A Letter from Mark Wood, Explorer

I’m Mark Wood, a professional polar explorer and educator, and my passion and respect for nature take me to the extremes of the planet. I’m excited to be partnering with ASC to collect scientific samples during my travels, and to be sharing my adventure, reporting from expeditions so you can see, feel and hear what I’m experiencing firsthand. 

My 25-plus expeditions have included solo journeys to both the North and South poles back-to-back; ascending Mt. Everest where I Skyped with 10,000 students around the world; dog sledding in Alaska; leading teams through the Himalayas; and cycling across both the U.S. and New Zealand.

My day job as an explorer ties in well with ASC’s mission of collecting scientific data globally to help protect our environment, since my team and I are able to obtain samples from some of the most remote areas of the world. We’re excited to be contributing water samples to the Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation Microplastics Project, helping ASC map the extent to which tiny particles of plastic are evident in our oceans and rivers.

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Watch a short film about Mark Wood's back-to-back solo 
expeditions to the North and South poles:

north south solo expedition - (short version) from mark wood on Vimeo.

This year, I will be traveling to Iceland in July, the Himalayas in September and Madagascar in November. On these trips, my team will be training for what may possibly be the very last expedition on foot to the North Pole in 2016, given the statistics for melting sea ice. We hope this isn’t the case, of course, and by driving awareness to people who might not otherwise know about such issues, we intend to generate interest and a call-to-action for climate change and conservation.

Due to unstable sea ice and hostile conditions, our expedition patron Sir Ranulph Fiennes has described our North Pole trek as “the most dangerous journey on Earth.” Our team expects to cover this epic 600 mile journey unsupported and on foot, surviving 60 days in -60 C° temperatures to reach the geographic North Pole from the Russian coastline.   

But it will be more than that. Our trek across dangerous ice is given far more purpose and meaning if we can provide data collection for organizations such as ASC, as well as educate by reaching out to schools, sharing the human aspects via video footage, blogs and updates—and ultimately helping people to see their planet differently.

Til next time!

Mark

Mark Wood will be gathering samples for the ASC Microplastics Project on his upcoming expeditions. Learn more about Mark’s adventures at markwoodexplorer.com. Learn more about the ASC Microplastics Project on our website, the Field Notes blog, and by following us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Google+.

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