I'm sure you've heard that plastic bags are bad for the environment. It’s well researched and well documented – and yet 160,000 plastic bags are still used every second around the world. 

​This needs to change. 

Just because everyone does it, doesn't mean it is right.

I've been living in Barcelona for 6 months now and noticed something that people do - daily! Turns out it is actually illegal.

The Life Styles Inventory (LSI) is an individual development tool that uses both self-assessment and colleague feedback to identify individual thinking and behavioural styles.

Through the Homeward Bound program, each participant is provided with LSI coaching one-on-one to help us understand our strengths and areas for development, ultimately empowering us to embark on our own journey to be better at everything we do.

During our monthly call we were introduced to the Reflective Practice exercises. All sounded fantastic and will be a really useful tool as we learn and grow as leaders. 

Seemed easy - buy a new journal and a pen then write or draw your first entry!

The great thing about how global Homeward Bound is, is that you have new friends from all around the world. The bad thing is that your new friends don't just live around the corner, and you spend most of the time in a 'virtual' relationship. 

In June, a few of the HB19 ladies (and one from HB18) arranged a meet-up in Barcelona - for us to get to know each other and chat about all things HB (and non HB!)

I've never been to South America. Never been to mainland USA (just Hawaii). But now, I can add Argentina to my list of countries travelled!

I'm off to Ushuaia - also known as the 'end of the world' or the southernmost city in the world.

The Homeward Bound program has four core development components: leadership development, strategic capability, visibility and science communication, and science collaboration.

​As part of the 'Science collaboration' component, throughout the year groups will be working together on science discussion themes and sharing outputs and resources through knowledge exchange. The goals of the knowledge exchange and discussion themes are to enable us to understand and collectively lead on current issues of global significance.

A common response I get from people when I say I'm going to <insert luxurious/romantic tropical destination> for work is "Oh wow, that will be an awesome holiday, I'm so jealous."

And from the photos I take and share on social media, you would definitely think 'fieldwork' is a holiday.

What became really noticeable to me within the first month of being accepted into the HB19 program was that I now had this incredible network of women from all around the world.

Each of us had such a diverse range of professions, personalities, ages, experiences, backgrounds and motivations - yet we were all connected by our drive to make a difference to the world we live in.

I hate asking for money. Hate is a strong word, but it makes me so uncomfortable. 

Back in school when we were selling chocolate frogs for fundraisers, I would bring my box of chocolates home, and Mum and Dad would end up buying the whole box for $30 so I didn't have to walk the streets trying to sell them.

But now I'm being pushed so far out of my comfort zone as I launch my crowdfunding page to fund my participation in Homeward Bound. My task is to raise ~$25,000. Yikes.

​If we each cared about the Earth a fraction of how much we care for our mothers, how different things might be…

Hey guys!

I'm really excited to be launching my blog for Homeward Bound.

I’m starting this blog to document my journey throughout the year as part of the Homeward Bound 2019 program.

My goal is to share my experiences, photos, lessons and stories and in doing so, increase my visibility as an ocean advocate, marine biologist and HB19 participant.

- Steph XO