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January 27, 2026 • 14 mins

Today we're talking about climate activist and glaciologist Dr. Heidi Sevestre.

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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Anny and Samantha and welcome to Steff.
I never told you protection to buy her radio.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
And for this activist around the world, we wanted to
bring someone who actually we mentioned we did a very
small blip in a twenty twenty four episode that highlighted
several different activists and scientists around the world. So I
took it a little more time. I was like, you
know what, let's talk about this one a little more

(00:39):
in depth and look at her work. So from our
earlier episode, here's a bit of information on her and
who is her. She we're talking about doctor Heidi Selvestra,
who is a climate activist. She is a glaciologist who
works at the Arctic Monitory and Assessment Program, a map
working group of the Arctic count with a PhD from France,

(01:03):
who is a pioneer in researching and studying glaciers around
the world. Doctor Silvestra has been bringing attention to the
causes of climate change and its impact. So she is
a bead in general. Everything that I've seen of her,
I'm like, damn, damn. Okay, And here's some more information
from hersite. Heidisilvestra dot com. I'm a glaciologist fellow International

(01:26):
of the Explorers Club working at the Secretariat of AMAP.
I am an avid science communicator and lead several expeditions
to cold and icy places every year. I say this
should be a sminy episode where we go on in
an adventure, an expedition with her. Annie.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
Listen, you know part of the reason I have this
job yet at all is I wanted to go to Antarctica.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
I'm just saying. We talked about this at the very beginning.
I think this is why she came into mind when
we did that episode, and because you had talked about
loving and wanting to study these areas, wanting to go
to Antarctica. You almost went to anastica. And I'm like,
as cold as it sounds, And y'all, it was so

(02:14):
cold this morning here in Atlanta. It was below twenty,
which is not usual for us.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
This is very rare.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
That my dog Peaches went outside, came back in. She
only went out for like four or five minutes, came
back in, and I thought there was like something in
her beard, like a leaf or a pine straw. No,
it was ice that came from her drool nostril. Yeah,
it threw me off. I've never seen that happen with
her outside of when we were in snow. Snow, but like.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
Cold, it's that cold.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
But with all of that, and as much as I
hate that, I would love to take an expedition with her. Oh,
she has got the right equipment, and since she leaves these,
I think she does it for scientists. But still we
can we can say we're scientists, but we're in it
for the science. Yes, sign this up anyway, and the
site continues with a bit of history of her life.

(03:04):
It says Heidi was born in Utsavoy in the French Alps.
She was raised by her parents, who had a deep
love for skiing, climbing, and mountaineering. Her upbringing involved spending
a significant amount of time in the mountains, surrounded by nature.
When she reached the age of seventeen, Heidi found herself
contemplating how to transform her passion into a viable career.
It was during this period that she cross paths with

(03:26):
a Swiss mountain guide who introduced her to the idea
that quote some individuals actually get paid to study glaciers.
This encounter prompted her to make a resolute decision. She
was determined to devote her life to the study of
glaciers and yeah and yeah, boyd has she so. Her
college education started with her pursuing degrees in geography and

(03:47):
urban planning, which led her to study abroad in the
northernmost university in the world in Svalbard, which began her
curiosity of the Arctic. So it not really began, but
really emphasized her curiosity. This would be the beginning of
her studies and her expedition within the Arctic and Himalayas,
and as her site states, her path eventually led her

(04:09):
back to Skaalbard for her PhD research focused on the
dynamics of surging glaciers. One of the reasons she popped
back up on my radar is due to my recent
watching of the National Geographic special Arctic Assent with Alex Hanauld,
which if you don't know much about him, he's been
in the headlines recently any because he just free climbed

(04:31):
the highest building in Taiwan. There's a Netflix special on him,
and he is a free climber that has gone all
over the world, making history and breaking records with his
free climbing skills. It freaks me out when I watched
this and while watching this special, it freaked me out
because he had to He and several other climbers and

(04:55):
did this with her and several other scientists, and watching
them free climb a mountain that has never been climbed before,
with lots of loose rocks, with no like navigated preparations,
I was like, oh my god, it was fascinating to watch.
So on with that, it featured him, along with doctor
Silvestra and others, adventuring to obtain more materials for the

(05:16):
study of the Arctics. So they were studying new ranges
and mountains for climate change purposes and having to do
this for the first time in this specific area. So
from Malaca Pictures dot com they write. In the documentary
series Arctic Ascent with Alex Hanould, produced for Disney Plus,
doctor Heidi Silvestro played a crucial role as the scientific

(05:38):
expert on the team. The series follows renowned climber Alex
Hanould and his fellow adventurers at the as they tackle
Greenland's remote and rugged peaks, with Sylvestra providing vital scientific
insights throughout the expedition while the climbers were focused on
submitting the towering mccortlack seacliff. Yeah, that was a hard word.
That took a minute. Uh. Sylvester's mission was to study

(06:00):
the surrounding ice, collecting data that would contribute to a
deeper understanding of how high climate change is impacting this
fragile region. Sylvestra's involvement in the expedition was not just
about gathering data, it was about bringing scientific rigor to
an extreme environment. She worked closely with the team, including
security expert Aldocaine and greenlanded guide Adam Kulssen, to ensure

(06:21):
that the scientific objectives were met without compromising the safety
or integrity of the climb. Silvestri's work on the ice
fields of Greenland allowed her to capture real time measurements
of ice thickness and density, providing invaluable data for climate models.
So in this documentary Anny, they go down into a
glacier where one of the floods and the waterfalls happening

(06:44):
as it's melting, and they're having to put measuring equipments
down there, and they get stuck because their equipment gets
frozen over and they're stuck for a minute, try to
climb back out. I was freaking out. I was also
very cold. I was very glad from my electric blanket
because it was such an intense, uh endeavor that I
was like, what is she doing. She's actually climbing, and

(07:04):
she does. She actually climbs these walls with them and
closes to like to get a lot of data, get
the rock samples. It was fascinating because as much as
I know there's adventure in science, man, yeah I don't.
I don't know if I could rock climb for the
sake of that trying to with all of her tools too,

(07:24):
so she had to have drills, and I think, of
course they all helped her, but I was just like a.

Speaker 1 (07:27):
Damn, yeah, it's scary too. Now I went I went
on my big mountaineering natural disaster kick a couple of
years ago, and I learned a lot. And I learned
that you can't trust like ice, especially you don't know
it's just going to break right or there's a lot

(07:50):
of danger involves.

Speaker 2 (07:51):
Right in the Yes, it was intense and having her
watching her do it for the name of science was
just incredible. So again the documentary was such a fascinating
watch the levels of adventure in her work, and again adventure,
I mean risk in danger, so you know, put it
out you as you will. And her expeditions have taken

(08:21):
her to so many different places again including Himalayas, Greenland
in the coldest month and Acancagua, which I just learned existed,
I'm sorry, And to Antarctica several times. So she's been
a few times. And speaking of which she's right there
right now, and again this is from her site and
it's talking about under Antarctica. So she wrote her adventures

(08:45):
so October twenty eighth, twenty twenty five, so it begins.
After three years of preparation, training and persistence, Matthew Turdeau
and I are finally setting off to Antarctica. For the
next three months, we'll travel more than four thousand kilometers
by kite ski cross the White Continent to carry out
a scientific mission unlike any other under the auspices of

(09:05):
UNESCO for the Decade of Action for Cryospheric Sciences. Together,
we'll scan the Arctic ice with two ground penetrating radars
to better understand how the frozen heart of our planet
is responding to climate change. But Under Antarctica is about
far more than adventure. Through our educational program developed with
timoin Plais. We're bringing youth from around the world along

(09:28):
with us. Oh my god, that's amazing, turning this expedition
into a living classroom for the next generation of explorers,
scientists and dreamers. So I love everything about that that
they are taking people with them, They're taking the younger
generations with them to continue this work. I wonder what

(09:48):
these teenagers, these students are thinking, because, oh my god,
what an opportunity.

Speaker 1 (09:54):
That would be so cool.

Speaker 2 (09:57):
Yes, And actually you can check out there expedition and
what's going on now. It's under Antarctica dot com. When
I clicked on it, it shows the last dates and such
from being the twenty first of this month, so January
twenty first, twenty twenty six. It just talks about what's

(10:18):
happening where they're at, the temperature which is like negative
twelve celsius right now where they are, So it's not
been updated since then, so hopefully we'll get an update soon.
But you can see what they're doing and how it's
going for them. And from that same article from Maleca
Pictures dot com, they talk about her again, her work,

(10:39):
her influence, and just what she's doing for the future
and the future of people and young people with her work,
so they say. Doctor Heidi Sivestra's career is marked by
her relentless commitment to understanding and protecting the world's glaciers.
Her work on Arctic Essent with alex Hanould is a
reflection of her dual role as a scientist and advocate.

(10:59):
Each data points she collects, each sample she analyzes, contributes
to a larger narrative about the future of our planet.
Sylvestra's efforts underscore the critical need for immediate action to
mitigate the effects of climate change, particularly in vulnerable regions
like the Arctic. Her legacy extends beyond her scientific contributions.
Silvestri is also shaping the next generation of climate scientists,

(11:22):
mentoring young researchers and encouraging them to approach to science
with both rigor and passion. Her work is a powerful
reminder that the fight against climate change requires both data
and dialogue, and that every expedition is an opportunity to
advance both. Again, we see her doing this work. She
is putting it on the line and bringing others with her,

(11:43):
bringing students for the future of climate change advocacy like
she is doing that work of course, she has gotten
several accolades for her incredible work, including twenty twenty two
winner of the first Shacklesen Medal for the Protection of
Polar Bears, WAKDA Awards as Acientist of the Year in
twenty twenty three, Violia Foundation Environmental Book Prize of twenty

(12:04):
twenty four for her book Annie Was.

Speaker 1 (12:06):
It called Sentinel do Climate?

Speaker 2 (12:09):
Yes, and it's only in French right now, I believe so,
it says on her site. So I won't be able
to read that. Andy, I can give that to you
as an assignment and you can let me know how
it does.

Speaker 1 (12:17):
Oh yeah, No, I would love to read it.

Speaker 2 (12:22):
Well again, I think it's an incredible amount of work
that she's doing. I would love to have her on
the show, but obviously I think she's gonna be busy
for the next year in this expedition as well as
some of the things that are happening now. And to
end this episode about her, we'll end with her quote
saying I'm telling you what I've seen so that you
can see with me what we're losing and what's in
store for us. What is already a work. The aim

(12:44):
is not to so fear guilt, blame, or despair, but
to convince you to take action in your area of influence,
in the space of your daily life, however vast or
narrow it may seem. Because everything is linked, nothing is indifferent.
Because I hope and believe we will save the glaciers
and ourselves.

Speaker 1 (13:01):
I hope so too. I hope so too. And this
is really cool and interesting work, very important.

Speaker 2 (13:10):
Everything I've seen about her, and just seeing some of
the clips that I've seen of her, her pictures, her interviews,
she's just smiling. She is probably the most optimistic person
I've ever seen in a field that seems so bad.
She got them adventures under her belt, for sure.

Speaker 1 (13:28):
She does. She does. And you know, I always got
to link it back to horror movies, but I love
that she's so happy when there's so many horror movies
about like being in Antarctica being cold. Yes, I can't
wait to learn more about her. Well, listeners, If you

(13:48):
would like to write to us, if you have any
thoughts about this, if you've been to Antarctica, please let
us know. You can email us at Hello at stuff
Whenever told You dot com. You can find us on
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Stuff One Never Told You. We're also on YouTube. We
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book you can get wherever you get your books. Thanks
as always to our super produced Christie and your executive

(14:10):
producer and your contributor Joey. Thank you, and thanks to
you for listening Stuff I Never Told You, production of
My Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio,
you can check out the heart Radio app Apple Podcasts
wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

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