Students get a first-hand look at Arctic climate change

A group of 80 high school students boarded the Lyubov Orlova Aug. 6 under a drizzly Kuujjuaq sky to see Canada’s Arctic and the impacts of climate change.

Students from Nunavut, Nunavik, across Canada and the world left Nunavik last Friday on a 16-day educational voyage.

Joined by a team of 30 polar scientists, educators and artists, the group planned to sail around the northern tip of Nunavik, to Baffin Island and as far north as Kingnait Fiord.

The trip is completely “interactive and hands-on,” said Chris Ralph of Students on Ice, the organization coordinating the expedition.

Students, aged 14 to 19, can chat with veteran journalists who have covered climate change issues or help researchers doing bottle drops to study ocean currents, Ralph said.

The expedition’s staff and guests include a number of authors, Arctic biologist and filmmaker David Gray and CBC news host Peter Mansbridge.

Rather than working as a journalist during the expedition, Mansbridge is there as an educator to show students how they can engage the media in their projects.

Ideally, young people aboard will be impacted by what they see and decide to serve as ambassadors of the Arctic and planet as a whole, says Geoff Green, the Canadian founder of Students on Ice.

“These youth will explore a part of the planet that very few get to experience — a place widely recognized as an early-warning system for climate change,” Green says.

“We know by experience that many of the students come back with new perspectives, and are inspired to serve as ambassadors about environmental issues that affect not only the Arctic, but also the rest of the world.”

The trip has been funded by a number of corporations, governments and philanthropists, including the prince of Monaco and Makivik Corp.

The expedition ship is equipped with up-to-date technology, allowing participants to share their experiences online through the expedition.

Videos, photos, and daily blogs, written by the students will be posted at www.studentsonice.com.

The Students on Ice Arctic Youth Expedition 2010 group arrives back in Ottawa August 20.