Expedition: Welcome aboard!
From 14 to 27 March 2009, eleven RWE employees experienced Antarctic conditions at first hand and learned more about how they can make a positive environmental difference to the Antarctic and the World. They worked together with some 60 team members accompanying Robert Swan on his ship “2041”. The journey started at Ushuaia, Argentina, crossed the legendary Drake Passage and went on to King George Island and the E-Base.
During the expedition the group visited various locations along the Antarctic Peninsula. On board ship, the team members also discussed issues with experts on climate change and sustainability. The men and women who took part in the expedition have been passing on their first-hand knowledge of the continent’s fragile ecosystem at home and at work.
The participants captured their impressions of the leadership expedition with photo and video cameras and reported on their exciting expedition in a blog.
Sat, 09 May 2009
Inspire Antarctic Expedition 2009
Thu, 09 Apr 2009
Team Inspire 2009
Tue, 24 Mar 2009
Testimonials
Musik thanks to Audio Network
Tue, 24 Mar 2009
Penguins ahoy
Tue, 24 Mar 2009
Reflections
It seems strange writing some reflections before the expedition has finished, but technology needs must. In the Drake Passage we have no communications, and while contact with the outside world was possible at E-Base, since then we have relied on satellite, with limits on the size of the files that can be sent. While satellite communications are good to 78 degrees south, the communications specialist, Jamie, needs his equipment to be on solid ground with no shielding from mountains. So he is duly dropped ashore with an orange briefcase and his crampons, and left to scale the highest peak to get a signal. One glitch in the connection, as he uploads to the 2041 website or email server, and he has to start again. The positive is that we are more or less isolated from the outside world for two weeks, giving time for thought as we travel through an other worldly landscape.
Tue, 24 Mar 2009
Leopards and Light
Paradise Bay is such a remarkable place. Again, we were blessed with the weather - astonishingly still and calm, after very nearly being blown off the top of a mountain at Nico Harbour.
Earlier in the day, we discussed the solutions to climate change, and the role that policy makers, businesses and all of us have if we are going to break our dependence on a high carbon way of life. Then, it was out in the zodiacs again.
Mon, 23 Mar 2009
Life aboard the Ioffe
Mon, 23 Mar 2009
Leopard seals on the prowl
I am so happy to have a chance to write home! I have limited space and so while it is hard not to tell you everything we’ve done and all the wonderful things I have seen, I will have to keep my blog short and ask the powers that be if I can write again this week.
We are learning lots about sustainability, climate change and leadership. The lectures are fantastic and the excursions into the wilderness are spectacular. Yesterday we went to an island with a penguin population of 3500-4000 which was a fantastic experience because the penguins are curious and so I sat still and a few came right up to me to check me out.
Mon, 23 Mar 2009
Contributions from the world
Yesterday afternoon we went ashore and saw our first gentoo penguins. They are truly majestic creatures. But sadly any penguins still here this late in the autumn will inevitably die during the winter; the more sensible or healthier ones have already migrated north. We also saw an enormous leopard seal slowly circling in front of the beach, in the hope that one of the penguins would venture into the sea. None did.
