Part of my work as a geographer and glacier scientist involves traveling around the world. Literally. Several times a year, I join expeditions, traversing continents and oceans, sometimes half the planet, in mere days. I’ve visited glaciers in some startling places — like Uganda’s Stanley Glacier, where ice retreat influences human health and malaria outbreaks. Or Iceland’s Breiðamerkurjökull, where glacier change is exacerbating the ice-breaking pressures of global tourism. Or South Georgia’s Heaney Glacier, where ice retreat has provided expansive real estate for one of the largest King penguin colonies on Earth.
My job is to translate the landscape: how oceans move nutrients pole to pole; why one mountain might support snow but another does not; how glaciers shape societies.
I’ll own it’s a peculiar way to experience the world.
From 30,000 feet, borders fall away. Trees become forests become systems become a living planet... Read more
