9. Professor Rachel Carr on curiosity, climate change and why exploration still matters

What are today’s explorers really looking for? In this episode of RGS Presents: The Future of Exploration, leading glaciologist Professor Rachel Carr reflects on human curiosity, concepts of wilderness, and the role exploration plays in helping us navigate our rapidly changing world. Drawing on her research in Bhutan, where she works with government agencies to understand glacier-related flood risks, Rachel articulates how exploration can produce both personal transformation and practical impact. She discusses why wilderness is best understood as a feeling rather than a place, why successful fieldwork depends so strongly on local relationships, and why curiosity remains one of humanity's most important traits. This broad conversation ranges from childhood adventures and the Duke of Edinburgh's Award to ethical exploration, climate justice, Antarctic wilderness and even glaciers on Mars. Along the way, Rachel makes the case that exploration is not simply about where we go, but how we engage: with landscapes, communities, ideas and each other. For anyone interested in discovery through field science and the relevance of geography to the future of our planet, these are powerful words from a leading thinker and practitioner about what exploration gives us and why we should continue to pursue it.