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

Okey, this time NPR reporters turn face to the Arctic issues. The agency sends its reporters to the far North and gets evidences of the thawing Arctic. Click here to see NPR’s dispatches.

Can you imagine? When the rest of the world is suffering the heat and the temperature much above +40C and even +50C, people of Greenland’s Uummannaq settlement are enjoying “the sight and light and smell of the salty seawater and fresh glacier air” daily.

That’s the way Hivshu Ua described the Uummannaq life among Arctic icebergs in July 2011.

Uummannaq dwellers are very lucky to have such honor… Unfortunately, it might not last forever. In 30 years, scientists predict the ice-free(!) Arctic…

Who is Hivshu Ua?

He is one of great men participated in the Uummannaq Music project. Be sure to visit UM’s website, facebook page and Flickr sets to learn more and see Greenland in its currently-existing glory.

Hope, you will like this and below-published photographs and say thanks with me to Hivshu Ua, their author, for letting us to see such an Arctic summer beauty online.

Members of the Ran herders collective after the court decision.

What a great news! Happy about the Samis!

The Swedish Supreme Court has upheld the lower courts, in a landmark decision that recognizes the rights of Sweden’s indigenous population and their reindeer herding.

The following news story was posted on Alaska Dispatch as part of Eye on the Arctic, a collaborative partnership between public and private circumpolar media organizations.

The case has been before the courts here for 14 years. In 1997, 104 landowners in the northern province of Västerbotten sued three reindeer herding collectives owned by indigenous Sami, or Lapp, people in the area. They charged that reindeer grazing was causing major damage to their land and forests, and protested that the Samis’ traditional rights in the area were not legal.

The Samis argued that they had been herding there for countless generations, and before the Swedes had moved into the north. Both a district court and an appeals court agreed with the Samis, and the case finally ended up in the Swedish Supreme Court.

Olle Larsson, one of the reindeer herders, expressed his relief to Swedish Radio News:

“This feels incredibly good,” he says. “It’s a great relief to know that we can continue to graze our reindeer in the future.”

The court’s decision creates a precedent for indigenous rights, and will be studied closely. The Samis’ lawyer Camilla Wiklund:

“This sets the conditions for the future,” she tells Swedish Radio News. This will put a stop to similar cases farther north, and we hope it will also apply farther south, where we have had problems before.”

Photo credit: Ulrika Holmberg, Sveriges Radio.

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.

What a great video! This is the preview of the BBC documentary “Arctic with Bruce Parry.” It’s coming up soon on BBC 1. Don’t miss this unique chance and spectacular insight into the life of Uummannaq, Greenland. Check the schedule on BBC.

Follow also the amazing project Uummannaq Music run by Galya Morrell and Joel Spiegelman in Uummannaq. All project’s news updates might be found on its Facebook page as well.

This post is dedicated to my friends in Uummannaq. Greetings from the Siberian city of Yakutsk!

It was said to hear from Ole Jorgen about the absence of sea ice and snow in your area this winter. Hope it would be possible to backward nature processes

Sami men in Sweden. Photo by Bertil Ericson / SCANPIX

A very active Serge Weber, who is definitely not indifferent to the Sami people’s well-being, provided me with the link to today’s news story Lack of Sami translations in northern Sweden.

Its first abstract tells everything about the issue:

“A Swedish Radio News survey shows that despite the one-year old law making it a requirement for the local governments in northern Sweden to provide information and services to the indigenous, Sami, population, only 2 of 14 bother to do this – sparkling angry reactions from those safeguarding Sami rights and culture.”

Well, I need to say that it’s a pretty common problem in the circumpolar world.

And, hey, my Siberian city of Yakutsk was mentioned in it. Take a look.

..For further perspective, consider the Siberian city of Yakutsk, where it averaged 40 below zero last week.

Inna Likhachyova, who works at Tour Service Centre in Yakutsk, 3,000 miles east of Moscow, tittered at the idea of 22 below.

“If you plan to come here, you will need a fur hat, fur boots, two pairs of pants,’’ she said. “It is not cold for us, but you might have a different idea of what cold is.’’…

The story contains the video as well. So it is really worth to read.

Heavy snowstorms might paralyze any place in any corner of the world. Russia is not exception. Yesterday’s blizzard caused many troubles in the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk on the Far Eastern Sakhalin island. Car accidents on roads, 2-meter snowdrifts on sidewalks, and kids allowed not to attend classes.

Jumping for joy on the Central Park mall. By Rob Littlefield.

St. Pat's in the snow. By Whitney Hoover.

Here are pictures of last night’s snowstorm in New York City. It seems snowy weather in NYC is not already abnormal. They are more like two brothers, who would love to stay far from each other, but together look great!

The Brooklyn Bridge in the snow. By Amazin Jane from flickr.

Walking in Tompkins Square Park. By Vivienne Gucwa from Flickr.

Snowed in train playground on 45th. By a GOTHAMist reader.

See the entire collection of last night’s NYC area photos at Gothamist.com.