2007 is a significant year to be going to Antarctica as it is the International Polar Year. For Robert Swan OBE (a polar explorer, environmental leader and the first man ever to walk to both the North and South poles), this was his fifth international Inspire Antarctic Expedition (IAE 5), aimed at inspiring young people to preserve our environment.

Antarctica is Earth’s southernmost continent, surrounded by the Southern Ocean. At 14.4 million km2, it is the fifth-largest continent in area after Asia, Africa, North America, and South America. Some 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice, which averages at least 1.6 kilometres in thickness. On average, Antarctica is the coldest, driest and windiest continent, there are no permanent human residents, only cold-adapted plants and animals survive there, including penguins, seals, mosses and many types of algae.

Three university students from Hong Kong (Cheung Wai Yin, Tang Chin Cheung, Li Hau Leung) and two from Mainland China (Chen Zili, Zhou Yang) were selected to go to Antarctica with Robert Swan earlier this year. Swan believes the students will be excellent environmental ambassadors to transfer their knowledge of Antarctica and global warming to the community after their return from the ice. Of special importance is the fact that this was the first group of students from Hong Kong and Mainland China to step onto the greatest piece of ice covered land on earth.

A total of 67 people undertook this 15-day journey which began on February 17th in Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost city in the world. Whilst on the ice the students participated in the opening of the world’s first Education Base in Antarctica. Powered by renewable energy and built entirely from recycled products, this education station promises to be unique and hopefully will attract young people to think about the future of our planet. Since the students have returned from Antarctica they have been asked to spread the message of the severity of climate change to other students and community groups in Hong Kong and Mainland China. An important task they have is to inspire others about the urgency of reducing our carbon footprint and the urgent need for us all to learn to live sustainably.

Whilst in Antarctica the students were not there only appreciate the beauty of the continent, but also they learned about the preciousness of natural resources and experienced first-hand the impact of climate change as well. Tang (Environmental Life Science, HKU) said, “I wish I could convince the business community to co-operate with green groups and to accept concepts aimed at protecting our environment and I hope businesses will consider the importance of these issues.” Actually the students found out that staff from some big companies such as Coca-cola and BP were also joining the tour, so they too could learn to understand the desperate situation facing Earth’s environment. Cheung (Physical Education & Recreation Management, HKBU) said he was amazed by the natural beauty; the water is as blue as the sky and reflects across the ice. “It’s incredible.”

Li (Politics and Public Administration, HKU) said they were all so worried that the global warming is affecting this pristine place faster than anywhere else on earth and faster than scientists had realised until recently. He said since returning to Hong Kong that his mind has been completely changed about the serious need for urgent environmental protection and that he would remain actively engaged in activities and issues related to environmental protection. Li said that already he is eating less take away foods to avoid creating more rubbish than is necessary and he has spent much time discussing these issues at school about the need for our society to urgently change our patterns of consumption.

Chen (Chinese, Translation and Linguistics, CityU PhD candidate) said that the most exciting part of the trip was the birth of his daughter the day he stepped onto Antarctica. Chen and his wife, and the whole IAE 5 team helped chose the name Adelie for his new born baby, Adelie are the only kind of penguins that live on icebergs, and are nowadays retreating further back into inner-Antarctica due to the scale of the melting ice.

We didn’t inherit the world from our parents - we borrow it from our children. The students have learned and begun to understand the meaning and wisdom behind this native Indian proverb and perhaps this ancient wisdom will become the new mantra for mankind as we seek to redress much of the damage that industrialisation has done to our natural environment. Our students now say that they understand global warming is here now, and that we must all join together to combat this crisis - for the sake of our survival and the countless species of plants and animals that have been entrusted into our care, such as Adelie penguin.

2041 is the year that the Environmental Protocol of the Antarctic Treaty comes up for review.? 2041.com was founded by Robert Swan, OBE, who has dedicated his life to the preservation of the Antarctic wilderness and to promoting recycling, renewable energy and sustainability to combat the effects of global warming. The 2041 Mission Statement is to inspire people to create extraordinary results in preserving our environment through leadership, teamwork and personal development.

For more information for IAE 6 in 2008, please visit www.2041.com and for more details of the students in Antarctica, please visit www.iae5.com.