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ADVOCATE OF THE ANTARCTIC
If ever there was a doyenne of Antarctic conservation, it would have to be the new president of the American Polar Society, Susan Adie
STORY BY RODERICK EIME
Imet Susan aboard G Adventures’s MS Expedition more than ten years ago, when we sailed along the West Coast of Africa. The trip was a highlight of my more than 25 years of expedition cruising, and Susan was already a legend in the rapidly growing experiential travel sector.
With double degrees in Environmental Science from the USA’s prestigious Cornell University, life in the wild was preordained for Susan Adie. She spearheaded Quark Expeditions’s planning from 1995 until 2011, creating ground-breaking voyages deep into Antarctic territory previously only explored by the ‘Golden Era’ men like Shackleton, Mawson and Scott.
Susan’s suite of accomplishments reads like bold fiction. She’s helped save her native America’s iconic bald eagle, produced
a national radio programme on ornithology and sailed aboard ships too numerous to mention, from pole to pole as a naturalist, guide and lecturer. She has led hundreds of expeditions through Antarctica, the Arctic and much of the world in between, all the while helping shape the future of conservation and ecologically responsible travel. Susan even has a cove named in her honour — Adie Cove — on the western shore of the Antarctic Peninsula.
And she runs a tight ship, too. Susan is a disciplined environmentalist as well as a skilled organiser, and her passengers are in no doubt about this. On polar voyages, disinfection protocols are strictly observed, and when ashore as guests, local cultures and ecosystems are afforded the greatest respect. And for anyone lucky enough to be on an expedition with Susan, you can be assured of an exceptional experience.
I was fortunate to track her down in between expeditions and posed some probing questions to her.
What do you think are the greatest threats to polar environments currently?
At this time, it has to be climate change, and I think too many people in the world — or at least where the power sits in each country — are not taking it seriously. The Earth continues to warm and our disregard is basically just killing off future generations. While it may not affect the young at this time, it will eventually affect our grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The effect on the Antarctic environment is massive. The change in water temperatures and weather patterns is changing the biological success of multiple species. For example, Gentoo penguins seem to benefit from warmer temperatures and changing food sources, whereas Adelie and Emperor penguins will not be able to adapt. In the Arctic, the diminishing polar ice cap directly threatens the viability of the polar bear.
Secondly, it’s generally ‘human impact’. With the start of sealing and whaling in Antarctica and the establishment of research stations, we saw the beginning of the abuse of Antarctic marine living resources. Today, the harvest of living resources like krill is overseen by The Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) which, in my understanding, goes against the concept of conservation, leaving no more than a minor or transitory impact. Most of this comes from sovereignty issues and countries claiming parts of
the continent for exploitation and profit, including tourism. So, if we don’t control the human use of Antarctica, we’ll have a serious problem.
Do you think Antarctic tourism can help save these environments?
I really like this question, and yes, in a big way. We have a responsibility as visitors to the largest remaining wilderness on Earth — and please don’t use the word ‘pristine’ because it’s not. It’s been used and abused, and what we, as educators and tour guides, are trying to do is prevent misuse and overuse and limit this by conducting ourselves in an organised and responsible fashion.
Furthermore, I think that in tourism, our first, second and third responsibility is to educate the visitors we take to places like Antarctica. It’s all well and good to talk about something, but seeing, feeling, experiencing and internalising that experience is where real change occurs.
The Earth continues to warm and our disregard is basically just killing off future generations
So, educating visitors about these destinations presents a great opportunity to create stewards and caretakers, and I believe education is the key. It’s an obligation and something that we, as visitors, have to give back to that resource. We can take this knowledge home with us and remember that action will always be louder than words. We can use it to reduce our own carbon footprint by limiting our use of plastic, electricity and so on, but we should also speak up and reach out to our governments to let them know what is necessary. Given my position in tourism, I feel this is a personal obligation.
In your many years in polar tourism, you must have had some incredible experiences. What comes to mind? One event comes immediately to mind. It was the middle of November on Cuverville Island on the Antarctic Peninsula, so very early in the season, and there were maybe a few dozen Gentoo penguins, for which the island is well-known. The thick snow was still pearly white and there was none of the pungent smell of penguin poo produced by the 7000 breeding pairs that we see at the height of the season. It was completely silent and we just sat and enjoyed the atmosphere — until suddenly! As it turned out, it was the one day of the year when thousands of birds arrived to establish the colony and we just watched, slack-jawed, as this torrent of penguins poured out of the sea and onto the land in this disciplined, time-honoured fashion. This spectacular occasion just underscores that almost anything can happen at any time in the wild.
Clockwise from top: Adie has led expedition cruise itineraries to both poles; a Crabeater seal lounges on the ice while polar passengers pass beyond; climate change is affecting many polar species, including these King penguins.