I decided to start this blog because I wanted a record of my trip to Antarctica. I will be leaving for Ushuaia, Argentina from San Francisco, California on 17 December 2014.
I have wanted to go to Antarctica for as long as I can remember, but never thought I would have the means to do so. Last year I heard that some penguin colonies were collapsing - several thousand birds one year to less than a dozen the next. I teach Environmental Science, Marine Science and Ornithology and tend to keep on top of environmental news, so I hear a lot of disaster stories about the environment, but this one took me by surprise. I thought that climate change had reached a tipping point and that these penguin colonies were serving as "canaries in the coal mine" as a warning of total collapse. This spurred me to action and I looked for a way to get to the ice continent and see wild penguins before it was too late.
I looked for scientific expeditions to join as this had gotten me to the arctic in 2007 and to Midway Island in 2009. But I was having no luck. Finally, I decided to try a commercial trip. These commercial trips are notoriously expensive, normally way out of the reach of a teacher. So I threw myself on their mercy and asked if they had a "teacher discount". I ended up connecting with Bob Simpson, a Vice President of Abercrombie and Kent, who felt that what I could learn and communicate to my students back home was valuable enough to offer me a place on board the trip for free! In return I will be helping out with their Young Explorers program on this particular trip.
My main goal is to communicate what I experience and learn to my students through my writings, photos, videos and sound recordings. Thanks, Abercrombie and Kent!
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