Thin Ice.earth

With more than 8 billion people on Earth, can one person really make a difference? Laure de Panafieu, a senior leader at global law firm Linklaters, found her answer in a handful of South American pebbles gathered during a beach cleanup before her voyage to Antarctica. Those ordinary stones became an extraordinary reminder that small actions can create ripples that transform organizations, communi...

Season 2 of Thin Ice begins by revisiting the past to gain a new perspective on the future.  Forty years after one of the most defining and disruptive moments of his life, polar explorer Robert Swan returns to the Ross Sea region of Antarctica. This time, not as a young man chasing history, but as a witness revisiting Cape Evans, the site of his original South Pole expedition, and the waters where...

Recorded December 11 from Union Glacier Camp in Antarctica, this episode explores one of the biggest, and least discussed, climate challenges: heating and cooling the world's buildings. This source emits an estimated 15% or more of global greenhouse gas emissions, including the impact of leaked refrigerant gases, which have much higher Global Warming Potential than C02. And the problem is acc...

In this episode of Thin Ice, co-hosts Robert Swan, OBE, and Dan Smith, OJ (Ordinary Joe) explore the fascinating intersection of exploration, technology and sustainability. Robert reflects on the 40th anniversary of his historic South Pole expedition, when he and his team navigated to the South Pole with just a sextant, a watch and sheer determination. No GPS, no radio and no backup. Robert remini...

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 protecting their livelihood, which often spurs counterattacks by elephants fighting for their own lives and families. The result: death all around. This episode looks at creative actions in Assam, India, where violent blows b...

“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, a young Barney also accompanied his father – Robert Swan, OBE – on numerous Antarctic expeditions and ocean voyages before he turned 20.  As an adult,...

In “The Sinking of Southern Quest: May Day M’aider Part 2,” Robert Swan and William Fenton share what happened after their ship was trapped in Antarctic pack ice in 1986 (the title is a bit of a spoiler). 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.  In spite of all obstacles, the “In the F...

It’s May Day — a time to honor the bounty of nature and hard work, and a distress call derived from French, m’aider ("help me"). So, this is a perfect day to launch Thin Ice, which celebrates nature and the hard work of preserving wild spaces while sounding an international plea for action.  Co-hosts Robert Swan (the first person to walk to both the South and North Poles) and Dan Smith s...

The water is frosty but fine in this teaser episode introducing Thin Ice. Wet your whistle and jump on in!