When Firoz Verjee was invited to join an expedition to Antarctica, it was more than a chance for adventure.
“It was something I felt I’d been wanting to do for so long,” explains Verjee, who quickly accepted the invitation to join 200 scientists and environmentalists on a 16-day journey through the last continent in January 2020.
As an emergency management consultant who specializes in managing natural hazard risk, Verjee has spent much of his career helping people navigate hazards related to climate change, including at the US National Weather Service, World Bank, Canadian Space Agency and Aga Khan Development Network. The trip to Antarctica—a place of wondrous, but fragile, beauty—offered him a chance to witness how humans are affecting the environment.
Historically, commercial whaling and krill harvesting have significantly disrupted the Antarctic food chain, throwing the ecosystem out of balance. Massive ice shelves in the region are melting due to global warming. The resulting rise in sea levels threatens animals and humans around the world.
“You could see that the health of a lot of the animal species was affected by our behaviour,” says Verjee, noting that his expedition group saw albatrosses, gulls and other birds that were “searching longer and harder for food, and having reproductive challenges because of loss of habitat [and] ingestion of microplastics.”
“Human impact over the last one-and-a-half centuries has had an impact on this region which was otherwise very remote,” says Verjee, who draws a direct connection between the problems he observed in Antarctica and our lifestyle in Canada. Since his return, he has shared his experience through engagement and outreach to encourage others to reflect. He continues to decrease his own negative environmental impact by reducing his consumption and maintaining a minimalist lifestyle. “You are either a contributor [to the problem] or a source of positive change,” he says.
Below, we share some of Verjee's images from his voyage to Antarctica.
L’expédition a été accueillie par les aboiements de centaines d’otaries à fourrure lors de son arrivée en canot pneumatique à sa première escale, sur l’île de la Géorgie du Sud, dans l’océan Atlantique Sud.
Les manchots royaux vivent en grandes colonies de centaines de milliers dans la région subantarctique. Mesurant jusqu’à un mètre de hauteur et pesant jusqu’à 40 livres, ils sont la deuxième plus grande espèce de pingouin après le manchot empereur. « Ils sont extrêmement beaux. Ils ont tous une apparence tout à fait immaculée quand on les voit », affirme M. Verjee. L’augmentation de la température de l’océan constitue une menace croissante pour les zones de reproduction des manchots royaux.
Une paire de manchots papous déambulant sur une pente glacée le long de Néko Harbor, en Antarctique. Gentoo était un terme anglo-indien utilisé pour distinguer les hindous des musulmans. Certains supposent que la tache blanche sur la tête de l'oiseau ressemblait à un turban. Le nom peut également provenir du terme gentil en portugais.
Un phoque crabier se prépare à plonger dans l’eau. M. Verjee explique qu'il voulait saisir la quiétude et la fragilité de l'Antarctique. « C’est un environnement extraordinaire », dit-il.
