The Explorers Club
" The Ideal that is vital to preserve the instinct to explore."
"To explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before." This is a quote from Star Trek, although it's based on a science fiction tv program, I feel it's fitting for the word "exploration." The whole notion of exploring to me conjures up thoughts of those from the past, that had a cause and were driven to take action. Man has always yearned to push the boundaries and quench his curious nature to look further. Whether it was the first man to land on the moon or climb the highest peak, these are just a few of the many feats of accomplishments and discoveries that have brought a better understanding of our planet. Although it may sound exciting, it has its own set of risks, challenges, and rewards. I like to hear about the people who went out on expeditions, their thought process, determination, drive, and the journey that they took to carry out their quest.
The Explorers Club is an organization both on a national and international scale that looks at the development, progress, and a better understanding of the sciences. This is carried out through explorers, who from many different scientific fields such as anthropology, biology, geology, etc., go out and do research in their respective disciplines. The length and breadth of exploration vary. If you look at the interactive map on explorers.org, you can see the past expeditions demarcated by flags.
Below are a couple of present day explorers with an interest in Africa, they have different backgrounds and causes; in the month of June, they will be speaking at the center.
Julian Monroe Fisher
An anthropologist, who has covered many parts of the globe but has been on a number of expeditions to Africa. You can see a list of his expeditions on julianmonroefisher.com To get a better understanding and background of this explorer, I watched the video on his site. It explains how he started out on his path of exploration and his thoughts, as to the mindset of explorers and the variety of reasons behind what they set out to do. Some of the underlying contributing factors that he mentions are, being the "first" is a strong component and the drive to "distinguish oneself" another.
Speaking on June 2nd 2016 at The Explorers Club
Edward Warner
A distinguished geologist, with a love of the natural world and environmental governance. He is an advocate for the preservation of Rhinos in Africa and known as a "radical conservationist."
His interest began with a cause here in the U.S., through his observation that land degradation and the loss of wildlife was becoming a problem on many fronts. The economic effects on land, communities, livelihoods, and wildlife, needed a new approach to rectify the problem. His thinking was very different and his outlook went further afield to Africa. He thought about the symbiotic relationship of the indigenous people and wildlife that coexist together and to better understand this, went to explore. He found that Africa also had its own set of problems that were similar and yet different. Land, wildlife, and livelihoods were still the common goals and central focus of both continents. Hunting and poaching of animals and the depletion of wildlife was a big problem, one of the animal populations in danger of extinction was the rhinoceros.
Through lessons that he learned in the fields of Africa, conservation methods and ideas of improvement were brought back to the U.S. His drive to protect the rhinos of Africa goes on.
Speaking on June 6th 2016 at The Explorers Club
Whatever the drive and cause of those who go out and explore? They don't just bring a tale or expose` to log but give us a better understanding of their cause. They continue to push boundaries and make great strides and challenge us to think and act differently. They remind and inspire us, that there is always exploring to be done.
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