It’s May Day — a time to honor the bounty of nature and hard work, and a distress call derived from French, m’aider ("help me"). So, this is a perfect day to launch Thin Ice, which celebrates nature and the hard work of preserving wild spaces while sounding an international plea for action.

Co-hosts Robert Swan (the first person to walk to both the South and North Poles) and Dan Smith share stories from the wild in hopes of inspiring people to appreciate and protect the remaining wild places on Earth, especially Antarctica.

Episode 1 features William Fenton, the first person to volunteer to help Robert ultimately raise (US) $5 million in the early 1980s to fund the first private expedition to the South Pole in the modern era.

Together, Robert and William didn’t make London Bridge fall down, but Southern Quest, their expedition ship, did bash into London’s Tower Bridge. And that was just the start of their entertaining yet death-defying adventure.

You can learn more and read our blog online and on Substack at thinice.earth. Thanks for tuning in!