Thin Ice.earth

“Girls weren’t allowed” in the aeronautical engineering classes Anne Kershaw wanted as a student in Glasgow. She studied civil engineering instead, at night, and sent out résumés as “Mr. Campbell” because firms wouldn’t interview a woman. She got the job—and later built an Antarctic air operation second only to the U.S. government’s. 
Anne’s journey south began with her husband, Polar Medal recipient Giles Kershaw, and other founders of Adventure Network International. After Giles died in an Antarctic flying accident, Anne transformed loss into a mission: building the aviation, medical and emergency capabilities needed to bring other expeditioners safely home. Under her leadership, ANI transformed access to Antarctica’s interior. 
Anne then helped establish the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators and was appointed MBE by Queen Elizabeth II for service to Antarctic aviation. In 2019, she founded the Polar Commitment Foundation to help national Antarctic programs coordinate air, sea and overland logistics. The goal: reduce duplication, costs and environmental impact while freeing resources for science. 
Rob explains why Anne’s mission became personal when, injured 97 miles from the South Pole, he heard a Twin Otter approaching across the ice —the exact outcome Anne had envisioned decades earlier. 
Learn more at polarcommitment.org.

With more than 8 billion people on Earth, can one person really make a difference?
Laure de Panafieu, a senior leader at global law firm Linklaters, found her answer in a handful of South American pebbles gathered during a beach cleanup before her voyage to Antarctica. Those ordinary stones became an extraordinary reminder that small actions can create ripples that transform organizations, communities, and lives.
In this episode of Thin Ice, Laure shares how Antarctica transformed her from someone who anxiously turned the page on troubling climate news into a leader advancing stewardship and sustainability across one of the world's top law firms. It's a conversation about leadership, stewardship, and discovering that meaningful waves of change can begin with a ripple from one pebble.
You can see photos and learn more on our website: ThinIce.earth

Season 2 of Thin Ice begins by revisiting the past to gain a new perspective on the future. 
Forty years after one of the most defining and disruptive moments of his life, polar explorer Robert Swan returns to the Ross Sea region of Antarctica. This time, not as a young man chasing history, but as a witness revisiting Cape Evans, the site of his original South Pole expedition, and the waters where his ship, Southern Quest, was lost beneath the ice. 
In this powerful and reflective conversation with filmmaker Oli Wheeldon, Robert shares what it means to finally close a deeply emotional chapter, and how that closure is fueling a new phase of purposeful exploration and adventure. 
You’ll hear: 
What it felt like to return to Capt. Robert Scott’s Hut at Cape Evans after 40 years
The emotional impact of revisiting the site where Southern Quest sank and the pristine site where the “In the Footsteps of Scott” base camp once stood.
Why the Footsteps expedition’s hardships now evoke a sense of pride
How Robert’s motivation evolved from adventure and history to a life mission of protecting Antarctica
The role of his son, Barney Swan, and the next generation of climate leadership
What’s next, including the final Antarctic voyage Robert himself will lead, a trans-Australia cycling expedition and more.

In a follow-up conversation with co-host Dan Smith, Robert reflects on how the loss of the ship reshaped his life’s direction, and why, now more than ever, we must “turn into the storm” if we want a sustainable future.
 
This episode also marks a turning point for Thin Ice itself. What began as a podcast is evolving into something bigger: a platform for exploring “The Next Great Adventure—learning to live sustainably on Earth.”

Key Themes
 
Closure, resilience, and earned perspective
Exploration as a path to meaning
Stewardship of Antarctica as a shared human responsibility
The shift from personal ambition to collective purpose
Turning toward the challenge, not away from it
Get Involved

We’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment, share your thoughts, or reach out directly: dan@thinice.earth. And visit our website — ThinIce.earth — to see pictures and learn more.

Credits

Thin Ice is a production of Robert Swan and Dan Smith.
Special thanks to Jason Fletcher and Scenic Luxury Cruises & Tours for enabling Robert’s return to the Ross Sea, and to Bernadette Desiato for making the impossible scheduling possible.
 
As always: Keep Earth wild. Be Kind. And chill out.

Recorded December 11 from Union Glacier Camp in Antarctica, this episode explores one of the biggest, and least discussed, climate challenges: heating and cooling the world's buildings. This source emits an estimated 15% or more of global greenhouse gas emissions, including the impact of leaked refrigerant gases, which have much higher Global Warming Potential than C02. And the problem is accelerating fast: The world is expected to grow from about 2 billion air-conditioning systems today to more than 5 billion within the next decade.
For this episode, Robert Swan and Exergyn engineer Richard Blackburn were in Antarctica, while co-host Dan Smith was in North Texas as usual. Their conversation traces the story from the ozone crisis and the Montreal Protocol in the 1980s to the more recent Kigali Amendment and Exergyn’s new solid-state cooling technologies that could eliminate the need for climate-damaging refrigerant gases altogether.
This is the sixth and final episode of the 2025 season, and it’s been a soft launch as Thin Ice finds its path. Our purpose, though, is clear: to help preserve Antarctica as a reserve land for science and peace, and to show that protecting wild places begins with building a more sustainable world.
Solutions are out there, friends. Let's get together and get this snowball rolling!

In this episode of Thin Ice, co-hosts Robert Swan, OBE, and Dan Smith, OJ (Ordinary Joe) explore the fascinating intersection of exploration, technology and sustainability. Robert reflects on the 40th anniversary of his historic South Pole expedition, when he and his team navigated to the South Pole with just a sextant, a watch and sheer determination. No GPS, no radio and no backup. Robert reminisced (and recorded this episode) while taking a break in Tokyo, where he was exploring cutting-edge R&D to understand how advanced technologies including AI can help solve the planet’s most pressing challenges. Robert also shares his plans for returning to Antarctica’s Union Glacier in December 2025 with an international team that will test and demonstrate renewable energy and sustainable HVAC. He’s also going to speak live from Antarctica via Starlink to more than 500,000 schoolchildren, inspiring the next generation of champions for Antarctica’s preservation.
Listen to hear how Robert Swan is trading his sextant for Starlink, and why the future of Antarctica and our planet depends on courage, caring and innovation.