Unexplored Greenland – How Pata Degerman’s Expeditions Transform Nature, Body, Mind And Spirit

“My goal is to reach and inspire 100 million people to take climate action by the end of 2026”: meet Patrick “Pata” Degerman, an explorer and motivational speaker from Finland who never stops pushing the limits. Pata is an accomplished mountaineer who has conquered more than 200 peaks in the Himalayas, Antarctica, and Greenland, including 24 first ascents in some of the world’s harshest environments. In addition Pata has led 52 expeditions across the Arctic Circle, the jungles of Borneo, Amazonas, and Costa Rica, as well as five deserted islands in the Pacific, each of which requires up to three years of preparation and grueling training.

Driven by his first-hand experiences of the impact of climate change, Pata has made it his mission to inspire collective action towards protecting the environment and the planet. After witnessing melting glaciers and shrinking habitats of wildlife, he has returned to Finland with photographs and stories to raise awareness of the growing climate crisis. For the past 23 years, Pata has delivered keynote speeches to schools and businesses in Finland, sharing his experiences, strategies, and images with passion and humor.

Pata’s ultimate goal is to protect the planet’s wildlife, land, and water and encourage others to join him in advocating for the environment. His true conviction is that a global mindset, along with simple steps taken each day, can make a significant impact in support of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 13, which calls for urgent action to combat climate change and its effects. Pata’s commitment to the environment is a lifelong mission that he renews each day with determination and dedication.

As Pata embarks on his greatest expedition yet, he challenges you to follow his journey, take ownership of our impact on the Earth, and join the environmental movement as we trek towards stirring 100 million people into climate action.

I’ve met Pata at one of his lectures during the Finnish Flow Gala Dinner during the World Economic Forum in Davos and spoke with him about transformation.

What does transformation mean to you?

It is very much about a complete, lasting, and dramatic change based on a vision – changing beyond one’s immediate self-interests towards a larger purpose. I guess the often-used example of a cocoon transforming into a butterfly is a great example directly from nature.

How have your adventures transformed your life?

I think that in the early days of my career, it was important for me to ‘just’ explore – be the first human being ever on a mountain or in a jungle. As I have seen the changes climate change has caused to pristine nature over the last decade or so, I think I have transformed more into an educator or even a “science-outreacher”. I believe the stories I tell and the pictures I show from my journeys can have a lasting and transformational impact on people. And thereby help us fight climate change and the loss of biodiversity that are the most critical challenges that humankind is facing at the moment.

My intentions these days are inspired by the Senegalese conservationist Baba Dioum’s famous quote from 1968: “In the end, we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught.”

How do these expeditions transform the mindset of your clients?

The clients’ transformation is divided into two parts: the audience who listens to my keynotes, and the ones who have joined me on some expedition. It is tough to make a dramatic change in one’s life during only one keynote, but maybe I can plant a seed. On expeditions, it is a completely different thing. If you are in an extremely remote place, hundreds of kilometres from villages or infrastructure, surrounded by pristine nature, it forces your mind into a state of clarity. It makes you silent, and you start to see things in a different way. You come back with thoughts you haven’t had before. It changes you. One cannot be disingenuous on an expedition- the conditions are so harsh that pretty quickly any inauthenticity is stripped. You are naked. This creates space for truly facing oneself and one’s dependence on other people and the conditions of nature.

How do we transform nature and how does nature transform us?

Unfortunately, we devastate nature every day in many ways. While there are positive changes happening, they are typically focused on reversing the negative impacts we have already made. I believe that nature has the power to transform us in many ways. Studies have shown that even short periods spent in nature can reduce stress levels and make us feel better. Longer periods of time in nature can also help us appreciate the things we often take for granted in our daily lives, such as clean water, food from the grocery store or basic amenities such as a normal toilet.

What’s your action plan towards fighting climate change and what’s your message to the world in this regard?

Talking about climate change is tough; it still divides people. My action plan is to get people involved in one way or another. At first, it can be a very small thing, like trying to reduce food waste or cutting down your consumption. Little by little, you engage in the discussion and start to see the bigger picture. It is a journey. Especially the kids and young adults are my target group, and therefore my weapons in this fight are awesome nature pictures and videos, maybe even a bit of adventure, spiced with humor. I am trying to get them to love nature. If you love something, you look after it.

Can you share something about nature that most people are not aware of?

Every second breath we take comes from our oceans. Tiny creatures in the sea called phytoplankton are actually the ones that produce the vast majority of the oxygen in our atmosphere: 50 to 85 percent, to be exact. They live in the upper layers of water and use the same method as plants, photosynthesis, to convert sunlight into energy, creating oxygen in the process. At the moment, only around 10 percent of the ocean’s makeup is understood by science. According to the UN, the health of the ocean will ultimately determine the survival of humankind on Earth. It is for this reason that the UN will concentrate on our oceans for the next decade.

The expeditions are a challenge for each participant’s comfort zone. What do people learn there?

I believe that we should continuously step out of our comfort zones to learn and live a wholesome life. I do not think one has to go on an expedition to achieve this; one can also step out of their comfort zone in their daily lives. Instead of taking the car to work, walk to work. Or, instead of going to the usual store, go to a different one and break your normal routines.

On expeditions, one must go completely out of their comfort zones. It may even be about fear of death. Once, on an expedition, an Italian executive came to me on the last day and said, “Pata, we are not going to die after all.” And I have seen many people lose their nerves in Antarctica. You are hundreds of kilometers from the closest human being, completely at the mercy of nature and solely reliant on your team’s skills. You learn to be dependent on other people and their strengths. This requires acknowledging your own vulnerabilities, which may be surprisingly difficult for many executives.

An expedition may be more of a strain emotionally and mentally than physically. It is easier to train physical skills. On expeditions, you have many ‘valleys of despair,’ as we call them. But once you get yourself up from these emotional ‘valleys,’ you come out stronger.

Fear changes you. If you experience fear with someone else, you have a bond. But fear doesn’t mean it has to be dangerous. With a competent team, you can stretch your own fear levels. With training and commitment, you can control the danger. Maybe you are afraid, but you have it under control.

Expeditions really challenge your mind, but they also give you a lot of self-confidence when you realize you are able to survive and come back home alive, surviving your own feelings of helplessness, fear, and vulnerability. Expeditions make you mentally stronger, and many of your daily worries become smaller. I have seen this apply to many business executives I have worked with.

Do these experiences stay for life? What are the most important learnings participants will take away for their daily life back in the normal world?

Yes. As already mentioned, I believe mental and emotional development is key. And undoubtedly, one will also learn many other things about oneself. Many of the participants have become transformational leaders in their own organizations and lives, learning to lead by example. Admitting mistakes and one’s own fallibility is key to success on an expedition. Many things we do on our expeditions are used in daily life. The only difference is that we take the training to the extremes. Why? If, for example, our team doesn’t work, someone could die.

On an expedition, communication, teamwork, and trust are everything, especially trust. The trust does not come from what you say; it comes from what you do. It is a process of building trust with your actions. You prove to your team members that they can trust you. Trust is better earned than expected. When you make a promise, be sure to fulfill it. Gaining trust in the team takes at least 6 months. Therefore, team building is an essential part of going on an expedition.

Everyone on the expedition team needs a purpose. Full accountability for each team member is based on establishing effective rules, procedures, and practices. Clarity starts with the leader and spreads throughout the entire expedition. Everyone must have a crystal-clear grasp of the team’s main goals.

I believe that those executives who have been on expeditions are more capable of self-reflection and accepting responsibility, which we all need to be carrying right now in the midst of the critical challenges that the existence of the planet requires.

Besides all of this, one will learn about group dynamics, skills for survival in nature, and of course, about climate change and the loss of biodiversity. It is truly unforgettable for someone to see, for example, that a glacier has retreated several hundred meters in only less than twenty years.

Thank you.