Return to Ross: Closing the Loop, Opening the Future
Season 2 of Thin Ice begins by revisiting the past to gain a new perspective on the future. Four decades after one of the most defining—and disruptive—moments of his life, Robert Swan returns to the Ross Sea. He revisits Cape Evans, the origin site of his original South Pole expedition, and the waters where his ship, Southern Quest, was lost beneath the ice.
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Global Cooling is a Problem, Too
This episode explores one of the biggest and least-discussed climate challenges: heating and cooling the world's buildings, which emits an estimated 15% of global greenhouse gasses and equivalents. The problem is accelerating fast, and Robert Swan and Exergyn engineer Richard Blackburn were in Antarctica demonstrating a solution.
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Sextant vs. Starlink: Exploring tech and returning to Antarctica
Robert reflects on the 40th anniversary of his historic South Pole expedition, when the Footsteps of Scott team navigated to the South Pole with just a sextant, a watch and sheer determination. No GPS, no radio and no backup. The co-hosts then discuss the intersection of technology and sustainability, including how AI can help solve the planet’s most pressing challenges. even as the technology creates pressing challenges of its own.
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Dancing with Elephants and Finding Balance
Where does a 5-ton elephant eat? Anywhere it wants to, including the fields of small farmers. Elephant incursions on small farms have often provoked violent attacks by humans and counterattacks by elephants, both sides fighting for their own lives and families. This episode looks at creative actions in Assam, India, where the World Wildlife Fund has helped establish a pragmatic balance that allows elephants and humans to both thrive.
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The Good Seed: Regeneration in the Daintree Rainforest
“The Good Seed” tells the story of 30-year-old Barney Swan, who launched an effort several years ago to regenerate 527 razed acres of Australia’s Daintree Rainforest. Born in London but reared among the wild things of the world’s oldest rainforest, Barney has devoted his life to land that was once rainforest, then cattle pasture, then banana farm, then meth-head haven – and restoring it by combining modern digital technology with the ancient knowledge of indigenous peoples and more recent legacy family farmers.
The Sinking of Southern Quest: May Day M’aider, Part 2
Robert Swan and William Fenton share what happened after their ship, Southern Quest, was trapped in Antarctic pack ice in 1986. They also recount the James Bond-style resistance from government agencies that opposed the first private expedition to the South Pole in the modern era.
May Day M’aider, from Antarctica, Part 1
Episode 1 features William Fenton, the first person to volunteer to help Robert Swan ultimately raise (US) $5 million in the early 1980s to fund the first private expedition to the South Pole in the modern era. Together, Robert and William didn’t make London Bridge fall down, but their ship — Southern Quest — did bash London’s Tower Bridge. And that was just the start of their entertaining yet death-defying adventure.
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