On Wednesday, Nov. 29, Wild Rose Education, a Carbondale-based nonprofit, virtually hosted engineer Sarah Wilson live from the South Pole to share her experiences with educators in the Roaring Fork Valley, just two days in advance of Antarctica Day, celebrated annually on Dec. 1.
The discussion was oriented towards educators and mentors in order to provide them with the knowledge necessary to introduce students to Antarctica. Likewise, it emphasized the importance of the diverse skill sets needed to help fight climate change.
Wilson joined the discussion from the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, where she is currently providing information technology (IT) support for the U.S. Antarctic Program.
“It’s awesome to be able to connect with people from the South Pole, which is one of the most remote and hardest places to get to on the planet,” Wilson said.
Her engineering background and passion for STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) outreach has taken her from Colorado to England. Additionally, it led to her being named as an Ambassador to the IF/THEN Initiative — a program from the American Association for the Advancement of Science aimed at increasing girls’ interest in the sciences by highlighting real women in the field.
The discussion was hosted by Sarah Johnson of Wild Rose Education, who first met Wilson while co-creating a citizen science project for Girl Scouts of Colorado.
The morning of Nov. 29, the South Pole’s thermometers ran at -30.5°F, which was -56.6°F with wind chill. Although covered with ice up to three kilometers thick, Antarctica is the driest continent on Earth. Perhaps even more extraordinarily, due to the earth’s tilt, the South Pole only sees one sunrise and one sunset each year. Wilson is currently experiencing an Antarctic summer, when the sun appears to rotate in the sky 24 hours a day, never dipping below the horizon and lending nonstop daylight until the solstice.
In such a harsh environment, a staggering amount of resources goes into logistics. In fact, Wilson stated that logistics for getting supplies and people in and out of the South Pole is more difficult than getting to the International Space Station.
Wilson emphasized that there’s much more to be done in Antarctica than just high-level research.
“When I was growing up, I had the impression that in order to go to Antarctica I had to be a super-focused PhD research scientist, or I had to be an extreme athlete expedition adventurer,” she shared. “I didn’t have a lot of a concept for how much middle ground there was.”
Most of the people living in Antarctica work to keep the stations functional. In the summertime, the South Pole station is shared by around 150 personnel from the international community. Come wintertime, when the station is completely inaccessible, the population drops to 40.
“Any time things break,” Wilson continued, “it’s probably easier to make a new custom part on-site than it is to try to order something and hope that it comes down within the next two years.” Working in IT, Wilson serves a vital role in keeping the South Pole connected to the rest of the world.
Johnson added that being part of the global community and fighting climate change is more accessible than one might be led to believe.
“We’ve had such an emphasis that you must study and get a PhD or a master’s to do anything useful in the world, and it’s just not true,” she agreed.
Trade skills, for example, are some of the most vital to have in order to keep valuable research going in one of the harshest environments humans inhabit.
Wilson and Johnson shared tips for educators looking to share the wonder of Antarctica with their students.
“Approaching Antarctica through the perspective of exploration can be a really fun way to get kids excited about the history of the continent … so many parts of this continent haven’t been touched at all,” said Wilson.
Again, both Johnson and Wilson emphasized sharing the accessibility of green problem-solving with students. “Every problem in the world that needs solving takes all types,” Wilson concluded.
For more about Wild Rose Education, visit www.wildroseeducation.com For more about the U.S. Antarctic Program, visit www.usap.gov