Felicity Aston
Felicity Aston is the first and only woman in the world to ski across Antarctica alone. The 1,744km, 59-day journey completed in January 2012 also made her the first person in the world to traverse the continent purely by muscle power without the aid of kites or machines. In 2015 she was awarded the Queen’s Polar Medal for services in Antarctica and was appointed MBE for services to Polar Exploration.
In 2009 she led the 38-day, 911km 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. Felicity was responsible for selecting and training this diverse, multicultural team of novice adventurers for one of the most arduous journeys on Earth. Her book about the expedition, ‘Call of the White: Taking the World to the South Pole’ was published in March 2011 and was a finalist in the Banff Mountain Book Competition. She has written two further books, ‘Alone in Antarctica’ (with a foreword by Joanne Lumley) and ‘Chasing Winter: A journey to the Pole of Cold’.
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 a Siberian winter 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 500km endurance race to the magnetic north pole, and has completed the notorious Marathon Des Sables, a 150-mile foot race across the Sahara. More recently, Felicity led a 35,000km expedition in a Land Rover Defender to the Pole of Cold (the coldest inhabited place in the world) in the far northeast of Siberia. Felicity has been elected Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) in London and is a Fellow of The Explorers Club in New York.
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. In 2013 she co-presented a two-part series for BBC Science exploring atmospheric physics and cloud science called, ‘Operation Cloud Lab: Secrets of the Skies’ and in 2016 she co-presented a three-part series for BBC History called ‘Operation Gold Rush’ retracing the route of the 1898 Klondike stampede across the Yukon.
3 words to describe Nature?
Space. Joy. Relentless
3 things Nature taught you?
Resilience
Perspective
Humility
3 most treasured Nature spots?
Kentish Coast, UK
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel…?,
Restless
When you see a forest, it makes you feel…?
Protected
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel…?
Small
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Lucky/grateful
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel…?
Nostalgic
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
Intrepid
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
I'm a snow and ice person...be that on the ocean, in the mountains, within a forest or as a desert
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
10
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
My childhood home backed onto woodland. When it snowed - a rare event in southern England - the woodland was transformed into a new and magical place. It was so exciting and even though I knew every inch of the woods I would rush to explore this 'new' environment. I was always very conscious it was temporary, that I had to rush to see everything before it all disappeared.
Lillie Hodges
Lillie Hodges graduated from Middlebury College with a focus in Geography and Global Health and is currently working as a Community Manager at RightPet, building community and content to help people find the right products and techniques to keep their animals happy and healthy. While in Vermont, Lillie worked at 1% for the Planet in its community development team. During her time there, she particularly enjoyed working on partner acquisition and engaging their global network of environmental non-profit organizations.
Lillie’s commitment to experience worlds beyond her own and to foster meaningful connections with people and organizations led her to work for the Aspen Institute in Colorado on their 2016 Aspen Ideas Festival team.
Additionally, she serves as a Vanguard Board Member for the Aspen Institute’s Society of Fellows and a Junior Council Advisor of the American Museum of Natural History. In 2018, she began working on a long-dreamed of personal project - Aspiring Roots. Aspiring Roots is my way of pairing my passion for food and creativity with the insights and lessons I’ve learned about nourishing recipes, self-love practices, and healing techniques.
3 words to describe Nature?
Centering. Alluring. Awe-inducing
3 things Nature taught you?
Perspective
Resilience
Peace
3 most treasured Nature spots?
More Mesa cliff trail, Santa Barbara CA
Roman Road in Grovely Wood, Wiltshire England
Jardin Publique, Bordeaux France
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel…?
As if the waves can absorb any turbulence within me, challenged by the endless stretching horizon of possibilities, and ultimately relaxed and at peace with the moment.
When you see a forest, it makes you feel…?
Very small and young, and in awe of the resilience and energy within the vast organism of a forest.
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel…?
Humbled by the earth's ability to both destroy and heal, and by my youth and smallness in that moment.
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel…?
A sense of opportunity to “reset” myself while feeling in sync with the natural world.
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel…?
Fascinated, thrilled by the suggested risk and power, and reverent for the scale and depth of nature.
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel…?
As if it proves nature’s whims can overpower any of New York City’s hum.
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
Ocean - The ocean is not only where I seek joy and solace, but also where I’ve learned some important lessons about myself. Overcoming the fear of being past the chaos of the breaking waves, I would spend hours there swimming, floating and jumping with those I love. There is a spot just past the waves where your toes can still barely touch the sand, and where each passing swell challenges the notion that I’m able to control my own destiny, or alone in my journey. In its vastness, it can hold your experience and all the others all at once - often leaving me and anyone I’m with with no idea of the passing time other than being carried down the beach in the current and tides.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
10 - Growing up surrounded by it in Santa Barbara, nature was core to how I could reflect on my wellbeing and find purpose and peace. Now that I'm living in Brooklyn, I've brought the green to me - surrounding myself not only with plants at home and spending many hours in New York’s parks but also with my newest nature-loving family member - Simba, an adopted kitten.
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
As an only child growing upon a horse ranch surrounded by an avocado orchard, I often had wondrous adventures climbing the tree trunks and suspended in the canopies - a source of indepence, satisfaction, and calm. Once, around age 10, I convinced my friend to help me build a ropes course by borrowing my mom’s riding reins and lead ropes. We learned some key lessons about planning and physics that day; and the tree swing, our most stubbornly knotted rope, remained until that part of the orchard was cut down after dying in the CA droughts.
Nicole Davis-Bisnow
Nicole Davis-Bisnow is the founder of RedFlag.org, a 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to inspiring and supporting grassroots activism. Her passion for global activism started early in her career when she worked as an international vanguard journalist covering conflict and human interest stories for Current TV. Davis-Bisnow earned a Bachelor’s Degree in philosophy and a Master’s in Art History from New York University. She is also certified as a facilitator in Equine Therapy from Eponaquest in Southern Arizona. She is currently creating a “healing ranch” in Liberty, Utah as a meeting place for people of all ages, backgrounds and economic access to reconnect with nature and experience the healing power of horses.
3 words to describe Nature?
My. Best. Friend
3 things Nature taught you?
Unconditional Love
Self-Confidence
My Truth
3 most treasured Nature spots?
The American National Parks (a special mention for my hometown parks: The Florida Everglades and Biscayne Bay National Park)
“The Enchanted Forest” a secret spot on Powder Mountain, my current home in the Wasatch Mountains of Northern Utah.
Sarara Camp in Namunyak Sumburu Country, Northern Kenya—a place I consider my home away from home.
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel…?
The presence of a great compassionate mother
When you see a forest, it makes you feel…?
Connected to ancient wisdom and magic
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel…?
The beating pulse of our Earth’s molten heart
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel…?
In awe that no matter how many times I’ve seen a sunrise or sunset I still fill with the same delight and gratitude as the first one
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel…?
Nostalgic for my childhood in Florida
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel…?
A stir in my heart to play outside
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
An Old Growth Forest and A High Alpine Meadow Person
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
10 - My well being and the well being of nature are inextricable.
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
I grew up in a city without a night sky. When I was about five my parents sent me away to the mountains of West Virginia for summer camp. One night our counselors rustled us awake with hushed voices—beckoning us to follow them out into the forest surrounding our cabin. We walked bewildered in the cold night air through excited whispers, until we came to an open meadow. They laid a blanket on the ground for us and had us lay back and look up. My heart ceased. There was not a patch of that moonless sky that didn’t have a glittering star. Just remembering how stunned and enamored I was with that sky, that moment, that ageless understanding of truth, brings tears back to my eyes. Then came my first shooting star, and there was no turning back.
Nathan Irons
Nathan Irons is a founding member of 1% For The Planet and the founder of Bluestone Life, a national insurance organization promoting change by inspiring people to align their values with their finances. Nathan was born and raised in Vermont. He served in the US Navy, is an avid reader and has a deep appreciation for how integrating family, community, and planetary health into decision-making can dramatically improve a family’s quality of life, and their positive impact. He has a long history of entrepreneurial activity in the financial services industry, and has increasingly gravitated toward business ideas and concepts that initiate systems change. Nathan lives in Vermont with his wife and daughter.
3 words to describe Nature?
Beautiful. Solemn. Interconnected
3 things Nature taught you?
Gratitude
Respect
Empathy
3 most treasured Nature spots?
Kauai
Vermont
Forests
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
Awe
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Alive and respectful
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
Grounded
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Peaceful & Grateful
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
Depth and power
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
Like going outside
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
Mountainous Forest
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
10
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
Spending an entire day playing with rocks in a Vermont brook that ran through a forest where tree roots reached into the water and I could smell the evergreens.
Roz Savage
Roz Savage is an ocean rower, speaker, author, sustainability advocate, and thought leader on the big existential questions of the 21st century. Her feats have been described by Sir Richard Branson as “Heroic, epic, inspiring, historic.” Best known as the first (and so far only) woman to row solo across the world’s “Big Three” oceans - the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian - Rosalind Savage inspires audiences to think again about what is possible, and encourages them to step up fully into the potential of their highest selves.
She has spoken to tens of thousands of people across six continents, including Google, eBay, Hershey, Disney, Kaiser Permanente, National Geographic, the Royal Geographical Society, TED and TEDx, plus numerous schools, universities and corporations.
Roz has appeared on numerous TV channels including CBS, ESPN, Fox News, Channel Four and the BBC, and has been a frequent guest on various radio stations including NPR, BBC (Radio Four, World Service), and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
She has been featured in a wide range of newspapers including the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Observer, The Daily Mail, The Daily Express, The Financial Times and the Evening Standard. Magazine features include Sports Illustrated, Grazia, Red, Outside Magazine and Fortune Magazine. She has written for numerous magazines and websites including Forbes and the Huffington Post, and contributed to over a dozen books on conservation, adventure, lifestyle and women
A documentary based on her Atlantic voyage, “Rowing the Atlantic”, was screened in 32 countries as a finalist in the prestigious Banff Mountain Film Festival.
She has authored two books: “Rowing The Atlantic: Lessons Learned on the Open Ocean” (Simon & Schuster, 2009) and "Stop Drifting, Start Rowing” (Hay House, 2013).
In 2010 Roz was named Adventurer of the Year by National Geographic. In 2012 she was a World Fellow at Yale. In 2013 she was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to fundraising and the environment. In 2017 she took up a position at Yale, lecturing on Courage in Theory and Practice.
3 words to describe Nature?
Awe-inspiring. Nourishing. Vital
3 things Nature taught you?
Respect
Humility
Confidence
3 most treasured Nature spots?
Holy Isle, Scotland
Californian Redwoods
The beaches of southwestern Australia
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
Sad, because they’re in such trouble
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Happy – I love being around trees
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
That the Earth is not as solid or as static as we like to pretend
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Joy
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
Excited
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
Energised
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
Mountain
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
11!
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
My mother, sister and I walked the Sandstone Trail when we were living in Cheshire. I especially remember a stretch of the path near Alderley Edge, where there was a row of craggy and scarred Scots Pines fringing the top of a hill. I just loved those trees. They looked like they had experienced so much in their lifetimes. Even now I get that sense when I’m around an old tree – I wonder what changes they have already seen, and what further changes they will see in the future.