Talk about the experience of a lifetime.
Well, that is exactly what Catherine Dunn, an undergraduate student at the University of Cape Town (UCT), is doing and will continue to do for years to come in her pursuit to be a catalyst for positive change in generating awareness of climate change and its effects on our planet.
Dunn was the youngest South African yet selected to join renowned polar explorer Robert Swan and the ClimateForce 2041 Foundation on an expedition to Antarctica in March. Participating in the Leadership on the Edge (LOTE) programme, she was one of 150 individuals from over 38 nations around the world who set off on the expedition earlier this year.
The 20-year-old says not only was it a remarkable opportunity for her but an extraordinary chance to add South Africa’s voice to support climate activism.
“Climate change threatens all of us but living on the African continent, we are most vulnerable to its effects,” she says.
According to a brief biography on the 2041 Foundation’s website, Swan is the first man in history to walk to both the North and South Poles. Having experienced the effects of environmental damage on the Polar icecaps firsthand, he founded the 2041 organisation in 1984 with the goal to work for the preservation of the Antarctic as “the last great wilderness on Earth”.
The website states that through the foundation’s expeditions led by Swan, he works to inform, engage and inspire the next generation of leaders.
Dunn’s journey began on Sunday 13 March. A few days later, “after travelling halfway across the world”, she arrived in Ushuaia, Argentina, only to find that she had tested positive for Covid-19. One day before their ship, Ocean Victory, was set to leave for Antarctica on Sunday 20 March, Dunn received the test results saying that she was clear of Covid and could join the party. What followed was another two weeks of amazing adventure before arriving safely back home again on Monday 4 April.
People’s Post caught up with Dunn a few days after her return to South Africa.
She describes the expedition to Antarctica as life-changing.
“I have returned with experiences, memories, and feelings that words or photos cannot do justice to capture the essence of Antarctica,” she says.
Dunn says she spent the past few days trying to process and digest her extraordinary experience.
“Having left my home in Durban a day before catastrophic floods and extreme weather wreaked havoc across the province, with many lives lost, houses destroyed, schools closed and daily operations halted, the signs of climate change are clear and we need to start taking action now,” she says.
Dunn is currently enrolled in a Bachelor of Commerce in Financial Accounting CA Stream at UCT. However, growing up as a child in Durban, she shares she always had an interest in the environment and has been involved in many environmental and ocean advocacy initiatives, outreach projects and leadership development, including being involved with Greenpeace Youth and the Fridays for Future movement which she was a part of during her Rotary Youth Exchange.
When she came across the opportunity to apply to join the Antarctica expedition online, she decided to go for it. But she says, being chosen among 5 000 applications came as a tremendous surprise.
She says a huge misconception is that you have to be doing something in a science field, or that you have to be a person in government to get involved in finding solutions for climate threats.
“Swan says the greatest threat to our planet is the belief that somebody else will save it. But it will take each and every single one of us. It is time that everyone realises this and starts to take action.”
Asked what her first impressions were when she first set foot on Antarctica on Wednesday 23 March, she says it was the sheer size of the polar cap – and, of course, the cold.
“You can’t capture the size of Antarctica on a television screen, the vastness and magnitude. You stand there and try to take in these glaciers and mountain ranges. As for the stillness and the silence. In our busy, day-to-day lives, you always hear people talking or birds chirping. But there it is complete silence. Occasionally, the silence is broken by whales or penguins.”
Dunn says she wore layers and layers of clothing but could still feel the bite of the icy air.
“I was so freezing cold, I wore about seven layers on top, about five pants and three pairs of gloves. I looked like a stuffed marshmallow – my hands and toes were absolutely freezing.”
For her, one of the most shocking moments while she was there was when it rained.
“There were a few days when it poured with rain. Antarctica is one of the coldest, driest places on Earth; you should not have so much rain. This is one of the first times they are seeing rain in Antarctica, a direct result of climate change.”
She says many people make the mistake of thinking that climate change is a distant threat.
“That it will only affect generations in the future; that it won’t impact us, but the reality is that it already does,” says Dunn.
