Table of contents for Fall 2015 in The Explorers Journal

In 1969 the one-hit wonder band Thunderclap Newman used those words to provoke a generation to action, and a year later I remember proudly marching in the first Earth Day celebration. It was a time of great optimism, yet also one of anxiety and fear. As the musical Hair warned us at the time, the "something in the air" was in fact sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide. It was a complicated time, with multiple crosscurrents and strong sentiments expressed on all sides, which brings us to today. We have a freshly minted COP21 Paris Agreement that, on the one hand, seems like a breakthrough, with 195 countries participating as signatories, yet, on the other, has prompted spirited debate on whether it constitutes enough action, resolve, and enforceability. There is a…

Wade Davis, a recipient of The Explorers Club's Lowell Thomas Award, holds the University of British Columbia's Leadership Chair in Cultures and Ecosystems at Risk. A National Geographic explorer-inresidence, Davis is the author of numerous books. He was awarded the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2012 for Into the Silence, his book on George Mallory's attempts to climb Everest. Tim Ward is a traveler and the author of eight books, including the Master Communicators Handbook and Zombies on Kilimanjaro, which recounts his climb up Kilimanjaro with his 20-year-old son. COMMUNION WITH THE EARTH TW: Based on your extensive contacts with indigenous communities worldwide, what would you say is the most resounding message they have for the governments negotiating the climate deal in Paris? WD: The voices of indigenous people matter because…

A palpable sigh of relief was felt on December 12, when news came that after decades of negotiations, representatives of 195 nations, both rich and poor, had reached a landmark accord on climate change in Paris, in which they committed to lowering planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions. For scientists and environmental advocates alike, the U.N. accord marked a critical first step in addressing the greatest challenge humankind faces in the years to come. Already extreme weather events have been seen as portents of what lies ahead. As many are aware, 2015 went down as the hottest year in the historical record, breaking the previous record set only the year before; all the while the current El Niño-Southern Oscillation event promises to pack a greater punch than in the past, bringing a…

ON DECEMBER 3, WITH THE PROCEEDINGS AT THE COP21 CONFERENCE IN PARIS WELL UNDER WAY, 12 MASSIVE BLOCKS OF ICE, HARVESTED FROM FREE-FLOATING ICEBERGS IN NUUP KANGERLUA FJORD, NEAR NUUK, GREENLAND, WERE ARRANGED IN A CLOCKLIKE FORMATION IN FRONT OF THE PLACE DU PANTHÉON. THERE, OVER THE COURSE OF TWO WEEKS, THEY SLOWLY MELTED IN THE SHADOW OF THE FINAL RESTING PLACE OF FRENCH LUMINARIES IN THE ARTS AND SCIENCES—AMONG THEM LOUIS ANTOINE DE BOUGAINVILLE, VICTOR HUGO, JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU, ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY, AND PIERRE AND MARIE CURIE. COLLECTIVELY WEIGHING IN AT 80 METRIC TONS, THE BLOCKS OF FROZEN WATER WERE PART OF ICE WATCH, AN INSTALLATION CONCEIVED BY ARTIST OLAFUR ELIASSON AND NOTED GEOLOGIST MINIK THORLEIF ROSING OF THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF DENMARK AT COPENHAGEN UNIVERSITY. IT WAS THE…

JOIN THE "EXPLORERS IMMORTALS" AND ENGRAVE YOUR NAME OR DEDICATION IN STONE ON  NEW PAVERS FOR THE LEFRAK TERRACE AT EXPLORERS CLUB HEADQUARTERS. ADORN OUR  LANDMARK OUTDOOR SPACE AND HELP PAY FOR URGENT WORK FOR PHASE II RENOVATIONS  BY MAKING A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION OF $2,500 PER DEDICATED PAVER TO OUR LOWELL  THOMAS BUILDING FUND. THE EXPLORERS CLUB WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE FOLLOWING  WHO HAVE PURCHASED A PAVER: Robert Ashton, James H. Alexander, John G. Alexander, Darlene T. Anderson, Jeanne D. Andlinger, Barbara Annan, Robert J. Aresty, Atlanta Chapter, Robert J. Atwater, Norman L. Baker, Andreas Bender, Josh Bernstein, John Bierley, Bruce Blanchard, John R. Bockstoce, Brian M. Boom, John R. Boreske Jr., Gary W. Bowersox, Lawson W. Brigham, Diane Britz-Lotti, Julianne M. Chase, James M. Clash, Allen S. Counter,…

A fellow of The Explorers Club since 2010, Damien Leloup is a French explorer, diver, marine archaeologist, writer, and curator. He is currently a researcher associated with Scripps Institution of Oceanography. As fellow explorers in the realm of environmental science will tell you, Earth's climate and the water levels of its oceans have been in a constant state of flux throughout its 4.54 billion-year history. Yet atmospheric conditions on our planet have remained relatively stable for the past 200 million years. In recent years, however, this has begun to change at an unprecedented rate. An analysis of temperature records dating from the late nineteenth century to the present show that the average temperature of the Earth's surface has increased by about 0.8ºC over the past 100 years, with most of…

LIGHT AND DUST by Federico Veronesi 240 PAGES PP · VENICE: MARSILIO: 2015 · ISBN-10: 8831720716 · ISBN-13: 9788831720717 · $60 For more than a decade, award-winning photographer Federico Veronesi has made his home in a semipermanent tent in Kenya's Maasai Mara. Living close to wildlife, he has been able to capture images few others have. Many are included in his latest visual offering—Light and Dust: Images and Stories from the Wild of East Africa. "At first, I followed animals to document their lives, encounters, behaviors, and relationships," writes Veronesi, adding that, "as time went by, my interest expanded to capturing their emotions, their resilience, and beauty." His images capture moments such as lions setting out to hunt at dusk and hippos huddling in a river during a rainstorm. One…

WILL GADD HAS BEEN A SERIOUS CLIMBER FOR DECADES. BUT WHEN HE MADE HIS WAY UP THE ICED HORSESHOE SIDE OF NIAGARA FALLS A YEAR AGO, HE BECAME AN INTERNATIONAL SENSATION. GADD HAS ALSO SET WORLD PARAGLIDING DISTANCE RECORDS AND IS A WORLD-CLASS KAYAKER. JC: Why did you choose Niagara Falls? WG: For me as an ice climber, it's the biggest, coolest waterfall. By volume, more water goes over it than any other falls in the world. The drop is about 180 feet. With 30 feet of ice at the bottom, it's about a 150-foot climb. JC: Any dicey moments? WG: To get the best ice, I had to climb close to the rushing water. About 75 feet up, some came down my neck and it was really cold. The…