On my bucket list (inspired by World Oceans Day)

Most people have a bucket list, and for a lot of the people I know—especially since I work at WWF—their bucket lists are filled with adventures in wild, natural places. Mine’s no different. In honour of World Oceans Day on June 8, I thought I’d share an item on my list that combines two loves of mine: oceans and rock-climbing.
In 2011, a team of climbers set out to explore the remote, mysterious fjords of Newfoundland. The photos and stories they brought back were truly epic. Sea cliffs shrouded in fog, rising 1,300 feet out of the Atlantic Ocean. Tents pitched on vast granite slabs bisected by rushing, drinkable rivers. Long, hard climbing “lines” that had never been tried before on a big wall called “Blow Me Down.” (That wall’s nickname is undoubtedly a reference to the local weather, which whips 50- to 75-knot winds up the fjord from the northern Atlantic and caused the torrential rainstorms that confined the climbing team to their tents for two days.)

I’ve never been to Newfoundland, and I can only imagine how thrilling it would be to pull myself onto a chunk of “the Rock,” while smelling the salty air and feeling the ocean spray on my face. Or to climb 1,000 feet above the waves, look out and see a pod of whales. Could there be a better way to truly live the beauty and diversity of Canada’s coastal landscape? (For me, the answer is no.) And that’s why #70 on my bucket list is, “Climb in Newfoundland.”

At WWF, we’re working on some really big conservation challenges. Our Oceans program tackles some of the biggest—more than 50 years of overfishing, noisy oceans, the threat of a pipeline, the impacts of climate change, etc. Creating solutions requires new, innovative thinking, and exploring the wild places we’re fighting to protect can be a deep source of inspiration. To look out at the ocean is to expand your perspective, stretch your mind, and embrace the sheer size of our planet. When I’m climbing, I’m forced to push past my limits, surpass my expectations, and be bold and adventurous. To combine these two forces—just imagine what solutions I might come up with!
To celebrate World Oceans Day, I hope you, too, will be inspired to add an ocean-based adventure to your bucket list and think big, for the sake of our Living Planet.