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environmentPHOTO BY SAM BRANSON PHOTO BY BEN HORTONEllesmere Expedition 2008 CompletedPolar explorer and environmentalist Will Steger and a team of six 22-28-year-old explorers, including twoNorwegians, just completed a 1,400-mile dogsled expedition across Ellesmere Island in Canada, sponsoredby the Norwegian Embassy in Washington. They documented the impact of climate change in theCanadian Arctic, an area on the frontline of global warming. Read excerpts from their blog below.compiled by caroline schønheyderDay 1: Sunday March 2008: “Our first day on the ice, what a greatfeeling to be finally relieved of all the pre-expedition stress! Ahead ofus lies 60 amazing days, spent with 6 incredible people and 30 greatdogs. This will be a journey!” Eric McNair-LandryDay 2: “It was pretty cold on the face today. You have to be really careful.My nose had turned white before someone pointed it out to me.Luckily it was not deep and all was okay!” Sam BransonDay 4: “Another great day on the ice, as we start to eat through ourfood and the dogs start to eat through theirs the sleds become lighterand we gain momentum. A large portion of that weight is dog food.”Eric McNair-LandryDay 5: “After being spoiled by awesome terrain the last couple ofdays, we ran out of luck. Dead ahead lay patches of rough ice. We managedto weave our way in and out, hugging the shore avoiding most ofthe bigger chunks.” Sarah McNair-LandryDay 27: “After 27 hard days through mostly rough ice conditions wefinally made it to the remains of the Ayles Iceshelf. This is one of themain goals of our expedition. It was a dramatic moment when we sawthe 26-foot tall ice wall of the Ayles on the horizon. We camped thisevening below the edge of the iceshelf resting after four pretty brutaldays in the roughest ice we have experienced. As much as it was greatto get to Ayles it is also sad to witness this great iceshelf floatingaround in the sea destined to disintegrate. Only three years ago,Ellesmere’s coastline included a much larger Ayles Iceshelf. In a matterof minutes much of this iceshelf broke off and became a floating iceisland. It had been in place for at least 4,500 years before it broke away.The ice island calved off from the Ayles Iceshelf because of unusuallywarmer temperatures and persistent offshore winds.”Toby ThorleifssonDay 30: “We took a rest day today: a great opportunity to read, write,and take a sponge bath. The latter gives you a chance to check for cutswhich may get infected and to keep track of where your body is at,health-wise.” Sarah McNair-LandryDay 39: “An absolutely incredible day. This morning the sun was shining.Not a breath of wind in the air. The huge mountains beside usstood in full glory as they basked in the sun’s heat. Traveling in conditionslike this gives you a real chance to take in your surroundings andappreciate where you are. It’s amazing the perspective it gives you. Notonly being in such an inspiring place, but being so detached from theoutside world. How people get so fixated on little things and actuallymiss the bigger picture. As big and powerful as this world seems it isreally a fragile place.” Sam BransonDay 40: “Exactly 110 years and 3 days ago on May 5th, part of OttoSverdrup’s team traveled up this coast mapping and surveilling. Theyreached the location were we are now camped, where they were forcedto turn around because they ran out of food.” Sarah McNair-LandryPHOTO BY SAM BRANSONDay 6: Ice chunks can be a great danger and the team must move morecarefully and at a slower pace. The ice chunks can hurt both the teammembers and the dogs, and break their sleighs. Polar bears pose anotherchallenge. “Today we crossed polar bear tracks many times, and amiddle sized bear showed up sniffing around our camp at dinner time.”Sigrid EkranDay 49: “It seems impossible to really capture this place with a camera,or even with words. It cannot capture the feeling of sitting aloneatop an iceberg in the frozen sea listening to the distant howls ofwolves. The howls set our dogs into their own symphony and thesilence of the sea ice is broken. We made today a short travel day, notfor lack of energy or difficulties, but simply because the region we justentered is by far the best environment to see wildlife.” Ben Horton10 | news of norway | summer 2008
PHOTOS BY B. JAHNSEN/NORWEGIAN MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRSArctic Nations Cooperate on Climate Changeby caroline schønheyderOn May 28, Norwegian Minister ofForeign Affairs Jonas Gahr Støre metwith representatives of the other fourstates bordering the Arctic Ocean: Canada, theUnited States, Russia, and Denmark. At theconference in Ilulissat in Greenland, the ministersadopted a joint declaration on how toapproach the challenges facing the ArcticOcean due to climate change.The meeting was based on the legalassessments made at a conference in Oslo inOctober 2007, at which the same five statesmet at a senior political level.The declaration establishes that the existinglaw of the sea provides the framework forfuture national measures and cooperationwith regards to environmental protection,research, establishing the outer limits of thecontinental shelf, and shipping. In his speechat the Ilulissat conference, Minister Støresaid: “In order to respond [to the challengesfaced in the Arctic region,] we need twothings: a legal framework and sound policies… In my view, the challenges we are facingmay have to do more with a lack on implementationof the existing rues than with anactual lack of rules. There is no lack of rules,there is a lack of policies.”The need for sustainable policies is one ofthe reasons Norway has placed the HighNorth as its strategic priority, something thatharmonizes well with Norway’s chairmanshipof the Arctic Council, a seat the country willhold until October 2009. In addition to theFrom the left, Denmark’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Per Stig Møller, Norway’s Ministerof Foreign Affairs Jonas Gahr Støre, Greenland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs AleqaHammond, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources Gary Lunn, United States DeputySecretary of State John Negroponte and Greenland’s Premier Hans Enoksen.Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs JonasGahr Støre and United States DeputySecretary of State John Negroponte.states represented at the Ilulissat conference,the Arctic Council includes Sweden, Finland,and Iceland, as well as the participation ofindigenous people of the Arctic region. Thecouncil will play a central role in furthercooperation.As the icecap of the Arctic melts, waterwaysopen up, giving new opportunities forexploiting the natural resources of the ArcticOcean. At the Ilulissat Conference, Støretalked about the Norwegian policies for managementof Norwegian waters. He highlightedthe integrated management plan for theBarents Sea, which addresses energy exploration,management of fish resources, transportationand environmental concerns. “Thepurpose of the plan is to facilitate long-termvalue creation based on the sustainable use ofthe sea areas, while preserving the structuresand productivity of their ecosystems. I believethat the basic approach of the plan – ecosystem-basedmanagement – should govern managementof the resources of the Arctic,” Støresaid. Since no agreement has been reached onwho is entitled to which Arctic resources,many call for pragmatic collaboration.Day 62: Expedition completed: The expedition ended up taking a differentroute than planned as melting ice had created a terrain impossibleto penetrate. Back in civilization, the team met with Al Gore, andwill now share their observations with scientists from the NationalSnow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado.“Despite the trail being massively more rugged than anticipated,many good memories were catalogued along the way. It seems like theharder the conditions get the more it draws people together, to participatein a singular goal and to help each other in times of need.” EricMcNair-Landry“We have now started to present our eyewitness accounts and shareour experiences from the frontlines of global warming in the U.S andNorway. In fact, this is our most important and most challenging partof our mission. We need to try as best we can to use our story in anattempt to empower our generation for the time’s most important issue.As much as it might seem overwhelming to be faced by the complexissues of global warming our generation also has been given a gloriousopportunity to collectively do the right thing. We have a magnificentchance to develop international cooperation and to make our mark onhistory with positive connotations.” Toby ThorleifssonFor events presenting the expedition's findings seewww.globalwarming101.comwww.norway.orgwww.norway.org | 11PHOTO BY BEN HORTON
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