Goodbye Baffin Island

Well our trip has sadly come to an end. Clyde River has become a second home for me in the last ten days. I'm very sad to leave this amazing place behind. Its not just the great mountains of ice and snow or the icebergs full of great tasting water that I'll miss. I'll also miss its people. The town of Clyde has been great to us. We are outsiders that they let into their family. The town is full of separate families that all act as one. There isn't a family left out of gatherings and feasts and everything is shared. One thing that will stick with me is that in Clyde if someone has a tank of gas outside their house and its gone or empty the next day its not stealing. They assume that whoever took it really needed it, they didn't take it just to take it. This act of trust really made me think how different our cultures really are, and how important both are to this world. The way of life for this town is based in large part on the food and resources they can get from the land they live on. The impact of this really hit home on Friday when we were on our ski-doo trip in front of the of a glacier. We had a guide by the name of Sam who spoke of this glacier, that in his 29 years of life has retreated over 100 feet. We as humans need to step up to the plate and not swing for the fences but make enough contact to get the ball moving in the right direction. We must start to think outside the box to find the ways to solve the global warming problem. It has already been having an effect on the people of the northern climates and is only a matter of time until it strikes in our neck of the woods. Nick Illuaq of Clyde River told me that we have to listen to the land. Mother Nature is telling us that we have made her sick and now she is trying to make herself better. We have hurt our planet and now we must find the medicne to make her better. I was taught many things by the people of Clyde River and for this I am most grateful. With this trip now over I leave the north with a new knowledge that im eager to share with all who will listen.

Final post,
Jeff

Final Reflections by Dalen

The north, the wind, the snow and the people; all of these things I shall remember forever. The people impacted all of our lives and helped me and the other expedition members grow and learn to become more aware individuals. The north taught us patience, the north taught us resilence, hope, strength, and dependence. The communities we visited taught me to become truly part of something, to be an individual but to help the whole. The communities of the north depend on one another and need one another. We, in the states, could learn from their example. The people of the north were warm and generous and were the generally the nicest people I had ever met. I will always remember the smiles and laughter of the children and the adults. They are a strong people who have adapted and changed for years, the climate change issue is merely another hurdle. The issue of climate change is known to all people that I spoke with from the small children to the elders. They all knew that life was changing, the ice was melting, the animals were moving, and the climate was warming. The true question is whether we, in the U.S.,so set in our ways can adapt and change to help protect the planet and save it.



Partnering with the Will Steger Foundation and the Global Warming 101 expedition has taught me to value the connections and support that we have in life and has let me meet some truly amazing individuals. Everyone that is part of the expedition is a vital part, from the tech team to the film crew; they all spread the awareness of the issue and all were generous and kind to us. The expediton members all helped out with collecting stories and sharing contacts. Overall, this has been great and I am honored to be considered part of the expediton and glad to have had the chance to converse with these wonderful people.

Stuck in Clyde!....that's the north!

The original plan was to leave on Saturday and stay one night at the lodge in Iqaluit but alas, the northern weather betrayed us! We had to stay the weekend due to the lack of an airplane! The plane was unable to land because of the foggy weather and high winds. So we, the youth team, spent the weekend with our respective host families and were able to walk the town of Clyde River without all of the excitement over the Steger expedition.

We are extremely grateful to our host families for extending their generosity for an even longer stay!

The weekend passed relatively uneventfully and we were able to catch up on some sleep and homework {Allison}. Finally on Monday we were able to leave Clyde River and connect to Iqaluit. From Iqaluit we ran (literally) to our next flight to Ottawa, where we arrived at about 6 pm. After finding our hostel once again and going out for a good and hearty supper we turned in for the night.

Tomorrow we will be back in MN by 5 pm...our time in the north is almost up...


So until tomorrow,

Dalen out

Day 11: Anna, Ida, Sarahmee and Elisapee

We met the girls (Anna, Ida, Sarahmee, Elisapee) coming down to Minnesota for lunch a few days ago and since then we've had a couple chances to get to know them better. They are all amazingly sweet and we can't wait for them to come down.

Here's Anna:



Here's Ida!

Here's Sarahmee!<

Here's Elisapee!
Our hamburger lunch was quite tasty and was a good ice breaker for all of us. Even though Joe and Jeff are far beyond shy, the girls were a bit quiet at first. But they warmed up to us after a while (the boys' charms must have kicked in) and before they left we were all chit-chatting away and taking pictures. We talked about each of our schools, what we like to do for fun and why the girls want to come to Minnesota. Jokingly (well, maybe) Sarahmee has continously said she wants to go to the mall. Anna and Elisapee said they thought it would be interesting to be in a place that is so big and so much warmer than Clyde River. But Ida's quiet exclamation of "trees!" was quite appreciated. So the girls have a lot to look forward to. Here's us right before the bell rang for afternoon classes.


Last night at the community feast we met up again. Anna and her family helped me get in line and told me some history about how their ancestors used to catch char and hunt caribou. After dinner, Anna and some of her friends invited the boys and I out to go snow mobiling with them. We stopped at a big hill and had a few wrestling matches and quite a few games of tag. It was a lot of fun!!

I met up with Ida, Sarahmee and Elisapee this morning at the Global Warming 101 send-off. We stood off to the side talking and sharing stories. I have to admit it was great to finally have some female peers to talk with! They even offered to teach me how to throat sing. They taught me a few sounds (you try to make that deep guttural sound when you say boo! to scare someone) but I'm still an extreme novice. Then again I have until Saturday, so I'll keep trying!


-Allison and Dalen out

Thoughts from the boy perspective:

The girls are cool and are excited to come to Minnesota. So other then that, we will be eating some country food tonight and we will talk to you later!

-baffin boys out

Day 10: Community Activities

Our arrival in Clyde River was welcomed with warm smiles and gracious greetings. This community which is so small greeted us like a town ten times its size. All this past week there have been community activities ranging from traditional Inuit games to cake decorating contests to hip hop to ice sculptors to dog races to a giant community feast. We have tried to attend as many as we can. They have really brought out the cheery and unified feeling of Clyde River.

Here's Jeff and a few local kids at the school presentation with the Global Warming 101 team. The students wrote a proclamation stating 101 different ways to help change our lifestyles for the better. They presented it after Simon's Inuktitut presentation and John Stetson's English presentation about the expedition. To see the full proclamation, which will be traveling with the expedition members to Washington D.C. as testimony before the U.S. Senate, visit the Global Warming 101 website.

Jeff and the kids get along great. They are very high energy and love to play games. But they are immensely clever, too! One of the girls JoAnn figured out Joe's camera quicker than he did! Another girl Laura, the younger sister of Anna (one of the exchange girls coming to Minnesota) gave Allison a beautiful beaded bracelet and matching earrings. And Joe has been emptying out his suitcase full of candy and hackey sacks. Needless to say, the kids love him!

The kids even like playing rock, paper, scissors with Allison! They were playing after the cake judging contest at the community hall which is the second biggest building in town. The hip hop group had their own event here Monday night. They are amazingly talented. You should see the head spins!

Even only being here a week we have been able to see that community is an important part of the culture up here. Tonight we're going to the community feast. We are quite honored for the great experiences we've had so far and are looking forward to the time ahead!

Day 9: Dog Sleds

Hello and sorry that there hasn't been a post lately. We've been very busy with our other projects and with the school full of kids its been hard to get time in the computer lab to write. We have been doing lots of exciting things lately from going to the GW101 team meetings to hanging out with the local kids. Yesterday Simon was nice enough to let us tag along with him when he took his dogs to stretch their legs. Simon runs a team of 11 dogs using the fan hitch technique.

This means that each dogs has its own line that pulls the sled. Each line has a different length and the lead dog has the center line which is the longest. Simon and Lukie both run their team this way and have also made each dog harness and line out of seal which they have caught. The fan hitch is used in the north because the terrain they run on is mostly ice and if one dog falls through the ice or into a crack in theory the others won't be pulled in. John Stetson and Will Steger's dog teams are run using the tandom hitch method. This is where each dog is connected to one central line. The dogs are put in pairs starting with the closest two to the sled, the wheel dogs. These dogs are normally the bigger and sometimes slower dogs but they are used to control the movement of the sled. These dogs are running behind many sets of middle dogs, with the front pair being the lead dogs. The middle dogs are the work horses of the team and are very important to a strong team. The lead dogs are the ones who the musher can trust to find their way. They lead the team in bright sunny days and in snow storms. These dogs are very smart and are a musher's best friend when they are lost. The two styles work great if you know how to use them. The dogs love to run no matter how they are hooked up and to see them in action is a wonder to see.

From Clyde River on Baffin Island

Dalen and Jeff

Day 7: Blizzards and a walkabout

Tuni the mighty sled dog

We woke this morning in the home of Melanie and Andy our host family, who both teach at the local schools. We spent the morning talking to Andy and playing with Tuni, who is their immature sled dog (very cute). Tuni is short for “Tunirrusiaq” which means a “gift given” in Inuktitut. (Pronounced as Toon-E-ge-sa)

After breakfast at the school with the rest of the bunch we were able to talk Andy into leading us on the land. Unfortunately, a small blizzard arose and we were unable to build an Igloo or ski, so instead we went on a quick walkabout the land with Tuni. After visiting the dog kennels and looking at a few seal, I was able to ask Andy a few questions about the dog society.

The dog kennels kept by the Inuit typically are small and pretty rough, they allow them to run free in the summer/spring and chain them to the ice in the winter. Inuit peoples typically view their dogs as more of tools and equipment then “man’s best friend”. The dogs are allowed a certain amount of freedom but the dogs overall are used to transport and move food, community members, even whole families. Therefore the views of dogs are quite different from the western societies.




Pups in the dog yard.

The dog kennels were very rowdy and loud but were very fun to experience. Joe and I were able to look at and pet a few of the new puppies who had arrived earlier that year. Typically, the mothers and pups are allowed to be off the chains for the first few months then the pups are integrated into the team at about six months old. At an early age the dogs must learn to pull and pull hard! Besides learning to pull the pups must also learn the ins and outs of sled dog society. There is always a few alpha dogs on the team and there always a few omega or submissive dogs that typically are lower on the totem pole of life.

Joe with a narwhal backbone.


After the walkabout, Joe and I returned with Andy to his house and warmed up for awhile, we then went looking for the rest of the youth team. We found them at the Steger expedition’s house and talked to them for awhile before heading back to Melanie and Andy’s home. The rest of the team spent time at the dog yards then were met by Elizabeth and Abby to talk and share stories.


Polar bear skull in town

We (Joe, Mr. Johnson and I) all went to John the principal’s house for dinner, which consisted of chili and homemade bread. It was very delicious and filling and we learned many new things about the school and community. After dinner Joe and I went back to Andy and Melanie’s house and talked to them for a few hours. The possibilities are open for tomorrow though the community has been stricken with a death of an elder so the community events have been cancelled. Hopefully, we will able to go farther out unto the land and experience more things.

So until tomorrow,

Dalen & Jeff out

Day 7: Clyde River Day 2

Last night I was sitting in my host's front room and we started talking about the native Inuit people of Clyde River. My host is not a native of this town but he has worked for the Law enforcement office here for a little over a year. The first thing we talked about was the hunting and fishing practices of the Inuit. Narwhal whales are one of their larger prey and one that can bring in money to the community as well as food. He has watched as the narwhals come in to the bay in the summer time(july-early september)and the town becomes electric with antipaction of the hunt. Each person becomes involved with the hunt. They grab their rifles and head to their boats. Those who don't have boats hunt from the shores. It doesn't matter who kills the whale it is who's spear is in the whale that keeps it from sinking to the bottom. The narwhal is very important to the people here because of it's large tooth that grows out of its mouth. This tooth is similar to the tusk of the walrus or the elephant. The tusk can sell for over 160 dollars a foot and can be over eight feet long. A very rare narwhal will have two tusks growing and it can sell for over 60,000 dollars (whole tusks).

This animal is not hunted just for its tusks but for its meat as well. Each person get a part of the whale because a single hunter can't use a whole whale and it is the tradition of the culture to share. Once the whale has been used by all who need the meat the rest will feed the dogs and bones will be used for carvings by local artists. This animal is only one of the animals that is hunted and used by the Inuit people of Clyde River and Baffin Island.

Until Tommrrow,

Dalen and Jeff

Day 6: Clyde River: we arrive

View of Clyde River from airplane


Airplane view of arctic

After laying over in Iqaluit for one more night, we were able to take off this morning at 8:30am. We arrived in Clyde River at about 10:30am with a warm welcome from Will Steger, The Canadian mounties, Nancy the dog trainer, Jerry Stenger and John Houston the base camp members.We also met Sam Branson and Ed Viesturs at the airport and in Clyde River.

We were escorted into the town by the mounties where we were also met by the principal of Clyde River school. After a quick introduction all around, we were split into separate groups and Jeff/Chris were taken in by one of the Mounties, Allison found hosts who fit her well and Joe/I were able to meet up with a couple of local teachers and professors. After a nice meal in the principal's house,we (Jeff,Dalen,Chris,Joe and Mr.Johnson) took off to find our host families. Allison was interviewed with Will Steger on a local (MN news network) radio station. Then we embarked for a quick jaunt around town, where we met the other expedition team members.


The art of the igloo.

Today the town had for us a demonstration of how to build an igloo. Two of the Inuit guides of the Steger team built the igloos at a remarkable pace. They would first start by cutting blocks out of the snow with a normal hand saw. They made them about 3’x 2’ x 6”. The neat thing is where they cut the blocks out of the snow is right where they would start to build the igloo. So what you see from the outside is only about half of the inside of the igloo. They constructed them with speed and accuracy. With only a hand saw and a long knife the igloo started to take form. Each block was set on top of the next and shaped with the knife to fit perfectly in place. The true art of the igloo came out when you could see the angle in which the walls were sitting at. They where built to fit together perfectly that each one held its spot even though it didn’t look like it would. Igloo building is a true art form that hopefully we get to try and attempt.So after the igloo building we all split up for dinner's at our separate host families. Mr. J, Joe and I went to the school to make our own dinner, because our hosts wee occupied. after eating a quick meal we retired to our individual host families and tried to wind down....

First day at Clyde River in the books!

-Dalen & Jeff out

SES Earth Day!

Hello S.E.S. Dalen and Jeff here, we hopefully won’t be talking to you guys today (no offense). The plan is that we will be flying to Clyde River at the time of the proposed Earth Day presentation. So in the mean time we (meaning Jeff and I) will provide some information on climate change happening here on Baffin Island.

So to begin with, we recommend that you read the other blog (done by Allison and Joe) on the background information on Baffin Island. After learning a little on the background history and natural formations of Baffin please read on!
Iqaluit Downtown (melting snow)

The ACIA or Arctic Climate Impact Assessment predicts that marine wildlife will be pushed to extinction by the late 21st century because of sea ice reductions. This can be seen in the hunting season now taking place on Baffin, at one time the residents were able to hunt for 9 months, now the ice has depleted to the point where the hunting season for most animals is 4 months.

The introduction of exotic species can also be attributed to global warming. In Iqaluit itself, the American robin was sighted, meaning that the robin has traveled over the sixty-degree line, something that has never been recorded in history.

The temperature in the summer has flucuated drastically, creating an irregularity to the seasons. Also precipitation in the form of rain and thunderstorms, have been occurring something not ever recorded in the arctic. This has also led to a decrease in predictability in which the Inuit inhabitants have relied on for thousands of years concerning hunting and fishing.

The wildlife, the temperature changes, the ice melts, the irregular conditions and the introduction of exotic species are just a few of the highlighted changes due to climate change attributed to global warming, as Shelia Watt-Cloutier (ICC President) said, “This could be the beginning of the end of the way of life for a whole people!”


In the end this issue is beyond the science and beyond the politics, it is truly a social justice, ethical and moral issue in which we, as people must face. As Jeff and I have seen first hand in the irregular weather, the melting snow and the loss of cultural identity tied to the lack of sea ice, global warming truly is changing the face and culture of Baffin Island.

Remember to keep every day as a Earth Day! and heres a little help from a picture!




until next time,

Dalen and Jeff out

P.S. hello all our friends at S.E.S.!

Day 5: Blizzards and Cancelled flights

One of the local sled dogs says "hello"

We woke this morning to a sea of white; it had snowed about six inches during the night and was still coming down. Welcome to the arctic! We were under a blizzard warning and Clyde River had 61 kilometer per hour winds! Needless to say, we (Dalen, Jeff, Allison, Chris, and Joe) believed we wouldn’t be traveling today, yet Mr. J remained hopeful. After walking outside into the snow for a while, Joe and I decided to hoof it in and write on our blogs and dress a little warmer. Allison befriended some students and was able to make some food with the home education class. Alas we lost Jeff to the appeal of the food and Joe and I were left to write the blogs. The view of the town during the blizzard

After an eventful class period of making delicacies such as cinnamon rolls, cookies, cupcakes and pizza we were all able to relax and wait for news of the flight to Clyde River.

We walked to the airport and were able to get so information on the flight to Clyde. Unfortunately, the news was not good! Flights were cancelled for the day so we headed back to the school and chilled/ relaxed for the rest of the day.

We also befriended the Home education department teachers and were offered food for dinner. Jeff and Joe were able to explore some of the natural formations including the highest point in Iqaluit; hospital hill. After a rousing time on the hills Jeff and Joe returned to the high school for another night in the drama room which we have called home the last two days. Tomorrow we hope to fly to Iqaluit and meet up with Will Steger's expedition....if all goes well.

until tomorrow,

Jeff showing the snow who is boss.

Dalen and Jeff.

Day 4: Iqaluit

This is a painting of an Inuit hunter

This is a carving out of ivory of either a walrus or other marine animal in the shape of bears.


We woke up this morning in the high school and ate a hearty breakfast in the school cafeteria. After meeting up with the principal Mr. Johnson decided that since the mining symposium was being held at the school it would be better if we simply explored the town and worked on the blogs for the time being.
This is a painting of the seasons

We decided to visit the visitor center in Iqualuit for a while so we were able to learn many new things.We found out information on the seasons and the weather and cultural changes associated with them. The spring in the arctic is called, “Upingaaq” which roughly translates as “the time of moving ice”. This time period is met with the ice break up and a shift from fishing and jigging to hunting for geese and duck. The warmest season in the Arctic is called, “Auyarq” or “when the sun never leaves the sky” this season is traditionally time to travel and meet relatives, hunt for caribou, whales and fish. The next season is “Ukiaksaaq” or the “time of shorter days” is considered autumn where berries, caribou and arctic char make up the diet. The last season is “Ukiaq” or the “return of ice” this season is the moving and traveling season where people prepare to move to the floe’s edge. The making of winter clothes and preparation of sleds takes up most of the time. "Ukiuq" or the "season of the great bear" is a "Upingarqsaaq" or "time to travel to the floe edge" are the last of the seasons in the arctic and both are times of travel and hunting.


Iqaluit seems to be a town of cultural mixing, a melting pot of the Canadian north and the Inuit. The town itself has the modern conveniences; electricity, I-pods, Internet, myspace and face book. Yet the feel is so uniquely Inuit, the northern peoples and the northern land, a sense of belonging resides in this place. These people belong to the land; they have always been here and will always “own” it.
Inkshuk (we made on top of the hill overlooking the town)

The rest of the day was spent walking around town and learning of the mining symposium that was taking place. After posting blogs and climbing a giant hill overlooking the town Jeff, Allison and I were tired. So, we headed back into town and checked out the local museums and art galleries. After a quick lunch of cold cuts and chips we headed out to explore once again.

After making an Inkshuk, or stone man, that marks trails and communities we headed back in and relaxed for a while. Soon, we will have dinner and relax for the rest of the night. So until tomorrow,

Tagvawutit. “Good-Bye”



-Dalen & Jeff out

Day 3: Baffin Island: We arrive

Today started very early in the jail hostel in Ottawa. We awoke at just about 4:45 and got all ready to leave for Iqaluit. We had a two-hour wait at the airport, then a three-hour flight plus lots of sitting in our day. Once we were close to Iqaluit we started to see our first sights of the sea ice. It started first as chunks here and there, then its size grew and soon it was ice pack with giant icebergs scattered around the sea.

The ice is such a vital part of the communities here on Baffin Island. Each living organism depends on the form of the ice. Humans, bears, and seals live and hunt on and under the ice. Each year as global climate change continues to have a greater effect on the polar regions the hunting seasons have been getting shorter.
Dalen and I were talking to a student of the Nunavut Sivuniksavut school in Ottawa about hunting rules and regulations in the area of Baffin we are traveling to and this is what he had to say.

“Hunting is a huge part of the life of the Inuit people. We are allowed and almost required to hunt whenever we need or want to. The only real rules are surrounding the polar bears. Each town will have a certain amount of bears that they are allowed to hunt. If the allowed number of bears is fourteen the first four are fair game for anyone in the town. The next five are either given to any elders that want them or raffled off to the town. The last five are for outside hunters to buy and come and hunt.”


The Inuit people of Baffin Island see hunting as a way of life not a sport. After talking to this student I found one major difference between the way he thinks and we, in the U.S. do. For myself and most hunters from the States when we hunt successfully we say we “shot, killed, or harvested” the animal, but for the Inuit its always “caught” never killed. I feel that they have a greater respect for the animals they catch. We still have lots to learn about the communities we are now in. It will be a great adventure and we will have much more to share.

Until Tomorrow,

Dalen and Jeff

Thoughts from Dalen:

We started today at Ottawa and ended in Iqualuit, on Baffin Island. It actually feels that we are here, finally months of planning and hard work have paid off, and we are in the high Arctic. The plane over to Iqualuit took three hours; however the time was well spent (mostly sleeping). When we landed we were in a new place, the Island of Baffin.

Day 2: A fateful meeting and A good night

We began the day with a quick breakfast and then the plan was to catch a city bus to Sir Richard Borden high school at 8:05 am. we unknowingly had assumed the weather would be cooperative. Unfortunately, it had rained and snowed for the majority of the night meaning that the bus we needed to take never arrived and we had to take a cab to the school. After a quick introduction by the teacher we were underway. We showed the PowerPoint and images then answered questions. We, (Jeff, Dalen, Allison, Joe and Chris) then split into small groups where we answered questions and interacted with the Canadian students. On the way back from the school we again had to try and figure out the bus system in the gloomy weather. On the bus back we met a truly amazing person, Rosemarie Kuptana from Sachs Harbor in the high arctic. Rosemarie had helped produce a video and education guide to one of the many texts and videos we had studied in preparation for this trip. Rosemarie, at the time of the video, had worked for the International Institute for Sustainable Development or IISD. She narrated and helped produce the video called, "Sila Alangotok" or "the climate is changing" which documents the many cultural and ecological changes observed in Sachs Harbor.

After a quick lunch we studied up on some local culture and relaxed for a while. The next stop is the Nunavut Sivuniksavut program, which is the local education group (local meaning Ottawa) that educates young Inuit students before a university setting. After an explanation of our school we learned of their program, which was originally started in 1986 as training for land negotiators and administrators. After the establishment of Nunavut as a territory in 1999, the program changed into a prep school for Inuit students from small communities. The programs goals include: education in traditional knowledge, politics, sovereignty issues, land issues, environmental health issues and cultural change. The program sponsors education in many different settings including a cumulative field study in a chosen country, this year Peru!

After we learned the history of the school we began a question and answer section where we began to learn many things about the young adults and their homes. The majority of students came from Baffin Island itself, but others came from the mainland. After a discussion of multiple topics and issues we had the privilege to witness a few culture dances and songs. These songs and dances described anything from "a mothers love" to a song about the sun

This unique experience allowed us, simple high school students, to truly experience a new and exciting culture. After finishing the night with a rousing game of Inuit skills including leg wrestling, arm pulls and cheek pulls we headed for the hostel for another night at the jail. Tomorrow we head to Iqualuit at 9;00 am and will be on Baffin by 2:00pm.

Until then,

Dalen and Jeff out

Day 1: Arriving in Ottawa

We (the Baffin Island Youth Team) left Minneapolis this morning at 10:00am and arrived in Detroit for a quick layover before departing for Ottawa. We arrived in Ottawa after a bumpy flight, at 3:15pm. We then arranged transport (city bus) to the Ottawa International Hostel which is actually located in a refurbished jail. The plan for tommorrow consists of joining a class of seniors at one of the local high schools to discuss the issues of climate change and to present the powerpoints, visuals and information we have collected with the help of the Steger Foundation. The power point essentially outlines the basics of climate change such as the Keeling curve, which was started in 1958 in Hawaii, to study the CO2 emmisions. This study which has continued for over thirty years shows a trend in the gradual rising of CO2 emmisions and the global temperature flux.This paired with data from Greenland about the ice shelves and the evidence of the Larson B ice shelf breakup help inform the public of the facts behind global climate change.

The plan for tommorrow will end with a meeting with the Nunavut Sivuniksavut youth program and the exchange of stories both cultural and climate change related. From there we plan on leaving Ottawa on Tuesday for Iqualit.

Until tommorow,
Arctic Speak Team Out.

Living Green Expo

Alright here's an early heads up for everyone who will be in Minnesota the first weekend of May: LIVING GREEN EXPO on May 5th and 6th from 10-5!!! It is the biggest midwest convention of people that are seeking to live in more environmentally friendly ways. They offer over 200 vendors and numerous workshops to provide educational resources for everyone. It is the first weekend of May and we (the Baffin Island Student Cultural Exchange Team) will be presenting Sat. at 2 pm in the Youth SpEaCkOut Tent. There will be other high schools and colleges joining us that same day for a forum and networking lunch as well. And, my favorite, there will be a bike-powered blender for smoothies!To top it all off admission is free.

So remember:
Living Green Expo
May 5th and 6th
10-5

Step it Up 2007!

Step it up 2007 is a nationwide program to sign and ratify the biggest ecological footprint bill ever.Under direction from accclaimed author William Mckibben and other organizations like the Will Steger Foundation and the Alliance for Sustainability citizens from all over the nation will join together.The solutions to these global problems such as Climate change and the reduction of carbon emmisions are only found through cooperation and local action.

If you are in the Twin Cities area, join us (the Baffin Island Youth Team) on Saturday April 14th at the St. Paul Capital for live music, informational booths and the biggest petition signing ever!


-Team Arctic Speak, out

Valley Natural Foods Fundraiser Pictures

These are some of the pictures we took at our Valley Natural Foods bagging fundraiser. We were raising funds for the Baffin Island Student Exchange by bagging groceries inside and outside we had Lefsa and Libby (our canine volunteers) pull the carts out to customers' cars for tips. We had a fun time and got to enjoy some hot food afterwards.

Here's the Mills sisters (Allison and Briana)with Mr. Johnson's beautiful dog Libby.


The lack of snow in the VNF parking lot didn't seem to phase Libby, Lefsa, Mr. Johnson and student Joe Couch.

Part of the fundraising committee got a quick snapshot outside. Pictured are Liz O'Brien, Joe Couch, Mr. Johnson, Brianna Mills, Allison Mills and Libby (oh...and the handy grocery cart decked out with a harness!)

World Wildlife Fund and School of Environmental Studies Media Training

Over the past three days we,the Baffin Island Youth Exchange team, have been joined and trained by a member of the World Wildlife Fund's media education program. We spent the last three days learning to use Adobe Audition software and digital recorders to train for possible story collecting while on Baffin Island. We also learned to put together public service announcements and vox pops (voice of the people) stories.

This unique experience helped us learn the skills needed to bring back stories of climate change and cultural change.

Overall the three days were well spent and we as a team where able to bond at a more personal and fun level.

Pictures are soon to come!

Be looking for updates!

-Youth Baffin Team