Pioneering diver teaches geography lesson to local students

THUNDER BAY – Titanic director James Cameron once said, “More people have been to the moon than to the places that Jill Heinerth has explored deep inside our watery planet.”

Heinerth, the Royal Canadian Geographic Society's explorer in residence, on Wednesday added Thunder Bay’s Holy Cross Public School to her list of places she's visited, part of a cross-country trek teaching students about the importance of geography through her own pioneering exploits.

“I grew up in the days of the Apollo missions, so watching these men drive around in rovers on the lunar surface made me want to be an explorer,” she said, before giving an hour-long presentation to students at the north-side school.

“Going home to watch TV and seeing Jacques Cousteau exploring new things was really inspiring. For me, as a cave diver, I get to go to places I’ve never been before. We know more about space than we do about our inner Earth, so it’s an incredible privilege.”

The Mississauga, Ont.-born Heinerth has made more than 7,000 dives over her career, said geography can be a bit of lost art, adding that in some parts of the country it’s been eliminated from school curriculums.

She’s hoping her presentation can spark some of the same type of inspiration in today’s students as the explorers of the past did for her.

“Kids are getting geography studies, but in other ways. They don’t even know it. I’m an artist, I work with scientists, we collaborate with each other on expeditions around the world,” Heinerth said. “But really what’s important is the geography aspect of it, because the geography is what gives it context and allows us to take the information that we learn and turn it into public policy and change.”

Heinerth spent a good portion of her presentation talking about the Earth’s freshwater ecosystem, explaining to the youngsters the connection to their drinking-water supply, much of which she covers in her We Are Water project, which includes a documentary and free educational resources.

She also acknowledged she’s got one of the riskiest jobs on the planet.

But while it’s something she doesn’t take lightly, she also takes it in stride.

“Certainly I’ve lost my share of colleagues over the years in projects they’ve been involved in,” Heinerth said. “So it is dangerous, but that’s another lesson I can leave with the kids, that if you train properly and you follow good safety protocols and you listen to the inner voices inside you, then you can do things that are quite remarkable, the people haven’t even imagined before – as long as you stay safe.”