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Help us to fund part of our BIGGEST and MOST AMBITIOUS research programme ever!
What is Climate Giants?
Our Climate Giant Project will unlock the potential of the worlds largest nature-based solution to the climate crisis. WDC is at the forefront of championing ground-breaking research which highlights the incredibly important role whales play in ensuring healthy marine ecosystems and helping to mitigate climate change. We are in a race against time to raise the funds needed to establish the data which is essential to securing the protections whales need to fulfil their position as global climate giants.
We need your help to raise vital funds towards our ambitious, groundbreaking projects and help us to Save the Whale, Save the World!
What can you help us to fund?
We are seeking to fund some cutting-edge projects including Life after Death' which is a project that has never been attempted before. We will sink a grey whale carcass to a depth of 890m and monitor it continuously for a minimum of three years. This will provide detailed information into the vast array of species whale carcasses support, as well as furthering our understanding of how whale falls tackle climate change. (Please note: the whale carcass will be sourced from a naturally stranded dead whale). High-resolution cameras and sensors will be positioned around the carcass to provide a fascinating live feed.
By helping us to raise £7,000, this will allow us to purchase the 10 weights needed to sink the carcass to the seabed, or fund undergraduate students undertaking the video analysis.
The other revolutionary project AnimOcean aims to use the latest computer modeling technology to measure, for the first time ever, the global impact marine mammals have on the ocean. We will be able to measure how marine mammals contribute to ocean health, and how much carbon they capture and lock away, therefore helping us tackle climate change.
£7,000 would help us to purchase a supercomputer required for the modelling, or fund the support of a leading scientist,
Find out more on our website or download our Climate Giants brochure.
Please sponsor two of WDCs wonderful colleagues in their EPIC walking challenges to help us reach this ambitious goal!
Find out more about what Vicki and Ed will be getting up to...
A Whale of a Walk
WDC's Green Whale research coordinator, Vicki, is taking on 'A Whale of a Walk!' with a series of long-distance walking challenges. Let's hear from Vicki:
I usually undertake 1-2 of these challenges a year, but this year I signed up for four, to raise funds towards our Climate Giants research programme. Although long distance hiking is a hobby of mine, this will push me to my limits. Starting with the Easter challenge which is taking place the week before Easter on April Fools Day (yes that says it all!), my final challenge will be on Halloween evening, through the streets of London, where I will be in fancy dress, including a light up bat tutu! By the end of all these challenges, I will have walked over 91 km or 57 miles. The money raised will not only help us fund essential projects into how whales are our allies in ensuring healthy seas and combatting climate change but will also spur me on to keep putting one foot in front of the other.
A Wight Whale of a Walk
WDCs Green Whale manager, Ed, will be walking the distance around the Isle of Wight, equal to 71 miles or 114 km. That's equivalent to the length of over 3,800 blue whales!
Ed will be taking on the challenge in September 2023 and aims to complete the walk in 3 days, rather than the average of 4-7 days and will be setting up camp each night!
I'm from the Isle of Wight and it's been a lifelong ambition to go back and walk the entire coastal path! The island has some links to whales, with Queen Mary having her hat knocked off by the whale skeleton at Blackgang Chine theme park in 1920 and one of the islands other famous 'chines' is known as Whale Chine. This whale of a walk is certainly going to push me to my limits, but it's nothing compared to what whales have to do twice a year - and they need our help more than ever! Helping them will help us in our fight against the climate crisis and the money raised by this walk will go towards funding essential research and projects that will give us the tools we need to restore their populations.