Round Britain Climate Challenge

Next year, the UK government is hosting COP26, the United Nations Climate Change Conference. Conservation without Borders has been given a BIG opportunity to take our message directly to them... which gave us a BIG idea.

We’re going to stage a ground-breaking climate change publicity campaign, that involves and inspires the whole country. A campaign so real and tangible it cannot be dismissed by cynics, and so focused on solutions that leaders will not only have to listen, they will want to.

SCROLL DOWN TO SEE OUR EXCITING NEW REWARDS ON OFFER!

NEW REWARDS ANNOUNCEMENT!

Win a 2 night Stay at The Scarlet Hotel, Cornwall with all the trimmings!

The Scarlet Hotel on the North Cornwall coast is a luxury eco hotel just for grown ups with excellent sustainability credentials and fantastic views of the Atlantic Ocean. We think the photos speak for themselves!

The prize consists of a 2 night stay for 2 people sharing a generous room plus

• Breakfast on both days
• Dinner on one night from the tasting menu
• Afternoon Tea for two
• Clifftop hot tub session

To enter this prize draw you must select one of the entry reward options on this page. You can also make a donation without entering the prize draw using the donation only tab toward the top of this page. You can also enter the competition for free by post. See terms and conditions below.

EXPEDITION PLANNING COURSE FOR TEENS

We are thrilled to announce a new reward, the perfect Christmas present for teens who have been cooped up indoors all year - the opportunity to take part in an inspiring, horizon expanding, limited numbers Expedition Planning Masterclass Course with  with the team of Sir Ranulph Fiennes' ( UK's 'Greatest living explorer'), Guinness World Record Holders, UN Ambassadors & renowned conservationists! PLUS join exclusive behind the scenes team on our expedition all around Britain in 2021, part of UN's COP26 and expect cameo appearances on any of the 8 digital sessions, including from renowned conservationist, Ian Redmond OBE who was involved in the film GORILLAS IN THE MIST starring Sigourney Weaver. 

This reward is only available for 30 people. Not to be missed!

ZERO TO HERO PARAMOTOR COURSE - £999 VS NORMAL PRICE £1699!

The course will take you from complete beginner to fully qualified BHPA accredited pilot in approximately 15 instructional days and have you flying around the skies of Britain just like Sacha!

This special offer is available exclusively here and we have just ONE of these incredible courses available at this very special rate.

ADVENTURE, INSPIRING STORIES AND GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS!

Our plan and what we’ll achieve...

Our campaign will involve Sacha Dench (aka ‘the human swan’) attempting something that has never been done before – a 3000+ mile circumnavigation of Britain in a specially adapted, green electricity powered paramotor. Because she can take off and land almost anywhere, she and the team will be landing to recharge and rest with the interesting and inspirational people around the country, the ones who can show us exactly how climate change is changing our country, but also show us what we can do about it. 

From landowners rewilding to garden shed inventors; from CEOs turning their companies on their heads to celebrity footballers; from mums and dads to politicians; we’ll take the country with us to meet the people reinventing our futures and show what we can all do to help.

There will be highs and lows, shocks and surprises, tears and laughter on our journey of discovery from the air, on land, and even under water. Sacha will bring the big picture views from the air, and the ground crew of scientists and media will be gathering ideas and stories and sharing the expedition with the world.

WHAT WE’LL ACHIEVE WITH THE RBCC - IN BRIEF:                                               

• Deliver a high profile message, that inspires our leaders to be bold in  their climate ambitions
• Record and raise the profile of people and projects that are our technological and natural solutions to climate crisis
• Generate over £5,000,000 value in mainstream media coverage and support for projects tackling our climate challenge
• Clearly and visually document, with a unique birds eye view, the impact of the climate crisis all over Britain
• Create a valuable image and video resource freely available to change-makers
• Shift the national public narrative on the climate crisis from one of overwhelmed to one of ideas, hope, inspiration and solutions from around the country
• Film / photo & VR exhibition for events in the following year

And World Records?

We aim to set and beat TWO official Guinness World Records  

1. The first and fastest flight around Britain in a paramotor powered only by renewable energy. This is a record with real purpose. It shows Sacha is prepared to put skin in the game and push green technology to its limits, and proves that rethinking what is possible can be really exciting.

2. The most pledges to act on climate change in 1 month via our global alliance with Count Us In. We need all ages involved, and this record helps us reach new audiences and provides another, clear, media hook. The global target for pledges is 1 billion people this decade and we want to get this off to a flying start!

OUR SUPPORTERS

Organisations - This project is collaborating with organisations including The Climate Coalition (who represent a number of major UK charities and organisations including Womens Institute, The NUS, Surfers against Sewage and The National Trust), The Scouts, Rewilding Britain and others.

Celebrity supporters - include Dame Judi Dench, Kate Humble, and more will be revealed throughout the campaign...

"I couldn’t be more enthusiastic about this – I think it is admirable and what a fantastic example at this time, when we are all so concerned about climate change, that Sacha is yet again drawing attention to its consequence.”
Dame Judi Dench, actor

"Sacha, I’m definitely in! Really, really sorry to hear you lost your family home in the Australian fires. You are, as ever, brilliant, to come up with such a positive and proactive way of making something good out of something so bloody tough".
- Kate Humble, TV presenter

“Conservation without Borders has found a new way to shift the narrative on climate and biodiversity. Their campaigns are the perfect hybrid of high profile communication platform leading to real, on the ground action. We, the High Level Champions, support their initiative fully and would highly recommend them to anyone wishing to make an important contribution to the global climate crisis”
Nigel Topping (UN COP26 High Level Climate Champion)

"We are with you all the way!"
Isabella Tree, Author of 'Wilding' & The Knepp Estate

MEDIA STRATEGY AND STORYTELLING

A New(s) Story - Our adventure and working with Guinness World Records is designed specifically to get attention from local, regional and national news media, to grab the general public’s attention – young and old - and keep it for 5 weeks. This is long enough to shift everyone’s vision of the climate crisis from an overwhelming problem to an exciting challenge we can take on together. 

Stunning Visuals - Our ground crew will provide a regular feed of stunning media content for TV, radio, print and digital publishers, both nationally and internationally. Sacha and our whole team can be tracked online in real time so media and the public can follow.

A Multimedia Experience - We will also be producing innovative social media content that partners, supporters and others can share throughout the journey – this includes everything from sitting with Sacha in virtual reality as you fly along the white cliffs of Dover, dive underwater to see why we need to rewild the sea floor,  to in-depth interviews around a campfire.. 

Media Backing - We have commitments of repeat coverage for this project from BBC, ITV and Newsquest who are the largest regional news publisher in the country. BBC World will also follow our journey and produce documentary programming for their Travel show which reaches 100m viewers per week! We are expanding this list all the time.

OUR STRATEGY IS PROVEN TO WORK!

We know from our previous expedition experience with Flight of the Swans, that powerful stories can transform the way we think about a problem, inspire many to get involved and can create a snowball effect and wave of action.

Flight of the Swans generated over £10m worth of media coverage and showed that tackling the root causes – lack of interest and awareness of what people could do – helped save a species from extinction. It is still creating waves of action and support on the ground nearly 4 years on, helping not only the swans but also many other species.

OUR TEAM

Conservation without Borders is a charity founded by Sacha Dench, Ambassador for the UN’s Convention on Migratory Species. Sacha has been flying for 15 years and is an award-winning conservationist and adventurer. She started life as a marine biologist, and also set a record for freediving in Australia. Her other awards include The Britannia Trophy, ENDS Environmental Campaign of the Year (for Flight of the Swans), Woman of the Year 2017 and the inaugural Green Swan Awards alongside Sir Tim Smit of the Eden Project for ‘making the seemingly impossible, virtually inevitable’. In 2020 Sacha lost her family home to Climate Change, in the Australian bushfires, that also wiped out all the local wildlife, so she speaks on the climate and extinction crises from both a professional and personal point of view. 

She will be joined on the expedition by a second paramotorist, Dan Burton, and an experienced ground crew of 6 people travelling in electric vehicles packed with kit for camping, filming, live broadcasting and engaging with communities and the media.

The charity is co-run by Christine Cowin who has 20+ years working in media, film and TV as well as an army of brilliant volunteers with diverse backgrounds and experience.

WHERE DID THE IDEA COME FROM – FLIGHT OF THE SWANS

Our story began in 2016 when Sacha was challenged to find a way to find out why the Bewick’s Swan population was declining, and to bring together diverse communities to find solutions that would help save them. She looked at root causes, the key influencers, and what drives each of them to act, and came up with the radical idea of following their migration route in a paramotor, experiencing as closely as possible their actual journey through their eyes. 

This resulted in a ground-breaking and award-winning environmental campaign that delivered unprecedented results and generated huge media coverage. 

It also demonstrated that this type of campaign was effective at uniting diverse groups to invent solutions to environmental problems and, more importantly, inspired them to act knowing that they were part of something bigger that could make a real difference. 

We are now replicating this model and using it to tackle the climate and extinction crises in Britain. Together we know we can make a huge difference and that every action adds up. This project will instil that understanding and conviction, across the country.

HOW WE WILL SPEND THE MONEY

Our initial target of £30,000 will fund the new green technology powered paramotor, 4 specially-designed rechargeable batteries, and the testing, adaptation and preparation phase. There is some urgency since this will take at least a month to adapt once we have the funds to pay for it and at least a month for Sacha to fly and test the machine in different conditions and configurations before departing in April. The paramotor is specially developed and therefore it is not something that can be donated or loaned from a manufacturer. As the charity (Conservation without Borders) will be purchasing the paramotor, we will own it and be able to reuse it on future conservation expeditions.

A stretch target of a further £20,000 will resource the team with specialist equipment for filming and live broadcasting, and enabling in-air comms and video. This kit will also be able to be used for future conservation expeditions.

If we reach that target, each stretch target of £15,000 will keep the expedition crew of 8 on the road and in the air for a week including camping gear, food, insurance, electric vehicles and electricity to charge them, camp site costs etc

HOW ELSE ARE WE RAISING ADDITIONAL FUNDS?

We are actively seeking financial and in-kind sponsorship of the following, so we would be happy to hear from any contacts in these industries interested in sponsoring

• Electric / hybrid vehicles 
• Insurance 
• Camera, video, VR and audio equipment 
• Flying suits/clothing, crew clothing 
• helmets, in air comms, navigation, tracking
• Camping gear for 8 people 
• Food and supplies for 8 people 
• Exhibition photographic printing 
• Data and telecoms 
• Vehicle wraps and signage
• Paramotor wing

WHAT IS 'COUNT US IN' AND HOW WILL WE COLLECT AND MEASURE THE PLEDGES TO ACT ON CLIMATE CHANGE?

Conservation without Borders is a founding partner of Count Us In, an ambitious, collaborative ten-year effort (2020-2030) to inspire 1 billion people to significantly reduce their carbon emissions. Founding Partners are aiming to build it into the largest ever mass citizen climate action mobilisation. 

We will share and promote the CountUsIn app and website so as many people as possible pledge their action, and together we can beat the existing world record of 140,000.

IN SUMMARY

Every single person who donates to our campaign and chooses one of our rewards is saying they want something done about the climate crisis. We know that we can make an enormous impact by rallying the nation and showing our leaders that we now need more action than ever before. 

So join us in the most exciting, inclusive, adventurous, climate campaign the country has ever seen.

PRIZE DRAW TERMS AND CONDITIONS

• Entrants must be over 18 years of age 
• Open to anyone (over the age of 18) worldwide except employees of the Promoters, their families, agents or anyone professionally connected with the draw
• Entries will be accepted between 12:00 pm GMT 11th December 2020 and 18:00 pm GMT 31st January 2021.
• Entrants may enter as many times as they like.
• To enter, make a pledge on this project and select a reward when you make your pledge. Pledges which are donations without rewards will not be entered.
• Entrants can pledge to this campaign without entering the prize draw.
• To enter the draw without pledging, please send a postcard with the prize draw name, your name, address, email address and contact telephone number to: Round Britain Climate Challenge Prize Draw, c/o Conservation without Borders, First Floor Flat, 11 The Square, Chagford, Devon, TQ13 8AA, UK. Entries must be sent on a postcard or on or within an envelope. Entries received on anything other than a postcard or envelope will not be accepted. In the case of multiple entries received in a single envelope or postcard, only one entry will be entered into the promotion. Entries sent by post must be received by the closing date and time for receipt of entries. Postal entries without correct and sufficient postage paid will be invalid and will not be considered. Personal and hand deliveries will not be accepted.
• Following the closing date, the winner will be chosen at random and contacted before 3rd February 2021. They will be contacted by email on how to claim their prize. If the winner does not respond within 72 hours of the initial email being sent, the next winner will be chosen at random and emailed within 1 week.
• The winner will be sent their prize in the form of a voucher in February 2021.
• By entering this draw, all entrants consent to the use of their personal data by the Promoter only for the purposes of the administration of this draw and any other purposes to which the entrant has consented.
• The Promoter will keep entrants' personal details for a reasonable time so that it can send any prize that an entrant has won, to verify that these rules have been complied with, and for accounting purposes. 
• The Promoter may disqualify any entrant whose entry does not comply with these terms and conditions (in Promoter’s sole opinion) or who, in Promoter’s sole determination, has acted in a manner that is fraudulent, dishonest or unjust to other entrants including, without limitation, tampering with the operation of the prize draw, manipulating or rigging votes, hacking, deceiving, cheating or by harassing or threatening other entrants or a representative of Promoter.
• The Promoter is Conservation without Borders, registered charity 1186094, First Floor Flat, 11 The Square, Chagford, Devon, TQ13 8AA
• These terms and conditions are governed by English law and the courts of England will have exclusive jurisdiction.
• By entering into this draw, each entrant consents to these terms and conditions.