polar realities

It is true that if an Inuit hunter were to see two polar bears, instead of hunting just one which could be shared among a small community, most hunters will shoot them both. Because of the strict quotas in place that limit the number of animals to be hunted each year, sharing the kill with between different families has become a way of the past. Now, everything is purchased with money, even between close friends. There is an immense pressure to make the income required to buy the necessary imported food, and as the cost of living in Greenland is extraordinarily high, most feel as if there is no other choice. They must hunt more than was needed in the past, enough to sell the skins, meat and ivory for how else could they meet the demands of their modern lifestyles? And I know what you may be thinking, but there is no returning from this dependency on the contemporary way of life. The past is lost in translation as there is no written history, the current reality is tangled between excessive hunting versus the necessity to support a family in the twenty-first century and as a result, the future of Greenland is changed permanently.

fixing a hole

keep your heart strong

Southbound, somewhere along the i5, a rainbow emerged from the storm clad clouds. Promising a taste of something newly exposed from the winter rain, you couldn’t stop the humbling feeling of chemistry becoming natures beauty right before your eyes. A token of color to remember as the days begin to move at an ever accelerating pace. Our project started like most everything else, an idea. Six months later we are in the final stages of preparing for a year long expedition. North pole to south pole, ice to desert, mountain top to the deep blue sea, traversing high and low to discover what tomorrow holds. Environmentally, we are in pursuit of first world effects upon 7 unique and fragile ecosystems. Consciously, we hope to capture the human thread that weaves across cultures and through generations. As we embark upon 2012 with a fierce excitement and two duffel bags full of anticipated adventure, ‘we are free as the birds that fly with weightless souls’.