Off to the Land of Fire November 16, 2009

I’m off to the airport to Ushuaia, in Tierra del Fuego, where our expedition begins.  I’ll be offline now throughout the expedition but I encourage you to follow along with us on our group expedition blog here:

http://expedition.2041.com/iate/

Looking forward to seeing you again here in two weeks!

Q&A from Buenos Aires, Part 2 November 15, 2009

If there’s one important thing to keep in mind as you undertake a big project like this, it’s to not let setbacks get in the way.

As my mother always used to say, “Life doesn’t always go to plan; sometimes you will spend long periods of time in Argentinian police stations reporting the theft of the laptop pictured in your previous blog post.”

So unfortunately I won’t be able to get to your questions on Antarctica and climate change as planned, but I will keep them in mind as I begin the expedition.  Thanks again for your input.

Q&A from Buenos Aires, Part 1 November 14, 2009

Thanks for all the questions.  Today, questions on the expedition.  Tomorrow, your questions on Antarctica and climate change.

First, following up on some media coverage mentioned earlier. The BBC online piece can be found here.  The Oxford Mail piece can be found here, which includes the result of the half-hour photo session wearing all of my gear indoors.

On to the questions:

Why is it called the International Antarctic Treaty Expedition?
The expedition marks the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Antarctic Treaty, in which nations agreed to make Antarctica a natural reserve, devoted to peace and science.  The agreement did not expressly prohibit mining and oil drilling in Antarctica; this did not happen until 1991, after much campaigning by environmental organizations.  We will be celebrating this protection of Earth’s last great wilderness while also drawing attention to the fact that it is not forever, and that Antarctica’s future is also threatened by climate change.

The expedition organizer is 2041.  What does 2041 refer to?
2041 is the year when mining rights to Antarctica can be renegotiated.  The organization 2041, founded by expedition leader Robert Swan, is working to protect the continent and emphasizes in its name that Antarctica’s future is still in doubt.  Young people today, including those we reach through the present expedition, will be the ones who determine Antarctica’s fate.

Where are the other members of the expedition from? What do they do?
The team is a diverse group of people from five continents and 15 countries:  students, businesspeople, scientists, journalists, and teachers.  Their experience will be shared with government, businesses, NGOs, students, and community groups around the world.

What exactly will you be doing in Antarctica?
My friend and colleague Cath Harris at Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment has written a great summary of the expedition here.

It says you may be sleeping under the stars in Antarctica.  How cold will it be?
Fortunately it’s spring in Antarctica at the moment, so it should be no colder than -15°C.  No problem, right?

Tomorrow:   your questions on Antarctica and climate change.

Buenos Aires November 13, 2009

Friday the 13th, it must be said, is not the most auspicious date for travelling.

But after delays in Rio and Sao Paulo, I’m finally here in Buenos Aires, my luggage is with me and not in Bolivia or Omaha, and I survived the rally car race from the airport.

I’m staying on a leafy, cobbled street in the heart of the city, with sidewalk cafés still bustling at midnight.  It was a very un-Antarctic 30°C today with 90% humidity in Rio, but it’s a bit cooler here in Buenos Aires.  My hostel is an old Spanish-style building with colourfully-painted walls.  And in a sure sign I’m not in England anymore, right outside my room is a reverentionally-framed poster of Diego Maradona clutching the “Hand of God”-aided World Cup.

Tomorrow’s entry will be the first part of a Q&A on the expedition, Antarctica, and climate change, so send me your questions.  I’ll start with questions I’ve received on what we’ll be seeing and doing on the expedition.  But please also send your questions on Antarctica and climate change in general.  What would you like to know that my upcoming experience might help to answer?  I’m hoping you’ll have some questions that I can’t yet answer — all the more reason to be going!

The journey begins November 12, 2009

Well, actually, metaphorically, the journey began about a month ago.  It really got going in the past two weeks, and then it went into hyper-drive in the past three days.  I’m just about to head to Brazil for the first leg of the journey, and I can tell you I will be catching up on a lot of Zs on the way.

Thanks for all the messages:  nearly 100 today alone!  Be sure to stay involved if you want to ask questions about what we’ll be doing or seeing in Antarctica.  This expedition is all about engaging people on climate change, so be sure to share your thoughts.

Besides packing, this morning consisted of two interviews with the BBC.  The first was a phone interview with BBC Radio Oxford.  It turns out it was done live, which was a bit nerve-wracking given the amount of sleep I’d gotten.  The interview, I’m told, can be heard again here (starting at 2:09:40), for those in the UK.  I haven’t had a chance to listen to it – although I guess I had a ringside seat for it anyway.

Next was a TV interview.  This was a lot more work.  The thing about TV is, you have to actually put some clothes on.  And if the filming is to be done in your dorm room, the level of effort required goes up that extra bit.  It actually felt exactly like the familiar TV scene where two brothers who have just trashed the house suddenly stop and look at one another and one says, “Mom is going to be home in [specified short period of time].  We have [specified short period of time] to make it look like none of this ever happened.”  In my case, that was one hour.  Many thanks to my floormate Gigil for helping to make it happen.   For those in the UK, the clip can be seen tonight at 6:30 pm on BBC1 (the BBC South Today program), and it may also be available here afterward.  For those fortunate enough to watch this, you will get a master class in the important skill of randomly stuffing items into a big rucksack.

In yet another collaboration, the BBC is also preparing a story for its website; details to follow.  There’s also a story on the website of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, the department where I work, written by Cath Harris:  http://www.smithschool.ox.ac.uk/.  I’ll be following up with all of the above when I get back and hope to have lots more to say.

So a very busy morning.  Apart from having a baby, I suspect there have got to be few things in life that make you as busy as preparing to go to Antarctica.  (I will no doubt revisit that quote later in life.)

Off to Heathrow now for an overnight flight to Rio. I’ve never been to South America before, so this is really exciting – and the journey is only just beginning . . .  Tips on what to see in Buenos Aires are most welcome!

Counting down . . . November 11, 2009

I woke up planning on today being about getting gear and finishing off a paper at work, but it turned out to be a lot busier than that.

The University Press Office and the Smith School, where I work, have been working on getting some coverage of the expedition and the calls have all come through this morning.  Before leaving home, I had a newspaper interview and another meeting for later, plus radio and TV interviews for tomorrow!

I did a phone interview with the Oxford Mail and arranged for a photographer to meet me later at the office.  For this, the suggestion was to wear my Antarctic gear – which I hadn’t bought yet.  For about a week I’ve been telling people, “Yeah, it’s been pretty busy; I still need to get my gear.”  Well, it’s the day before I leave, so no time like the present.

I was a bit worried about the prospects of shops selling Antarctic-worthy gear here in England, but a friend told me about a good place just outside town.  Glancing at the long list of gear we were sent by the expedition coordinators, I steeled myself as I entered the store for the financial pain that would result.  As I’ve learned, trying to skimp on appropriate clothing is a false economy.

If there was any doubt that what I’d just bought would be warm enough, a quick test was soon at hand.  I got back to the office and met with the photographer from the Oxford Mail.  His suggestion was to put on all my gear to lend an air of authenticity to the story tagline.  The only things I left off were my boots, rucksack, and ski goggles – and those only because we needed them as props to put on a table in front of me.  A half-hour of takes from all angles reassured me that I would, indeed, be warm enough in Antarctica.

And now for the biggest task of the day:  cleaning up my room for the TV crew coming tomorrow.  They want to do an interview with me as I do my final packing – and as I told them, this won’t have to be staged like the photo shoot today; I actually will be doing my packing just before I head to the airport.  But if I thought my room was a bit too messy to have friends over at the moment, imagine having a TV crew show it to half of southern England!

School visit November 10, 2009

I was in touch with a local headmaster about opportunities to speak to schoolkids before I go away.  As it turns out, today was the Oxford Schools Sustainable Development Conference, and I was invited along to speak.

The group consisted of secondary school students from across the city who are interested in the environment.  I shared my motivations for joining the expedition and encouraged the students to follow our progress.  I’ll come back and speak with them about my experience when I return.

I also got to listen to some of them talk about the initiatives they’ve set up, including a website (http://www.paramundos.com) for students across Oxford to communicate on their environmental actions in between conferences.  It’s all very impressive — they’re certainly more active and aware than I was at their age!

Welcome! November 9, 2009

I can’t tell you how excited I am about this – but I’ll try.

This time next week, I’ll be arriving at the very bottom of South America, 11,000 kilometres due south of where I grew up in Canada.  I’m joining a group of 40 young people from around the world on the International Antarctic Treaty Expedition.  We meet next Monday in our launching point in Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost city in the world.  From there, we board the MV Clipper Adventurer for 1000 kilometres across what I’m told can be the roughest seas in the world.  And then . . . Antarctica.

It’s a bit clichéd to refer to the experience of a lifetime, but if anything is, it’s this.  I mean, seriously:  Antarctica?!  It feels like I’m going to the moon.

I’ve never kept a blog before, but I wanted to share this experience with as many people as possible.  Our expedition commemorates the 50th anniversary of the signing of the treaty that first protected Antarctica, and I’m going with an organization (http://www.2041.com/about) that is dedicated to safeguarding the future of this lonely wilderness.  The date in the organization’s name refers to the year when mining rights to Antarctica can be renegotiated:  the year when Antarctica’s future again comes into question.  But, of course, Antarctica’s future is already in doubt because of climate change.  Our expedition is focused on raising awareness of the threats posed by global warming through our firsthand experience of seeing the changes happening in Antarctica.  We’ll be led by polar explorer Rob Swan, the first person to walk to both poles, who has seen a lot of change in the polar regions over the years and wants to share this with people from around the world.

I hope you’ll enjoy following this adventure and that you’ll learn something alone the way.  Please feel free to get involved and leave comments and questions!