Emily G Cunningham
@EG_Cunningham
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Leads @wwf global river dolphins initiative 🐬🐼 | Biologist 🌊 | Fellow @rgs_ibg | ENDS Power List 2024 |👩🏼💻 Writing my first book, rep’d by @aevitasuk
Falmouth, England
Joined November 2014
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Pinned Tweet
My time in Antarctica has come to an end. An important message, please read ❄️👇🏻
🧵1/n
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I saw orcas!!!!! In Antarctica!!! 😁😁
Overjoyed. Overwhelmed! An encounter as brief as it was wonderful.
A moment I had dreamed of my whole life. A moment I’ll remember forever.
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Happy Sunday from Antarctica!
The view from my porthole 🚢
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🧵12/n (ENDS)
I will be sailing north now for another few weeks, before disembarking and taking a much needed rest.
From there, it’s back to the ocean conservation fight.
Recharged and ready to win.
Bring it on 💪🏻
🐋
P.S. I’m looking for my next opportunity 👋🏻
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Hello from Antarctica! 😁🐧
After a lifetime of dreaming, I can’t believe I’m finally here.
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🧵11/n
As I sail north and stare out at the vast ocean blue, I am more certain than ever that we have to do everything in our power to save what we can.
This is the fight of my life.
The fight of all of our lives.
The fight for all of our lives.
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🧵4/n
It’s only now that I’ve left that I can really begin to process my Antarctic experience.
And only now that I’ve left can I let myself acknowledge the canary in the coal mine…
This wonderful place is dying.
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🧵9/n
EVERY SINGLE SAMPLE we took in Antarctica as part of our microplastic research contained plastic microfibres.
I found plastic from tourists in the penguin colonies.
We even found a big piece of plastic on the seabed.
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🧵 3/n
It’s like being in a wildlife documentary: penguins waddle around your feet, seals pop up next to your boat, and whale blows punctuate the waters in every direction.
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🧵5/n
The Antarctic Peninsula is warming 5x faster than the global average.
Whilst I was there, Antarctic sea ice extent hit a record-low and much of Antarctica was warmer than average.
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🧵 2/n
Antarctica is awe, wonder and wildlife abundance at a scale I assumed was confined to the history books; all set within a landscape so spectacular it’s nigh on impossible to take it in.
#Antarctica
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🧵6/n
This has led to a reduction in krill.
Krill is at the heart of the Antarctic ecosystem.
Less krill means less food for those penguins, whales, and seals.
(Footage from our submarine)
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🧵8/n
These warming waters are also opening the doors to invaders.
Naturally there are no crabs in Antarctica, but king crabs are slowly invading.
Invasive species will irrevocably change the beautiful seabed communities I was so lucky to see from our submarine.
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🧵7/n
New research has shown that the reduction in krill is already leading to lower reproductive rates in baleen whales. 🐋
The growing commercial krill fishery is exacerbating this problem. 🦐
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🧵10/n
We frame Antarctica as a pristine wilderness, but it’s not immune to the human touch…
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What YOU can do to help Antarctica.
Here are *suggestions* of things YOU can do to help. Please feel free to add your own.
Let’s start with the easy ones.
A thread. 🧵
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I lay wide awake last night; my head consumed by what this means for us, my heart consumed by what this means for wildlife.
I am alarmed. You should be too.
#Antarctica
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Happy Monday everyone! Today’s office attire here in Antarctica. ❄️
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Hello new followers 👋🏻 I’m Emily, a marine biologist working on an expedition ship in Antarctica. I’m also an award-winning marine conservationist and proudly sit on the Board of
@mcsuk
. Images and updates shared as often as ship internet allows!
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Wow, a reach of 3.5 MILLION 🤯
I’m blown away by the response to my Antarctica thread. Thank you so much for your support/sharing the message. 🙏🏻
I’ve been doing my best to reply but forgive me if I miss your question/comment. Feel free to resend.
Hello new followers too! 👋🏻
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The forgotten victims of the
#Rhodes
wildfires…
Not a shortened holiday.
A terrifying and painful death.
Toutes les Une des médias parlent des touristes qui fuient les feux à Rhodes.
Mais n'oublions pas que la faune et la flore sont également ravagées et que c'est autrement plus grave que des touristes qui vont devoir écourter ou annuler leurs vacances.
Vidéo : Nikos Theoulakis
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Today’s office, in our submarine in Antarctica!!!! 😁
This is part of our research surveying the seabed here and, without giving anything away YET, I started drafting a research paper as soon as I got back onboard. (Video in next tweet).
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Hello from today’s office! I’m towing a plankton net, collecting samples to try and better understand how melting glaciers are affecting Antarctic phytoplankton.
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The faces of 2 people who have just seen a pod of ORCAS in Antarctica!!!
8 black fins slicing through icy waves towards the sunset. This place! 🤩
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Good morning from Antarctica! We’re setting up for an exciting day of science 😁
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I’m in a national newspaper 🤯🇬🇧📰
Super excited to have my photos published in the Daily Express today.
I’m also super excited at being referred to as an “Antarctic Explorer” in print. 16-year old me would be losing her mind (32-year old me is losing her mind 😂)!
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Here are some gentoo penguins to brighten up your day 😁🐧
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Drop a cool photo that someone took of you doing your job.
🧊😄
Drop a cool photo that someone took of you doing your job.
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On the bridge 🛳️
One of my fave tasks on board is coordinating our expedition operations. There aren’t many office views that include whales blowing, penguins porpoising or giant petrels swooping!
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2022, the year I quit my desk job* to follow my dream of working in Antarctica. I made a reel 👇🏻😁
Full reel with music is on my Instagram,
@marinebiologylife
.
*A job I loved, but the call of Antarctica was too strong! 🐧😁
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Meet the crabeater seal:
- Does not eat crabs 🦀❌
- Eats krill 🦐✔️
- Has amazing teeth 🦷
Their genus is Lobodon which means “lobed teeth”.
Also, your regular reminder that there are NO CRABS IN ANTARCTICA 🇦🇶🤓
Despite its name, the crabeater seal does not feed on crabs. Rather, it is a specialist predator on Antarctic krill. In fact, their finely lobed teeth are adapted to filtering their small crustacean prey
[read more: ]
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🧵20/n
A week ago I had half as many followers as I have now.
I’m getting contacted by journalists all over the world.
Now I have the platform and audience to educate and to inspire change.
All from speaking the truth.
Thank you for your support.
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🧵 5/n Tackling microfibre pollution - changing legislation
France have passed a law that all new washing machines must have a microfibre filter by 2025. 🇫🇷 👏🏻
Demand the same of your government, no matter where you live in the world.
💪🏻
#stopoceanthreads
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Happy (belated*) Valentine’s Day from Antarctica! 💙
*I took the photo yesterday but our onboard internet wasn’t good enough for me to post it.
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Super excited to see the Penguin Post Office at Port Lockroy today run by
@AntarcticHT
🇬🇧. Rocking my fave (Port Lockroy) hat too 🐧 ✉️
#antarctica
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Before you ask something of a female colleague, ask yourself “Would I ask this of a male colleague?”
If the answer is no, then don’t ask it of us.
Happy International Women’s Day.
✌🏻
🧵 ENDS.
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A humpback whale feeding here in
#Antarctica
.
@KRoyStudio
asked me what my favourite whale was. Humpback, I replied.
What is your favourite whale and why? 🐋🥰
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Today’s office, here in Antarctica. Driving my zodiac, dropping some science. 🇦🇶 😁
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For a long time I was terrified of using my voice. Of being visible. Of speaking up.
I posted fluffy pics and videos hoping to inspire instead.
But a truth of this magnitude must be shared.
Thank you for the very many kind words and the help in amplifying the message.
@EG_Cunningham
Thank you for your knowledge, emotion and beautiful images of this magical place. You are sending a powerful message to us. We all must fight for climate control.
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🧵2/n Tackling microfibre pollution.
Microfibres (microfibers 🇺🇸) are the tiny plastic fibres shed from synthetic clothing (polyester, nylon, Lycra).
YOU can:
👕 Only wash clothes when necessary
👕 Wash on low temperature / low spin cycle (the eco one if you have it).
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Join me for a moment of calm in Antarctica 🇦🇶 (sound on 🔉)
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🚨EXCITING NEWS! Falmouth Town Council has declared an urgent need for ocean recovery, the FIRST Town Council to do so.🥳 I’m super proud to have supported Councillors in the development of a local
#Motion4theOcean
and even prouder to be a
#Falmouth
resident today!
🧵(1/n)
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PLASTICOSIS - a newly discovered seabird disease caused solely by the ingestion of plastics. This is the Anthropocene.
I watch the seabirds through my porthole and my heart hurts.
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Happy holidays from my family to yours ☺️
One of the best things about this adventure is sharing it with my partner, Daniel.
We wish you a happy and restful Christmas break and wonderful 2023!
🎄❄️
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Happy
#InternationalDayOfTheSeal
🦭
Here’s a Leopard Seal that was very interested in our zodiac.
Leopard seals are predators, feeding on penguins, fish and krill. They can be very inquisitive and often come and check us out, even nibbling our zodiac pontoons and buoys 😳
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Good morning! 🐧
The penguin colonies are falling quiet as the breeding season comes to an end for another year.
It’s been an amazing privilege to witness the whole cycle; from flirting to the fledging of fat, fluffy chicks.
🤩
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Happy Tuesday everyone 😁☀️
The sun doesn’t always shine in
#Antarctica
; but when it does, it is glorious! Spot the penguins 🐧 👇🏻
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We have found microfibres (small plastic fibres) in EVERY SINGLE SAMPLE we have taken in Antarctica as part of our microplastics project.
This important research from
@BAS_News
shows how prevalent microplastics are in the Southern Ocean.
Scientists have found
#microplastic
pollution in krill and salps from Antarctica's Southern Ocean 🦐
Krill and salps are just the start of the chain: that plastic transfers up as food to whales, penguins, seals and seabirds.
Here's what our team found 👇
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🧵10/n
Don’t take krill-based supplements (krill oil). Use plant-based alternatives.
Educate yourself on commercial krill fishing here:
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Today’s office!
I’ve been deploying a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) to survey the underwater environment with
@DanielMMoore_
. So exciting to be amongst the first people EVER to see these underwater seascapes 😁
#antarctica
#polarscience
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🧵 4/n Tackling microfibre pollution
Should you wear natural materials instead?
If you already own them or buy them second-hand, yes. But they have their own environmental impact.
Avoid buying plastic clothes, especially
#fastfashion
. 👖
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🧵9/n Okay, onto the commercial (over)exploitation of krill.
Much of the krill caught is used to feed farmed fish (mainly salmon) and shrimp.
So, you could eat less farmed salmon and shrimp. Just don’t replace it with wild-caught seafood, unless from a sustainable source.
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🧵3/n Tackling microfibre pollution
👕 Use a filter you put in the laundry machine with your washing, e.g. Guppyfriend bag or Cora ball.
👕 Buy a filter you fit to your washing machine outflow, e.g. LINT Luv-R, and PlanetCare.
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🧵8/n - Yes, reduce, reuse, recycle. 💪🏻
Yes, please continue to pick up the plastic pollution you see 💪🏻
But demand change. Call on your elected representatives to support an ambitious global
#PlasticsTreaty
. Especially if you live in the USA. 🇺🇸
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Today, I’m giving a talk to 300 young women about our ocean and my work.
What an honour ☺️🌊
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🧵 6/n Let’s tackle hard plastic pollution next.
I could suggest you reduce your plastic usage, but you already know that.
We need systemic change. We need a
#circulareconomy
.
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An underwater dementor?? 😱 We were incredibly lucky to see the 10m (30ft) Giant Phantom Jellyfish whilst diving in our submarine in Antarctica. It’s been seen only ~130x EVER!!!!
🚨 New paper out now by
@DanielMMoore_
& colleagues, link in next tweet 👇🏻
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🧵12/n - Demand climate action from your government, local and national. We have to make this an election-winning or losing issue. It’s the battle of our lives. For our lives!
It’s up to you how YOU do that. Write them a letter. Tweet them. Join a protest. Organise a protest!
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What does the seabed look like in Antarctica? Here’s a video I took when diving in our submersible (“submarine”). I am recording the life on the seabed as part of a wider study.
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🧵7/n - Tackling plastic pollution
The
#PlasticsTreaty
gives me hope.
Educate yourself here:
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Hello new (and old) followers 👋🏻☺️
I’m Emily, a marine biologist currently working in Antarctica. More about me in this thread👇🏻
I’m raising funds for my next conservation project, please contribute if you are enjoying my 🇦🇶 photos and videos ☺️ at
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🧵11/n Now, onto the big one. Climate change.
How can YOU help?
I’m not going to tell you to reduce your carbon emissions. You know that already.
I am going to call on you to speak up.
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Yay, the climate deniers have found my thread.
Only 14 minutes after posting too. 👋🏻
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This is porpicide (killing of porpoises) by bottlenose dolphins, a well documented behaviour in the UK. It is concerning when a cetacean research organisation confuses porpicide with play. 🤦🏼♀️
Unlikely best friends spotted having a whale of a time in Cornwall!
In the past 10 days, there have been 2 separate sightings of bottlenose dolphins swimming & interacting with a harbour porpoise, who seems to have joined up with their pod. Read more at
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Sea Thrift (Armeria maritima) in bloom on the cliffs of Cornwall this week. On this spot I sat watching swallows make landfall, listening to skylarks sing. 🌸😍
#wildflowerhour
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🧵21/n (ENDS)
And finally, share and celebrate your wins!
Tag me if you like and I’ll retweet.
Add your suggestions here and please share.
Onwards 💪🏻
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Feed me, feed me! 🐣🐧 A gentoo penguin feeding their chick 🤩
These parents are doing a great job - look how fabulously fat this chick is!
The
#penguin
parents feed mainly on krill, bringing bellyfuls back to the colony to feed to their demanding babies.
#Antarctica
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Bird flu is not just killing birds. It is killing thousands of mammals too: sea lions, porpoises, dolphins, probably more.
Sailing up the coast of Chile, I was moved to tears by the abundance of wildlife. Today, I’m moved to tears in grief.
⚠️ BREAKING:
More than 11,000 sea mammals have been killed by H5N1 bird flu in Chile 🇨🇱, up from 9,420 previously reported.
9,853 sea lions have been killed, up from 8,117 previously reported.
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🧵13/n You could even be like one of my heroes,
@EmmaWebsdale
.
She was sick of seeing nature declining under her elected representatives… so she’s running to become a local Councillor 💪🏻
Act local, think global.
BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE.
Thread: Campaigner turned Councillor Candidate!
1/6 As an environmental & mental health campaigner, I've always been passionate about making a positive impact. After years of advocating for change, I've decided to take it to the next level by running for
@NSDCouncil
.
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Happy
#DolphinDay
! 🐬
Here is my favourite dolphin, the PANDA DOLPHIN 🐼🐬
Okay, it’s really called the Commerson’s dolphin. They live around the southern tip of South America and the Kerguelen Islands.
I took this photo in the Falklands on the sail down to Antarctica 😁
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The level of pettiness 🤦🏼♀️
Troll response to my thread about actions to help Antarctica.
Name/photo obscured because I’m not giving them the attention they crave.
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Join Dr
@DanielMMoore_
and myself on an underwater survey in Antarctica 🤩
What will we find? 🤔
Spoiler alert: 🐧
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Happy New Year! I hope 2023 is wonderful for you. Be kind to yourself, each other and our amazing planet 💙
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Feels like something significant is happening today... 🤔oh yeah! It's
#penguinawarenessday
- hooray!
#MakePenguinsGreatAgain
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I’m in the newspaper 😁📰
(On page 3, no less! 😅)
Super chuffed with this lovely write-up about my
@womenoffuture
Award and my work 🥰🌊
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🧵19/n
Take good care of yourself.
Take time to enjoy life, to connect with nature, to remember what we’re fighting for.
Rest is productive.
Having fun is productive too. 💙
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WOMEN OF THE FUTURE 🏆🏆😁🤯
I am thrilled to have WON the
@womenoffuture
2023 Award in the ESG category 😁
And my incredible friend
@EmmaWebsdale
won in the Community Spirit category!
It means everything that our work for planet and people has been recognised 🌍🌊💪🏻
#WOF2023
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🧵17/n
Talk to the children and young people in your life.
Don’t overwhelm them, please.
Instead try to inspire hope and action.
Tell them about
@fridays4future
.
Encourage them to use their voices too.
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🧵14/n
Whilst we’re on local action, that helps too. Hugely.
Call on your local government to declare a
#Motion4theOcean
(something I co-founded).
We started in 🇬🇧, but open to the world.
14 local govs, 2.5 million people, and counting! 💪🏻
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🧵18/n
If you’ve been doing this for a while, you’ll know it’s a tough gig. 🫠
The trolling, the frustration at the lack of process, the burnout.
Find a community of people - who get it - to support you, whether irl or online. 💪🏻
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Post a picture of some landscape from a place where you've been, where the main requirement is that you NOT appear in it. Just a picture, no description.
Let's travel virtually around the world.
Post a picture of some landscape from a place where you've been, where the main requirement is that you NOT appear in it. Just a picture, no description.
Let's travel virtually around the world.
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🧵16/n
Talk to your loved ones, your friends, your neighbours.
Talk to the other parents at the school gate, your hairdresser, the cashier, the guy at the pub.
Tell them the truth.
Help them see that climate change matters to us all.
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🧵15/n
YOU can be the voice for Antarctica. For the planet.
Thanks for sharing my thread, but don’t stop there.
We all need to speak up.
Awesome resource 👇🏻
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He, a male professional, was taken at face value as competent. Whereas I, a female professional, have to prove myself time and time AND TIME AGAIN.
I have so many more examples. All women have so many more examples.
🧵9/n
#WomensDay
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@qbas81
@parents4futureG
Thank you for making the effort to follow the facts and for your action. I hadn’t heard of this group, thanks for making me aware. I’m not a parent but will pass it along to friends with children.
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“The first woman to hold a full time permanent academic position at the (Scott Polar) institute.” In 2023 🤯
Congratulations to Dr Dell, but indicative of how much work is still to do for us
#WomenInSTEM
.
I am absolutely over the moon to be able to say that from October 1st I will be an Assistant Professor at the Scott Polar Institute, and I will be the first woman to hold a full time permanent academic position at the institute (1/2)
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📣 GOOD NEWS ALERT - our bid was successful and
@HeritageFundNOR
has awarded £2.78m to our amazing scheme! 🥳
3 years of hard work (👩🏼💻☕️🤯) and I’m so proud of my role in getting it to this point. Can’t wait to see the benefits it brings to 👨👩👧👦🐬🦋🐣⚓️
Through 23 projects – both on-shore and beneath the sea -
#SeaScapes
will empower people to protect & celebrate this fascinating stretch of coastline, and discover the hidden heritage beneath the waves. It will be the first scheme of its kind in the UK! 🌊🐬🐟🦀🏖️
#WorldWaterDay
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Happy Sunday everyone ☺️
This is Harvey. It's his job to make sure the ocean is still on. He has confirmed the air is adequately salty and the waves are working. Another successful day on the job. 14/10
#SeniorPupSaturday
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What YOU can do to help Antarctica 👇🏻
What YOU can do to help Antarctica.
Here are *suggestions* of things YOU can do to help. Please feel free to add your own.
Let’s start with the easy ones.
A thread. 🧵
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I'm very excited to announce that I've been appointed to the Board of Trustees of the UK's leading marine charity, Marine Conservation Society
@mcsuk
. Looking forward to the coming years with great enthusiasm.
#trustee
#youngtrustee
(ish).
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A sunset swim the night before last, but I couldn’t believe how warm the sea is.
This marine heatwave is terrifying.
I fear for what may yet come. Stressed marine wildlife at best, mass mortality at worst.
Good piece from
@horton_official
👇🏻
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Dr Darren Gröcke is crowdfunding for an fascinating new research project.
He’ll be looking at whether seaweed can be used to remove excess nitrogen (from sewage and fertiliser pollution). A win-win for pollution remediation and carbon capture. 👇🏻
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Penguin colonies in Antarctica: expectation 🐧 v reality 💩😂.
A silly reel I made to celebrate the noisy, busy, SMELLY wonder that is a penguin colony. 🤩
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HUMPBACK WHALES 🤩🐋 encountered yesterday on our expedition ship 🚢 , the whole seascape erupting with the blows, breaches and fin slaps of ~50 whales.
📍Atlantic Ocean, ~140 miles off Brazil 🇧🇷
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