Sailing across the Drake Passage, being in a Zodiac as whales swim by, hanging out with penguins, taking a real Polar Plunge, engaging with researchers and scientists actively working in Antarctica, and exploring the most remote and least understood place on Earth is enough to get my adrenaline pumping, just thinking about it. 

Can you feel it, too?

Sailing on a brand new, innovative ship (it's even a hybrid) that has the capability to sail into the Extreme Weddell Sea- where few humans have ever had the ability to experience- is even more exciting! We will be sailing the route Ernest Shackleton and the Endurance crew did when they got stuck in the ice and their ship sank. Our ship brings us to Elephant Island where the Endurance crew survived for three months, while awaiting rescue! What an amazing opportunity to witness the place of legend, and see the odd-looking elephant seals that call it home! 

There will be plenty of time for exploring as we experience the summertime in Antarctica, when it is full daylight, 24 hours a day. 

Are you excited, yet? (Can you tell that I am?)

But this trip is not purely about the (already incredible) experience and adventure. This trip will serve as the medium in which I conduct research for my CGI U Fellowship. I aim to find how dissenting opinions surrounding issues of climate science, climate change, and human-driven global warming are able to shift after a person has been immersed in an environment that is profoundly impacted by these issues. 

I will then apply my research and take action in my community- Tampa Bay, Florida. I hope to pursuade both residents and visitors to be observant and see the impacts of these climate issues, right where they are.

Our natural reefs are dwindling, they are our erosion protection; without them, homes will be lost as storms continue to intensify and sea level continues to rise. Our daily thunderstorms have changed in their features. They have become much more intense, producing more frequent and increasingly devastating tornadoes and dumping baseball-sized hail in parts of Florida that have never experienced that. Our crops now freeze in the uncharacteristically harsh winters. We experience frequent and worsening 'Red Tide' algal blooms that have caused massive die-offs in many fish and marine animal populations (it has pretty awful affects on humans, too). 

Despite all of this, many people are still hesitant to see what is happening. I want to change that. 

I would truly appreciate your generousity in enabling me to make this trip- and my mission- possible. 

I am in the process of creating a blog to document my journey for all to follow. I will update it as soon as it is ready to go live!