Five lucky Grade 11s got to crawl through an ice cave, sleep under the coldest of skies and set new records for the truest of cold plunges.
Riaan Manser/News24
Riaan Manser and five Grade 11 pupils went to Antarctica in December on an environmental expedition of a lifetime. All five pupils showed extra ingenuity and enterprise in this space in their applications and tell us why they are walking the talk.
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So you invest in the youth, they ask. Is it worth it?
Let’s face it. Young people today have way more important things on their minds than worrying about global warming.
Perhaps you’ve heard this before: “Some adults have wandered and wobbled through careers in this space and still not changed anything – never mind solve the problem.” Or so the groan goes.
So why spend a few million rand getting five students and an education team to Antarctica to talk about the environment? It is a waste of time, right?
“Spend the investment and energy elsewhere!” the naysayers cry.
No. No. No, I say.
The only solution to any environmental crisis is a change of attitude; from talking to doing.
Davos in Switzerland is the World Economic Forum platform to, in my opinion, whitewash what the problems genuinely are and appease the critics that bend and bow to them. No plan of action. No plan of doing. Ironically, the theme this year is: “A spirit of dialogue”. Come on, people!
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These five students from across Africa attended the only programme of its kind. On Earth. Hosted by me and a few exceptional thought leaders.
So judge for yourselves. Hear their words. Catch a glimpse of their purpose. Based not on faint ideals but on what they have seen with their own eyes, now that they’ve set foot on planet Earth’s last true wilderness: Antarctica.
Listen to Luke. He dreams of making the most advanced and efficient wind turbines imagined. But now he also understands that he needs to create something that does not leave a larger carbon footprint than it offsets in its lifetime. That’s the challenge.
Allegra is an artist. She is shy and, as she puts it, “awkward”. But with her beautiful paintings, she has been able to invoke conversation and also action.
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Nathan has a farm-in-a-bag idea that has no reason not to soar. He needs our combined network to tap into and learn from. A green economy is a lucrative space. Not only an economy about plants, but an economy that earns you a good living while easing the harm to nature.
No grand posturing for virtuosity but rather thinking like a human being who wants to navigate through this thing we call life.
The outdoors is calling. These five pioneers listened.
*Riaan Manser’s Students in Antarctica is an annual tour based at Ultima Air Base. Riaan is a pioneering international explorer with multiple world-firsts and has joined the team as the editor of News24 Outdoors, driven by Ford.
