WEBVTT - What Does It Mean to Be a Modern-Day Explorer?

0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:06.400
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey

0:00:06.440 --> 0:00:11.039
<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff Lauren Vogel Bam here. As of there are

0:00:11.119 --> 0:00:15.360
<v Speaker 1>nearly eight billion human beings on the planet Earth. Vehicles

0:00:15.400 --> 0:00:18.600
<v Speaker 1>of every kind roam the land, air, and sea, often

0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:21.040
<v Speaker 1>in weather conditions that would have stopped humans in their

0:00:21.079 --> 0:00:24.479
<v Speaker 1>tracks just a few decades ago. The world is in

0:00:24.640 --> 0:00:30.400
<v Speaker 1>essence getting smaller, leaving few places unexplored. Given those circumstances,

0:00:30.560 --> 0:00:33.559
<v Speaker 1>what exactly does it mean to be an explorer today?

0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:38.120
<v Speaker 1>Some would say that exploration is part of human drive,

0:00:38.360 --> 0:00:41.440
<v Speaker 1>as our curiosity pushes us to seek out new places

0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:44.159
<v Speaker 1>around us, wherever we live just down the road or

0:00:44.200 --> 0:00:47.720
<v Speaker 1>across the open countryside, and wherever we don't live, like

0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:50.960
<v Speaker 1>under the ocean's waves, in deep caves and into the

0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:54.279
<v Speaker 1>depths of the galaxy. Well, sure, some of us are

0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:57.640
<v Speaker 1>fine with plush couches and plentiful pizza, but for others,

0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:01.640
<v Speaker 1>the call of the unknown is irresistible, and these restless

0:01:01.640 --> 0:01:05.040
<v Speaker 1>souls find that even in a shrinking world, exploration is

0:01:05.160 --> 0:01:08.440
<v Speaker 1>very possible if you know where to look. There are

0:01:08.440 --> 0:01:11.280
<v Speaker 1>adventures to be had everywhere, new sights to see, in

0:01:11.360 --> 0:01:14.240
<v Speaker 1>places to experience. But if you want to go where

0:01:14.280 --> 0:01:16.920
<v Speaker 1>no one has gone before. You can start by looking

0:01:17.000 --> 0:01:21.640
<v Speaker 1>up or down. We spoke by email with Eric Larson,

0:01:21.800 --> 0:01:25.800
<v Speaker 1>a polar explorer and mountain climber. He said, there are

0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:29.160
<v Speaker 1>a variety of peaks in areas like Nepal, Pakistan and

0:01:29.280 --> 0:01:32.000
<v Speaker 1>China that have yet to be climbed. Exploring the depths

0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:34.440
<v Speaker 1>of the oceans would be one of the larger tracts

0:01:34.480 --> 0:01:38.000
<v Speaker 1>of undiscovered terrain, if you could call it that. I

0:01:38.040 --> 0:01:40.400
<v Speaker 1>know there are probably some areas of the Pacific Ocean

0:01:40.440 --> 0:01:43.760
<v Speaker 1>that remained somewhat untouched, and definitely parts of the Amazon

0:01:43.880 --> 0:01:48.840
<v Speaker 1>rainforest as well. Larson has launched some major expeditions. In

0:01:48.840 --> 0:01:51.440
<v Speaker 1>two thousand nine and twenty ten, he journeyed to both

0:01:51.520 --> 0:01:54.440
<v Speaker 1>the North and South Poles and the top of Mount Everest,

0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:57.360
<v Speaker 1>all within three hundred and sixty five days, the only

0:01:57.400 --> 0:01:59.960
<v Speaker 1>person ever to achieve this feat in under a year.

0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:03.400
<v Speaker 1>It was grueling, though, and took a drastic toll on

0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:06.400
<v Speaker 1>his mind and body. So why does he do it?

0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:10.480
<v Speaker 1>He said? I really enjoy the physical and mental aspects

0:02:10.480 --> 0:02:13.720
<v Speaker 1>of big expeditions, from the planning and preparation to the

0:02:13.760 --> 0:02:17.760
<v Speaker 1>decision making and stress involved in executing these adventures. I

0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:20.040
<v Speaker 1>like blazing my own trail as well, and being in

0:02:20.080 --> 0:02:24.000
<v Speaker 1>places that I know no one has traveled previously. These

0:02:24.080 --> 0:02:28.440
<v Speaker 1>kinds of adventures cost some people their lives. Take Percy Fawcett,

0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:32.480
<v Speaker 1>who in nineteen disappeared trying to find a legendary city

0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:36.360
<v Speaker 1>in the Amazon Rainforest, or Sir John Franklin and Francis Kosher,

0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:39.240
<v Speaker 1>who met the same mysterious fate in the eighteen forties

0:02:39.280 --> 0:02:43.240
<v Speaker 1>when they tried to find the fabled Northwest Passage. Larson

0:02:43.320 --> 0:02:47.400
<v Speaker 1>himself has almost died multiple times. He said, I've had

0:02:47.440 --> 0:02:51.120
<v Speaker 1>several very close encounters with polar bears. In two thousand

0:02:51.200 --> 0:02:53.720
<v Speaker 1>five off the coast of Siberia on the Arctic Ocean,

0:02:53.960 --> 0:02:55.880
<v Speaker 1>we had one jump on our tent while we were

0:02:55.880 --> 0:02:58.760
<v Speaker 1>sleeping in it. We also were in some pretty sketchy

0:02:58.760 --> 0:03:02.000
<v Speaker 1>situations in ten when trying to climb a peak in Nepal.

0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:04.720
<v Speaker 1>It took us three different attempts, and we were in

0:03:04.760 --> 0:03:07.560
<v Speaker 1>several situations where a wrong step would have meant death.

0:03:09.000 --> 0:03:11.840
<v Speaker 1>And as if near death isn't bad enough, there are

0:03:11.880 --> 0:03:16.160
<v Speaker 1>expeditions bills to be paid. Those kinds of journeys are expensive,

0:03:16.280 --> 0:03:19.760
<v Speaker 1>and explorers often search for sponsors to defray the costs.

0:03:20.120 --> 0:03:22.680
<v Speaker 1>In return for funding, the sponsors might ask for anything

0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:25.640
<v Speaker 1>from placement of their logo on a jacket to engagement

0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:30.120
<v Speaker 1>via social media, blogs, videos, live events, and more. And

0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:33.240
<v Speaker 1>these sorts of sponsorships are nothing new. Going back to

0:03:33.240 --> 0:03:36.560
<v Speaker 1>the turn of the twentieth century, explorers like Ernest Shackleton,

0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:40.280
<v Speaker 1>who led three expeditions to the Antarctic, depended on largely

0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:44.480
<v Speaker 1>private sponsors to fund their trips. The Shackleton struck deals

0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:47.920
<v Speaker 1>to name glaciers, mountains, and boats after his donors, and

0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:50.400
<v Speaker 1>even gave one woman's son a place on his team

0:03:50.640 --> 0:03:53.760
<v Speaker 1>in return for a two thousand pound loan. The son,

0:03:53.920 --> 0:03:57.680
<v Speaker 1>Philip Brocklehurst, wound up losing a big toe to frostbite

0:03:57.720 --> 0:04:00.360
<v Speaker 1>on the trip, but it seems there were no hard feelings.

0:04:00.760 --> 0:04:03.240
<v Speaker 1>The toe subsequently received a place of honor on the

0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:07.280
<v Speaker 1>mantelpiece in the family manner. That expedition was part of

0:04:07.280 --> 0:04:11.400
<v Speaker 1>a larger movement. At a dinner on May nineteen o four,

0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:14.320
<v Speaker 1>attended by fifty men well known in the circles of

0:04:14.360 --> 0:04:17.760
<v Speaker 1>exploration at the time, the Explorers Club was born and

0:04:17.839 --> 0:04:20.920
<v Speaker 1>soon began inviting explorers and scientists to speak of their

0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:24.680
<v Speaker 1>adventures and discoveries with the goal of promoting scientific exploration

0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:28.440
<v Speaker 1>and field study. The Explorers Club is particularly known for

0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:32.360
<v Speaker 1>its five Famous Firsts, a list of places conquered by

0:04:32.400 --> 0:04:35.640
<v Speaker 1>members the North Pole in nineteen o nine, the South

0:04:35.680 --> 0:04:38.880
<v Speaker 1>Pole in nineteen eleven, Mount Everest in nineteen fifty three,

0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:43.039
<v Speaker 1>the Marianna Trench in nineteen sixty and the Moon in

0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:47.960
<v Speaker 1>nineteen sixty nine. These explorers were breaking entirely new ground.

0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:51.720
<v Speaker 1>As of twenty however, most of the Earth has already

0:04:51.720 --> 0:04:55.680
<v Speaker 1>been witnessed by human eyes. Larson said the leading edge

0:04:55.680 --> 0:04:59.599
<v Speaker 1>of exploration today is more about pushing personal limits, trying

0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:04.080
<v Speaker 1>to do adventures in new, unique and challenging ways. For example,

0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:07.039
<v Speaker 1>while people have skied to the South Pole many times,

0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:11.320
<v Speaker 1>in I tried to bicycle to the South Pole. He

0:05:11.440 --> 0:05:14.560
<v Speaker 1>didn't make it, but there are plenty of other examples.

0:05:14.960 --> 0:05:18.440
<v Speaker 1>Take the incredibly steep pitch of l Capitan's Dawn Wall

0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:22.599
<v Speaker 1>in Yosemite National Park, some three thousand feet or nine tall.

0:05:23.200 --> 0:05:27.720
<v Speaker 1>It's been climbed many times, but in Tommy Caldwell and

0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:31.400
<v Speaker 1>Kevin Jorgenson were the first to free climate. Or there's

0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:34.440
<v Speaker 1>Alex Hanoald who took it to a nerve shattering extreme

0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:37.400
<v Speaker 1>when he climbed the Dawn Wall without any ropes whatsoever.

0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:41.040
<v Speaker 1>In his climb, which is considered to be one of

0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:44.600
<v Speaker 1>the greatest athletic achievements of all time, was documented by

0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:49.600
<v Speaker 1>the National Geographic film Free Solo. Now, you don't have

0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:52.240
<v Speaker 1>to take on these kinds of extreme adventures. If you

0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:54.400
<v Speaker 1>don't want to, you can leave it to the experts

0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:58.200
<v Speaker 1>and witness their bravery and perhaps dubious sanity from Afar.

0:05:59.040 --> 0:06:01.640
<v Speaker 1>But no matter how as small the world gets, it's

0:06:01.680 --> 0:06:04.080
<v Speaker 1>clear that there will always be people willing to push

0:06:04.080 --> 0:06:12.400
<v Speaker 1>exploration just a little bit further. Today's episode was written

0:06:12.440 --> 0:06:15.040
<v Speaker 1>by Nathan Chandler and produced by Tyler Clang. For more

0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:17.359
<v Speaker 1>on this and lots of other exploratory topics, visit how

0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:20.560
<v Speaker 1>stuffworks dot com. Brain Stuff is a production of iHeart Radio.

0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:22.680
<v Speaker 1>Or more podcasts in my heart Radio, visit the I

0:06:22.760 --> 0:06:25.479
<v Speaker 1>heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:26.279
<v Speaker 1>your favorite shows.