Innehållsförteckning för Spring 2023 från The Explorers Journal

FOUNDED IN 1904 BY A GROUP OF AMERICA’S LEADING EXPLORERS, THE EXPLORERS CLUB IS A MULTI-DISCIPLINARY PROFESSIONAL SOCIETY DEDICATED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF FIELD RESEARCH, SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION, AND THE IDEAL THAT IT IS VITAL TO PRESERVE THE INSTINCT TO EXPLORE. THE CLUB’S STEADFAST MISSION HAS BEEN TO ENCOURAGE AND PROMOTE SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION OF LAND, SEA, AIR, AND SPACE, WITH AN EMPHASIS ON THE PHYSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES. AS A PRIMARY AND PRESTIGIOUS CENTER FOR EXPLORATION AND EXPEDITION PLANNING, THE CLUB IS A FOCAL POINT AND UNIFYING FORCE FOR EXPLORERS AND SCIENTISTS WORLDWIDE, WITH 34 CHAPTERS SPANNING THE GLOBE. For information regarding categories of membership—Fellow, Member, Friend, Term, and Student—and the process of election to The Explorers Club, visit us at www.explorers.org. The downloadable application sets forth qualifications for all levels…

AN HONORARY DIRECTOR OF THE EXPLORERS CLUB, OCEANOGRAPHER AND MARINE BIOLOGIST SYLVIA A. EARLE, AKA “HER DEEPNESS,” IS THE FOUNDER OF MISSION BLUE, WHICH AIMS TO SET ASIDE AND PROTECT EARTH’S PRISTINE OCEAN REALMS. SHE WAS THE RECIPIENT OF THE EXPLORERS CLUB’S HIGHEST HONOR, THE EXPLORERS CLUB MEDAL, IN 1996. BOTANIST EXTR AORDINAIRE, MEG LOWMAN, AK A “HER HIGHNESS,” WILL RECEIVE THAT SAME DISTINCTION AT THIS YEAR’S E XPLORERS CLUB ANNUAL DINNER ON APRIL 22, IN RECOGNITION OF HER GROUNDBRE AKING ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN FOREST CANOPY RESEARCH. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THEIR WORK, VISIT: MISSIONBLUE.ORG AND MISSION-GREEN.ORG, RESPECTIVELY. Sylvia A. Earle: As a scientist and explorer, it is always satisfying to make new discoveries, to go where no woman (or man) has gone before, to see what others have not, and…

BROOKLYN HOPPER 3 oz bourbon, infused with dried crickets*1 oz sweet vermouth1 oz boricha (Korean barley tea)**1 tbsp blue agave or simple syrup1 tsp yuzu2-3 dashes of bitters In advance of preparing this cocktail, infuse two cups of bourbon with one cup of dried crickets for at least a week. The longer you infuse the bourbon, the more intense the flavor. Over time, the protein in the crickets acts much like an egg white, creating a beautifully frothy top once the drink is shaken. The toasty, slightly bitter flavor of the boricha provides a nice counterpoint to the bourbon and earthy infused crickets. Fill a shaker with ice, infused bourbon, sweet vermouth, boricha, blue agave, and yuzu. Shake vigorously, then strain your cocktail into a martini glass (preferably chilled). Add…

Whenever I am giving tours of our headquarters building in New York City, I bring visitors into the bar where I explain the unique value of Explorers Club fellowship—the capacity of our members to support not only science and conservation, but also the work of other members. I often describe the three main types of people I see within our ranks—the ones who tend to gather at our events and socialize here in our bar. The first type, perhaps the most important type so far as I am concerned, is the younger, newer member, often a recent graduate, who has a great research idea but little experience in bringing it to fruition. They may have an idea for a scientific expedition to a particular region of the world, for instance,…

The Explorers Club, in collaboration with its new travel partner, Marseille, Francebased Ponant, is offering its member scientists and adventurers an opportunity to conduct research aboard Le Commandant Charcot, during a suite of five voyages, the first of which is a multi-week expedition to Antarctica, January 7–February 5, 2024. Le Commandant Charcot is the world’s only luxury icebreaker to host onboard scientists, providing them with dedicated research laboratories, science coordination, and equipment. Collectively, the grantmakers are seeking changemakers from around the world, who are working to document and preserve endangered landscapes, cultures, and wildlife through science and education. Applications may be for one or a team of two scientists. The deadline for the January 2024 departure is April 7; September 15, for the subsequent 2024 departures. These include: Inuit Spring…

JONATHAN POZNIAK IS A NEW YORK-BASED PHOTOGRAPHER WHO FOCUSES ON CONSERVATION IN THE POLAR REGIONS AND NATURE AROUND THE GLOBE. HIS WORK HAS APPEARED IN SUITCASE MAGAZINE, TRAVEL+LEISURE ASIA, AFAR, SIDETRACKED, AND ADVENTURE JOURNAL. FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT: JONATHANPOZNIAK.COM, @JONATHANPOZNIAK ON INSTAGRAM, AND JONATHANPOZNIAK.SUBSTACK.COM. There are places we fictionalize in our daydreams, Edens devoid of materialist trappings, lands where nature is king, and shamanism carries more weight than Western medicine. Vanuatu is just such a place. A small group of islands in Melanesia, floating between Australia and Fiji, Vanuatu is the most linguistically diverse place on Earth, with 138 languages spoken by some 300,000 people. It was settled by both the British and French a century ago, yet in the years since, the archipelago has maintained its soul. It is…

LHAKPA SHERPA, FROM THE MAKALU REGION OF NEPAL, HAS SET THE WORLD RECORD FOR FEMALE SUMMITS OF EVEREST, WITH HER TENTH TOPOUT ACHIEVED ON MAY 12, SHORTLY AFTER 6:30 AM LOCAL TIME. SHE IS TO RECEIVE THIS YEAR’S TENZING NORGAY AWARD AT THE EXPLORERS CLUB ANNUAL DINNER ON APRIL 22. A 2003 RECIPIENT OF THE EXPLORERS CLUB’S LOWELL THOMAS AWARD, BRENT BISHOP PRACTICALLY GREW UP ON EVEREST, HIS FATHER, BARRY BISHOP, HAVING BEEN A MEMBER OF THE FIRST AMERICAN TEAM TO SUMMIT THE WORLD’S HIGHEST PEAK IN 1963. BISHOP HAS REACHED THE TOP OF EVEREST THREE TIMES, MOST RECENTLY IN 2016, AS A GUIDE AND CINEMATOGRAPHER WHO WAS THE FIRST TO FILM IN A VIRTUAL REALITY FORMAT FROM THE SUMMIT. IN 1994, BISHOP COFOUNDED THE SAGARMATHA ENVIRONMENTAL EXPEDITION (SEE), WHICH…

The National Archives of Australia (NAA) has announced that it is making a trove of historic images from early twentieth-century Australian and British expeditions to Antarctica available to the public. The collection includes hundreds of photographs, glass-plate negatives, and lantern slides, among them original photographs taken by renowned photographer Frank Hurley, who was on Sir Ernest Shackleton’s famed British Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. The majority of the images were created during the first half of the twentieth century by Captain John King Davis. Davis made the journey to Antarctica on several missions and most notably was the captain of the Aurora during the Australasian Antarctic Expedition between 1911 to 1914. Images depict the harsh conditions and realities of life on the White Continent. The collection has been held, until now, by…

RICHARD F. SILBER IS THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF INTERNATIONAL MOUNTAIN TREKKING, INC., AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND COFOUNDER OF THE HIMALAYAN CLIMATE & SCIENCE INSTITUTE. HIS MANY CLIMBS INCLUDE KILIMANJARO IN TANZANIA, LOBUCHE AND MERA PEAKS IN NEPAL, AND WINTER ASCENTS OF MT. WASHINGTON AND MT. ADAMS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE. SILBER IS A LITIGATION ATTORNEY IN WASHINGTON, DC. In November 2019, I was in Kathmandu with my daughter Carol for a meeting with Shiva Devkota, Nepal’s leading mycologist. Over cookies and cups of sweet milk tea, I pitched the idea of bringing people to the Himalayan nation to look for mushrooms in the Khumbu as part of an effort to understand the impact of climate change on this biodiverse part of the world. The Himalaya is warming three times faster than…

With the pandemic restrictions eased, travel and expeditions have returned with a renewed enthusiasm and risk. One organism that did not take a pandemic break remains a scourge in global tropical and subtropical areas—and that is malaria. Malaria has afflicted mankind for more than two million years and is spread through the bites of several species of Anopheles mosquitoes. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there were 247 million cases of malaria globally in 2021, the last year for which we have published data, with 619,000 deaths. Most of the 500,000 deaths in Africa were of children under the age of five. As recently as the late 1940s, there were nearly 15,000 annual cases in the United States. Not long after, however, the U.S. essentially eradicated cases of malaria…