Speaking out

Presentations

Where are the polar bears?

Anyone heading to Antarctica is inevitably told, “Watch out for those polar bears!” However, if there were polar bears in Antarctica, there would be no penguins… At face value, it seems pretty straightforward as to why there are no polar bears in Antarctica – there was no ‘species’ for them to evolve from. However, delve a little deeper and ask yourself, ‘why are there no species down there?” To answer that, you have to turn to the ample time provided by the geological time scale and learn about the quite catastrophic events which lead to penguins in the southern hemisphere and polar bears near the north pole…

Exploring the ice

Antarctica is a like a lady with many petticoats. The ice builds up from a few sparse fragments in a vast ocean to a towering and hostile ice sheet 5km thick. Searching for “Terra Incognito Australis” and then conquering her was one of the last great endurance tests for mankind. It took over a century for man to finally make his way to the south pole. And to get there, every icey obstacle imaginable – and more – were placed in his path.

In this interesting talk, Sally follows the explorers starting in ancient Greek times to Captain Cook first encountering icebergs to Amundsen placing a flag on the south pole. Along the way, like the explorers, we encounter icebergs, sea ice, ice cliffs, frozen rivers of ice and vast planes of every climbing ice…

The burning truth about global warming

The papers constantly scream at us, “We must cut emissions to stop global warming!” Global warming and the hole in the ozone seem to be utterly entwined and condemning us to a hostile and harsh world in the future. Many scientists (except those making the press) are actually quite skeptical about the concept of global warming presented in the press. Climate change, as it is probably better to refer to this phenomenon, is indeed happening around us, but what do the rocks say? They paint an entirely different picture of climate change on planet Earth!

In this highly interesting and thought-provoking talk, Sally presents the media hype and lines it up side by side with evidence from the natural world. She even makes you question just exactly why we are worried in the first place…

This material has been presented as a 1 hour presentation or an 8 hour short course.

Natural evolution of the Falkland Islands and South Georgia

These two remote islands at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, are practically on the same latitude, yet they have vastly different histories – and not just politically! The Falkland Islands comprise gently rolling hills, a prevailing wind and generally mild weather all year round. In contrast, South Georgia has tall rugged mountains, glaciers pouring into the oceans below and weather that can flip from a warm sunny day to a dangerously hypothermic in katabatic winds in the blink of an eye.

Travel through time and space as Sally explains how these two small islands came to be so different, yet so close to eachother.

Gold fever!

Gold has a long history of being used for jewelry and currency. Thousands of years ago, gold was a precious commodity, coveted by the rich and powerful. Nothing has changed today. The world still has an insatiable demand for gold, yet it is getting harder and harder to find gold in the natural world. So, just how do we find gold? Travel around the world with Sally as she introduces us to the history of exploration for gold through to modern day techniques.

A tale of two deserts

Australia and Antarctica. One continent is flat, hot and baked red. The other is covered in a cold ice dome. Yet strangely enough, both Australia and Antarctica are deserts, and what’s more, the have influenced eachother throughout much of geologic time. Join Sally in an interesting talk on how the evolution of these two continents is entwined with the fate of the other.

Questing for time

This talk is currently being researched. However, one thing is very clear about being a geologist – you have a very different view of time than most people! Strangely enough, mankind did not worry much about time until the 17th century. The quest of several men to understand time for their religion can almost be blamed for the eventual separation between religion and science. Ever since then, we have constantly been pushing the boundaries in our quest to assign a time and date to everything of any nature from the big bang to when Jesus was born and how long before the next train. And now we think we have it nearly under control, what about the chinese and jewish calendars????