Edward Gildea

My Circumnavigation and how it turned me Green
A talk illustrated with slides, film clips and poetry about my experiences of sailing around the world in Clipper Round the World Yacht races, which, coupled with the birth of my grandsons, which turned me into a Green activist.

It will describe the connection you feel with the energy of planet as you sail across oceans, The race is an adventure in which women take part as crew and skippers on equal terms with men, coming out of our comfort zones to experience the planet in a unique and challenging way.

On the voyages I learned, paradoxically, how very small the planet is, even though it feels vast and intimidating, and how very delicately balanced it is, even though it feels powerful and violent. I connected with dolphins, pilot whales and albatrosses in their world but saw graveyards of bleached coral. I learned and felt how the planet offers more natural, clean energy than we could ever possibly require and resolved to do whatever I could to reverse the dangerous environmental course we are on now.