CRyOfRONT: News and Views from the Far North
Mentoring the next generation of environmentalists By Ken Johnson, NTWWA Director
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A very remote science camp
“the extreme environment of the far north presents a constant challenge even today for residents.”
ride from the community. To make the trip, my planning companion and I chartered a boat with a 20-something-year-old pilot. I have to admit it was a very rough ride for me, and there was further discomfort in the knowledge that if the boat sank my chances for survival were nil in the cold Arctic Ocean waters. Near the end of the trip, I asked my young pilot, “On a scale of 1-to-10, how rough were the waters today?” He replied quite casually that these waters were a “2 out of 10.” My discomfort on this particular boat trip, and view on the potential for mentoring the youth of the north dramatically changed for the better.
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the water professionals of the future Mentoring & training
As the proud father of two teenagers as of April 28 when my daughter turned 13, I am reflecting upon their state of mind as it relates to the environment, and I have to admit that I am disappointed in what I see in their environmental aptitude. Learning by example has not worked to date given the “extreme” environmentalism that I have personally displayed over the past decades with recycling, energy conservation (fluorescent bulbs, small vehicles – although I don’t yet own a hybrid), composting, and rain water harvesting. I even switched from an electric mower to a push mower last year. WHY IS THIS NOT WORKING? Having spent the past year working on a climate change project with the Hamlet of Kugluktuk, I have seen some significant departures between the youth of that community, and the youth in my home in regards to the awareness Fishing on a community’s shore for arctic char of the environment and their environmental aptitude. There was very little evidence in Kugluktuk of the generally accepted environmental activities that are all around communities in the south – no beverage container recycling, and no paper recycling. In fact, the garbage dump (sorry….I meant landfill) still uses burning as a standard operating practice, and the wastewater treatment consists of simply a retention pond. This is not to say that these waste management processes are not appropriate technology for the situation – I will save that for a future column. In the absence of the generally accepted environmental activities, is there in fact any opportunity for mentoring the next generation of environmentalists in the North? I think so. Exposure to the environment itself, and in the case of the far North, the changing environment, is a lesson by itself. The extreme environment of the far North presents a constant challenge even today for residents. (Try walking down the street at –50° C and a 50 km headwind every day for a week.) Community activities like fishing on the beach in front of the community for arctic char (YUM) or attending a remote science camp 60 km from the community (by boat) are what I would call “in your face” mentoring of future environmentalists in the north. Another aspect of the “in your face” mentoring in the North is the interaction between youth and the elders in communities like Kugluktuk. Although this interaction is becoming more and more limited with the language barriers and the mortality of the elders, the interactions between the two generations, when it happens, is encouraging to see. One particular experience on the mentoring of the next generation of environmentalists comes to mind from my Kugluktuk travel over the past year. I was very fortunate to receive an invitation to participate in a youth-elder science camp at Basil Bay, which is a 60 km hour-long boat