Conservation

"Follow your heart. If you meet obscales along the way, use them as stepping stones to reach the stars and to fulfill your dreams and everything else will fall into place. " — Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka

Veterinarian

Born: 1970-01-08

Hometown: Kampala, Uganda

Education: Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine, University of London; Masters in Specialized Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State

Achievements

Discoveries: Led a team to investigate first scabies outbreak in mountian gorillas and traced outbreak to people living around the park.

Expeditions: Studied chimpanzee parasites in Budongo Forest, 1992. Studied mountain gorilla parasites and bacteria in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (1994) and studied tuberculosis at human/wildlife/livestock interface in Bwindi Impenetrable and Queen Elizabeth National Parks (2001-2003).

Biography

Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka led a team investigating a scabies outbreak among mountain gorillas in Uganda, eventually tracing it to humans who live around the mountain park preserve. Because of the inadequate health care of the local population, and her identification of disease transfer, Gladys and her husband established Conservation Through Public Heath (CTPH) in Uganda. integrates gorilla conservation and community public health by improving primary health care of both people and animals in and around protected areas in Africa.  Her goal is to control transmission of disease in locations where people, wildlife and livestock converge. In 2008 she was honored with the San Diego Zoo’s “Conservation in Action Award” and in 2006, received the prestigious Ashoka Fellowship. She has been featured in documentaries for the BBC, National Geographic, Animal Planet, and on Ugandan television.

Read Gladys' full biography from Conservation Through Public Health

Watch Gladys Whitley Gold Award Video Interview...

Fun Facts

Favorite Item to have in the field: Good shoes, camera, binoculars, favorite book and inspirational reading material, including Bible.

Heroes: My mother, Mrs. Rhoda Kalema, who after my father was murdered by Idi Amin, effectively managed a career and parenting. She encouraged me and my sibilings and helped us accomplish our pet projects and dreams. My mother was named the "Mother of Ugandan Parliament" in 1979 and encouraged and inspired women to join in politics to help shape the future of Uganda. Nelson Mandela for his exceptional courage in fighting and overcoming apartheid in South Africa, and continuing to inspire the world to think positively, even after he spent 27 years in prison. Dr. Jane Goodall for her pioneering and groundbreaking work on chimpanzee behavior, and for founding the Jane Goodall Institute and encouraging young people to make a difference in the world through roots and shoots. Professor Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement, for fighting for what she believes in. Her dedication led to winning the Nobel Peace Prize for her work in Kenya, where the environment is being sacrificed to develpment, and where women are considered second class citizens. They are my heroes becaue they have overcome great obstacles to get where they are, and have inspired people to make the world a better place.

Awards and Recognition

Setting up grassroots conservation programs to integrate gorilla conservation and community public health through improving the health care for people, wildlife, and livestock in and around Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (2004), Queen Elizabeth National Park (2006), and Mount Tshiaberimu in North Virguna National Park (2008).

Publications

Peer-reviewed research papers

"Don't put off your first adventure because you never will be perfectly prepared for it. Just go there and figure it out for yourself." — Kate Jackson

Herpetologist

Born: 1972-02-14

Hometown: Toronto, Canada

Education: Hon.B.Sc., M.Sc. Zoology University of Toronto, Ph.D. Biology Harvard University

Achievements

Expeditions: Expeditions surveying reptiles and amphibians in the unexplored swamps and forests of Central Africa. Herpetological expeditions to South and Central America and Micronesia, as well as in the U.S. to radio-track rattlesnakes and observe alligator behavior.

Biography

Kate Jackson has been charmed by reptiles and amphibians since she was a child. She is author of numerous scholarly journal articles and books, including “Mean and Lowly Things: Snakes, Science and Survival in the Congo,” (Harvard University Press) and “Katie of the Sonoran Desert/ Katie del Desierto Sonorense,"  (Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum Press, 2009), a bilingual (English/Spanish) children's book. Dr. Jackson has always been puzzled over how venemous snakes evolved and she has contributed more than 800 amphibian and reptile specimens from the Congo, to the herpetological collection of the Smithsonian, and contributed reptile and amphibian tissue samples to researchers all over the world.  Dr. Jackson has participated in teams making environmental impact studies related to proposed mining projects, conducted studies designed to assess the health of reptile and amphibian populations and currently trains Congolese graduate students in herpetology and field biology. She is currently working with Jean-Philippe Chippaux on a specialized and in-depth book about Central and Western African snakes, intended primarily for herpetologists to be published by the Johns Hopkins University Press in 2012.  Dr. Jackson is currently an Assistant Professor of Biology at Whitman College.

Kate Jackson: Snake Expert!

Kate Jackson SNAKES from Rose on Vimeo.

Fun Facts

Favorite Item to have in the field: Journal, bandaids

Heroes: Admiral Nelson

Awards and Recognition

Numerous expeditions, since 1997, to the Republic of Congo to study and help protect rare snakes, lizards, and frogs and training both North American and Congolese students about snakes; Numerous peer-reviewed scientific journal articles.

Publications

"Mean and Lowly Things: Snakes, Science and Survival in the Congo," Harvard University Press, 2008 (paperback edition, 2010); "Katie of the Sonoran Desert," Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum Press, 2009.

"Respect opens all doors." — Pauline (Polly) Wiessner

Anthropologist

Born: 1947-12-21

Hometown: Stowe, Vermont

Education: Ph.D., Anthropology

Achievements

Discoveries: Uncovered far ranging social security networks among the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert. Traveled widely to record the oral historical traditions of 110 tribes among the Enga of Papua New Guinea. Built the Enga Tradition and Transition Centre in Papua New Guinea to return the results of research to the people.

Expeditions: For the past 30 years, field trips to the Kalahari Bushmen and Enga of Papua, New Guinea.

Biography

For over 30 years, Wiessner has carried out studies of the !Kung (Ju/’hoansi) Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert, documenting what happens to Bushman populations when inherited social systems of reciprocity become eroded by modernity and must confront participation in a cash economy. She advocates for necessities as wide-ranging as food, water, and educational opportunity. Wiessner’s other area of research has been among the Enga of Highland, New Guinea, where she has studied change in Enga society over 350 years via oral historical traditions as well as researched recent change. She has  struggled to understand and help counter the devastation caused by the use of high-powered automatic weapons in tribal warfare. As an anthropologist, her work has concentrated on hunter/gatherers, reciprocity and social networks for reducing risk, medical anthropology, ethnoarchaeology, ethology, ecology, warfare, ritual, exchange and oral history in populations of Highland Papua New Guinea and Southern Africa. She has worked as a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Human Ethology in Germany for 15 years, and is currently a professor at the University of Utah. She has organized and participated in numerous international conferences with a focus on Hunting Gathering societies, and has lectured extensively. Wiessner worked with the Enga Province to build the Enga Take Anda, a vital education center for Enga culture, history, and continuing social networks. She characterizes Facebook as a modern version of the same, saying “The videos and snapshots that people post echo the exchange gifts of the !Kung.

Fun Facts

Favorite Item to have in the field: Salt, Tang, and a hot water bottle

Heroes: John Marshall

Awards and Recognition

University of Utah Distinguished Scholarly and Creative Research Award, 2009; Enga Provincial Government funding for research on Enga oral history and Max Planck society funding for her work in Enga and among the Bushmen.

Publications

Wiessner, P. and A. Tumu, "Historical Vines: Enga Networks of Exchange, Ritual and Warfare in Papua, New Guinea," Smithsonian Institute Press, Washington, D.C., 1998.

Wiessner, P. and Wulf Schiefenhovel (eds.) Food and the Status Quest. Berghahn Books, Oxford, 1996.

Wiessner, P. From Inside the Women's House: The lives and traditions of Enga women. A. Kyakas and P. Wiessner, Robert Brown, Brisbane. 1992

"Open your mind and heart to dreams, then put your hands and feet to work to make them come true." — Katey Marion Walter Anthony

Aquatic Ecosystem Ecologist and Professor

Born: 1976-01-01

Hometown: Fairbanks, Alaska

Education: Ph.D., Biology

Achievements

Discoveries: Discovered that methane emissions from Arctic lakes were the likely cause of climate change at the end of the last Ice Age, and that thawing permafrost is causing increased atmospheric methane and a spike in greenhouse gases.

Expeditions: Siberia, Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Finland, Sweden

Biography

As climate change continues and polar regions warm, permafrost melts are creating new Arctic lakes in a process called Thermokarst Lake formation. Walter Anthony’s research reveals that as the permafrost melts and these new lakes appear, carbon that was locked in the ground for thousands of years, converts to methane and carbon dioxide -- two most potent greenhouses gases. Focusing on emissions from lakes and wetlands in Alaska and Siberia, Walter made headlines in 2007, when she and her team determined that methane bubbling out of Arctic lakes was likely the source of the spike in atmospheric methane at the end of the last Ice Age. Currently Assistant Professor at the Water and Environmental Research Center at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, Walter Anthony has received numerous grants and in 2009, received the National Geographic Society Early Explorer’s award. She is a project coordinator for Russian-U.S. collaboration to monitor long-term climate change in cold regions, and was Research Program Manager at The Prince William Sound Science Center and a member of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council. She is on the Advisory Board of the University of New Hampshire’s Coastal Research Response Center. She contributed methane research material to Al Gore’s presentations to the U.S. Senate and has been included in many popular and scientific articles and media ventures on climate change. Discussing Thermokarst lakes in Science Daily, Walter Anthony states “We estimate that as much as 10 times the amount of methane that is currently in the atmosphere will come out of these lakes as permafrost thaws in the future.”

Fun Facts

Favorite Item to have in the field: Bible and running shoes

Heroes: My husband, Peter

Awards and Recognition

National Geographic Society Early Explorers Award, 2009 Denali Comission Emerging Energy Technology Grant, 2009 Blackstone Ranch Institute Innovation Challenge Grant, National Geographic Society, 2009 National Conservation Achievement Award in Science, National Wildlife Federation, 2009 NASA and National Science Foundation (NSF) Grants

Publications

Peer reviewed research papers
Methane research for Al Gore
Articles citing Water Anthony's methane discoveries in Scientific American, LA Times, Discover Magazine, BBC Television, History Channel, NPR radio, etc.

"Enjoy every moment with your loved ones – our time together is fleeting. " — Anna Cummins

Environmental Educator

Born: 1973-10-02

Hometown: Santa Monica, CA

Education: Stanford University, Undergraduate Monterey Institute of International Studies, Masters

Achievements

Expeditions: Crossing the North Pacific, North Atlantic, and Indian Ocean Gyres to study plastic marine pollution. Upcoming: the South Atlantic and Pacific Gyres.

Biography

Anna Cummins has spent the last 13 years of her life working on sustainability issues, from organic food to environmental education to plastic marine pollution. A native of Los Angeles, California, Anna’s interest in the environment was inspired by a childhood spent playing in her local creek, catching tadpoles, and dreaming wistfully of getting lost in nature. On either sides of the creek, the Pacific Coast Highway and the 405 dashed all hopes of disappearing into the wilderness. But the allure of exploration remained.

After studying History at Stanford University, Anna moved to Barcelona, where she had an opportunity to walk across Northern Spain following a pilgrimage called the Camino De Santiago. During the 6-week trek from the France to the Western border of Spain, Anna realized that sustainability was her true calling. She completed her Masters in International Environmental Policy at the Monterey Institute for International Studies, and began working with the Santa Cruz based Save Our Shores, conducting bilingual outreach on marine conservation issues.

In 2002 Anna met Captain Charles Moore, an oceanographer credited with first bringing plastic marine pollution to the world’s attention. Hearing about a massive area of the Pacific Ocean filling up with plastic trash, in 2004 she volunteered as crew on Captain Moore’s expedition to Guadalupe Island, collecting evidence of plastic ingestion by Laysan Albatross. Later, she worked for Moore’s Algalita Marine Research Foundation, joining their 8th expedition across the North Pacific Gyre. During the 4,000-mile expedition, the crew found plastic in all surface samples, as well as in the stomachs of fish – suggesting a health threat to both fish and humans. Mid-voyage, amidst the floating plastic debris, Marcus Eriksen proposed marriage to Anna, with a ring knit from discarded fishing lines.

Fun Facts

Favorite Item to have in the field: UGG boots and cycling arm warmers, a hard drive full of documentaries, TED talks, and fun movies, a few good ocean related books, and generous stash of my mother’s chocolate biscotti.

Heroes: Rachel Carson, for being one of the first to pave the way when few paid attention; Wangari Maathai and Vandana Shiva, for their groundbreaking environmental work in climates not always supportive of women; my parents, for their selfless, passionate work to improve Los Angeles education, and the millions of unsung heroes working every day to protect our place on this planet.

Awards and Recognition

Co-Founding The 5 Gyres Institute with Dr. Marcus Eriksen, a global study of plastic pollution in the world’s 5 subtropical gyres.

Lake Baikal is a long, thin, slightly curved lake situated close to the Russia-Mongolia border in the far east of Siberia. Some 700km long, Baikal is never wider than 80km wide and is as much as 1600m deep in places, making it the deepest lake in the World.

The lake lies on the border between the Irkutsk Region of Russia and the Republic of Buryatia with Irkutsk (the capital of Irkutsk Region) lying a few hours drive to the west and Ulan-Ude (the capital of Buryatia) a day’s drive to the east. The expedition took place between Kultuk (N 51° 43.49’, E 103° 43.60’), a Buryat village at the southern tip of Lake Baikal and Nizhneangarsk (N 55° 48’, E109° 32’), a small airport town at the lake’s northern end.

One of Baikal’s most striking features is Olkhon Island (N 53° 10’, E 107° 20’), which juts into the lake roughly half-way along its length. Olkhon is the largest of Baikal’s islands and a place considered sacred by the Buryat people. Opposite Olkhon is the distinctively shaped Holy Nose Peninsula and Ust-Barguzin (N 53° 25’, E 109° 01’), the largest town on the eastern shore. Ust-Barguzin is situated at the entrance to the Barguzin valley which runs parallel to Lake Baikal for more than 200km, separated from the lake by the Barguzin mountain range. North of Ust-Barguzin the shores of Lake Baikal are mostly uninhabited apart from a few ranger huts and one or two small villages. At the northern end of the lake Severobaykalsk (N 55° 40’ ; E 109° 20’) is a large railway town with a population of around 25,000 people and 30km beyond it the village of Nizhneangarsk which has a small airport.

"Don’t assume you will have time to follow your dreams tomorrow – make a start today." — Felicity Aston

Expedition Leader and Antarctic Scientist

Born: 1977-10-07

Hometown: Kent, U.K

Education: MSc. Meteorology; BSc. Physics and Astronomy

Achievements

Expeditions: Adventures in all the cold regions of the world including Greenland, Siberia, Iceland, Scandinavia, the Arctic and Antarctica.

Biography

Felicity Aston led the Kaspersky Lab Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition, the largest and most international women’s team ever to ski to the South Pole. The team included women from Brunei Darussalam, Cyprus, Ghana, India, Jamaica, Singapore, New Zealand and the UK in the 38-day, 900km journey at the end of 2009. Felicity was responsible for selecting and training this diverse, multicultural team of ‘ordinary’ women for one of the most arduous journeys on Earth.
Previously, Felicity has led several other notable expeditions including the first British women’s crossing of Greenland, a 700km winter crossing of Lake Baikal in Siberia and an adventurous expedition in Iceland for young people with a brain injury. She was also part of the first, ever, all-female team to complete the Polar Challenge, a 360-mile endurance race across the Canadian Arctic.
Trained as a Physicist and Meteorologist, Felicity’s first polar experience was as a scientist with the British Antarctic Survey. Based for three years on a remote research station on the Antarctic Peninsula, her job was to monitor climate and ozone. Since returning from Antarctica Felicity has talked to thousands of school children and young people around the world about the science that takes place in Antarctica and the importance of Antarctica’s preservation into the future.

Fun Facts

Favorite Item to have in the field: Camera, moisturizer, down jacket.

Heroes: My brother, Spencer

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Alison M. Jones, Director and Lead Photographer for the non-profit organization No Water No Life, carriedWINGSWorldQuest Flag #13 to the Upper Columbia River Basin. Her team explored Canada’s15% portion of the 40-million-year-old, transboundary Columbia River Basin; opened a photo exhibit; and met with stakeholders. Her focus