harry Potter star will join a Greenpeace crew aboard the activist ship Esperanza as it visits polar bear habitat, a scientific research station, and the location of a major new BBC nature series.

Joining the pair is Gemini-award winning Canadian Cree actor and Indigenous rights activist Michelle Thrush, who will also be travelling with her 14-year-old daughter Imajyn. The trip departs from Longyearbyen, Svalbard on the 2nd of August.

Emma Thompson said: “I’m seriously excited about this trip because I’ve always wanted to go to the Arctic. I’m also worried about what I might find. The Arctic is warming up faster than anywhere else, and this isn’t just a problem for polar bears. It’s affecting weather in places as far away as India, while rising sea levels are causing havoc for people across the world. Arctic warming is a massive threat to our survival.

“My daughter and her generation are about to inherit the world we’re responsible for, and I want to make sure that we leave the Arctic safe from oil companies and protected for good. I’m making this trip because I want Gaia’s generation to grow up in a decent and sane world. In fact I’m making it so that her children can grow up.”

The actors start their Arctic tour from Longyearbyen, the major port on Svalbard which is also the northernmost port in Norway, situated at 78 degrees north, with an average temperature of 5 degrees Centigrade in August.

They will sail north and visit the world’s northernmost climate research station Ny Ålesund (http://nysmac.npolar.no/), participate in experiments and research, spend a night in a trapper’s cabin on the ice, and meet with the BBC team from their new series “The Hunt”, before reaching the sea ice edge and visiting retreating glaciers.

“As an Indigenous woman, I am thrilled to join the millions of people around the world who are already part of this global movement to save the Arctic,” said Michelle Thrush. “We have an inter-generational responsibility to stop the reckless industrialization of the Arctic and defend the rights of the Indigenous Peoples who live there and people everywhere whose fates are tied to the fate of the Arctic.”

Emma Thompson will be asking fans to support the campaign to save the Arctic at savethearctic.org/emma

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For more information:

Diego Creimer, Media Relations (in Canada) 514-999-6743 diego.creimer@greenpeace.org

Jessica Wilson, Communications Officer on the Esperanza, phone +44 7896 893118 jessica.wilson@greenpeace.org

Juha Aromaa, Communications Lead for the Arctic Ship Tour, phone +358 50 369 6202 juha.aromaa@greenpeace.org

Pictures from the Arctic Tour with Emma Thompson and Michelle Thrush will soon be available at http://photo.greenpeace.org

NOTES

Emma Thompson is a two-time Academy Award winner and the only person to ever win the Oscar for both acting and writing. She has been active in climate change and humanitarian issues for decades.

Michelle Thrush is a long-time Indigenous and environmental rights activist who has spoken out against the tar sands in Alberta and deforestation in the Amazon. This year on her birthday, she organized the second annual “Hug A Non-Native Day” in Calgary, an event of her own creation, aimed at overcoming prejudices and racism against First Nations’ Peoples.

NT5