Antarctica needs friends. In the face of a looming climate crisis, this is truer than ever: the southern polar region urgently requires broad-based support from connected, engaged, and collaborative communities around the world. The number of people visiting Antarctica as tourists has grown exponentially in the last decade. Each one of these travellers has the potential to become a friend to the far south, and a catalyst for climate action, by contributing to the region’s protection when they return home. This concept is known as stewardship.
The long-term impacts of transformative journeys upon individual’s pro-environmental actions have rarely been studied. In this world-first study, researchers from the University of Tasmania will follow the journey of travellers on board the World Navigator during their time in Antarctica and for 18 months after. Interested passengers will be invited to take part in longitudinal research that will explore, through interview and documentary-style methods, the impacts that a journey south has upon their sense of self, their awareness of climate change and the actions that they take as leaders upon their return.
This study will allow us to determine if and how change manifests in leadership over the long-term. Through this study, we hope to develop an evidence-based understanding of the impact that leadership programs have upon leaders’ attitudes and actions towards climate change, via their business practice, upon their return.
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