There are no amounts of PowerPoints, Planet Earth or magazine articles that come even close to having a personal experience with the things we are trying to protect. But not everybody has the privilege or desire to travel to the extreme corners of the world where climate change is happening at an unprecedented rate. As a climate journalist, explorer and filmmaker, I was fortunate to have traveled many times to these places reporting for newspapers, magazines, radio and television.
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We tend to be ambivalent to what is happening with climate change if it is not in our backyard, but the melting of the sea ice, dieback of coral reefs or wildfires have consequences for everybody on earth. Since my first North Pole Expedition in 2007 and when the Arctic had its first record meltdown, I changed my career and became a professional keynote speaker about climate change. On stage I hope to transform people through images of expeditions and the latest climate science, to understand the urgency of keeping the climate warming below 1.5 °C.
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I have taken more than 100 CEO’s to Svalbard , and 60 CEO's to Antarctica to see for themselves the effects of climate change and what they can do in their businesses and boardrooms.
I have made television series about Tipping Points and extreme science fieldwork, made films on emissions of aviation and shipping, wrote two books and numerous articles for newspapers and magazines and still continue to do expeditions. In 2022 I kited 2000 km on the Greenland Icecap to promote wind energy and kite power. This spring I traversed Baffin Island with two girlfriends.
EXPEDITIONS
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Siberia -frozen Villiuy/Lena river, Feb 2007
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North Pole Expedition, April 2007
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Ronne Icefield to South Pole, Winter 2008
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Greenland Ice Cap Traverse, April 2008
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Denali, May 2008
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Mount Everest, May 2009
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Kayak Niger River, Mali , Jan 2011
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The Arctic March | North Pole to Canada, May 2014
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Watkins Mountains Greenland, May 2015
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North Pole NASA Science Expedition, April 2017
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Greenland south/north snow kite expedition, April 2022
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Baffin Babes, Baffin Island ski expedition, April 2024
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ACHIEVEMENTS | AWARDS
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Knighted in the order of Oranje Nassau in the Netherlands
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First Dutch Women to ski to North and South Pole
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Literature Award for Poles Apart
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HImalaya Alert: best environmental film in Trento, Italy
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100 CEO’s to Svalbard | Svalbard pledge for sustainablility
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60 CEO's to Antarctica | protection of Antarctica 2040
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#3 most sustainable/influential person in the Netherlands
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Lifetime achievement Wubbo Ockles award
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National Geographic Best Practices in tourism award