magazine / ma03
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March/April 2003 issue |
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Antarctica calling
Canada’s
ratification of the Kyoto Protocol last December held special significance for Canadian Geographic’s
Polar Bound contest winners Alysia Garmulewicz (left) and Sonya Bell (right). They
wanted Environment Minister David Anderson to hear from young people who support Kyoto.
Bell, 18, of Barrie, Ont., and Garmulewicz, 15, of New Denver, B.C., were two
of four students from across Canada who huddled around a satellite phone on a glacier
on Enterprise Island off the Antarctic Peninsula on December 23 to congratulate
Anderson on ratifying Kyoto.
Climate change was the theme for this winter’s Students On Ice voyage to Antarctica.
Garmulewicz says the conversation with the Environment Minister “brought the trip into
perspective,” since the Antarctic Peninsula (above) is a hot spot for global warming. “Being
there made it kind of passionate and immediate. You saw what it is you are working for and
what really needs to happen if you are going to protect places like the Antarctic.”
An aspiring journalist, Bell had another protocol on her mind — the Antarctic
Treaty Protocol on Environmental Protection — and she didn’t let the
minister off the hook. “Now that you can check Kyoto off your to-do list,” she
asked him, “is the environmental protection of Antarctica on your agenda?” Anderson
answered that he expected Canada to sign the Antarctic protocol within the next
year.
Expedition leader Geoff Green says the phone call was a great opportunity for
students to gain confidence and be proactive about their country’s future. “It
is not often that students have direct access to someone who has the ability to
make change happen.”
The call was one of many thrills the students experienced as they travelled aboard
the MV Polar Star on their first trip to the frozen continent. “One thing
that blew me away was the immensity of Antarctica,” recalls Garmulewicz. “Elephant
Island is just this tiny little island on the map. Yet when we came to it, it dominated
the horizon with huge peaks and snow-capped ridges and glaciers.”
Jodi Di Menna
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In
the medal rounds
Zandra Rei Lumanglas, a grade-nine student at Loretto College High School in Toronto, proudly
displays the medal she won for taking first place in her school’s Great Canadian Geography
Challenge finals.
Lumanglas won by correctly naming one of the top three oil producers in the world.
(Answer: Russia, United States or Saudi Arabia.)
Up to 50 of the top students from each province and territory will go on to compete
in the provincial and territorial finals on April 5. For results of the competition, visit
www.geochallenge.ca.
Green
heroes
Canadians responded in great numbers to our call for environmental champions whose commitment
is worthy of national recognition. One hundred and twenty-three individuals or groups have
been nominated by the public for the second annual Canadian
Environment Awards. Managed by
Canadian Geographic, the awards program honours people or community groups that have made
remarkable contributions to the protection, restoration and conservation of Canada’s
natural surroundings.
A panel of environmental experts will select the Gold and Silver Award recipients
in each of the following categories: climate change; conservation; environmental
health; environmental learning; restoration and rehabilitation; and sustainable
living. The Canadian Environment Awards will also present, for the first time,
a Citation of Lifetime Achievement to an individual who has shown exceptional dedication
and has made an outstanding contribution to environ-mental protection. The laureates
will be announced on June 5 in Toronto. Gold Award winners will receive $5,000
to donate to the environmental cause of their choice.
Extreme adventure
Go to the ends of the Earth and climb the highest summit of each continent with Bernard Voyer,
a Montréal-based adventurer and RCGS
Gold medallist. Voyer will relive his gruelling
journeys with audiences in Ottawa on April 15 and 16.
Bogged down
The salt marshes along the Bay of Fundy coastline are an important sanctuary for many species
of shorebirds. But in certain areas, they also act as a repository for trace metals and
other pollutants. Because of their ability to accumulate sediment, salt marshes provide
a good record of pollution generated by human activity, explains Grace Hung, who recently
completed a B.Sc. in geography at McGill University in Montréal. They act as a “sink
for metals deposited from the atmosphere and tidal waters.”
Hung’s honours thesis, supported by a Royal Canadian Geographical Society
research grant, focuses on lead levels in seven salt marshes between St. Andrews
and Sackville, N.B. Her analysis of sediment samples shows that the wetlands in
closest proximity to Saint John are most exposed to lead. “We still consider
the Bay of Fundy as pretty pristine,” says Hung. “But where are these
metals going, and how will they affect the ecosystem?”
Home at heart
In the January/February issue of Canadian Geographic, we asked you to tell us about
your home sweet home. Your responses were passionate and touching. Have a look at www.canadiangeographic.ca/surveys/homeatheart.
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