The 2011 Uummannaq Polar Institute Summer Expedition. To the North of Greenland.

Aaaaa, it’s my big honour to be one of Ole Jorgen Hammeken‘s many friends. He is the most recognizable Greenlandic man, who attracts the world’s attention to Greenland, its people and climate issues.

It were him and his wonderful wife, who run together Uummannaq Children’s Home in the settlement called Uummannaq.

It was them, who host Galya Morrell and Joel Spiegelman‘s Uummannaq Music project.

Certainly, they are those people, who share Uummannaq Polar Institute‘s vision, i.e. to conserve Greenland’s local culture and promote educational programs for young Inuit people.

UPI was founded in 2007 by Ann Andreasen and was inaugurated in 2008 by HSH the Prince Albert II of Monaco, Jean Malaurie, a distinguished French ethnographer, and by Arthur Chilingarov, polar explorer and Vice-President of the Russian Parliament.

Among other UPI’s programs is an hour and a half movie called Inuk (I wrote much about this amazing movie on this blog under the tag Inuk). The film which won the coveted Haskell Wexler Award for Cinematography at the Woodstock Film Festival during October 2010, is directed by Mike Magidson and the screenplay is co-written by him and Jean-Michel Huctin. More at http://blog.inuk-film.com/

Currently I’ve got two good news about UPI:

1. It launched its own facebook page called Uummannaq Polar Institute. Enjoy and support the authentic way of the Greenlandic life with UPI.

By the way, UPI online page is http://uummannaqmusic.com/upi/

2. UPI doesn’t have break even in summer. As you know, life never stops boiling in Uummannaq! UPI fb page’s last status says:

As soon as Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II and her husband H.R.H. Prince Henrik of Denmark departed from Uummannaq, a new expedition has left to the North. Ole Jorgen Hammeken along with Jaakuaraq, Aalibarti, Hivshu and children from UCH are heading to Qaanaaq in 4 small boats…

So far they reached the southernmost settlement in Avannersuaq (Thule district) : Savissivik. Tomorrow the crew will head to Qaanaaq, or maybe even further – to Greenland’s northernmost settlement : Siorapaluk.

Uummannaq Polar Institute is worth to follow!

Feel to share the info on Uummannaq Polar Institute

The second season of the Uummannaq Music project (www.uummannaqmusic.com) curated and done by Galya Morrel and Joel Spiegelman in Uummannaq, Greenland, has been finished.

It’s really hard to describe what they have completed this year. So many activities! Too many! That was the reason why the post was delayed.

Praise god, Galya created the video presentation of the Uummannaq Music project for The International Arctic Social Sciences Association (IASSA) Conference in Akureyri, Iceland

Galya Morell & Joel Spiegelman’s project “Uummaannaq Music”
The most unusual Music Festival at the Ice School for Orphaned Eskimo Children in Uummaannaq, Greenland, 590 kilometers north of the Artic Circle
Blog, RSS, Facebook, YouTube.

Uummannaq Music is included in Cold United’s list of Cold-Related People & Projects.

The front image of The International Scott Centenary Expedition 2012 website

Antony Jinman’s announcement:

Area you a teacher and looking to involve the polar regions in your classroom this year?

Education Through Expeditions (www.eteteachers.org) is a web platform which brings a unique learning experience into schools. Follow the International Scott Centenary Expedition (www.isce2012.co.uk) as they build up to the expedition and then ski to Captain Scott’s final campsite on Antarctica to hold a memorial service 100 years after the tragic end to Scott and his Polar Party.

Through Education Through Expeditions you’ll be able to interact via our discussion board, asking questions to the team, relatives and polar scientists, making this a truly inspiring learning platform complete with photography, film and classroom activities.

If your planning an expedition and wish to join our community, benefiting from the additional publicity and exposure then please do have a look at www.etelive.org. We’ve here to help promote your work.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Antony

Who is Antony Jinman?

Antony has completed 11 successful arctic expeditions, including The Geographic North Pole expedition. Antony and his two team mates (Darcy and Eric) skied and snow shoe’d (and sometimes swam) over 500 miles from Cape Discovery to the Geographic North Pole in just 51 days, collecting valuable scientific data for the University of Plymouth

“Experience is crucial to a successful polar expedition”

Antony runs his own school outreach project speaking in schools and universities all over the country. His expeditions are fully interactive so that students will be able to ask questions and actively take part, helping to make classrooms come alive and inspire through education. This work has flourished to become Education Through Expeditions, a not-for-profit, community interest company that aims to bring real-time case studies to educators on a global basis.

This project (Education Through Expeditions) is a unique pioneering web based resource whose purpose is to inspire and educate children of all ages across the world about global climate change issues and to create a greater respect for the planet. It will achieve this through interactive expeditions and related school outreach work.

More at AntonyJinman.com

Polar Explorer Antony Jinman, founder of the Education Through Expeditions project, is a real news maker and great inspiring man, whose mission is to bring world’s knowledge to children right from field studies. Here is other news from him:

On April 17th, Polar Explorer Antony Jinman and his teammates Vijay Shah and Duncan Eadie started their way to Baffin Island, the largest Arctic Archipelago in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, and attempt a first British crossing of the Penny Ice Cap from Okoa Bay, unassisted to Pangnirtung.

The ETEorg press release says:

“This project will cover over 200km, starting and ending at sea level but rising to 1900 metres at its highest point. The mountain passes makes for spectacular scenary as the team traverse this landscape documenting the changes taking place by climate change in photography and film.”

“This expedition is the 8th to Baffin Island by Antony Jinman, witnessing first hand how the landscape is changing and voicing the concerns of the Inuit communitees visited.”

“This expedition will also be the first test expedition for Education Through Expeditions and its discussion board platform for schools, ETETeachers. Our discussion board will be joined by scientists and teachers so that students questions can be discussed and expressed as the expedition unfolds. Through testing this platform we aim to help further develop our services at ETE to aid the classroom and inspire children to follow their own aspirations in life.”

“This expedition will be a key element in the continuing planning and preparations for the International Scott Centnenary Expedition in 2012.”

How to follow Antony Jinman?

ETE Project: Website, Expedition Page
Antony Jinman’s: Blog, Facebook, Twitter, RSS

Antony Jinman is one of people, who is listed in blog’s section Cold-Related People & Projects and recommended for the follow.

About the documentary: Silent Snow depicts an Inuit search for solutions to the chemical poisoning of the world. Trailer for a feature length film. Expected release: Spring 2011. Film by Jan van den Berg and Pipaluk Knudsen-Ostermann.

“There’s new evidence that even in the glaciers pesticides have been stored. If we stop the production now, there is still a lot more waiting for us. Global warming makes this process even faster… I am telling a sad story…” the narrator.

Moki Kokoris’ review, “Please watch this very important film trailer. I facilitated the screening of a 14-minute clip of “Silent Snow” at the United Nations this past spring, and will try to bring the full length feature to the UN once it’s released.”

More documentary information was published in the previous post Greenland: Silent Snow – The Project.

Ella Darlington. Working on the back deck this afternoon...

What a fantastic message I received yesterday… from Ella Darlington, Education and Outreach Officer of Education Through Expeditions NGO, who is currently working on the RRS James Cook scientific ship in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, nearing the equator. At present most of her work is aimed at tropical and ocean environments.

So… let’s begin our story.

A few months ago I started following UK-based Polar explorer Anthony Jinman‘s activity. I found all his works to be extremely exciting and helpful. It was him, who started the non-profit Education Through Expedition project. Just recently he launched the ETElive.org outreach platform designed to help educators and explorers to cover their current expeditions.

A week ago Anthony Jinman invited me through facebook to join the event called Ask Ella a Question. The first reaction was like, “Who is Ella and why should I ask her questions?”

The answer was, “I’m Eleanor, or Ella, Darlington. I’m here documenting life at sea onboard the RSS James Cook in the form of photos, videos and this blog, for Plymouth Marine Laboratories. ‘An easy job’ I hear you say. Well that’s not all… I’m also here working for a not-for-profit organisation called Education Through Expeditions (www.etelive.org), who are also based in Plymouth. This is the trickier part of my job – Education and Outreach – making science fun and applicable in the classroom. I am able to answer questions for the next 6 weeks… If any of you out there are teachers, or have kids in schools, or know of young people in youth groups etc. who would be interested in following and getting involved then please pass on the information. I’m discovering that it really is a two-way project!”

Though I am not a teacher and has no kids in schools, I got in touch with her. Thought she might be somewhere in the northern part of the ocean, where it should be pretty cold, especially at nights… but she said she was currently in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. I uttered, “Oh, my god. I am a Siberian and have no idea of what it’s like to be in the middle of that water universe.” I forwarded a list of pretty naive questions… and got fantastic answers…

..Thank you for your questions, all the way from Siberia! I have answered them all below, which I hope gives you a better understanding of where I’m presently living and working. Life out on the ocean and in the warmth is very different to where you are. There is more information on some of these questions on the website e.g. wildlife. I have also just uploaded a short video on Facebook which can be seen through the AMT Ocean Exploration page.

I hope you enjoy learning about the oceans! If you have any more questions I’ll happily answer them,

Kind regards,

Ella Darlington
Education and Outreach Officer
Sent from: Main laboratory | RRS James Cook | Middle of the Atlantic Ocean!

A quick tour of RRS James Cook... Click the photo to enlarge it.

ELLA’S ANSWERS:

The science mission – why are we here?

Plymouth Marine Laboratories sample a route from the UK, to somewhere in South America every year in the autumn. This year we left from Southampton on 12th October and are expected to arrive in Punta Arenas, Chile on 25th November having travelled 8500miles or 13500km. We have no days off during this time, and start work early in the mornings, many at 4am! We are undertaking a ‘Health Check’ of the ocean. By taking water samples from different depths we can analyse for many different things such as ocean acidification. One of the main points here is to study phytoplankton and zooplankton. Phytoplankton, although tiny, are vital for our climate system- without them we wouldn’t have enough oxygen to breathe! Through photosynthesis they take up carbon dioxide and convert it to oxygen. These tiny plants are then eaten by zooplankton, which make the carbon sink to the ocean floor, so it doesn’t return to the atmosphere for thousands of years.

One of the main aspects of the study to discover how these planktic species cope in a warmer climate so we can better predict what will happen in the future if we continue to emit so much carbon dioxide. These tiny creatures are in water all over the world- if you’ve been to the beach you would have not just been swimming in water, but a whole ecosystem of tiny marine organisms which you need a microscope to see them individually.

The zooplankton are eaten by fish and other marine creatures like whales. Because of this they come up to feed at the surface during the night, so they themselves don’t get eaten. For this reason we sample in the dark, before sunrise, so we can catch them in plankton nets and understand how they operate. We then repeat the sampling at solar noon, when the sun is at its peak, to observe all the other creatures living in the water. Travelling such a long way means we have to change our clocks regularly so that we always sample around these times. At the moment we are GMT-1, but this evening we will return to GMT. This will stay the same until we head west at the end of this transect when the clocks will be put back until we end up in the same time zone as southern Chile.

What is it like to be in the middle of the Atlantic, near the Equator?

It’s very surreal knowing that we are working where only a few people have ever been. I feel privileged to be able to see such an untouched part of the world, especially given how important the oceans are to our climate. The weather is hot and humid! Recently we have had rain and stunning sunshine, often in the same day. Because we are moving most of the time, we pass though many small weather systems.

Is the ocean quiet?

Whilst out here, the only real noise is that from the ships engines. It’s a new ship, only four years old, so she’s very quiet really. Because the weather has been so good there hasn’t been much noise from the wind. When the weather does get bad, it becomes incredibly wavy, with waves crashing on the back deck. This certainly becomes noisy, but we’d have to stay indoors during this.

What is the weather like?

As I mentioned before, it’s very hot here. Most afternoons air temperature is over 30°C. At the bow (front) of the ship it’s fairly windy because we are moving, but on the aft deck (back of the ship) it’s sheltered so becomes a real heat trap. It never gets cold! As we head further south towards Chile it will become colder again. We have been through some tropical storms, where there is torrential rain for a few days. Today however, the sun is shining!

At night there is no light pollution so we can see millions of stars, and even the Milky Way. It’s absolutely stunning. And because it’s still warm it’s lovely to sit and watch them.

What clothing do you need to wear?

Shorts and t-shirt are all that’s needed out here, with plenty of sun cream to avoid being burnt. Whilst we’re working though we need to wear hard hats and steel toe capped boots because of the large cranes and winches that move our sampling equipment around. When we’re in the laboratories we need to wear lab coats and latex gloves to protect ourselves from the chemicals we use, as well as to avoid contaminating the samples.

What mammals or fish have you seen?

On leaving the English Channel we saw Common Dolphins, which were playing around the ship, especially at the bow. They were so graceful and a real treat to see. A few days later, out in Atlantic waters we saw Pilots whales. Now the large marine life has decreased, and instead we are seeing flying fish! This is expected to continue until we get further south where we may see penguins around the Falklands. There is more on the wildlife, with pictures and a video on the ETE website.

Download Ella’s answers from the middle of the Atlantic Ocean in the PDF format. As the file has many photographs, its size is about 576 Kbites.

More info and media on the AMT Ocean Exploration page at ETElive.org.

By the way, Ella wrote in her turn at ETElive.org:

Intrigue from Siberia!

This week I was delighted to recieve a set of questions from Bolot Bochkarev in Yakutsk, Siberia. Having grown up in the chilly climate of the high northern latitudes, Bolot was intrigued to find out more about living and working in the equatorial warmth in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean…

Education Through Expeditions

ANTONY JINMAN, PROJECT FOUNDER:
“My aim is simple. It is to inspire and educate children globally about world climate change and to do so through my interactive expeditions and related school outreach work. My focus is primarily, but not exclusively, on the arctic regions, its Inuit people, its animals and landscape.”

Education Through Expeditions is a Community Interest Company which aims to provide educators with current and innovative distance-learning resources to support climate change education.

The Portal. The principal learning vehicle that will reinforce this aim is the Education Through Expeditions world website; a two dimensional interactive portal which will act as a show-case for ongoing global expeditions and research projects and create a hub of learning about climate change within the home, at school and other community settings…

..Visitors to the map e.g. students, teachers and the broader community, will be able to immerse themselves in the day-to-day existence of explorers and expeditions. They will be able to access first-hand knowledge of their immediate environment through expedition blogs, audio recordings, videos and photographs. They will even be able to establish dialogue with the explorers through the use of specialised tried-and-tested IT applications. In contrast to books and many other classroom aids, the world map will not become obsolete or irrelevant; its content will reflect and exhibit environmental change as it occurs.

Living Case Studies. Expeditions are living case studies of our complex and dynamic natural world. By engaging with the features of the map, students can join them in real time, as they are taking place. They can explore locations, learn about how the landscapes were formed, how populations migrate, monitor the impact of climate change, watch the interaction of its inhabitants with their surroundings and investigate the interconnection between diverse economies, societies and environments.

At a more advanced level, through an expedition’s scientific research and projects, students will watch and follow fieldwork as it takes place. They will be at the interface of scientific theory and practical experience, inspiring curiosity of world phenomena and its possible explanations.

The world map is pertinent to formal, informal and non-formal learning of adults and children, although its principle target group is children through connections with the school curriculum. It will feed directly into the learning of geography, sciences, citizenship and community. Through working in groups and teams the resource is designed to develop interpersonal communication skills, confidence, self-esteem, critical thinking, co-operation and conflict resolution. All are core to building motivation and achievement in young people.

Education Through Expeditions is now looking for expeditions to contribute to its website. If you have an expedition travelling to any region in the world get in touch! Education Through Expeditions provides a searchable map for children to learn from expeditions. Email at info AT educationthroughexpeditions.org for more information.

The Project Website: www.educationthroughexpeditions.org.
Follow educators’ expeditions also on Facebook.

I am really thankful to the destiny for giving me opportunity to get acquanted with Galya Morell, a New York based educator, who appeared eventually to be my best channel to many Arctic environment alert projects. Today, with her help, I learned about another fantastic Greenland project called “Silent Snow.”

“This morning Silent Snow – a must see documentary featuring the Uummannaq Music protagonists – was introduced to a forum of distinguished delegates and ambassadors at the UN. Thank you to Moki Kokoris who made it possible. Hopefully, this will lead to some concrete results,” wrote Galya Morell in her last status update on the Uummannaq Music facebook fan page

on April 23, 2010.

So what is this project about? Before clicking the link “More”, please, know that I am very open-minded and extremely interested in any inspiring helpful Arctic-related projects. If you run some of them or are aware of some great initiatives, I beg you to share such info with me via our Cold United FB fan page or directly via the contact form.

Okey, here is what the official website says:

The Silent Snow Project

A silent assassin is destroying the Inuit community in Greenland. Chemical residues from all over the world accumulate here invisibly, poisoning humans and animals. Via currents in the ocean and attached to snow, pesticides like DDT are carried northbound into Inuit land, causing illness and premature death. Silent Snow is a documentary project investigating, together with the people who are affected the most, what turns out to be a structural pollution of the entire global environmental system.

The Silent Snow project aims to raise awareness of this problem and consists of both a short and a feature length documentary by Jan van den Berg, educational material for schools and this website. In the short film the subject is introduced by following two young girls in Greenland and the way in which they are confronted with the pollution of their environment.

In the feature length documentary a young Inuit woman travels around the world looking for the causes of this pollution. As such the film highlights not only the consequences in the polar region, but also the causes and dilemmas, such as the use of DDT against malaria in Africa. This film will premiere at the end of the International Polar Year (IPY) in fall 2010.

Partners include the Buddhist Broadcasting Foundation, Lichtpunt and TVP Poland, the NCDO, Greenpeace, the Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM) and Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV).

The 14 Minute Short Film

“Two girls examine the incomprehensible environmental damage that is poisoning their heritage, Greenland, and the only home their ancestors have known for thousands of years. Stunning cinematography captures this most timely issue” World Wide Short Film Festival, Canadian Film Centre

Since its premiere at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) November 2007, the 14 minute Silent Snow short film has been selected for over 20 international film festivals,such as Sapporo Short Fest Japan, Los Angeles Film Festival and World Wide Short Film Festival Toronto and won two awards for Best Short Film (at the Green Film Festival Seoul and Slow Food on Film Festival Bologna). It has been sold to The Short List, airing on Cox and PBS channels to some 5-7 million viewers in the United States. Furthermore it has been embedded in educational packages on human rights and the environment in The Netherlands by the International Polar Year and Czech One World in Schools program. drsFILM is currently producing the feature length follow up documentary (90 minutes), which has a planned premiere in Fall 2010.

The Feature Length Documentary

The feature documentary continues where the short film has left off. It’s time to go all around the world and find out what is causing this quiet disaster. Please find below a synopsis for the documentary currently in development. The premiere is planned for fall 2010. We are currently seeking additional sponsors.

Synopsis

In the seemingly pure plains of the Arctic a group of experienced Inuit starts out on a dangerous dog-sledge expedition through their barren land. But while the global warming and disappearing icebergs are problems they can perceive directly, the pollution of their land remains a hard to imagine threat.

Interwoven with the polar expedition, Silent Snow follows a young Greenlandic woman on her journey all around the world to find the local causes of the contamination which is quietly poisoning her people.

In different continents she meets the people behind the sources of pollution and discovers the heartbreaking dilemmas that lie at the heart of it. For example in Africa, where some people are looking for alternatives for DDT, however its grey poisonous clouds are a cheap way of saving millions of lives in malaria prevention. The disastrous health issues that result on the long term are conveniently put aside. In the US fish from the Anacostia River is all the poor local black community can afford, and they have no choice but to ignore the warnings from concerned researchers.

While the Inuit would rather deny the problem at hand, it has become her difficult task to convince them of its severity. And while the expedition members’ wellbeing is subject to the condition of their environment, it becomes increasingly clear that their lives are not the only ones at risk in the delicate entanglement of nature and mankind.

Via www.silentsnow.org

About the video

“I always wondered: what Angel of Uummannaq might look like? Would it be wearing skins and kamiks, like Greenlandic Ken who is fashioned in polar bear pants and a seal parka? Would it be flying above the ice cap or beneath the sea ice? Would it be driving the dogs?.. I staged this little Arctic Ballet on Ice to find the answer.” Chaika1961 [Galya Morrell].

Via Galya Morrell’s blog

Who is Galya Morrell?

Galya Morrell is the NY-based educator, who coordinates the fantastic Uummaannaq Music project in Greenland, Norway. She describes her initiative as “the most unusual Music Festival at the Ice School for Orphaned Eskimo Children in Uummaannaq, Greenland, 590 kilometers north of the Artic Circle.”

Please visit her blog for more information and enjoy what kind of good deeds she and her colleagues do for Eskimo kids. By the way, browse through her beautiful winter pictures. White snow, blue ice, happy kids and wonderful music!

Join also the Uummaannaq Music Facebook fan page.