9. IF YOU WANT TO PROTECT ANTARCTICA…WHY ARE YOU TRAVELLING THERE?

This is a question that many of you have asked.

The short answer – there is no better teacher than the immediacy of “being there”.

Let’s face it; we all know about climate change and the risks we face because of it. But here in sunny South Africa, we might struggle to understand and relate to what’s happening far away in the freezing South Pole.

I want to use the knowledge I gain from this Expedition and it’s incredible team to bridge this gap and apply it here in South Africa. With an abundance of mountains, beaches, forests, deserts, rivers, and our beloved ‘fynbos’, we have so many treasured ecosystems here that depend on the climate remaining stable.

The expedition allows me to experience first-hand what we truly mean when we cry out “the ice caps are melting!”, but also will provide me with the skills and knowledge about climate change that will help me to better educate, motivate and inspire those in my community, not only to understand, but to act.

Still not convinced?

The Explorer’s Passage and the 2041 ClimateForce team also take the environmental impact very seriously and intend to ‘restore balance’ as much as possible. Together, they have developed and implemented the “Polar Carbon Negative Initiative”, which not only offsets the carbon footprint of the entire Expedition (making it ‘carbon neutral’), but goes even further, to make the Expedition carbon negative, meaning that we will taking out more CO2 than we’ll be putting in!

We will observe a Leave No Trace policy and a number of other sustainability-oriented practices on board, including an advanced recycling program to the use of biodegradable cleaning solutions.

The primary mission of this Expedition is to develop and train leaders to go off into the world as advocates for the Antarctic and polar regions and to continue positively impacting their communities, institutions, companies and governments for the benefit of the planet we all call home – countless Expedition alumni have gone on to do seriously incredible things, all inspired by their Expedition experiences.

For all these reasons mentioned above, I feel that it is truly worth it.

What about you?