Meeting April 3
Catriona Robertson was our guest speaker and spoke about her recent trip to the Antarctic with 117 other female STEM professionals. The trip to the Antarctic was the culmination of an online professional development program for women in science. Homeward Bound is an organisation based in Australia that aims to increase the representation of women in leadership roles in science fields. The program focused on the topic of “Climate Change”. Homeward Bound was founded 10 years ago in Tasmania by entrepreneur Fabian Dattner and Australian marine ecologist Jessica Melbourne -Thomas. Their plan was to organise expeditions to Antarctica for a decade starting in 2015 so Catriona was lucky to be included in this one, the final expedition.
To begin the expedition Catriona had to fly to Ushuaia, the end of the world in Argentina. Her days were taken up with lectures, talks and tours. She saw tabular icebergs, icebergs with flat tops. This is the only place in the world where they exist. Icebergs, if they are big enough get a name. We are up to A88– this gives an indication of how much ice has broken away and has been lost.
Strict bio-security rules were in place to protect penguins, whales, seals, and their environment. Catriona had to wear special gumboots when hiking and they were the only thing that was allowed to touch the ice . Once they returned to the ship the gumboots went straight into disinfectant with the aim of preventing the spread of avian influenza. People aren’t allowed to go within 5metres of penguins. Nothing is allowed to be taken from Antarctica and a special licence is required to use the ice in drinks. There were 61 tourist boats in Antarctica this year.
One of the effects of climate change is that it rained on three days. It shouldn’t rain at all and penguin chicks are affected as they don’t have waterproof feathers and once they get wet, the chicks get cold.
Catriona wrote 6 songs for piano and ukelele and performed one of the for us. Catriona would like to provide entertainment for young people, a bit like the Wiggles but with the aim of increasing interest and understanding in science.
Catrion is pictured with President Bob Newman and her parents