I know many of you have seen this elsewhere and I apologize for the repetition. It’s the nature of PR to repeat. It’s the nature of PR to repeat. ;>)
Sandy has been deep into an amazing project, building a new website for our friends, Sunniva Sorby and Hilde Fålun Strøm, who founded and lead the Hearts In The Ice project (HITI, amongst us Norwegian poseurs) starting next August. Sandy designed, engineered and launched a beautiful site you can see at www.heartsintheice.com
We have already done some PR for HITI (I sent three releases today) and will be helping make introductions, arrange interviews and hopefully gain sponsorships and raise some money at next month’s Outdoor Retailer trade show in Denver.
This is fun. Supporting these women (including Sandy) doing something totally audacious and totally beneficial is wonderful.
Hilde and Sunni are going to over-winter 100 km north of any human beings, way the hell up in Norway, for nine months, beginning August 2019, living in a twenty-square-meter trappers cabin surrounded by darkness, ice and polar bears, for nine months. Just them. Their mission is “citizen science” and they are connected with some major international science, climate change and research organizations.
I won’t belabor this. The website tells the story artfully. Watch the video. Here’s the release we sent today:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Geoff O’Keeffe
Email: okeeffeconsults@gmail.com
Phone +1 720.340.9530
Contact: Sunniva Sorby
Email: sunniva.hiti@gmail.com
Phone: +1.514.588.3931
O’Keeffe Consulting announces its partnership with Hearts In The Ice, the first all-women Arctic citizen science project in Svalbard, Norway to survey rapid climate change escalation.
O’Keeffe Consulting has designed and launched the HITI website and will be assisting with industry introductions, PR, sponsorships and support.
Hearts In The Ice project founders, Hilde Fålun Strøm and Sunniva Sorby will embark on a nine-month expedition in the High Arctic of Svalbard, Norway in August 2019.
Hearts In The Ice will create a global dialogue and social engagement around climate change in the polar regions. In August 2019, seasoned expedition leaders, Hilde Fålun Strøm and Sunniva Sorby will inhabit an historic 20-square meter trapper’s cabin known as “Bamsebu.” The goal of the project is to measure and chronicle rapid climate change escalation.
Conditions will be rigorous during the Arctic winter as Sorby and Fålun Strøm will dwell in total darkness for 90 days and occupy Bamsebu with no running water or electricity and the daily threat of Polar Bears. Additionally, they aim to have the smallest carbon footprint possible by using solar and wind energy, and reducing all packaging from their suppliers and providers.
“Climate change is having a greater impact in the Arctic than anywhere else on the planet,” said Hilde. “Temperatures have increased by twice the global average over the past 50 years. We invite everyone to get involved and take the time to understand what is happening in their own neighborhoods, and what they can do locally to mitigate the effects of climate change”, says Sunniva.
Life at Bamsebu will be broadcast and published in real-time via Iridium satellite through social media to scientists, students, adventurers, and interested citizens from around the world.
Sorby and Fålun Strøm will conduct observations and gather data in collaboration with the Norwegian Polar Institute, The Norwegian Meteorological Institute, NASA, and The Scripps Institute of Oceanography.
Their findings will add to existing research in the Arctic. Two of these projects will be mirrored in Antarctica with Polar Latitudes’ Citizen Science Program.
For more information about Hearts In the Ice and its mission, please visit www.heartsintheice.com
Hearts In The Ice is a platform for social engagement about climate change, started by Hilde Fålun Strøm and Sunniva Sorby. It is a 9-month overwintering project in the High Arctic of Svalbard, Norway. Starting in August 2019 Hilde (Norway) and Sunniva (Canada) will inhabit the 20 sq mtr trappers cabin “Bamsebu”- 78’N. They will be the first women to over-winter in Svalbard without men.
The project will serve as a platform for global dialogue and engagement concerning the changes we are experiencing in the Polar Regions which impacts the world and what we all, individually, might be able to do about it. Life at Bamsebu will be broadcast and published via Iridium satellite through social media to scientists, school children, adventurers, and interested citizens from around the world.
About Sunniva Sorby
Director, Global Sales for Polar Latitudes – Antarctic operator
Fellow, RCGS – Royal Canadian Geographical Society
Resident of Squamish, BC, Canada
Member – Historic Women’s South Pole Expedition 92-93- First Canadian Woman
Expedition Leader Greenland Crossing 1999 – First Canadian Woman
Expedition Leader King George Island Crossing 1998
Skied Sierra Haute Route 1996
Climbed Kilimanjaro 5 times
Nominated as Woman of the Year in 2002 for efforts to promote sports education for young girls and women
Worked as Historian/Zodiac driver in Svalbard, Canadian Arctic and Antarctica
Frequent lecturer in Antarctica and on Polar regions – for over 23 years
About Hilde Fålun Strøm
Project Leader – Bamsebu/ Product Manager for Hurtigruten, Svalbard
Married, 2 children, 3 grandchildren, has been living in Svalbard for 23 years
Member of the Negotia Board, a Union
Expedition Leader- Svalbard Summit Ski Festival 2016, Arctic Haute Route 2017, Arctic Ski & Sail 2018, Reality TV Program “71° Nord”
Responsible for all operations of the classic ship M/S Nordstjernen
Meteorological Observer at Jan Mayen and at Bear Island, 2013-14 (8 months total)
Has spent more than a full year total in Trapper’s Huts in the High Arctic
Has had more than 200 polar bear encounters
Has approx 60,000km on snowmobile on Svalbard
Proficient in big game hunting – reindeer, fox, fowl – Svalbard
Experienced in : kayaking, snowmobiling, glacier travel, boat handling, skiing, dogsledding, photography and trekking
what a great project, so looking forward to seeing and learning from the progress.