Foto of me 8 years ago at Perito Moreno,Argentina... (I wonder how the glaciar looks now)Robert Swan caught my attention when he came to deliver a speach on Identity at the Business Week 2007 at Erasmus University. It was his amazing communicating skills plus his amazing carrer that left me perplexed.
Belive it or not by the age of 33 he had walked to the north and south poles. Its astonishing how determined and focus some individuals can be about their goals. And you would wonder why the hell Id care about someone who has walked the poles. To begin with he did the walk all on his own. These walks were only the beggining of his carrer. They inspired him to strive for his goal " to work for the preservation of the Antarctic as the last great wilderness on earth". He then became the UN Goodwill Ambassador and had to deliver a speach about conservation of the enviorment. Shocking to me was the images he showed us of a before and after place in the Antartica from where he removed 1,000 tons of garbage. All this removal was done by hand, and they could only work in the terrain 3 months every year. In his fight towards sustainability and preservation for the enviorment he also bought a Yacht, named 2041 by which he went around Africa informing about AIDS and enviormental problems. He now leads expeditions to antartica and has opened an education station in Antartica.
Robert Swan, has left his life behind and has no money nor pension funds waiting for him. He is working on what he believes neeeds to be done to save our enviorment now and for the future. Its admirable how dedicated he is, and how determined he is to transmit his believes to others.
I think lately we have all heard a lot of enviormental talk, but sometimes it takes good speaker to inspire us to do a large change. Just think about the next two things:
- 10 of the past 15 years were the hottest on record
- Antarctica's ice sheet holds 70% of the world's fresh water supply. If it were to melt, the world's oceans would rise approximately 70 meters or 230 feet
And do note that in 2041 it will not only be the 40th anniversary of september 11 attacks, the 100 th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour and the 50th anniversary of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. But most importantly, it will be the year that the Environmental Protocol of the Antarctic Treaty comes up for review. This treaty has set the antartica as a scientific preserve and military activity in the continent is banned. Lets keep it this way and work together to preserve the enviorment and our future lives.
2 comentaris:
hmm in the year of 2041 i'll be ehm 57 (you 56? :D )?? :S pff that sounds old.
well this issue is definetly a big one. imagine the Netherlands :O this land will absolutely be 'nether' :S so we have to increase our dikes by 70 meters? well that would like living in a prison. hey lets hire the chinese ppl, they have experience in building long and tall walls in a short period!
ok im making jokes about, but its pretty serious though! it is!
so when are you going to antarctica gisela? you are planning a world trip, a transiberia trip next year (??) and antarctica should then definetly on your (very long??) list!
let me know when ur going. not that u will ever get me into going with you, but i would like to see u there (in a picture of course), u globetrotter!
hmm in the mean time, lets practice swimming and surfing (oew in Aussie!!), we need it for the future if this is not going to be stopped :P
ps. forgot to mention: nice picture of u gisela!! :D
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