My human rights work and anti-war activism has been strengthened by my ability to explore the world. Because of the blue passport I was born into as a US citizen, I am afforded near-borderless travel access. A century ago, the majority of the world had the same access. Passports were identity documents, not a requirement for crossing borders. Money was the barrier, not geography of birth. Today, borders and passports are a policing and border tool by the Global North that are rarely discussed in the organizations that celebrate exploration. I am a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society and the Explorers Club. In 2015, I was chosen as a National Geographic Adventurer of the Year. I was a flag carrier for WINGS in 2014. I became a member of the Society for Women Geographers in 2020. I am often invited to speak at conferences or organizations that colleagues and friends would be unable to attend simply due to their citizenship or passport. Or in some cases, lack there of, because they are a refugee.

I have lived and worked in Beirut, Paris, Germany, Wales, Scotland, Barcelona, and Afghanistan. I have traveled to 35 countries, typically spending weeks, if not months, in Namibia, Borneo, Bali, Ukraine, Morocco, Turkey, Costa Rica, Argentina, Laos, South Korea, all of Western Europe, and beyond. I have been a repeat visitor to most of these countries. My daughter, now twenty, has spent years traveling with me. She has been to almost as many countries as I have now. We spent her seventh-grade year living out of a suitcase studying rewilding and wildlife conservation in 18 countries. We could not have met the scientists we did, and studied wildlife conservation the way we did, if we had different passports. That is the root of inequality.

The privilege of a blue passport has granted me access, and the discrimination and racism baked into the passport rankings is something that I am working to raise awareness about. Border abolition is how we begin to dismantle the inequity that we have built to separate people and extract resources. The first and most basic step should be passport equality.