#ClimateActionNow: Lisa Blair’s Antarctic Journey with Canva

There has never been a more important time for climate action. As a company committed to lasting and meaningful change, we’ve been vocal about our stance on climate action and sustainability on a number of occasions, having recently joined the Climate Pledge and announcing our goal of becoming climate positive by 2023.

Though society continues to make progress on the business and corporate side of climate action, it’s easy to feel helpless or overwhelmed when thinking about how our individual actions can support the planet. Slowing the effects of climate change and raising awareness around the urgency of the issue we’re facing is going to take the efforts of each and every one of us. It’s why we’re proud to be partnering with Lisa Blair, the first woman to achieve the remarkable feat of sailing solo around Antarctica with one stop, who is about to set off on her Antarctica 2.0 expedition, not only make history by becoming the first woman to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around Antarctica, she also intends to break the world record currently set by Russian sailor, Fedor Konyukhov, in 2008 whilst simultaneously raising awareness for ‘Climate Action Now’.

Canva x Lisa’s Antarctic Expedition

In July 2017, after 103 days at sea, Lisa Blair became the first woman to sail solo around Antarctica – but she nearly didn’t make it. With her yacht, Climate Action Now, Lisa set out from Albany in Western Australia to conduct research and raise awareness for the importance of climate action. Her voyage wasn’t an easy one – battling waves the size of houses, freezing conditions, snow, and hail storms, but her greatest challenge occurred three-quarters of the way through her journey when her yacht suffered a demasting. Following repairs, Lisa was fortunately able to continue on her way and complete her journey around Antarctica.

Now, four years later, this December, Lisa is setting out to achieve a new record as the first woman to sail solo and unassisted around Antarctica without stopping.

Throughout all her sailing, Lisa has been passionately promoting the message of ‘Climate Action Now’ and inspiring individuals to take small positive actions towards our environment. Sailing between the latitudes of 45-south and 60-south, deep in the Southern Ocean, for 90-100 days – this is where Lisa’s Antarctica 2.0 journey will occur. With very little ocean health or scientific data existing around this area, it presents an enormous opportunity for Lisa to complete as much ‘citizen science’ as possible during her time at sea.

Partnering with the Clean Ocean Foundation and working with many scientific organizations, Lisa will use her vessel to take valuable ocean health readings (salinity, dissolved carbon dioxide, chlorophyll and bio optics), microplastic samples, meteorological data (barometric data, temperature, wind/direction, air pressure, humidity) to assist with global weather modeling and deploy drifter buoys to assist with mapping the seafloor. This research will go on to help us better understand the effects climate change is having on our planet, one that is being pushed to its limits.

When we first met Lisa, we were inspired by her story of courage, bravery, and determination. We were also drawn to her mission to raise awareness for climate action, something that we’ve been working towards for a number of years, and a cause that we strongly support. We couldn’t be prouder to be involved in this remarkable journey!

Using Canva, Lisa will be providing updates on her research and the status of her voyage through social posts, infographics, data visualisations, charts, and videos. With Canva Offline Mode set to be launched later this year, Lisa will be able to create updates from anywhere at sea and schedule them to be shared with the world through our Content Planner.

Share Your #ClimateActionNow Message

As well as conducting research and providing updates throughout her voyage, the hull of Lisa’s yacht, Climate Action Now, has been wrapped with a collage of post-it notes showcasing thousands of different messages from her supportive community, including quite a few from our very own team!

The notes consist of little actions each person can take towards climate action – so whether you cycle to work, have a compost bin or switch to energy-efficient appliances, every effort counts! Collectively, we can all make a positive difference to the world around us.

You too can throw your support behind Lisa Blair – you can sponsor a degree of her journey here. Every little bit helps Lisa and her remarkable journey do the research needed to ensure a greater future for all.