Andrew Wong embarks on Arctic Expedition 

with Students on Ice - August 2010

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Today I would like to share with everyone that I have the very special privilege of joining Students on Ice as one of the participants of the Students on Ice 2010 Arctic Expedition!  This expedition, happening from August 4th - August 20th, 2010 involves a ship-based journey encompassing regions around Nunavik and the Eastern shores of Baffin Island. 

The team on the expedition includes 79 youth.  These 79 members include youth from every region in Canada, 25 aboriginals, and youth from around the world- China, Monaco, Norway, and the United States.  Also embarking on this expedition are 35 scientists, historians, artists, Inuit elders, explorers, authors, educators, leaders, innovators, and polar experts.  The year 2010 is a very important year.  We all join together in celebrating many important year-long events, including the: International Year of Youth, 2010 International year of Biodiversity, Year of the Inuit, and continuing on the legacies of the International Polar Year. 

During each and every moment of the expedition, I will open their eyes wide to deeply appreciate the stunning wildlife the Arctic region has to offer.  Wildlife certainly includes: whales, seals, walrus, seabirds, and of course, polar bears.  The expedition also involves meeting and spending time with local Inuit communities to learn and appreciate their culture and way of life.  Equally if not more valuable are the lessons to be learned: grasping the real effects that climate change on the Arctic ecosystems, connecting and integrating scientific knowledge with social implications, and participating in very real research relating to sciences such as glaciology and climatology.

**Throughout the expedition, from Day 1 to Day 17, I will be writing a daily journal entry** which is viewable here.  I encourage everyone to join in and read the sure-to-be exciting and unique adventures, lessons, and experiences that I encounter while on the Arctic Expedition.  Feel free to write a comment or ask questions;

I will try my best to respond to you! 

To learn more about the expedition team, itinerary, and educational program, please visit here: http://www.studentsonice.com/arctic2010/
To learn more about the innovative Students on Ice organization, visit here:  http://www.studentsonice.com/

In the expedition spirit,
Andrew 
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BP 'Spills Coffee'

By now, the world should be well aware of the destruction that has been going on in the Gulf of Mexico - that is, the extremely large crude oil spill caused by a broken British Petroleum (BP) oil well in the middle of the ocean.

Every day we keep on reading the news about the 'progress' BP is making to stem the leak. What progress? I put the word progress in quotations because there really hasn't been much progress. The truth is, it is very difficult to cleanse a GULF of water that has been choked with hundreds of millions of litres of oil. Undoubtedly, this event is a very serious issue and the future of oil drilling and oil exploration must be re-evaluated constantly. I shudder when I hear that oil exploration is happening in the Arctic.

As I said earlier, we keep reading the news about the oil spill. But information and opinion on this tragedy is not contained to only the news. It has leaked to many different media, from concerned citizens making their own youtube videos in offering their own solutions to stop the oil spill, to blogs and much more. I found a youtube video today that I would say is a very truthful representation - a comedic parody - of how British Petroleum and other parties have handled the situation thus far.