As an atmospheric scientist, Dr. John Bird spent several winters at a remote observatory near the North Pole studying the ozone hole, prior to his posting at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. He holds a Ph.D. in space science, and taught at several universities including Imperial College in London. He climbed the Matterhorn and Denali, and broke the world altitude record for hang gliding by descending from a helium balloon at 35,000 feet. John trained in fighter aircraft; and with the NASA astronauts both underwater in space suits, and in the "vomit comet" KC-135 weightlessness aircraft to develop experiments for the space station. He has published over seventy magazine articles and peer-reviewed scientific papers. He is the author of The Upper Atmosphere, published by NASA.
Speaking at the global climate summit COP22 in Morocco, 2016
Jennifer McCallum holds an M.A. in music composition. She has composed chamber and choral works. She has also choreographed for dance. Following her degree, she pursued one year of feminist studies. While living at the South Pole, she wrote an article for The Globe and Mail titled “Poetry at the South Pole”; she also wrote a feature-length cover story for Musicworks, a magazine circulated amongst the Canadian and American new-music community. Musicworks distributed a sound recording of her chamber work, Continuus Line, which describes barren landscapes. Jennifer’s present activities include apprenticing as an organist, composing, and presenting colorful speeches about the South Pole to local community groups.