Oxford University Exploration Club

A Journey with a Purpose- The Biotruck Expeditions

Andy Pag has been running vehicle based expeditions across the Sahara for over 10 years, and was the organiser and leader of the world’s first carbon-negative expedition driving from the UK, across the Sahara desert to Timbuktu, fuelled entirely by biodiesel made from waste chocolate. He then went on to be involved in another biofuel expedition; Grease to Greece leading a 30-car rally across Europe powered on waste vegetable oil. Through these expeditions he has raised awareness of carbon reducing measures across the world, and generated lots of publicity for biofuels.

Mountains for Peace in the Balkans

Richard Hargreaves will be joining us to talk about the Balkans Peace Park Project- a project that aims to facilitate the creation of a trans-national, cross-border park in the adjoining mountain areas of Kosovo/a, Montenegro and northern Albania as a symbol of peace and cooperation. He’ll be describing its inception in 2001 and it’s summer volunteer programme that ran last year, and opportunities for involvement this year. His knowledge of the park is extensive having spent the last seven years mountain trekking and cycling in the area and he’ll be showing his slides from his 2007 ‘multi-activity, borders-crossing trip’ into Montenegro, Albania and Kosova.

Climate Change on Baffin Island

Polar Explorer and believer in “Education through Expedition” Antony Jinman will be joining us to talk about his experiences on Baffin Island, where he lived with and learnt about the Inuit people. His main aim was to report back credible eyewitness accounts of climate change and the effect it is having on the Innuit way of life. On the expedition he had many things to contend with from blizzards and gales to the coldest winter since 1970.

The Voyages of Martin Frobisher: Elizabethan Exploration &

Mining in the Eastern Canadian Arctic

Dr. Mark St Onge will be talking about the history of exploration of the North-West Passage- a sea route sought by explorers for centuries as a possible trade route to India or China. It passes through the Arctic Ocean, along the coast of North America, through the Canadian Artic Archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. He will talk specifically about the voyages of Martin Frobisher an English privateer, who made three journeys in search of the passage. Dr Mark St Onge has been involved in the Geological Survey of Canada in 1981, and led six integrated geoscience projects in the Canadian North. He is also involved in Northern outreach and has served as an Earth Sciences expert for a number of Eastern Artic expeditions.

Information forthcoming

Details to follow…