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| Dear Friends,
When we inducted our first group of Fellows in 2003, WINGS was a pioneer in its support of women scientists and explorers. Sixteen years later, we proudly continue our core mission of funding and supporting a growing community of (now 125) Fellows and Flag Carriers, proving that women are on the frontiers of discovery in every field around the world. The WINGS WorldQuest flags, which have traveled to some of our planet’s most remote regions, including the North and South poles and almost 60 countries, have become a symbol of bold leadership, innovative thinking and uncommon courage.
So if you need inspiration or a reason to feel hopeful about our world, come meet one of these extraordinary women at an Explorer Talk (there’s one on November 6), the annual research forum and spring awards gala (exciting details in the next newsletter), and follow us on social media. We share their backstories, updates, and let’s-do-this mindsets, and link you to their latest initiatives.
We get nonstop energy boosts here at the WINGS hub, too, as Fellows and Flag Carriers visit on their way to and from expeditions. In the past two weeks, we’ve sat down with: Constanza Ceruti who was passing through after coordinating an archaeological symposium in Switzerland; April Burt, who gave a sold-out Explorer Talk about her recent marine plastic pollution expedition to the biodiversity hotspot, the Aldabra Atoll (photos below); Allison Hanes, who returned Flag #23, which she took to Indonesia while shooting films about the shamans of Siberut and the Mentawai gibbons. At the same time, we shipped out Flag #29 to marine conservation biologist Callie Veelenturf on her way to Panama’s Pearl Islands for a five-month pilot study of critically endangered leatherback sea turtles. Read on for more about Callie’s work.
We make sure that these changemakers stay in the field and that their discoveries have a platform and a network for sharing. Thank you for helping us give these women a voice and fostering a community dedicated to science, exploration, and a thriving, sustainable planet. With Giving Tuesday just around the corner, we hope you will consider continuing your support with a year-end gift!
Yours in discovery,
Beth Nixon
Chair, Board of Directors
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| Explorer Talk with Fellow Kate Harris
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| Join us for a reception and talk with WINGS Fellow and scientist/explorer Kate Harris, who’s best-selling book, Lands of Lost Borders, explores the political, cultural and environmental history of the places and people she encountered over 10 months of biking the famed Silk Road from beginning to end. As her website reads, “Weaving adventure and deep reflection with the history of science and exploration, Lands of Lost Borders explores the nature of limits and the wildness of a world that, like the self and like the stars, can never be fully mapped.” Outside Magazine praised her book: “Beautifully written, a vivid conjuring of landscapes most readers have never seen. . . [A] fresh new voice on what it means to be an explorer in the 21st century.”
Wednesday, Nov. 6, 6:30 PM
476 Broadway
New York, NY
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Fit For the Field: Work Out, Give Back with Wings WorldQuest & Athleta
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| Join our invigorating "Fit for the Field" yoga/barre class, hosted by the WINGS Junior Council, then refresh your workout wardrobe with a $15 gift card to Athleta! Taught and sponsored by Joanna Stone, founder of Barre Vida and member of the WINGS Junior Council, this 60-minute class will start promptly at 3pm, followed by time to browse and shop with your gift card before you depart. Help us meet our goal of raising $1,000 to fund our most recent Flag Carrier, Callie Veelenturf. See more about Callie below.
Saturday, October 26, 2019
3 – 4:30 PM EDT
Athleta Flatiron Studio, 126 5th Avenue
New York, NY 10011
Tickets: $30
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| | Callie Veelenturf: Discovering Pearl Island's Endangered Treasure
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| Callie Veelenturf, a marine conservation biologist and founder of The Leatherback Project, is currently carrying WINGS Flag #29 to Panama's Pearl Islands of Panama to study new sea turtle nesting sites, human use of turtles, and fisheries bycatch. Verbal reports indicate that Isla del Rey in the Pearl Islands not only provides nesting habitats for olive ridley and green sea turtles but also for leatherback turtles. This has yet to be officially confirmed or denied – Callie’s expedition will help to determine that. She expects her team’s work, the first of its kind in the Pearl Islands, will inform regional population estimates, support the local community, and develop strategies for conservation solutions.
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| What WINGS' Women of Discovery Are Up To
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- Krithi Karanth won 2019 Environmental Hero of the Year from GQ India in the 11th edition of GQ Men of the Year Awards 2019 for her work with environmental conservation, most recently with Wild Seve. These awards spotlight people working to make the world a better place. GQ recognises outstanding Indians across fields and industries, including politics, business, entertainment, media, the arts and sports. The list of all the winners, including Dr. Krithi Karanth, can be found here.
- Read Sunniva Sorby’s blog about the first week of her 9-month overwintering stay in a remote hut in Bambesu to create a global platform and dialogue around climate change issues. Read the blog here. The next interactive classroom, on climate change, with schools and students around the world is October 15th. Sign up here, grab a seat and join live.
- Diana Beresford-Kroger published her latest book, To Speak for the Trees: My Life's Journey from Ancient Celtic Wisdom to a Healing Vision of the Forests. She gives her insights into the importance of forests as a person educated by Celtic elders after being orphaned early.
- Nalini Nadkarni has partnered with Mattel on TreeTop Barbie to inspire young girls to consider science careers. She explains to NPR why she thinks a controversial plastic doll could make a difference: "My sense is yes she's a plastic doll. Yes she's configured in all the ways that we should not be thinking of how women should be shaped," says Nadkarni. "But the fact that now there are these explorer Barbies that are being role models for little girls so that they can literally see themselves as a nature photographer, or an astrophysicist, or an entomologist or you know a tree climber... It's never perfect. But I think it's a step forward." Read the interview and watch the video here.
- Vera Rubin was a groundbreaking astrophysicist who discovered evidence of the existence of dark matter. Her work is highlighted in this article, Nobel Prize in Physics Awarded to Scientists, Some Rally Behind One Who Never Got One.
- Laly Lichtenfeld and African People & Wildlife were featured in a new series by the Associated Press, "What Can Be Saved?" which highlights 12 efforts worldwide that are restoring landscapes and species. Living With Lions, a mini-documentary about how APW partners with the Maasai people to conserve critical lion populations, can be watched here.
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| | Lifetime Awardee Helen Thayer, 81, Continues to "Be a Work in Progress" Trekking the World
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| Helen Thayer spent her early years in New Zealand racking up athletic records – she was an international discus player, a US national luge champion, and an avid skier. Then at the age of 50 she turned her love of adventure and the outdoors into a new set of records, beginning with her first solo expedition – and becoming the first woman to walk solo – to the Magnetic North Pole without a resupply or any outside support. She went on to accomplish a number of extraordinary feats, including being the first woman to walk across the Sahara and Gobi Deserts, being the first non-Indian woman to kayak 2,200 miles of the Amazon River, and living above the Arctic Circle for a year to document the daily life of a wolf den. Her accomplishments, character and courage earned her the 2014 WINGS Lifetime Achievement Award.
≫ Read the full blog post
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| | Lost Marie Curies: The Patent Gap and What We Can Do About It
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| Nicole D. Galli, an attorney whose practice focuses on intellectual property, hosted a webinar for Fellows last month on the gap in the number of patents awarded to women vs. men and why it is important for women in STEM to protect and showcase their intellectual property.
It has been argued that the lack of women with STEM degrees is the leading cause of women’s absence in a multitude of innovative areas, including patenting. However, a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research showed that only 7% of the gender gap in patenting is accounted for by the lower share of women with any science or engineering degree. Instead, 78% of the gap is explained by lower female patenting among holders of a science or engineering degree. Therefore, the patent gap is not merely due to the fact that women do not exist in STEM fields, but that they are frequently overlooked and marginalized once they are in those fields or, alternatively, do not seek patenting for a variety of reasons.
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| | April Burt: Clearing Plastic Pollution on a UNESCO World Heritage Atoll
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| April Burt joined us for an Explorer's Talk last month about her work cleaning plastic pollution in the Seychelles. She and her team removed 26 tons of plastic from the Aldabra Atoll's endangered green turtle nesting beaches over the course of five weeks. She also discussed her career path with co-host Georgia Wallace and her classmates.
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