|
Members
- Roster
Page
- Member's Biographies
- Member's
Books and Videos
- Awards
- Student
Members
- Past
Members
Expeditions
- Member
Expeditions
- Media Coverage
- Historic Greater
Piedmont Explorers
Events
- Future
Outings
- Past
Outings
- Future Meetings
- Past Meetings
Explorers
Club Resources
- Expedition
Planning
- Expedition
Funding
- Field Science Sites
- Field Research Centers
Join
The Explorers
- Become
a Member
-
About the Club
- Chapter Leadership
- Club Chapters
History
- Chapter
History
- The Explorers Club Journal
Contact
Us
- Explorers
Club
- Explorers
Club HQ
|
2017
Meetings
May
Speaker: James W. Borton
Topic: "Environmental Security: A Crucible in the South China Sea."
Since December 2013, China has added more than 1,200 hectares to islands
in the South China Sea (See this link). The geopolitical implications of these land
reclamation efforts are well documented: The majority of the activity
has taken place on the Spratly Islands, an archipelago in the waters
between Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines, all of which – along
with China, Taiwan, and Brunei – have competing claims to the region.
What
has been less discussed is the environmental impact, which borders on
catastrophic. China’s activities are endangering fish stocks,
threatening marine biodiversity, and creating a long-term threat to
some of the world’s most spectacular sea life. Join us in the
intersection of science and policy.
James W. Borton
teaches writing in the English Department at the University of South
Carolina and and he has previously taught Marine Science students at
Coastal Carolina University how to use figurative language in their
science papers. He’s a former foreign correspondent for The Washington
Times, where he has conducted interviews with heads of state, including
Hun Sen, the Prime Minister of Cambodia , Fidel Ramos, former president
of the Philippines and other foreign leaders.
Borton's seminal
book Venture Japan: How Growing Companies Worldwide Can Tap into the
Japanese Venture Capital Markets, was published by Probus in 1992. He
has edited The Art of Medicine in Metaphors (Copernicus Healthcare)
2013 and edited The South China Sea: Challenges and Promises. His
latest book, Islands and Rocks in the South China Sea Post Hague Ruling
has just been released. He has participated in numerous conferences on
the South China Sea in Washington, DC and in Asia.
He’s currently a faculty associate at the Walker Institute and also a senior fellow at the US-Asia Institute.
Borton
holds both a B.A and a M.A with honors in English and American
Studies from the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland and has
been a former National Endowment Fellow at Yale University. He has also
been an active member of the President's Circle of The Asia Society in
New York City and the Foreign Correspondents Club in Hong Kong and
Phnom Penh. He’s also a National Fellow in the Explorers Club.
April
Speaker: Dave Cicimurri
Topic: "Animals that inhabited the shallow seas during the Cretaceous Period"
Join
Dave Cicimurri (Curator of Natural History at the SC State Museum) for
a captivating talk about some of the animals that inhabited the shallow
seas during the Cretaceous Period, a time when dinosaurs ruled the
land. Dave will share some of his experiences in discovering and
studying those animals through photographs of field excavations and
prepared specimens, and artist's reconstructions of what the animals
looked like in life. You'll learn the process of discovering how we
know what we know about the animals, and hear the fascinating stories
behind the artist's reconstructions.
A native of Philadelphia,
Pa, Dave spent his high school and undergraduate years hunting the
mid-Atlantic states for fossils. After graduating from Temple
University with a BS in geology, Dave moved to Rapid City, SD to enroll
in graduate school at the SD School of Mines and Technology. While
pursuing his degree, he had the opportunity to explore the Great Plains
states as part of his thesis research and as an employee for various
Federal agencies. After earning his MS in Paleontology, Dave worked for
briefly at Badlands National Park before moving to Clemson, SC to
become the Campbell Geology Museum's first Curator of Collections. In
2011 Dave and his family moved to Columbia, where he assumed the job of
Curator of Natural History at the SC State Museum.
March
Speaker: David H. Barron
Topic: "The International Conservation Caucus Foundation. Where we have been been, where we are going, and goals for 2017."
David
Barron is the founder of the International Conservation Caucus
Foundation and its affiliate organizations: the Conservation Council of
Nations, ICCF Colombia, ICCF Kenya, International Conservation Corps,
and Oceans Caucus Foundation.
Mr. Barron is among eight
conservationists selected by the Department of the Interior to serve on
the Advisory Council to the Presidential Task Force on Wildlife
Trafficking. The Council advises and makes recommendations to combat
trafficking and curb consumer demand; provide support for anti-poaching
activities; coordinate regional law enforcement efforts; and develop
and support effective legal enforcement mechanisms.
Mr. Barron
is the former Chairman of The Jefferson Educational Foundation and the
former Chairman of the Young Republican National Federation. He has
been active in organizing U.S. support for emerging democracies and
developing nations for nearly 40 years and has established many
bipartisan coalitions that have helped project U.S. foreign policy
globally. He has served on the National Board of the American Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) and the boards of the
African Safari Club of Washington, the WILD Foundation, the
Conservation Council of Nations, and the Cheetah Conservation Fund.
He
is a recognized expert in African politics, has addressed the United
Nations, authored various foreign policy works, led many U.S.
Congressional Tours to Africa and Latin America, and has developed
extensive international business/political ties. He has appeared on
"NightLine", "Firing Line", "The Today Show", C-SPAN, SABC, BBC, and
Agence-France Presse.
During the Reagan Administration, he was a
surrogate speaker for the President and a policy aide for Latin America
and sub-Saharan Africa issues as a member of the White House Outreach
Working Group on Central America and the White House Ad Hoc Working
Group on South Africa. Mr. Barron has campaigned throughout the world
for democracy and human rights, including co-directing the Andrei
Sakharov Campaign for Human Rights; founding the National Coalition for
Divided Families; organizing support for free elections in Central and
South America; managing the U.S./Latin American Fellowship Program;
supporting various anti-communist resistance movements and
anti-authoritarian opposition groups in four continents for over thirty
years.
He has experience in investment promotion, manufacturing,
construction, real estate development, ecotourism, and international
agricultural development. He has served as a principal in Millennium
III Corporation, and Farm Chester CC/Black Hills Farm (RSA).
He
has been listed in Who's Who in American Politics and Outstanding Young
Men in America. Mr. Barron is from South Carolina where he attended the
University of South Carolina.
February
Speaker: Ed Diebold
Topic: "South Africa's Kruger National Park"
Ed
Diebold, for over 20 years, has been the Director of Animal Collections
& Conservation at Riverbanks Zoo & Garden. Before coming to
Columbia, Ed was the Curator of Birds at the Milwaukee County Zoo for 9
years and, before that, the Keeper of Birds at the St. Louis Zoo.
Ed
received a Bachelor's degree in Biology from Missouri Baptist
University in 1978 and completed Graduate work in Biology at the
University of Missouri-Saint Louis.
Ed's presentation will cover
a recent safari he and his wife (Dawn) took to South Africa's national
treasure. He will discuss the expedition which stopped and studied at
camps in Skukuza, Satara, Olifants, Shingwezi, and Letaba. The talk
will cover the wildlife in the park and efforts to stop illegal
poaching.
January
Speaker: Alan Shoemaker
Topic: Namibia - A tour and the animals.
Alan Shoemaker is
a graduate of Furman University (1967) in Biology; in 1972 he obtained
a M.S. degree in Biology from the University of South Carolina.
Mr. Shoemaker worked at Riverbanks Zoological Park from 1972 until his
retirement in 2002. During his tenure at Riverbanks, he held the
position of Curator of Mammals and Collection Manager.
After
retirement, he was named an Honorary Member of the America Zoo
Association (AZA). Alan has authored 125 professional
papers. Prior to attending graduate school, he served in the U.S.
Army for two years, including a five-month of tour of duty in Vietnam
as a platoon leader with the 9th Infantry Division where he was
decorated with the Army Commendation Medal and the Bronze Star.
A lover of travel, Shoemaker has visited all 50 states and 45 countries.
We
will take our members up the Sousavlei Dunes, over to Walvis Way,
across the Namib desert and finally to Etosha National Park. This
is the largest park in southern Africa and larger than Kruger and
other, better known parks. All transportation is by small plane
and was an incredible adventure. Many of the large animals are
not ones members who have been to the Serengeti have ever seen and the
secenery is fabulous.
|
