POST JOURNEY UPDATES, ADDITIONAL JOURNALS, PHOTOS etc.!!

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August 14th, 2005
Geoff Green

After a week of reflecting on our Students on Ice Arctic journey, I am still having trouble digesting and absorbing all that we experienced… Something tells me it will be many more weeks, months and even years to fully digest…if that is even possible. It has been wonderful to see the exchange of emails, photos and information over the past few days. Keeping in touch with each other and sharing our passions and knowledge with friends, family, community is something that we can all do to allow our journey continue, and its outcomes and impacts to grow! During our time together we discussed many ideas, issues, plans for the future…we shared stories, karma, thoughts, and we brainstormed. Now that we have all returned to the "real" world, the challenge that we now face is to keep those ideas, dreams and plans alive! Never forget that everyone one of you can make an enormous difference… As a small group of committed individuals, in our own ways, as ambassadors for this incredible planet, we can and will help to change and conserve this beautiful planet Earth…

Sitting back here at SOI headquarters, it is a great feeling to look back at the expedition (our 10th expedition since SOI started in 1999!!!) and relive so many of the incredible moments. There are too many of those moments to list. There were the bears, the whales, the birds, the seals, the icebergs, the communities, the landscapes, the ocean, the laughs, the workshops and lectures, the sounds and smells, the awe and the wonder.

One memory that keeps springing to mind is seeing Airin and Moe talking on the side of a mountain in the Auyuittuq National Park. There was a moment there where I could hear and feel the waterfall on one side, see some of our group hiking far below on the valley floor, feel the power of that place, and see this exchange between Moe and Airin. I have no idea what they were talking about, but that moment in many ways encapsulated what SOI is all about.



I want to take this time to express my sincere gratitude to everyone that made the SOI Arctic Expedition 2005 possible. All the staff, students, parents, teachers, schools and many more. We have also been blessed with some incredible partner organizations, without whom Students on Ice would not exist. Four of our newest partners are:

BFI Canada - Our newest partner that we hope will stay with SOI for years to come. They helped to sponsor 10 of the students on the Arctic expedition! As of Canada's leading waste management companies they very committed to environmental protection and conservation.

The One-Tonne Challenge - A fantastic initiative by Environment Canada to encourage
and educate the public on ways we can all reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and fight Climate Change.

The Walter & Duncan Gordon Foundation - Thanks to their very generous support of many aspects of the expedition's education program and support for northern indigenous youth.

Stornoway Diamond Corporation - Many thanks for their generous support of two youth participants from Nunavut.

A very special thank you to our esteemed long-term partners and supporters including -

Canadian Geographic Magazine, The Royal Canadian Geographic Society, People to People, Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs, Earth Rangers, The Explorer's Club, First Air, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, Parks Canada, The Tree Canada Foundation, Lonely Planet, The Canadian Museum of Nature, Taking it Global, The International Polar Year, the Canadian Polar Commission, Transfrontier International, and The Ontario Science Centre.

On behalf all Students on Ice, all the staff, students and Polar bears, thank you all for your support of the SOI Arctic Expedition, and the ongoing initiative to raise awareness and understanding about our global environment and the need to respect and protect it. These youth are our future leaders and your support is helping to instil an ethos that will last forever…

In the weeks ahead, we will be posting more photos, as well as other documents such as the Youth Statement on Climate Change here on the site. So keep checking in…

In the expedition spirit,

Geoff Green

Director and Expedition Leader,
Students on Ice

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August 5th and 6th,
Geoff Green

Hello all. It is hard to believe that our journey is over. The final day of our expedition was an exciting and full one. We arrived to Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, early in the morning to find very high winds (35 knots) and rough seas. So much so that the Captain had to anchor us about 2.5 miles away from town. After breakfast and our "final briefing", with our bags packed and mixed emotions, it was time to say farewell to our very fine ship and crew. There were rumours of mutiny to take over the ship and turn around to go back north, but in the end we resigned ourselves to the fact that all good things come to an end... Three cheers for the M/S Explorer, Captain Grankvist and his crew!!

Our final Zodiac ride to shore, proved to be the wildest, and wettest of the entire expedition. The tide in Iqaluit is one of the largest on the planet, but luckily we were landing at high tide, and the Zodiacs could find some protection from the rough seas behind the breakwater to get us ashore safely.

Once ashore we all walked through town to the Nunavut Legislature for a wonderful tour and presentation from Minister Akesuk, the Minister of the Environment for Nunavut. Some free time in town and lunch, and then suddenly it was time to "hike" to the airport for our return flight to Ottawa. Before leaving there were some tearful goodbyes to Moe, Ashley, Clark, Sheila, Jonathan, David A, and Megan. Our flight south was with our own "Students on Ice - First Air" jet. It was not your average flight! Lots of laughs, sharing, tears, visiting, etc. Many thanks to our First Air flight crew for their patience and for joining our celebrations!! (Trevor might just be getting a new job!) We arrived to Ottawa around 8:30pm, and said goodbye to more members of our team, and then boarded buses to the Radisson Hotel for those staying one more night. Yesterday, everyone continued their journeys home... A special thanks to Sandy, Stan and Jeff for their help getting everyone to their flights!

What a journey it has been...of discovery, adventure, friendship, connecting, learning, growth, fun, challenge, beauty, wonder, awe, great karma, magic, and more. It is impossible to really put it all into words. It will take weeks, months and even years to really digest all that we have experienced together. Our expedition from Iceland, to Greenland to the Canadian Arctic covered 2,410 nautical miles. We were able to make every one of our intended landings, plus a few extra, for a total of 16 landings and zodiac cruises! What we experienced was truly incredible.

Some of our most seasoned Arctic veterans with a combined 50 years in the Arctic, including David Gray, Fritz Koerner and our Captain, said it was the most exceptional journey of their careers. Indeed, something special happened over the last 2 weeks. What a team of students and staff. Our karma was running on overload. It was almost as though Mother Nature, or maybe Sedna, was trying to deliver us a message... A message and a motivation and an inspiration to love this planet we live on, and share with all the other life on Earth. I believe that this experience, and many of it's incredible moments has touched the souls of each member of our group.

Although the expedition is over, the journey is really just beginning for each of the 65 student expeditioners. It is now time to share what they have learned, take action, become ambassadors for a better planet, and follow their dreams and passions. They are cause for hope, and I have little doubt that great things will happen. We will all be in touch for a long time to come...

Please stay tuned to the site over the next 24-48 hours. We will be posting some incredible photos, journals and other details from the expedition. We also will be thanking and celebrating all of our incredible partners and sponsors that made this expedition and life-changing experience possible.

Thank you all for sharing our journey with us...

In the expedition spirit,
Geoff Green

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An Arctic Tale
(with apologies to Robert Service)
Justin Trudeau


There were strange things done in the arctic sun by the friends who cruised the pole
From Reykjavik to Iqaluit, cool the planet was their goal.
But along the way, almost every day, things happened strange but true
So if you'll spare the time, relax, recline, I'll share some of them with you.

They got off the plane, all aches and in pain, so off to the spa they went
Like the Vikings of old they disrobed in the cold and soaked on a thermal vent.
After muffins, they saw puffins, while they cruised on the zodiacs,
Then a summit earned and a lesson learned: "That's a shovel, not an axe!"

Climbed up some snow, then down they go, tempting both ice and fate,
And then farewells and into the swells that roll through the Denmark Strait.
Two days at sea that seemed to be quite tedious for some
For 'twas the motion on the ocean gave them troubles in the tum.

On a misty dawn, the waves were gone, up a craggy Greenlandic fjord
Out in a trice, past a seal on the ice, then swimming overboard.
Down to grassy stones and Viking bones, on a big forbidding shore,
Then museums and the choir, which beneath the church spire left us clamouring for more.

We ate blubber and seal (and then had a real meal), and then out to sea again,
Across Davis Strait we could not be late: customs Canada wait in Pang.
But Kekerten Isle was too cool by a mile with bones both man and whale's,
Then museum baleen, we dine on poutine and the elder shared his tales.

A hike up to the Circ (and man was that work) for a swim above sixty-six,
And then down we ran -just as fast as we can- 'cause right on our heels plodded Fritz.
The walrus and bears caught us all unawares upon rocky isles galore
Then the swim team was dared, so bodies were bared and jumped into the water once more.

Yes, there were strange things done in the arctic sun by those friends who cruised the pole
From Reykjavik to Iqaluit, cool the planet was their goal.
Along the way, they sure did play and sang and danced and slept,
But they gleaned the truth despite their youth; their promise will be kept.

Justin Trudeau
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Meditation on the Tundra The majestic mountain, the cold fiord waters, the spongy soft tundra and the whispering wind spirits called a group of us into the greenest tundra meadow beckoning us to BE and LIVE in the moment. We lay back on the soft comforting earth as if it was our bed for the night. Upon closing our eyes each one of us in silence inhaled the crisp clean air in deep soothing breathes. The mosquitoes buzzed about our heads and tried to nestle into our hair and faces as if to want to breathe with us or to get a juicy bite before taking flight. We lay in peace, as not a human sound was made. All we could hear was the wind and the fall of water from the far side of the fiord. With our eyes closed, tongues resting and our bodies sinking into the earth as images of our Arctic experience blossomed in our minds' eye; deep cold water, towering grey cliffs, gliding sea birds, sticky muddy tidal flats, icy determined falling water, thunderous cracking sliding rock and images of the strong roaming Inuit spirit. We are beckoned into present time in slow easy motion as if being pulled from a deep sleep. Time to wake up but ever so slowly, the experience leaving the mind and body feeling the strength of the true north strong and free!!!

Trudy Lum
Chaperone