The Exploration Museum announces the recipients of the 2021 and 2022 Leif Erikson Awards

The Exploration Museum announces the recipients of the 2021 and 2022 Leif Erikson Awards

2022 Leif Erikson Exploration History Award
Geoff Green

Canadian expedition leader Geoff Green is awarded the 2022 Leif Erikson Exploration History Award, for his work on polar education and youth engagement. As the founder and president of the award-winning Students on Ice Foundation, Green has dedicated the past three decades on raising awareness and understanding of the Arctic, the Antarctic and places in between. For his work, Green has been awarded as Member of the Order of Canada. He is a fellow at the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and an international fellow at the Explorers Club.

The Leif Erikson Awards are awarded annually in Iceland in three categories; the Leif Erikson Award to an explorer for a lifetime achievement in exploration; Leif Erikson Young Explorer Award to an explorer under the age of 35 for achievements in exploration; and the Leif Erikson Exploration History Award, awarded to a person or an organization that has worked to promote and preserve exploration history, or to educate about exploration, science and environment issues. This year, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we’ll award for both 2021 and 2022.
Previous awardees of our history and education award include exploration historian Dr. Huw Lewis-Jones, the Crew and builders of viking ship Draken Harald Hårfagre, Volcanologist Haraldur Sigurðsson, and writer and publisher Jeff Blumenfeld, who now serves as the chair of the award committee.
The awards are named for the Icelandic explorer Leif Erikson who is considered the first European to land in North America and who, according to the Sagas of Icelanders, established the first Norse settlement at Vinland, tentatively identified with the Norse L’Anse aux Meadows on the northern tip of Newfoundland in modern-day Canada.
Our small museum in Húsavík was founded in 2011 to promote Iceland’s rich connections to the exploration history of the world. From the vikings, to the early polar explorers who trained here around the year 1900, to the Apollo astronauts who trained here in the 1960s, to countless space scientists who visit our country every year, Iceland has played an important role in many of the world’s greatest feats of exploration.

 

The Exploration Awards

SOI at COP15

SOI at COP15

Thank you to Minister Steven Guilbeault for taking the time at COP15 in Montréal to talk with our Founder and Expedition Leader, Geoff Green, about the importance of ocean health, biodiversity, 30X30, Canada’s future role in the Antarctic, and the future of our Ocean Decade Expeditions!

 

It was an honour to be featured as part of the conference’s Women and Youth Day and reconnect with friends, partners, and alumni

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Check out this awesome video highlighting our time at COP15.

 

A new framework has been adopted to guide conservation efforts through the end of the decade with the aim of seeing species and ecosystems recover. Read the article by Canada C3 alumni, Ivan Semeniuk, for more details

While at COP15, some of our alumni were interviewed for CBC’s TheCurrent. Hear from them as they share stories of expedition, the impact of climate change, and even a throat singing performance!

What Does the Ocean Mean to You? – Canadian Geographic

What Does the Ocean Mean to You? – Canadian Geographic

Geoff Green – Students on Ice

Episode 50

Join Students on Ice President Geoff Green aboard the Polar Prince as he discusses his experience as an expedition leader and how he built Students on Ice to be the vital force that it is today.

OCT 18, 2022

“For our 50th episode, Explore is taking to the seas!

 

We join a Students on Ice expedition to the Bay of Fundy aboard the Polar Prince, on an Ocean Conservation Expedition led by RCGS Fellow and SOI President Geoff Green.

This is a working expedition with scientists, researchers, commercial fishers, Indigenous youth, students and artists.

Over the next few episodes, we’ll ride the Bay of Fundy tides, the highest in the world, exploring the many wonders of this spectacular part of Canada’s Atlantic seaboard.

For this episode, we’re on Seal Island, a windswept mix of colourful fisherman cottages and stunted trees and rocky shores and tidal pools.

I’ll talk with Geoff Green about his decades-long journey as an expedition leader in the Arctic and Antarctica. And his experiences build up Students on Ice into a vital force that combines sea voyages along with youth, scientists, artists, academics and Indigenous people to bring greater urgency to understanding the importance healthy oceans have for life on this planet.

For his work with SOI and ocean conservation, Geoff Green was awarded the Order of Canada in 2012.

Many thanks to the crew of the Polar Prince, and to the staff of Students on Ice for making this voyage possible.”

David McGuffin

‘We all want a healthy ocean’: Conservation expedition winds its way along Maritime coast – CTV

‘We all want a healthy ocean’: Conservation expedition winds its way along Maritime coast – CTV

“We want to showcase the wonders of these places, how unique they are, in so many ways, especially ecologically,” said Green. “But also, in doing so, bring together all these different stakeholders that are involved in ocean research, ocean conservation, and ocean economy.”

Read the full article here: https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/we-all-want-a-healthy-ocean-conservation-expedition-winds-its-way-along-maritime-coast-1.6068674

Governor General of Canada extends Viceregal Patronage to the Students on Ice Foundation

Governor General of Canada extends Viceregal Patronage to the Students on Ice Foundation

The Students on Ice Foundation (SOI) is very proud to share that they have been granted Viceregal Patronage from Her Excellency the Right Honourable Mary Simon, Governor General of Canada. The SOI Foundation and Her Excellency have a long and wonderful history, and now look forward to this exciting new relationship on their journey and mission ahead.

 

The SOI Foundation has a deep belief that connecting youth to nature, knowledge, mentors, resources, and providing them with meaningful opportunities, helps to shape them as global citizens and leaders for a healthy and sustainable future.

 

In 1999, Mary Simon, at the time Canada’s Circumpolar Ambassador, helped SOI Founder Geoff Green to launch Students on Ice and she has been an unwavering supporter and advisor ever since. The Governor General and her husband, Whit Fraser, have participated on numerous SOI Arctic expeditions, sharing their knowledge, passion and remarkable life experiences with thousands of youth from across Canada and around the World. In doing so, they have helped youth to gain a deeper understanding and connection with the land, culture, history and the challenges and opportunities facing the Canadian Arctic. They have helped to send off hundreds of students and staff on SOI journeys and then have welcomed them home, eager to hear about their diverse and transformative experiences. Her Excellency was also a participant on the historic Canada C3 expedition in 2017 led by the SOI Foundation. Now in 2022, they honour the SOI Foundation and all present and future SOI alumni with their continued support in the form of Viceregal Patronage.

 

“Having Mary Simon as the Governor General of Canada is so meaningful for our country from coast to coast to coast. We look forward to supporting Her Excellency with her ongoing priorities to foster reconciliation, education and mental health. We are extremely grateful for the support that she has never hesitated to provide and so fortunate to call Her Excellency an advisor, ambassador, alumna and friend.” 

– Geoff Green C.M. – Founder, Students on Ice Foundation

 

About the Students on Ice Foundation:

Now in its 3rd decade, SOI is recognized globally for delivering life-changing youth expeditions in the Polar Regions. Planet Earth is facing unprecedented challenges, making youth voices, ideas, and action more important than ever. Through educational expeditions, cross-cultural experiences, science and outreach initiatives, SOI inspires new perspectives, ideas, connections and collaborative solutions. The outcome is a global network that takes action and contributes to building healthy communities and a sustainable future.

 

About SOI – https://soifoundation.org/en/about/ &  https://issuu.com/studentsonice/docs/20yearsofsoi

About the Governor General of Canada – https://www.gg.ca/

Contact: geoff@soifoundation.org or 1-613-799-6094