Departure date approaches...

July 5, we'll all meet in Ottawa. That's where we'll all assemble for a welcome dinner with John Coo, President of GreenCross Canada. The next day we'll be off to Iqaluit (southern Baffin), where we will meet Beth Idlout, our new (but yet unmet) Inuit friend.
Five days left and a million things to do. Always like that. Last year for Greenland, we did get the Park permit the day before departure (true)!

Wise Words...

“Anything else you're interested in is not going to happen if you can't breathe the air and drink the water. Don't sit this one out. Do something. You are by accident of fate alive at an absolutely critical moment in the history of our planet”
- Carl Sagan, Astrophysicist

Canada Apologizes for Abuse of Natives...

After Australia... Canada Offers an Apology for Native Students’ Abuse...

OTTAWA — The government of Canada formally apologized on Wednesday to Native Canadians for forcing about 150,000 native children into government-financed residential schools where many suffered physical and sexual abuse. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/12/world/americas/12canada.html?scp=1&sq=canada+native&st=nyt

Launch of the Pax Arctica Initiative

Paris, France - June 4th 2008, the Pax Arctica Initiative was launched during a kick off press conference. Among the participants of the event were Former Prime Minister of France Michel Rocard, expedition leaders Luc Hardy, Bertrand Charrier, and President of Green Cross France Yves Paccalet. Prime Minister Michel Rocard related the diplomatic mobilization that resulted in the adoption of the Protocol on Environmental Protection of the Antarctic Treaty in the early 1990s.

Expedition leaders Luc Hardy, Sebastian Copeland and Bertrand Charrier officially launch the Pax Arctica Initiative and announce the northern tip of the Canadian Arctic as the first destination in this series of Arctic missions. The Pax Arctica Initiative is a series of expeditions undertaken by environmental advocates in collaboration with Green Cross France and Global Green USA, designed to alert public opinion of critical environmental issues that endanger the Arctic region. Spanning a period of three years from July 2008 to 2010, Pax Arctica will emphasize focused research by ecological scientists and environmental advocates to explore and assess the ecological conditions and the geopolitical climate of the Arctic. The ultimate goal is to determine the steps needed to preserve the Arctic ecosystem for generations to come and to encourage the ratification of international policies to ensure the preservation of the Arctic habitat.

5 Arctic nations say they will obey U.N. rules...

... interesting to see if the US will really follow through on this commitment if the UN were to rule in favor of Russian claims for seabed under the north pole (Luc Hardy)

ILULISSAT, Greenland (Reuters) - Five Arctic coastal nations agreed on Wednesday to let the U.N. rule on conflicting territorial claims on the region's seabed, which may hold up to one fourth of the world's undiscovered hydrocarbon reserves.

"We affirmed our commitment to the orderly settlement of any possible overlapping claims," U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte told a news conference.

Ministers from Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the United States met in Greenland for a two-day summit to discuss sovereignty over the Arctic Ocean seabed.

Under the 1982 U.N. Law of the Sea Convention, coastal states own the seabed beyond existing 200-nautical mile (370-km) zones if it is part of a continental shelf of shallower waters. The rules aim to fix shelves' outer limits on a clear geological basis, but have created a tangle of overlapping Arctic claims.

The United States has not yet ratified the convention, but Negroponte urged Congress to do so as soon as possible.

The countries, most major oil exporters, agreed to settle conflicting territorial claims by the law until a U.N. body could rule on the disputes.

Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moller called the meeting in his country's self-governing province to try to end squabbling over ownership of huge tracts of the Arctic seabed, although it will be several decades before oil drilling in the deep Arctic sea is feasible.

Also attending were Greenland Premier Hans Enoksen, Russian and Norwegian Foreign Ministers Sergei Lavrov and Jonas Gahr Stoere and Canadian Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn.

Ward Hunt ice shelf cracking...

This will be one of the destination of the Pax Arctica /Green Cross expedition this summer. our group, comprised of adults and children will witness the cracking of the oldest polar ice: 3000 years old, 40 metre deep...

watch the VIDEO: http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/413677


New cracks in the largest remaining Arctic ice shelf suggest another polar landmark seems destined to break up and disappear. (April 11, 2008)

Ward Hunt Ice Shelf destined to disappear

THE CANADIAN PRESS

WARD HUNT ISLAND, Nunavut–New cracks in the largest remaining Arctic ice shelf suggest another polar landmark seems destined to break up and disappear.

Scientists discovered the extensive new cracks in the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf earlier this year and a patrol of Canadian Rangers got an up-close look at them last week.

"The map of Canada has changed," said Derek Mueller of Trent University, who was amazed to find how quickly the shelf has deteriorated since he discovered the first crack in 2002.

"These changes are happening in concert with other indicators of climate change."

Mueller and his fellow researchers were expected to release their findings on Saturday. But a patrol of Canadian Rangers travelling west last week from CFB Alert at the northern tip of Ellesmere Island saw the cracks first-hand.

"We're looking at the possible demise of the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf," said Doug Stern, a Ranger and Parks Canada employee, who was on the patrol and has been helping Mueller with his research.

Formed by accumulating snow and freezing meltwater, ice shelves are large platforms of thick, ancient sea ice that float on the ocean's surface. Ellesmere Island was once ringed by one, but that enormous shelf broke up in the early 1900s.

At 443 square kilometres in size, the Ward Hunt shelf is the largest of those remnants – even bigger than the Antarctic shelf that collapsed late last month, and seven times the size of the Ayles Ice Shelf chunk that broke off in 2005 from Ellesmere's western coast.

The Ward Hunt shelf's characteristic corrugated surface, described by Mueller "like a giant Ruffles potato chip," is now fractured by dozens of deep cracks in the 3,000-year-old, 40-metre thick ice.

Mueller found evidence of one of the new cracks in satellite images. Then he and Stern followed up with an aerial survey earlier this year.

"We were expecting to see one new crack," said Stern. "But when we flew over, all of a sudden...there's one, there's another one.

"There are not just a couple of parallel cracks. It's multifaceted cracking going on. I was just totally amazed to see them all."

The Rangers found even more, and as part of their patrol they measured and documented as many of the new cracks as they could. One was 10 kilometres long and up to 40 metres wide.

The cracks, easily large enough to swallow a snowmobile, presented an extra hazard for the patrol's scouts as they picked a route across the ice between CFB Alert and Ward Hunt Island.

The Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, one of the last five remaining in Canada, has been shrinking since the 1930s. But after a period of stability during the '80s, that deterioration seems to picking up, said Mueller.

That suggests climate change in the area has crossed some kind of threshold, he added.

Other data on the shelf is also not encouraging.

As far back as the 1960s, poles were sunk 2.5 metres deep into the ice. Annual measurements of how much those poles protrude from the surface indicate whether the ice is thickening or thinning.

This year, several poles couldn't even be found by the Rangers, suggesting the ice had completely melted out from under them.

Pinned in place by islands and landfast ice, the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf is unlikely to drift out to sea, said Mueller. It's more likely to become increasingly fractured and deteriorate where it sits.

The bottom line is the vast plain of ice is now on "life support," he said. Ice shelves are not replenished by glaciers. Cracks in them are permanent.

"You can't go back," said Mueller. "It's broken."

On its own, the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf represents only a tiny fraction of the Arctic Ocean's ice. But its loss is another example of the slowly shrinking ice cover, a loss that scientists suspect will permanently change the Arctic ecosystem and add to global warming, since open water absorbs more solar heat.

The rapid changes point to the need for more research to understand what's going on, Mueller said.

"We're trying to gather clues as to what's in store and what's the significance overall. We know very little about this coastline. It's important for us to get out there and take real measurements."

new Expedition - Canadian Arctic - July 2008

Just to let you know that our partnership with Green Cross International has been reinforced, and that we have agreed to work together on a major program over the next few years: Ambassadors from the Arctic. M. Gorbachev himself has encouraged and approved this strategic initiative specifically designed to alert public opinion of critical environmental issues that endanger the Arctic region.

Led by renowned photographer Sebastian Copeland of Green Cross / Global Green US our program and myself, the program will span three years: 2008, 2009 and 2010. Our goal is that within this time frame, a unique consortium of environmental advocates and ecological scientists - with the
support of corporate sponsors and individuals - will explore and assess the conditions of the Arctic region, and determine what steps are required to guarantee its preservation for generations to come. Y&R/Young & Rubicam, one of the world’s leading marketing communications agencies has agreed to partner with us to provide marketing and PR services for this multi-year project.

The first mission will be in the Canadian Arctic in July 2008, more specifically starting from Resolute Bay onto Ellesmere Island, reaching the highest peak in Nunavut and Cape Columbia, the northernmost area of Nunavut.

Our expedition members, adults but especially children, will be interacting with scientists doing field work in these regions.

Green Cross - New Campaign

This year’s focus is on greenhouse gas emissions reduction. The campaign offers alternative lifestyle choices that promote low carbon economies, such as investing in improved energy efficiency, using renewable energy sources, conservation of forests, and eco-friendly consumption.

Will the Magnetic North Pole move to Siberia?

Interesting animation of the magnetic North Pole’s movement towards Russia...
http://www.agu.org/eos_elec/2007/29-293.html

MIT Club lecture

Nous sommes heureux de vous inviter à un Dîner-Débat sur le thème "L'EXPEDITION SAGAX - CROISADE BLANCHE POUR UNE CAUSE VERTE" le mardi 18 mars à 20 heures dans les salons du Club Iéna.
Nous aurons l’occasion d’échanger en direct avec :

Luc HARDY
Fondateur et Président de SAGAX
Aventurier, Auteur, Explorateur, Philanthrope

Durant l’été 2007, Luc Hardy a mené, conjointement avec le GREA et Green Cross International, une expédition de neuf personnes, dont des scientifiques et des enfants, au Groenland. Leur mission: évaluer l’impact du réchauffement climatique sur la faune et la flore arctique. Pour cela ils ont effectué des prélèvements, balisé des oiseaux, observé des animaux, interviewé des populations locales...
Pour notre dîner-débat, Luc interviendra, photos à l'appui, sur les signes concrets de réchauffement climatique qu'il a pu observer directement lors de son expédition au Groenland l'été dernier. Il pourra nous parler aussi de l'impact du réchauffement sur la géopolitique de la région, et du rôle des ONGs elles aussi engagées dans ces processus.

Pour détails contacter: greenland@sagax.com

Oil rush?

A 2-employee Las Vegas-based company claims to have legal rights to Arctic oil and gas. hummmm.... Market cap of the company: $288 million (yes!). Judge for yourself at: www.arcticoag.com

“Arctic Oil & Gas Corp. (Pink Sheets: AOAG) is an oil exploration venture company that has filed for the exclusive exploitation, development, marketing and extraction rights to the oil and gas resources of the seafloor and subsurface contained within the ”Arctic Claims“.

An Exclusive Rights Claim to the Hydrocarbon Resources of the Arctic Oceans Commons was formally lodged by the Company and its partners with the United Nations and the five Arctic countries on May 9th 2006....”

Claims to the Arctic seabed?

Front page of today’s New York Times, more news and intrigue on what will become a dramatic geopolitical issue in the next few years. One that Green Cross International is addressing through various efforts, including a series of Arctic educational expeditions in the Arctic. More on this soon... Full article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/19/world/europe/...

Biofuels INCREASE Greenhouse gases...

Contrary to popular belief..:

Published Online February 7, 2008
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1151861

Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases Through Emissions from Land Use Change
Timothy Searchinger 1*, Ralph Heimlich 2, R. A. Houghton 3, Fengxia Dong 4, Amani Elobeid 4, Jacinto Fabiosa 4, Simla Tokgoz 4, Dermot Hayes 4, Tun-Hsiang Yu 4


* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Timothy Searchinger , E-mail: tsearchi@princeton.edu

Most prior studies have found that substituting biofuels for gasoline will reduce greenhouse gases because biofuels sequester carbon through the growth of the feedstock. These analyses have failed to count the carbon emissions that occur as farmers worldwide respond to higher prices and convert forest and grassland to new cropland to replace the grain (or cropland) diverted to biofuels. Using a worldwide agricultural model to estimate emissions from land use change, we found that corn-based ethanol, instead of producing a 20% savings, nearly doubles greenhouse emissions over 30 years and increases greenhouse gases for 167 years. Biofuels from switchgrass, if grown on U.S. corn lands, increase emissions by 50%. This result raises concerns about large biofuel mandates and highlights the value of using waste products.

Cool statistics... real time

I love this site. some of the statistics are dizzying... see for yourself:
http://www.worldometers.info/fr/

Green Cross’ Gorbachev Rebukes Putin...

MOSCOW — Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the final leader of the Soviet Union, sharply criticized the state of Russia’s electoral system in remarks published Monday and called for extensive reforms to a system that has secured power for President Vladimir V. Putin and the Kremlin’s inner circle.

“Something is wrong with our elections, and our electoral system needs a major adjustment,” the former Soviet leader said.

The remarks, made in a telephone interview on Sunday but held for a day by the Interfax news wire service, followed the Russian government’s rejection of the only serious opposition candidate in the March 2 presidential election.

The timing was pointed and provocative, and the remarks were the most vocal criticism to date by a prominent Russian political figure of the state of the country’s politics as Mr. Putin prepares to pass power to a chosen successor. They were ignored by Russian television news broadcasts, which are controlled by the Kremlin. The opposition candidate, former Prime Minister Mikhail M. Kasyanov, was denied a place on the ballot on Sunday by the Central Election Commission, which said 13 percent of the more than two million signatures submitted with his registration documents were invalid.

Mr. Kasyanov has said that the signatures are valid and that the Kremlin ordered the commission to block his candidacy as a means of ensuring the election of Dmitri A. Medvedev, a first deputy prime minister and the candidate selected by Mr. Putin.

Mr. Kasyanov’s campaign had previously said that his supporters had been harassed and bullied by Russian authorities, who threatened them with incarceration or dismissal from the jobs.

Mr. Gorbachev’s remarks did not address Mr. Kasyanov directly, although Mr. Gorbachev’s aide Pavel Palazhchenko said they had been in response to a journalist’s question about the end of the Kasyanov candidacy.

Mr. Palazhchenko, in a telephone interview from London, where Mr. Gorbachev is traveling, also said Interfax had called the former Soviet leader to confirm the accuracy of his quotations before publishing them.

Mr. Gorbachev, in the published statements, said the election’s result was “predictable from the outset” and “predetermined by the enormous role that Vladimir Putin played.”

Mr. Putin, who under Russian law cannot serve a third term, has said he will serve as prime minister under Mr. Medvedev — a decision that means he will not necessarily be yielding power.

Mr. Gorbachev has often been publicly supportive of Mr. Putin, and credited him with undoing much of the disorder of the 1990s under President Boris N. Yeltsin, a bitter rival of Mr. Gorbachev’s.

But he has also taken independent positions, including supporting Novaya Gazeta, an independent newspaper that fiercely criticizes Russian officials and has not spared Mr. Putin.

Mr. Gorbachev has said investigative journalism and criticism of officials are essential to the country’s health. He has also previously denounced the state of elections here. His latest remarks put him squarely on record opposing the administrative and electoral means by which Mr. Putin has ensured that his circle will remain in power, and calling for more strict civilian control over Russia’s elections.

Among the changes Mr. Gorbachev recommended was the end of exclusively party-list elections for Parliament, which prevent individual candidates from running for the legislature and keep the assignment of seats in the hands of party leaders. United Russia, the largest party, is controlled by Mr. Putin.

Mr. Gorbachev also suggested a return to direct public elections for governors; the selection of governors now rests with the president, giving citizens no vote.

“The issue concerning governors’ elections should also be raised,” he said, “so that people are able to take a more active part in social and political life.”