This is worrisome. Especially since I’m going to that general neck of the woods next year.
Tag Archives: travel
Midway Atoll
Midway atoll is a beautiful patch of sand thousands of miles away from anything in the Pacific Ocean. After its life as a US military base was finished, it came under the protection of a Marine Sanctuary, one which encompasses most of the islands in the Hawaiian archipelago, making it one of the largest such protected areas in the world. It is home to around two million albatross, or it was in the spring of 2008 when the crew and trainees of the Pacific Grace stopped there on our north Pacific crossing.
That protection, however, does not and cannot extend past the shores of the islands and once the albatross have left the island where they reign supreme, they are in danger. It seems that albatross are feeding in what has come to be known The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an area of the Pacific about twice the size of Texas completely covered in plastic trash. Some of it has been dumped off of ships, some is probably cargo that has come loose in storms, still more is blown out to sea from coastal areas on both sides of the Pacific.
We saw hints of this on Midway last year. The photo above shows the beach and a pile of garbage. When individuals walk the beaches on Midway, they collect some of the larger pieces and add them too these piles all along the beach. Some of it is probably washed up on shore. The rest of it comes from the albatross who, thinking it is food, have unwittingly swallowed it and brought it back to land.
There they feed it to their young and, as Chris Jordan’s photos show (also, see the NY Times Book Review, h/t to Jen who sent me this article and started me off on this rant), it has devastating effects.
The following videos are [first] a short doc on the plastic and albatross on Midway (I recognize the opening scenes from our visit there, they are the old military houses) and [second] Chris’ photos set to music.
Damning? Yes. Enough to make us all reconsider our plastic consumption? I sure hope so.
Burma
As you may or may not know, I have already got my next major excursion out of the country planned. While this should not come as too much of a surprise, where I am going may. I’m going with a group of young adults from the Anglican Diocese of British Columbia to Myanmar/Burma next year. We will be going as a part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of their Anglican young people’s association because our diocese has a partner relationship with theirs. As a part of this partnership, fifteen people from there are supposed to be coming to visit us this week. Unfortunately, due to the stupidity (? – sorry having a difficult time coming up with a better adjective than that) of our Canadian government, only four of the group has been issued visas to come. The other eleven are currently sitting in Thailand, waiting. For these people to come here is not an easy task, now our government has gone and made it more difficult. Pray for them.
Things I Forgot About Alberta
- It is very flat
- Major geographical features go down, not up (river valleys…)
- People drive very big trucks
- The streets are quite wide
- Rain doesn’t last all day long
- Coffee is almost twice the price as in Victoria
- 1970 = old in architecture
- Everyone drives everywhere
- Don’t dis the Conservatives in public unless you know your audience
It’s not a Carbon Footprint, its a Carbon Snowshoe
I’m in Edmonton.
On the plane flying here I began to count the number of aeroports I’ve been to this summer and I got embarrassed by the number. Since May: Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Victoria, Amsterdam, Nairobi, Mombassa, Calgary, Edmonton… That is disgusting (but also pretty fantastic when you realize it covers a good chunk of Canada plus 2 other countries/continents and that all of it was planned on fairly short notice – for me).
Edmonton this weekend was a bit of a whim – I had aeroplan points. They were about to expire. So I booked a flight to Edmonton for the long weekend. Jen moved in to her new place last week and so we spent today unpacking. Correction: Jen unpacked while I cleaned the bathroom (Its an interesting bathroom – the shower drain is my favourite, photo to follow when I have my uploader). Then we went to Ikea with a friend and laughed/shopped away a few hours there before I finished cleaning the bathroom and Jen put together the Ikea furniture.
Between cleaning my bathroom yesterday for new roommate to arrive and cleaning Jen’s bathroom today, I think I’ve cleaned enough bathroom for awhile. Plus, there are no more cross-province/country/continent/ocean flights planned for awhile so hopefully my carbon snowshoe will shrink back down to a small footprint.
Driving
I’m pretty sure, after reading this article, that Driving in India is very similar to driving in Kenya. Or China. Or just about every other developing country I’ve ever been to.
Regular Programming to be Resumed Soon
Until then, I offer you an article Matthew shared with me that speaks wonderfully to the experience of returning home after a worldview-challenging visit to a developing/Third World country. Even if you have never had this experience (and everyone should, in my opinion, have some sort of worldview-challenging experience that, in the very least, makes you sit up and think about how you live your live on a daily basis) it is an excellent read. If you have had such an experience, you will likely find yourself, as I did, nodding along with it as you read.
“‘When I was in Afghanistan…’ (Or How I Learned That Shopping Doesn’t Help)” by Ryan Schmidt
Send me to Antartica!
My friend Nanc and I first bonded 10 years ago biking through southern Albertan coulees. Since then we’ve kept in touch sporatically, most frequently when she would continually break into our house in Prince George (after we showed her where the spare key was hidden – first mistake!) to crash on days off while tree planting.
We’ve had this crazy dream to go to Antartica together when it was our last continent left, ideally before we turn 30. Well, we’re even on continents and we have the chance to go to Antartica for FREE! I just entered a competition and now we need your vote!
Go to this site: http://www.blogyourwaytoantarctica.com/blogs/view/417 and vote for us. You get one vote per email address and right now we need over 2000 votes to win so tell all your friends, family, and even random strangers!
Thanks!
Out of Africa
It turns out that getting yourself back onto a time zone is much easier to accomplish if you actually keep a regular schedule and get to bed on time. That was not to be as I was at a friend’s wedding reception last evening. However, it was wonderful to see so many people once again and catch up on the last few weeks. It was the same this morning at church. I have some wonderful friends here in Victoria.
The first question I get asked is one which I have been asked many times before. It is a hard question not because it asks something incredibly difficult or profound but because it is impossibly to answer in a short sentence: “How was your trip?” How do you encapsulate a trip such as this in words? It is a similar struggle I faced after our Offshore trip around the Pacific for a year where we encountered many different people from many different cultures. We were confronted with different issues and needs that people experience on a daily basis and challenged in our Western lifestyle. It is a similar struggle I faced on arrival home from a life-changing six weeks in China as a part of a culture and language exchange where I was also challenged in our lifestyle and in the accepted norms of our culture.
In Kenya I saw first hand some of the corruption and disparity of wealth that seems to be all over in many African (and, indeed, many developing) countries. Driving down the road and seeing the differences in how the majority of people live versus how the wealthy live was, at times, disturbing. I struggled with being white because of the legacy white colonials have left in many developing countries; I hate receiving special treatment just because of my skin colour. I took issue with major irrigation projects designed to benefit a small number when thousands suffer because of drought.
These are all issues which are not unique to Kenya. In many ways, they are found in Canada as well. We just do a better job at hiding them. There is still corruption. Climate change and changing weather plans are things we have to deal with as well; lets face it, Western countries have not been leading the way as they should in dealing with these things as they do not seem to affect us as much. We have huge disparities in wealth in Canada, it is just easier to ignore if you live in the suburbs and drive into work each day without setting foot in amongst the really needy in our cities. I am as guilty as the next person in this.
Do I have ideas on how to change things? Not really. The problem seems so huge that I am still wrapping my head around it and wouldn’t really know where to start. For now, I will continue to live my life and to re-evaluate my lifestyle to minimize my negative impact on the world aroud me while considering how I can be of help to those around me.
Home
I’m back home. Flight out was fine. Amsterdam was fun. Flights (3) home from the Netherlands were fairly uneventful (though I ended up beside young kids for 2 out of three). Now it is onto getting myself on pacific time again before sailing next week. Pictures are in the process of being uploaded and will appear soon. I hope.
gillian's island 