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The Explorer Behind It
Sunniva Sorby
polar explorer,
citizen scientist
"To help you turn awe into action."
- Sunniva Sorby, Mission Statement
Why Vancouver Island, why now
After years documenting climate change at the poles, Sunniva is turning her lens to the biodiversity and cultural richness of Vancouver Island, a place she calls home. The island represents a microcosm of everything worth protecting: old-growth forests, marine ecosystems, Indigenous cultural continuity, and the quiet urgency of a planet mid-transformation.
The 2027 expedition is the culmination of that focus, the most ambitious project of her land-based career, and an open invitation to the public to be part of it.
Thirty years at the edges of the Earth
Sunniva Sørby has spent more than three decades living at the most extreme reaches of our planet, not for the spectacle, but for the science, the story, and the call to action those experiences demand.
Born in Norway, now based at the heart of Vancouver Island, BC, Sunniva brings the same disciplined curiosity she applied to polar research to everything she touches, including this expedition.
- Skied to the South Pole, one of the defining achievements in modern polar exploration
- Overwintered for 19 months in Svalbard, Norway: 600+ days of climate data collection
- Co-author of Hearts in the Ice, the book documenting the project of the first women to overwinter in Svalbard
- TEDx speaker and educator reaching students, corporations, and communities globally · Co-host of the Pioneers of the Possible series with Exploring by the Seat of Your Pants (EBTSOYP)
- Founder of the Embrace the Planet Project, connecting polar science to everyday action
- Citizen scientist partnering with NASA, universities, and conservation organisations
"I'm not here to glorify hardship or hang medals on the wall. I'm here to use every expedition as a doorway, for you."Sunniva Sørby