Teen climate activist afloat on Arctic Ocean ice: 'We could lose everything here'
A young British activist has held a climate crisis demonstration afloat ice in the Arctic Ocean above Svalbard, believed to be the most northerly protest of its kind.
Mya-Rose Craig stood on an ice floe at 82 degrees north calling for urgent action on climate change, and warned: "We're going to lose everything".
The 18-year-old is a part of the 'Youth Strike for Climate' movement started by teenage Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg.
"We're past the point of a wake up call, we're past the point of ignorance, we have to act now or we're going to lost everything," Ms Craig said, speaking from a piece of ice broken off from the ice cap.
She was speaking during an expedition organised by Greenpeace to document the state of the increasingly vulnerable ice caps.
The teenager, from Bristol, is founder of the non-profit Black2Nature group that encourages inner-city children from Black and ethnic minority backgrounds to explore the natural world.
"Just floating in the middle of a sea of slush has really just reminded me how delicate the Arctic is," the 18-year-old said.
She called on "leader and decision makers" to "do something".
Ice in the Arctic Ocean melted to its second lowest level on record this summer - triggered by global warming along with natural forces.
The extent of ice-covered ocean at the North Pole and extending further south to Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Russia reached its summertime low of 1.4 million square miles last week before starting to grow again.
In the 1980s, the ice cover was about 1 million square miles bigger than current summer levels.
What is the Youth Strike for Climate?
Ms Craig's protest marks a day of global action held each Friday by children and young people around the globe to draw attention to climate change.
Students have been striking on Fridays for around two years, a movement started by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg.
On Friday 25 September, the 'Fridays For Future' movement plans thousands of protest actions across the globe.