Youth Expedition sets sail on climate-change mission

This year, the cruise program called “Students on Ice” is mounting a special expedition on climate change.

A news release says the two-week student cruise, called “Arctic Youth Environmental Leadership Expedition 2005,” is intended to “create change, inspire, educate, give cause for hope, and raise awareness globally about the impacts of climate change and other environmental issues facing the Arctic Regions.”

About 80 students, aged 14 to 19, including indigenous students from all Arctic Council countries, are on the cruise, which set out yesterday from Reykjavik, Iceland. Along for the trip is a team of 30 scientists, environmentalists, and educators, including Sheila Watt-Cloutier, the president of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference.

A documentary film and a website, at www.studentsonice.com, will track their journey. During the expedition, students will produce an “Arctic Youth Statement of Climate Change,” which will be tabled by a youth delegation at the CoP 11-Kyoto Protocol meeting in Montreal this December.

Ashley Tufts from Iqaluit is also on the trip, thanks to a Canadian Merit National Scholarship. Tufts, president of Inuksuk High School’s student body, counsels youth, is a board member of Kamatsiaqtut Baffin Crisis Line and also coaches speed skating.