A video I have put together as part of my presentation at this forum. It’s not a ‘bold’ video for International Women’s Day… just a glimpse of HB16 for the audience. Scenic Sailing and Serenity
NSW Department of Industry Gender Equality Forum
Tag: #homewardbound16
Hunter Valley Geo keen to involve more women in science
Just in time for International Women’s Day. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-08/hunter-valley-geologist-keen-to-involved-more-women-in-science/8336358
International Women’s Day, March 8th 2017.
Rocks, rocks, rocks
This is Chapter 3 of my HB16 film, which I can post here as there are no ‘people permissions’ I need to get. Interestingly, as I was putting this chapter together, I realised I had no actual movie footage of rocks from the trip. I guess because they don’t move it never occurred to me to film them! Enjoy! https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz-picDNk4ZDLTN4bFAtNS1ScEE/view?usp=sharing
Engage and Change the Game – Commitment to a kinder world
I acknowledge that as the world moves further into the 21st century, many people are left behind and excluded, while others feel apprehensive about a future marked by global warming and rapid social and political changes. We must listen to all perspectives. Furthermore, events over the past year, most recently in the US, have caused shock waves throughout the world, on issues that touch all of us. These actions are designed to divide us and will harm many people as well as our planet. As a woman, a geoscientist, and a Homeward Bound participant, I state my support for the vital role of women, science and leadership in society. In December, I completed the first Homeward Bound expedition, a 20-day journey with 76 women in science to Antarctica, designed to equip 1,000 women to lead, influence and contribute to policy and decision-making as it informs the future of our planet…
Geological Society of Australia article for TAG March 2017
Homeward Bound 2016 was for me, quite literally, the trip of a lifetime. It was filled with ocean, snow, ice and the incredible beauty and rawness of nature aboard our real ‘Mother Ship’ – the Earth. As a geologist having worked in thermal coal for the last fourteen years, I climbed on-board the M.V. Ushuaia on the 2nd December with a huge dose of imposter syndrome, fearing I may be vilified and ostracised by this group of 75+ female climate change activists. The knowledge that a film crew would be present conjured images of ‘Survivor Antarctica’ and the potential for me being voted off the boat even before we’d crossed the Drake Passage. Fortunately, however, I found my companions were all incredibly intelligent, engaging, thoughtful and inclusive. Although occasionally judgemental of the content of the HB program and how it was being run, I was surprised by the other participant’s…
Arty-farty Antarcty
Introducing Teddy Trilobite – my mascot for Homeward Bound
Trilobites are extinct arthropods… distant relatives of modern lobsters, horseshoe crabs and spiders. They lived from the Lower Cambrian Period (521 million years ago) to the end of the Permian (240 million years ago). Their emergence and extinction bookend the Paleozoic Age. https://research.amnh.org/paleontology/trilobite-website/twenty-trilobite-fast-facts. Teddy was my ‘rock’ throughout the trip, always there for me in a (large) pocket of my jacket or sleeping in my backpack. He was made for me especially for the trip by my Mum, Beth Lucas. Although mistaken for a whale shark and horseshoe crab (understandably) amongst other things, he also served many new friends on-board the M.V. Ushuaia as a pillow, flying object/ball for getting someone’s attention, or simply as a placebo pet for a therapeutic pat. Teddy is pictured here on his first continental landing at Brown Bluff* on Day #7 – 8th December, 2016. *Lat: 63° 30’ S, Long: 56° 52’ W.
Crook n cranky
Massive head-ache, unfortunately not alcohol induced. I developed razor blades in my throat overnight. So I’m officially going to kill all the diseased people on the boat. Quite cranky because I was sooo full of energy and feeling great after yesterday’s tobummoning at Orne Harbour (pictured). I struggled through breakfast even though I WAS really hungry. Shared Mary-Anne’s drugs, some sort of squirty throat thing the on-board doctor gave her. I then washed the squirty bit really well, and passed it on to Kit. “Drugs are good… Mkay?” Did a few laps outside on deck as the weather changed overnight and it was a balmy 3.7 degrees and just lightly snowing. I don’t understand how I can go outside here in that sort of temperature in thin tracky-dacks, ordinary socks and sketchers with a skivvy and light jacket and feel just fine. If it were 3.7 degrees at home I’d be going out…
Leaving Ushuaia to cross the Drake Passage
After “patching up” with scopolamine imported from New Zealand some months prior to the trip, I forced myself onto the boat. And yes, I was shaking like a leaf. Went and found room 213 with room mate Meredith. Single beds either side of the cabin and our own en-suite, wow, pretty flash! We reached agreement that the heater in the room should stay off given the stuffy environment on-board. Two travel calms popped before we headed out into the Beagle Channel. Nerves starting to recede. Rules and inductions in the main lounge of the boat, which apparently is actually a ship, although I still insist that ships “wreck” and boats “float” so I shall continue to refer to the vessel as the latter. The life boat drill was mandatory, obviously, and we got to sit inside one to make us feel really hopeful that we would never have to use them. Lots of photos…