Table of contents for Winter 2016 - 2017 in The Explorers Journal

WHEN JOHN GLENN DIED AT AGE 95 ON DECEMBER 8, 2016, AMERICA LOST A TRUE HERO. FOR GLENN’S FELLOW MEMBERS OF THE EXPLORERS CLUB, HOWEVER, THE LOSS WAS NOT ONLY ONE OF A GREAT MAN BUT OF A CLOSE FRIEND AND COLLEAGUE WHO WAS TO HAVE A PROFOUND IMPACT ON THEIR OWN TRAJECTORIES IN THE REALM OF AERONAUTICS AND SPACE EXPLORATION. JUST BEFORE PRESS TIME, THEY SHARED THEIR THOUGHTS WITH THE EXPLORERS JOURNAL. I first met John Glenn in 1953 when I was a fighter pilot in South Korea in the 16th squadron and the 51st Fighter group. He was the operations officer of the 25th Squadron in the 51st Fighter group. Our respective careers put us on different pathways, but our passion for pushing the boundaries of flight would…

Laurie Marker—founder and director of the Cheetah Conservation Fund and a fellow of The Explorers Club since 2006—has led pioneering research in cheetah conservation since the 1970s. As she has pointed out in her decades of research, cheetahs face many threats, including habitat loss, human-wildlife conflict, and climate change. Wildlife traffickers trade cheetah skins and bones for traditional medicine and fashion. However, the illegal pet trade also threatens cheetahs, with approximately 300 cheetahs smuggled out of northeast Africa for the illegal pet trade annually, mainly into the Arabian Peninsula. This illegal pet trade is particularly destructive, as pet cheetahs are captured in the wild as cubs. Facing grim survival prospects due to their adolescence, an average of five out of six will not survive transit, while many that do perish…

WHEN JOHN GLENN AND SCOTT CARPENTER CAME TOGETHER ON STAGE TO JOINTLY RECEIVE THE PRESIDENT’S “LEGENDS” MEDAL AT THE 2013 EXPLORERS CLUB ANNUAL DINNER, CARPENTER WAS GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO DELIVER HIS REMARKS FIRST. DURING HIS PRESENTATION, HE SAID THAT FOR YEARS HE COULDN’T FIGURE OUT WHY HIS OWN MERCURY MISSION, WHICH HAD DIRECTLY FOLLOWED GLENN’S, PRETTY MUCH DID THE SAME ORBITS AS GLENN’S; NOTHING REALLY NEW OR SPECIAL WAS PLANNED OR HAD HAPPENED. CARPENTER THEN PAUSED WITH A DEVILISH LOOK IN HIS EYES AND SAID IT TOOK HIM A HALF-CENTURY TO REALIZE THAT NASA CONSTRUCTED HIS FLIGHT JUST “TO SEE IF A REGULAR PERSON COULD DO WHAT JOHN GLENN HAD DONE.” THE CROWD ROARED. WHEN AMERICA NEEDED A HERO MOST, THE MERCURY ASTRONAUT CAME TO BAT IN THE COLD…

SCOTT PEARLMANGRANT RECIPIENT THE SCOTT PEARLMAN FIELD AWARD FOR SCIENCE AND EXPLORATION, WHICH IS ADMINISTERED BY THE EXPLORERS CLUB, PROVIDES GRANTS TO ARTISTS, WRITERS, PHOTOGRAPHERS, FILMMAKERS, AND JOURNALISTS TO SUPPORT THE DOCUMENTATION OF SCIENTIFIC FIELD RESEARCH. KATE HARRIS IS A WRITER AND ADVENTURER WHO LIVES OFF-GRID IN ATLIN, BRITISH COLUMBIA. NAMED ONE OF CANADA’S TOP MODERN-DAY EXPLORERS, HER JOURNEYS EDGING THE LIMITS OF NATIONS, ENDURANCE, AND SANITY HAVE TAKEN HER TO ALL SEVEN CONTINENTS, OFTEN BY BIKE OR SKI. HER FIRST BOOK, LANDS OF LOST BORDERS, IS FORTHCOMING FROM KNOPF CANADA. THE BORDERSKI EXPEDITION WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY A SCOTT PEARLMAN FIELD AWARD FOR SCIENCE AND EXPLORATION, PROVIDED THROUGH THE EXPLORERS CLUB. FOR MORE INFORMATION: WWW.KATEHARRIS.CA. We hesitate on the edge of nowhere. Huge distances of sky, a stubble of…

After releasing aerial photographs of a previously unknown and uncontacted Yanomami community in the Brazilian Amazon in November, Survival International has sounded an alarm that the group, thought to number 100 individuals, may soon fall prey to mining encroachment in the wake of budget cuts to FUNAI, the Brazilian Indian Affairs department charged with for protecting indigenous territories in the Amazon. According to the NGO, gold-miners have introduced diseases such as malaria to the region, and mercury used in the extraction of metals has polluted Yanomami food and water sources, leading to a major health crisis. The Yanomami are renowned for their extensive botanical knowledge and use about 500 medicinal plants, many of which hold tremendous potential for fighting cancer and other diseases. Today, the Yanomami number around 35,000 and…

A TERM MEMBER OF THE EXPLORERS CLUB SINCE 2016, PAUL F. TANGHE IS AN INSTRUCTOR OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AT THE UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY AT WEST POINT. HIS RESEARCH INTERESTS INCLUDE THE ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE OF PROTECTED AREAS AND ENDANGERED SPECIES CONSERVATION. HE IS A DOCTORAL CANDIDATE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER’S JOSEF KORBEL SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES; HIS DISSERTATION EXPLORES THE SOCIAL CONTROL OF RHINOCEROS POACHING AND INCLUDES FIELDWORK IN NEPAL, SWAZILAND, AND SOUTH AFRICA. MAJOR TANGHE IS A CAVALRY OFFICER IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY, AND HAS LED TANK AND RECONNAISSANCE UNITS IN AFGHANISTAN, IRAQ, AND KOREA. THE VIEWS EXPRESSED ARE HIS OWN AND DO NOT REFLECT THE OFFICIAL POLICY OR POSITION OF THE U.S. MILITARY ACADEMY, THE U.S. ARMY, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE,…

RETURN OF FLAG Nº192 SINCE ITS FIRST FORAY INTO THE FIELD—ON AMOS BURG’S 1968 ALASKA RIVERS EXPEDITION—FLAG Nº192 HAS ACCOMPANIED EXPLORERS TO BAFFIN ISLAND IN THE HIGH ARCTIC, ARMENIA, NEPAL, AND INDIA, AND HAS EVEN TRAVERSED THE ATLANTIC OCEAN IN A HOT AIR BALLOON. HMS HAMPSHIRE THE SHIP TODAY HMS Hampshire lies upside down in 68 meters of water at 59°07.03'N and 03°23.76' W, about 1.5 nautical miles west of the sheer cliffs of Marwick Head, with her bow pointed at 310º. INTENDED ROUTE BY THE NUMBERS LAUNCH DATE: 1905 LENGTH: 473.5 feet overall (144.3m) BEAM: 68.5 feet (20.9m) DRAUGHT: 25.5 feet (7.5 m) fully loaded DISPLACEMENT: 10,850 long tons MAXIMUM SPEED: 22.4 knots PROPULSION: Two 4-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft. The two phosphor bronze propellers, fitted…

edited by MILBRY C. POLK OUT ON THE LAND by Ray Mears and Lars Fält 336 PP • NEW YORK: BLOOMSBURY, 2016 • ISBN-10: 1472924983 • ISBN-13: 978-1472924988 • $40 Some three decades in the making, Ray Mears and Lars Fält’s volume, Out on the Land: Bushcraft Skills from the Northern Forest, offers a comprehensive well-illustrated survival guide for adventurers in the Far North. Lifelong veterans of wilderness living, they have gained tremendous insight from indigenous peoples—among them the Sami of Scandinavia and the Canadian Cree—who have shared with them age-old methods of survival in the Far North, particularly in that great swath of boreal forest that encircles the globe just below the Arctic tundra region. Complementing what the authors have learned from the denizens of the region…