Skier sets record for solo Antarctic trek

British adventurer Felicity Aston completed her crossing of Antarctica on Monday, becoming the first woman to ski across the icy continent alone.



Felicity Aston takes a picture of herself at Union Glacier days before she traveled to her starting point on the Ross Ice Shelf for a solo trek across Antarctica. Aston, 34, crossed Antarctica in 59 days, pulling two sledges for more than 1,084 miles from the Leverett Glacier to the Hercules Inlet on the Ronne Ice Shelf. On Monday morning, she tweeted that she has completed her journey.



British adventurer Felicity Aston skied across Iceland during a pre-expedition training trip. Aston skied by herself across Antarctica, completing the journey of more than 1,000 miles. She became the first human person to cross Antarctica alone under her own power. She also set a record for the longest solo polar expedition by a woman, about 70 days.

She did it in 59 days, pulling two sledges for 1,084 miles (1,744 kilometers) from her starting point on the Leverett Glacier on Nov. 25.

“!!!Congratulations to the 1st female to traverse Antarctica SOLO.V proud,” her Twitter message said.

She announced her achievement from Hercules Inlet on Antarctica’s Ronne Ice Shelf, where she waited alone in her tent for bad weather to clear so that a small plane could pick her up and take her to a base camp. Other expeditions also have gathered there, preparing for the summer’s last flight off the continent.

Aston also set another record: the first human to ski solo, across Antarctica, using only her own muscle power. A male-female team already combined to ski across Antarctica without kites or machines to pull them across, but Aston is the first to do this alone.

A veteran of expeditions in sub-zero environments, Aston, 34, worked as a meteorologist in Antarctica and has led teams on ski trips in the Antarctic, the Arctic and Greenland.

Her journey took her from the Ross Ice Shelf, up the Leverett Glacier and across the Transantarctic Mountains to the continent’s vast central plateau, where she fought headwinds most of the way to the South Pole. Then she turned toward Hercules Inlet and a base camp where the Antarctic Logistics and Expeditions company provides logistical support to each summer’s Antarctic expeditions.

She arranged in advance for two supply drops so that she could travel with a lighter load, one at the pole and one partway toward her final destination. Otherwise, her feat was unassisted.

Aston tweeted that she’s been promised red wine and a hot shower after she gets picked up. “No plane tonight but I have my last Beef and Ale Stew to enjoy for my final evening alone — yum!” she wrote.

And while she pondered her achievement in her last hours of solitude Monday, she shared more of her thoughts in a phone call she broadcast live online.

“It’s all a little bit overwhelming. After days and days to get here, I seem to have arrived all in a rush. I don’t really feel prepared for it. It feels amazing to be finished and yet overwhelmingly sad that it’s over at the same time,” she said. “I can’t quite believe that i’m here and that i’ve crossed Antarctica, just over 1700 kilometers, just under 1,000 nautical miles, 14.5 degrees and 59 days and here I am.”

“I’m just going to sit here and enjoy these last precious moments on my own, and running through my mind all those days behind me, the plane leaving me on my own ... the awful day when I thought I was going to get blown away, all those days of bad weather, slogging through those mountains, up those hills with my sledges, arriving at the pole, leaving the pole again, more bad weather and just empty horizons...”

“I remember all the bad times, sitting in my tent, thinking ‘what on Earth am I doing?’, but despite all that, this has been the most amazing privilege, to have the opportunity to do this, and just a huge thank you to all those people who made it possible.”

Read more: http://www.timesleader.com/features/Skier_sets_record_for_solo_Antarctic_trek_01-29-2012.html#ixzz1kx2wuhor

Thwarted on US oil pipeline, Canada looks to China. Did China tell Obama they hold the USA trump debt cards?

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2012/01/28/thwarted_on_us_oil_pipeline_canada_looks_to_china/

 KITAMAAT VILLAGE, British Columbia—The latest chapter in Canada's quest to become a full-blown oil superpower unfolded this month in a village gym on the British Columbia coast.

Here, several hundred people gathered for hearings on whether a pipeline should be laid from the Alberta oil sands to the Pacific in order to deliver oil to Asia, chiefly energy-hungry China. The stakes are particularly high for the village of Kitamaat and its neighbors, because the pipeline would terminate here and a port would be built to handle 220 tankers a year and 525,000 barrels of oil a day.

But the planned Northern Gateway Pipeline is just one aspect of an epic battle over Canada's oil ambitions -- a battle that already has a supporting role in the U.S. presidential election, and which will help to shape North America's future energy relationship with China.

It actually is a tale of two pipelines -- the one that is supposed to end at Kitamaat Village, and another that would have gone from Alberta to the Texas coast but was blocked by the Obama administration citing environmental grounds.

Those same environmental issues are certain to haunt Northern Gateway as the Joint Review Panel of energy and environmental officials canvasses opinion along the 1,177-kilometer (731-mile) route of the Northern Gateway pipeline to be built by Enbridge, a Canadian company.

The fear of oil spills is especially acute in this pristine corner of northwest British Columbia, with its snowcapped mountains and deep ocean inlets. People here still remember Alaska's Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989, and oil is still leaking from the Queen of the North, a ferry that sank off nearby Hartley Bay six years ago.

The seas nearby, in the Douglas Channel, "are very treacherous waters," says David Suzuki, a leading environmentalist. "You take a supertanker that takes miles in order to stop, (and) an accident is absolutely inevitable."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Canada's national interest makes the $5.5 billion pipeline essential. He was "profoundly disappointed" that U.S. President Barack Obama rejected the Texas Keystone XL option but also spoke of the need to diversify Canada's oil industry. Ninety-seven percent of Canadian oil exports now go to the U.S.

"I think what's happened around the Keystone is a wake-up call, the degree to which we are dependent or possibly held hostage to decisions in the United States, and especially decisions that may be made for very bad political reasons," the Conservative prime minister told Canadian TV.

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich quickly picked up the theme, saying that Harper, "who, by the way, is conservative and pro-American ... has said he's going cut a deal with the Chinese ... We'll get none of the jobs, none of the energy, none of the opportunity."

He charged that "An American president who can create a Chinese-Canadian partnership is truly a danger to this country."

But the environmental objections that pushed Obama to block the pipeline to Texas apply equally to the Pacific pipeline, and the review panel says more than 4,000 people have signed up to testify.

The atmosphere has turned acrimonious, with Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver claiming in an open letter that "environmental and other radical groups" are out to thwart Canada's economic ascent.

He said they were bent on bogging down the panel's work. And in an unusually caustic mention of Canada's southern neighbor, he added: "If all other avenues have failed, they will take a quintessential American approach: Sue everyone and anyone to delay the project even further."

Environmentalists and First Nations (a Canadian synonym for native tribes) could delay approval all the way to Canada's Supreme Court, and First Nations still hold title to some of the land the pipeline would cross, meaning the government will have to move with extreme sensitivity.

Alberta has the world's third-largest oil reserves after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela: more than 170 billion barrels. Daily production of 1.5 million barrels from the oil sands is expected to increase to 3.7 million in 2025, which the oil industry sees as a pressing reason to build the pipelines.

Critics, however, dislike the whole concept of tapping the oil sands, saying it requires huge amounts of energy and water, increases greenhouse gas emissions and threatens rivers and forests. Some projects are massive open-pit mines, and the process of separating oil from sand can generate lake-sized pools of toxic sludge.

Meanwhile, China's growing economy is hungry for Canadian oil. Chinese state-owned companies have invested more than $16 billion in Canadian energy in the past two years, state-controlled Sinopec has a stake in the pipeline, and if it is built, Chinese investment in Alberta oil sands is sure to boom.

"They (the Chinese) wonder why it's not being built already," said Wenran Jiang, an energy expert and professor at the University of Alberta.

In a report on China's stake in Canadian energy, Jiang notes that if every Chinese burned oil at the rate Americans do, China's daily consumption would equal the entire world's.

Harper is set to visit China next month. After Obama first delayed the Keystone pipeline in November, Harper told Chinese President Hu Jintao at the Pacific Rim summit in Hawaii that Canada would like to sell more oil to China, and the Canadian prime minister filled in Obama on what he said.

Jiang reads that to mean "China has become leverage."

But oil analysts say Alberta has enough oil to meet both countries' needs, and the pipeline's capacity of 525,000 barrels a day would amount to less than 6 percent of China's current needs.

"I don't think U.S. policymakers view China's investment in the Canadian oil sands as a threat," says David Goldwyn, a former energy official in the Obama administration.

"In the short term it provides additional investment to increase Canadian supply; that's a good thing. Longer-term, if Canadian oil goes to China, that means China's demand is being met by a non-OPEC country, and that's a good thing for global oil supply. Right now we are spending an awful lot of time finding ways for China to meet its demand from some place other than Iran. Canada would be a great candidate."

Pipelines are rarely rejected in Canada, but Murray Minchin, an environmentalist who lives near Kitamaat Village, says this time he and other opponents are determined to block construction. "They are ready to put themselves in front of something to stop the equipment," Minchin said. "Even if it gets the green light it doesn't mean it's getting done."

Enbridge is confident the pipeline will be built and claims about 40 percent of First Nation communities living along the route have entered into a long-term equity partnership with Enbridge. The communities together are being offered 10 percent ownership of the pipeline, meaning those which sign on will share an expected $400 million over 30 years.

But of the 43 eligible communities, only one went public with its acceptance and it has since reneged after fierce protests from its members.

Janet Holder, the Enbridge executive overseeing the project, says pipeline leaks are not inevitable, new technologies make monitoring more reliable, and tugboats will guide tankers through the Douglas Channel.

At the Kitamaat hearings, speakers ranged from Ellis Ross, chief of the Haisla First Nation in British Columbia, to Dieter Wagner, a German-born Canadian, retired scientist and veteran sailor who called the Douglas Channel "an insane route to take."

Ross used to work on whale-watching boats, and refers to himself as a First Nation, a term applicable to individuals as well as groups. He testified that the tanker port would go up just as marine life decimated by industrial pollution was making a comeback in his territory.

He held the audience spellbound as he described an extraordinary nighttime encounter last summer with a whale that was "logging" -- the half-doze that passes for sleep in the cetacean world.

"... Midnight I hear this whale and it's right outside the soccer field. ... It's waterfront, but I can hear this whale, and I can't understand why it's so close, something's got to be wrong.

"So I walk down there with my daughter, my youngest daughter, and I try to flash a light down there, and quickly figured out it's not in trouble, it's sleeping. It's resting right outside our soccer field.

"You can't imagine what that means to a First Nation that's watched his territory get destroyed over 60 years. You can't imagine the feeling."

Gilles Elkaim aboard S/V ARKTIKA and his sled dogs - Arctic Adventures

Ocean Village in Gibraltar recently had an unusual vessel tie up when Arctic explorer Gilles Elkaim arrived aboard his aluminum expedition vesselArktika on the way to La Rochelle, France, to winter over. Base camp for Elkaim is usually about 185 miles north of the Arctic Circle in Finnish Lapland, where he breeds endangered species of sled dogs and runs a camp that teaches survival skills to a half-dozen visitors at a time. Elkaim’s adventures have included sailing round Australia, trail walking across New Zealand, climbing mountain peaks in Papua New Guinea, cycling across India and camel riding through Mongolia. But Elkaim is best known for a four-year, 7,500-mile solo dog sled and kayak trip from Norway’s North Cape across the Bering Strait and Eurasian Arctic.

Elkaim has spent six months refitting the 47-foot Voyager-built boat Arktika, which will add a new dimension to his Arctic exploration offerings. Now visitors can sign up for sailing tours of up to a fortnight with four or five people and a small team of huskies on board. www.camp-arktika.org


More of the Gilles Elkaim story...

http://www.camp-arktika.org/article-126-croisieres-explorations-en-arctique

Why a boat?

Territories wild are still the best . Because of their remoteness from civilized areas of difficult access, they kept their pristine beauty where landscapes, fauna, flora, and (more rarely) Indigenous peoples have still not been disturbed by the omnipresence of man. How to reach them? if not by logistics and low cost environmentally friendly such snowmobile, airplane, helicopter, ship touring that go against the harmonythat we, explorers and travelers trying to establish with the environment.

In the High Arctic, communication channels, and therefore the logistics are mainly maritime . In summer, the lands discovered by the snow are swampy, too steep or barred river impassable. In winter, the ice provides a surface acceptable for travel by sled. So by the sea, boat and sleigh , I chose to continue my explorations.

The dog sledding is my specialty. For over ten years, I raised my dogs and conducted special on the vast territories of the Far North. The expedition Arktika me across a continent (Eurasia) in its entirety, from the Atlantic to the Pacific halfway around the world four years and 12 solo 000km north of the Arctic Circle.

Following on from this long and rich experience, balancing the boat dog sledding, I wanted to gain independence (almost) complete, autonomy (almost) perfect in the Arctic. My idea was therefore to adapt and equip a solid ship navigation in ice, shelter dog sled and independent living in extreme conditions to make it a platform for polar exploration as summer qu'hivernale.

The concept

The boat "ARKTIKA" is somehow an extension of CAMP ARKTIKA, sled dog camp located in Finland, whose originality is to propose raids committed by dog-oriented learning of wildlife in the North companions with exceptional Siberian huskies primitive (Nenets and Taimyr Laika).

This global approach to the polar environment demand at a time, a physical commitment because we do not support motorized, some mental strength because you have to accept the hazards associated with the real adventure and finally philosophy to understand the why the first two points and grasp the meaning of things in Nature. On this last point, our dogs, well trained and extremely affectionate, are the best guides. So it is with them that we intend to explore the shores of the polar seas.

The boat

Under sail ARKTIKA is a b ateau Shipping designed to sail, live and overwinter in a stand-alone in the Arctic, by hosting six people on board and 10 sled dogs. Its strength, its shallow draft (1m) and autonomy allow it to consider the most advanced programs of Arctic exploration.

ARKTIKA is a boat-like Voyager 47 '14.30 m constructed of aluminum by the yard META in Tarare (France).


Wetting MéditéranéeIts main characteristics are:
strength : thick aluminum shell, process Strongall (12mm thick at the edges)
Reliability : 2 engines 2 x Nanni 62 HP, 2001, 1400 hours of operation
economy : 1l/mile cruising at 7 knots with sails of support.
Autonomy : 6000 nautical miles at 7 knots or two winters (6300l gas oil)
energy independence : two wind turbines, solar panels 4, 12 gel batteries
Safety : draft of 1 m, boat runs aground
comfort heating, insulation, inner wheelhouse, kitchen and bathroom

"ARKTIKA" is registered in Finland. It is approved in an era category, for 6 people.

The crew

Our crew is human-canine.

Gilles Elkaim , half man, half-dog is the commander on board.
He is an explorer and Yachtmaster (Anglo-Saxon version of Captain 200).
It introduces you to the adaptation to the North.


Loret governed , more human than dog, is the skipper.
Owner-skipper patented state (BEES sailing) and Merchant Shipping (Masters 200, PPV, CAPA, PPN). He puts his 30 years of experience in the sea to our boat and you know its instills great sailor.


Guy Bush , 100% man, skipper.
Patented Merchant Shipping (Patron Yacht PPV, PPN, PCMM 250kW, CRO).
In addition, kayaker and photographer


Pouchok , half-dog half-man, the lead dog to retire from my shipping Arktika.
Excellent self-taught.
He sends all his wisdom canine.


Kotch , 100% dog, while fat and muscle, the pet dog (not graduate!) Camp Arktika.
It amuses you and you cuddle.


Et .. you who dream of participating in a hell of a voluntary approach that respects and integrates the polar nature.
The platform for exploration

ARKTIKA offers cruises in small group (3-4 participants) as part of responsible tourism focused on the exploration of polar regions. We maintain the philosophy of Camp Arktika based on the discovery and learning about wildlife in the North except that the base camp becomes a boat around which we radiate in a sea kayak, on foot, on skis or dogsled. No need to be a sailor, our boat is there to ensure our logistics and our accommodation for the return of excursions or raids. (See 2012 cruise program below)

ARKTIKA is a platform for exploration safe and comfortable to carry various scientific studies on the environment (marine or terrestrial) in the most inaccessible areas and under the most extreme climatic conditions of the Arctic.

ARKTIKA provides logistical support reliable and inexpensive for missions and expeditions summer or winter. In winter, our dog sledding take over for travel on the ice. It should be emphasized that, unlike a snowmobile, dog sled, led with experience progresses smoothly through the chaos of ice and ice fragile. It starts in the lowest temperatures and never falls down. It carries 400 kg of material (twice a snowmobile cutter). It is certainly slower, but it is environmentally friendly. Also dogs warn of the visit of the polar bear and give us all their affection.

ARKTIKA prepare in the near future, the great expeditions started only a few extreme participants for a program or a la carte.
The cruise program ARKTIKA - 2012 First season!
Spitsbergen , north-western exploration, trekking and sea kayaking from 16/06 to 28/06, from 30/06 to 12/07, from 14/07 to 26/07
East Greenland , Adventure at the end of the stem, from 11/08 to 23/08, from 25/08 to 06/09, from 08/09 to 20/09
Lofoten , Northern Lights and Orcas, the 06/10 to 13/10, the 13/10 to 20/10
Spitsbergen to East Greenland, from 28/07 to 09/08
The East Greenland via the Lofoten Jan Mayen , from 22/09 to 04/10
Download below the detailed program brochure.

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Camp Arktika adopts a platform dedicated to the exploration of the Arctic in areas as diverse as sports tourism and responsible research, logistics, shipping, watching film or photographic exploration.

"ARKTIKA" is an expedition ship designed to navigate the polar seas, live independently and to winter in the Arctic, by hosting six people on board and 10 sled dogs.

ARKTIKA is a boat-like Voyager 47 '14.30 m constructed of aluminum by the yard META in Tarare (France).

Its main characteristics are:
thick aluminum shell, process Strongall (12mm thick at the edges)
Two reliable engines (2 x Nanni 62 HP, 2001, 1400 h)
economical cruising speed: 1 l / mile sail at 7 knots with support.
autonomy of 6000 nautical miles at 7 knots (6300l gas oil)
Energy independence: two wind turbines, solar panels 4, 12 gel batteries
Its shallow draft of 1.00 m
Comfort heating, insulation, inner wheelhouse, kitchen and bathroom

The Voyager 47 'was designed to safely navigate in the Arctic and across the oceans. A complete refit of the boat is made in 2011.

ARKTIKA "is registered in Finland and is registered in the first category, for 6 people.


In 1984, during its maiden voyage, Voyager 47 'has made the crossing Lyon-New York round trip without refueling. ARKTIKA is the sister ship of the vessel

Under sailLifting the boatfor transport to the site complete refit

2 62cv Nanni engines, cylinder 5, 2001, 1400hwheelhouse and saloon than the passageway and the two superimposed berthstarboard cabinKitchenThe forward cabinIt's bathroom with hip bath

Plan outsideof the Plan within
SpecificationsType: Voyager 47 '
Builder: Meta, Tarare, France
Architect: Michel Joubert and Nivelt
Year: 1984
Dimensions: 14.30 x 4.44 m m
Draft: 1m, boat runs aground
Material: Aluminum Strongall type (bottom 15mm, 12mm shell , Bridge 10mm)
Steering system: double rudders protected crapaudine
Displacement: 19 t charge
Engines: 2 x Nanni 62 HP - 1400 hours, 2001
Trees oil bath method Meta
Cooling: indirect
Propellers: 3 blades Radice 500 mm
Gas oil tank: 6300 l total
Cruising Speed: 7 knots
Consumption: 1 l / mile at 7 knots
Water tank: 1200 l
Mat: Alu 8.20 m
Mainsail, furling genoa, staysail furling
Windlass: Lofran Falcon 1500W
Manual windlass Rear Goiot
swim platform
Alu Hard top
Tent cockpit
Anchors: Brake 40 kg, 25 kg CQR, + 1 spare - 100m of chain 12 mm
20mm plexy windows 18 + 8 panels with vents Goiot
Isolation : 65 mm foam
heating and forced air heaters
Pumps: Electric 3
Cabins: 1 double, 1 Single
Beds: 5-9
Gas cooker: 2 burner + oven
Fridge, freezer
Bathroom: small bath with shower and
water heater: 75l
WC: 2 (1 electric)
GPS: Magellan
Radar: Furuno
VHF: Navicom RT 650
HF SSB Radio: Sony
Loch - 2 pollsters Digipack
Pilot: Autohelm + 1 spare
Compass: Silva
Navtex
Batteries: 12 x Frost Odyssey 215A / h
Wind : 2 x Eclectic Energy D400
Solar Panels: 80 W x 4
Appendix: 2.50 m with 2.2 hp Suzuki motor
Survival 6 people

Bon Voyage !

Arctic 2012 Expedition - Request for Crew

http://www.thearcticinstitute.org/2012/01/34251-arctic-2012-expedition-request.html

 

by Malte Humpert The M/V GREY GOOSE is outfitting for a 10,000 nautical mile voyage in 2012 from Mobile Alabama 'over-the-top' through the Arctic Northwest Passage to Astoria Oregon. The 55 foot steel Motor Vessel GREY GOOSE ('GG') is planning to depart Mobile Alabama on a 10,000 nautical-mile voyage of discovery up the USA eastern seaboard, Canada and Greenland before staging at Pond Inlet Nunavut Canada to challenge the fabled Arctic Northwest Passage 'over-the-top' during the minimum ice season to Alaska then down through British Columbia's breathtaking 'Inside Passage' on the way to our homeport in Astoria Oregon. Departure is scheduled for May 14, 2012.

Everett-based sea captain Douglas Pohl has announced his intention to sail his 55-foot expedition motor vessel, the Grey Goose, through the fabled – and dangerous – arctic waterway known as the Northwest Passage in the summer of 2012, and is offering six fellow boating adventurers “share-the-ride” berths for contributing to the expenses of the voyage. Captain Pohl plans to leave from his outfitting port of Mobile, Alabama in May 2012, and then sail northwards along the Atlantic coastline of the United States and Canada before crossing over to Greenland. By late summer he expects to complete an east-to-west traverse of the Northwest Passage, and by the fall reach his new home port in Astoria, Oregon.

Potential crew mates may join Captain Pohl for the entire voyage, or board the Grey Goose for just a leg of the voyage. The Northwest Passage along the northern coastline of Canada and Alaska, is widely considered by mariners to be one of the most difficult sea passages in the world. It has been ice-blocked throughout history, and only with the recent impact of global climate change has the waterway been free of ice long enough in the summer for a successful crossing. In August 2011, twelve small vessels are reportedly traversing the Northwest Passage, and the waterway is expected to again be ice-free next year in 2012. Captain Pohl estimates that the Grey Goose will be one of the first hundred vessels in history to complete a single season passage of the fabled Northwest Passage. “It’s a chance to do something that very few people have ever done,” said Pohl, adding that those who partake of the adventure will stand in an exclusive circle among nautical enthusiasts. (The above text was adopted from a Press Release from November 1, 2011).

For more information, please refer to www.northwestpassage2012.com, contact the Captain at (425) 971-5765, or email him at info@northwestpassage2012.com.

Audubon map – new Puget Loop unveiled as enviro groups strategize

Stormy weather is not the best recipe for bird watching.

But that’s not stopping environmentalists from getting together in Olympia to set their legislative priorities.

And among the festivities celebrating the Washington Conservation Voters’ day of lobbying is the unveiling of a colorful new, hand-drawn bird-watching map.

The new “Puget Loop” Audubon map is the latest in a series of trail maps,used by avid birders.

"It covers the area where most of us live, Puget Sound,” says Woody Wheeler, who now makes a living guiding tourists from all over the country, who come here just to seek out our unique mix of birds.

“And you might think, well there are big cities here and lots of commerce, so maybe there wouldn't be as many birds, but that’s not the case.” Wheeler says.

He can list 4 or five great places to go birding within Seattle’s city limits. They're all on the new map, which he helped create.

Wheeler says one of his favorite places to take people is Union Bay, near the University District, where at this time of year you can find the Pacific Wren. It's a little mottled brown one that doesn't look like much. But he says there's another reason to enjoy finding it.

“It has the longest song of any bird in America. And that's around here. And it's an amazing little song," He says, adding that he had just spotted one there. "They're not singing much now because it's winter. But, when it gets brighter and warmer, they'll start singing more. And they have an incredible song, for such a little bird.”

You can hear the Pacific Wren's long song and see it sing in this YouTube Video:

Christi Norman runs the state’s birding trail program out of another great spot, at the south end of Lake Washington, in Seward Park, where you can see majestic eagles and pre-historic-looking herons, among many others.

But she says that’s just the tiniest taste of what’s on the new map.

“You can see Albatrosses on the Pacific Coast. You can go to eastern Washington to the little, tiniest nooks and crannies and find the Calliopy hummingbird. You can find owls in the Northeast in the Ponderay.”

Or you could seek out the elusive great gray owl that flies into our forested coastlines.

Norman and others attending the strategy sessions in Olympia say this wildlife heritage is part of what brings in scarce funds for essential services, by fueling our tourist trade.

“And we have been growing our wildlife watching about ten times faster than the rest of the country. And that's because we have such fabulous birds all over the state,” Norman says.

She and others attending the Environmental Priorities Coalition day of lobbying say telling people about what we have and then protecting it is something they can celebrate – as they push back against all kinds of rollbacks to environmental battles that are looming because of the down economy.

[You can buy a copy of the map for $4.95 on the web site of Seattle Audubon.]

Hundreds of meteorites uncovered in Antarctica

A gang of heavily insulated scientists has wrapped up its Antarctic expedition, with its members thawing out from the experience, but pleased to have bagged more than 300 space rocks.

They are participants in the Antarctic Search for Meteorites program, or ANSMET for short. Since 1976, ANSMET researchers have been recovering thousands of meteorite specimens from the East Antarctic ice sheet. ANSMET is funded by the Office of Polar Programs of the National Science Foundation.

According to the ANSMET website, the specimens are currently the only reliable, continuous source of new, nonmicroscopic extraterrestrial material. Given that there are no active planetary sample-return missions coming or going at the moment, the retrieval of meteorites is the cheapest and only guaranteed way to recover new things from worlds beyond the Earth. [Photos: Asteroids in Deep Space ]

"It has been another interesting season at Miller Range," said Ralph Harvey, associate professor in the department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

"The place is special for us because we seem to find meteorites everywhere , in every little nook and cranny, almost unpredictable," Harvey told SPACE.com. "And it did it again ... lots of places we checked out just to be complete proved to have dozens of specimens."

Harvey is the principal investigator for the ANSMET program. "I've been leading field parties since 1991 and I think this year marks my 25th overall with the program," Harvey said.

Harvey likens his search for meteorites to a farmer who's used to harvesting corn in a field finding it growing in the barn, in the garage, in the basement and other surprising spots.

The meteorite hunting wasn't all smooth, though.

The team was held back significantly by early snowfalls that buried the meteorites. Even though a few strong windstorms cleared some of it, the whipping winds did not clear all of it, Harvey explained.

"The total number of meteorites is less than half what I would have predicted, again primarily because of that early snow hiding all the specimens," Harvey said. "We'll be going back to the Miller Range at least one more time and maybe two."

Celestial collectibles

Antarctica is viewed as the world's premier meteorite hunting ground, and for good reason.

While meteorites fall in a random fashion all over the globe, the East Antarctic ice sheet is a "desert of ice," a stark scene that enhances the likelihood of finding meteorites, which are usually undisturbed and stand out against the background.

In the just-concluded search, the team's bounty of celestial collectibles brought the total number of meteorites found in ANSMET history to 20,000. [Hunting for Space Rocks: Q&A with Geoff Notkin of 'Meteorite Men']

Along with Harvey, the meteorite hunters are:

John Schutt, an ANSMET mountaineer for over 30 years who once again played that role. He recently got an honorary doctorate recognizing his contributions to planetary science.

Jim Karner, a postdoctoral researcher working with the ANSMET program and a specialist in Martian meteorites from Case Western Reserve. He's a veteran of four ANSMET expeditions.

Christian Schrader, a geologist from NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., who has done significant rock work, particularly in studying lunar meteorites.

Katie Joy, planetary geologist, most recently from the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, Tex., and a lunar meteorite researcher.

Anne Peslier, a planetary scientist from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston who has done a great deal of work on Martian meteorites.

Jake Maule, a planetary scientist, recently of Carnegie Institute in Washington, D.C., with a specialty in astrobiology.

Jesper Holst, a Ph.D. student studying planetary geochemistry at the University of Copenhagen.

Tim Swindle, a planetary geochemist from the University of Arizona, taking part in the second half of the season, and a veteran of several previous expeditions.

Samples and survival kits

The team members used Ski-Doo Snowmobiles to transport themselves out in the field. Each person is armed with a survival kit, meteorite gathering equipment, lots of water and food, medical kits, Iridium satellite phones and GPS devices.

Once a sample is spotted, scientists assign it an identification number. They establish its position with GPS and note the specimen's size, possible classification and any distinguishing features such as shape or fusion crust.

Researchers then collect the sample in a sterile Teflon bag, taking care to avoid contact with any mechanical or biological materials.

While the field season was in progress, these samples were inventoried and kept frozen. Upon the team's return to McMurdo Station, the U.S. scientific headquarters in the Antarctic, the meteorites were transferred to special shipping containers and sent, still frozen, to the Antarctic Meteorite Curation Facility at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

There the meteorites are carefully removed from their sealed bags, dried to remove any attached snow or ice and stored under cleanroom conditions for future study.

Tent time

During their month-long stay, and at different camp sites, the group posted a series of dispatches from the field. Frequently, the noncooperating weather forced the team to spend lots of tent time: eating, reading, resting, writing.

"But as always in Antarctica, everything depends on the weather," wrote an upbeat Peslier, "so who knows what tomorrow will bring!"

Added another team member, "I am starting to wonder about the wisdom of having so many sugary snacks within hand's reach, literally, in our tent food box."

"Life has been good so far in camp," wrote Joy. "There has been lots of great meals, endless hot chocolate drinking and, having dug out my box of sweet treats, I have uncovered my small stash of Kendal mint cake that I have been saving for months for the trip. Yum."

In another dispatch from the ice, Schrader reported: "It was a special day for us because we collected our first meteorites. Yee haw." At the start of exploring Miller Range, he said, "we collected 15 specimens...a modest but solid start."

Snug in his tent, Maule explained: "The biggest hardship for me out here is missing my loved ones back home. Yet, all of us on the team are in the same boat and we're all pulling together for one another. This place is special and it is a real honor for us to be here."

As the Christmas holiday season neared, Maule observed: "Best wishes to everyone as the holiday season nears. We actually have a poor, stunted Christmas tree in a bucket outside the poo tent. Very festive."

In another posting. Holst wrote: "A few hours of systematic searching yielded another 14 meteorites, including carbonaceous chondrite shards...I think we all feel that we hit the jackpot today, and we are so happy that we moved camp. So now, the real hunt is on! Oh yeah!"

Unilever pens global sponsorship for Kiefer Sutherland drama

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 | By Sebastian Joseph

Unilever is to sponsor the worldwide release of 20th Century Fox’s new TV drama, Touch, starring Kiefer Sutherland, as the FMCG giant looks to engage consumers on “one culturally relevant content platform.”

Unilever will use the show’s launch in more than 100 countries to introduce a global coordinated marketing strategy across its brand portfolio.

The Dove and Persil owner is working with Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution, Fox Broadcasting Company, FOX One, 20th Century Fox Television and FOX International Channels, to promote specific products to a broader audience.

Ads for the deodorant Sure in the UK, Degree in the US and Rexona everywhere else will run alongside the series when it airs in March.

Unilever will also sponsor the ‘Touch’ international media tour and worldwide premier along with financing a media strategy that spans Europe, Asia, the US and Latin America.

Exclusive content from the show will be presented by Unilever products online, while a Facebook page has been set up to generate buzz around the show. 

The new venture will allow the company to speak to more demographics, according Luis Di-Como, senior vice president of global media at Unilever.

“This type of sponsorship enables us to connect and engage consumers with one of our billion-euro global brands - Rexona, Degree in the U.S. and Sure in the UK - with one culturally relevant content platform.” 

Fox One, News Corp’s integrated sales and marketing division worked with Unilever for more than a year to develop the sponsorship deal.

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Cairn's $600 Million Greenland Oil Campaign Ends in Failure

Cairn Energy Plc ended this year’s $600 million drilling program off Greenland after the biggest exploration campaign attempted in the Arctic island’s waters failed to make a viable discovery.

The AT7-1 well, which had encountered traces of oil and gas, has been plugged and abandoned, the Edinburgh-based company said today in a statement. The AT2-1 well, the last of five drilled this year, was also abandoned after reporting only “minor hydrocarbon shows.” The company will evaluate its program next year and seek partners for investment.

“Effectively these are write-offs, though there were some encouraging signs,” said Richard Rose, an oil analyst at Oriel Securities Ltd. “That’s the end of the program, rigs are going to disappear, and we won’t see any drilling there next year.”

Cairn’s eight-well program, spread over two years, was one of the industry’s most advanced efforts to find oil in Arctic waters and drew protests from activists who said it risked damaging a pristine environment. Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Statoil ASA hold licenses to explore off Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory of 56,000 people.

Cairn fell as much as 5.9 percent to 258.8 pence in London, the biggest decline in two months. The shares are down 38 percent this year and traded at 264 pence at 11:48 a.m.

The unsuccessful Greenland campaign may raise concern that the company, which also has exploration licenses in Spain, may need to find a new focus after it agreed to sell a majority interest in its Indian business to Vedanta Resources Plc last year. The company has been waiting for more than a year to get approval for the deal.

‘Ingredients for Success’

“The first phase of Cairn’s exploration program in Greenland has encountered oil and gas shows across multiple basins and now reservoir-quality sands in the Atammik block,” Chief Executive Officer Simon Thomson said in a statement. “Whilst we have yet to make a commercial discovery we remain encouraged that all of the ingredients for success are in evidence.”

Greenland’s oil and gas resources may total 50 billion barrels, according to the U.S. Geological survey. That’s more than the U.S.’s proven crude reserves.

Polar Bears

Cairn said it had spent $573 million this year on the unsuccessful Greenland campaign as of the end of September, before the last two wells were completed. The company drilled three exploration wells in 2010. Mike Watts, head of exploration, said in January that Cairn was prepared to spend up to $1.2 billion in Greenland on 10 to 12 wells.

About 20 Greenpeace activists were arrested in July after storming Cairn’s Edinburgh office dressed as polar bears. In August, Greenland’s government said it will publish the company’s contingency plan for an oil spill.

“However the company tries to spin this, Cairn’s Greenland misadventures have been an unmitigated disaster from day one,” Greenpeace said in a statement. “The incredible technical, economic and environmental risks of operating in the Arctic simply aren’t worth it.”

The last great exploration is to survive on earth

In 1986, three men hauled 350-pounds of gear over 900 miles of frozen desolation, the terrifying terrain of Antarctica. The weather was brutal, the temperature mind-numbing, often below - 60 celsius even in the Antarctic summer.

The men had no communications equipment or backup support. The expedition, called In the Footsteps of Scott was led by Robert Swan and it was the longest unassisted walk in human history.

It took 70 days to reach the South Pole; and then they learned that barely three minutes earlier, their rescue ship, Southern Quest was crushed by pack ice and sank.

Three years later, Swan assembled another team for another expedition, Icewalk, this time to the North Pole, and became the only man ever to have walked to both poles.

Robert Swan is many things: motivational speaker, lecturer, adventurer, explorer, sailor and yachtsman, conservationist, writer, thinker, but most of all an ideologue for clean energy and the planet.

In 1992, he was the keynote speaker at the UN Earth Summit in Rio, when he committed himself to a global environmental mission involving youth, business and industry.

Four years later, his South Pole Challenge brought together 35 young adventurers from 25 nations. Their mission: to remove and recycle 1,500 tonnes of waste from the Antarctica. It took over eight years.

The garbage was gone; and, for the first time in nearly 50 years, the penguins had a home again. And it was here, in the wintry wasteland of Antarctica that Swan set up his first e-base, a self-sustaining, ecologically independent educational and research station.

Swan’s 67-foot racing yacht is christened 2041, as his website (www.2041.com). The reference is to the year in which the Madrid Protocol, which protects the Antarctica, is scheduled for debate.

The yacht is no indulgence. It is the icon of a bullet-proof idea: of our planet in peril, of the need to act. The yacht is remarkable: it is probably the only vessel with sails once made entirely of recycled PET products.

2041 voyaged to Johannesburg, supporting an AIDS charity. It raced from the Cape to Rio, circumnavigated Africa, participated in the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. From 2008 through 2012, the yacht sails around the world to promote renewable energy. Today, refitted, it operates entirely on wind, solar and biodiesel.

Last year, the 56-year-old Swan turned his attention to India and did so with the ferocity and impatience that define him. In November 2011, he launched the Ganges Expedition from Gangotri to the Goumukh Glacier. He set up a second e-base in Pench in Madhya Pradesh, with state-of-the-art gear powered entirely by renewable energy, to be used in tiger conservation.

Anyone else who has achieved half as much as Swan - he is today a special envoy to UNESCO’s Director-General and received an OBE in 1995 - might be tempted to leave it to others. Sir Robert’s voyages are far from over. As he puts it, “The last great exploration is to survive on earth.”

Excerpts from an e-mail Q&A a few days ago:

On your South Pole expedition, three minutes before you reached your goal, your rescue vessel sank. After 70 days and 900 miles over that terrain, this must have been a moment of indescribable despair. Yet you seem only to have found greater inspiration and resolve. What drives you?

Swan: Personal leadership is simple. One should think very very carefully before making a commitment, but once you make that commitment you should deliver on your word. Time and again, this simple code has pulled us through. I promised Jacques Cousteau and Sir Peter Scott, founder of the WWF, that we would leave Antarctica clear of rubbish and equipment. It took an extra year and much sacrifice but we delivered.

But what you do is surely too daunting for the average individual; and explorations of this kind are essentially solitary. Is it reasonable to expect the achievements of one exceptional explorer to inspire an entire movement?

Swan: The last great exploration left on earth is to survive on earth, as a species. My mission is to inspire the heroines and heroes of that exploration. This exploration requires commitment, holding on to a dream, and delivering. Using the story of our efforts, walking to the Poles, helps deliver that message. After all, we are the only people that can lead ourselves.

What do you believe is needed to establish an enduring movement for ecological conservation?

Swan: Education and inspiration. Here, in India, I see that it is really important that the youth are inspired not to import the unhappiness of the west. To be solely consumed by consuming is not the way. I also think that the education system is too narrowly focused on academics and not the whole person.

Your project 2041 has one springboard, but many hopes. Your initiatives range from the e-base in Antarctica to another in Pench, to the Ganges, on AIDS in South Africa, the ‘Wounded Warrior’ initiative for which you ran the Washington marathon. Aren’t you fighting on too many fronts to make any one of them viable?

Swan: There is, with all respect, one theme that runs through all these projects and that is the promotion and testing of renewable energy. To save Antarctica, if we use more renewables there will be no need to go there to exploit fossil fuels.

The Antarctic and Pench Ebases run only on renewables. The tiger is a great way to catch the youth of India. The wounded warriors come from the American Marine Corps, who are using and promoting the use of renewables - a spokesperson for 2041 who lost an arm or leg in Iraq for oil is powerful.

The AIDS campaign in South Africa 10 years ago was to find a relevant mission through which to talk to African youth on the Environment. My work in the Middle East is also for these reasons. The ultimate goal is to preserve the Antarctic in 2041 and, on the way, help people use more renewables - and thus ensure our survival on earth.

Many say that India’s commitment to conservation is weak and lacks sincerity; that India has no regard for its past or its future. How do you see India?

Swan: India sadly suffers from MAFA - Mistaking Articulation For Action. My small effort is to shock and inspire people to action. Of course 8% growth is India’s target. If that happens without regard to sustainability then you will have growth but without water, forests, air and no social or economic stability. I try to inform companies that their overseas customers will start to demand that they have engaged in sustainability. If the world’s largest company - Walmart - asks that question to its supply chains, that becomes the trend.

One thing which is hard to take here is that the majority of rich hide behind the poor and say “India only has one ton of carbon per person”. Yes, the 900 million have nothing. However the rich here have as bad a footprint, if not worse, than those in USA. The wealthy need to think about what they are doing, to look in the mirror.

On BBC’s Desert Island Discs in August 2000, you listed a mix of recordings: John Mills, Verdi and Puccini, Power of Love by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Good Thing by FYC and your then favourite, Better Off Alone by Alice DeeJay. Eleven years on, what would you add to this list?

Swan: Infinity 2008 (Klaas Vocal Mix), 3:33, Guru Josh Project, Cream Future Trance [Disc 1] and Electronica 21.

In 1986, three men hauled 350-pounds of gear over 900 miles of frozen desolation, the terrifying terrain of Antarctica. The weather was brutal, the temperature mind-numbing, often below - 60 celsius even in the Antarctic summer.

The men had no communications equipment or backup support. The expedition, called In the Footsteps of Scott was led by Robert Swan and it was the longest unassisted walk in human history.

It took 70 days to reach the South Pole; and then they learned that barely three minutes earlier, their rescue ship, Southern Quest was crushed by pack ice and sank.

Three years later, Swan assembled another team for another expedition, Icewalk, this time to the North Pole, and became the only man ever to have walked to both poles.

Robert Swan is many things: motivational speaker, lecturer, adventurer, explorer, sailor and yachtsman, conservationist, writer, thinker, but most of all an ideologue for clean energy and the planet.

In 1992, he was the keynote speaker at the UN Earth Summit in Rio, when he committed himself to a global environmental mission involving youth, business and industry.

Four years later, his South Pole Challenge brought together 35 young adventurers from 25 nations. Their mission: to remove and recycle 1,500 tonnes of waste from the Antarctica. It took over eight years.

The garbage was gone; and, for the first time in nearly 50 years, the penguins had a home again. And it was here, in the wintry wasteland of Antarctica that Swan set up his first e-base, a self-sustaining, ecologically independent educational and research station.

Swan’s 67-foot racing yacht is christened 2041, as his website (www.2041.com). The reference is to the year in which the Madrid Protocol, which protects the Antarctica, is scheduled for debate.

The yacht is no indulgence. It is the icon of a bullet-proof idea: of our planet in peril, of the need to act. The yacht is remarkable: it is probably the only vessel with sails once made entirely of recycled PET products.

2041 voyaged to Johannesburg, supporting an AIDS charity. It raced from the Cape to Rio, circumnavigated Africa, participated in the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. From 2008 through 2012, the yacht sails around the world to promote renewable energy. Today, refitted, it operates entirely on wind, solar and biodiesel.

Last year, the 56-year-old Swan turned his attention to India and did so with the ferocity and impatience that define him. In November 2011, he launched the Ganges Expedition from Gangotri to the Goumukh Glacier. He set up a second e-base in Pench in Madhya Pradesh, with state-of-the-art gear powered entirely by renewable energy, to be used in tiger conservation.

Anyone else who has achieved half as much as Swan - he is today a special envoy to UNESCO’s Director-General and received an OBE in 1995 - might be tempted to leave it to others. Sir Robert’s voyages are far from over. As he puts it, “The last great exploration is to survive on earth.”

Excerpts from an e-mail Q&A a few days ago:

On your South Pole expedition, three minutes before you reached your goal, your rescue vessel sank. After 70 days and 900 miles over that terrain, this must have been a moment of indescribable despair. Yet you seem only to have found greater inspiration and resolve. What drives you?

Swan: Personal leadership is simple. One should think very very carefully before making a commitment, but once you make that commitment you should deliver on your word. Time and again, this simple code has pulled us through. I promised Jacques Cousteau and Sir Peter Scott, founder of the WWF, that we would leave Antarctica clear of rubbish and equipment. It took an extra year and much sacrifice but we delivered.

But what you do is surely too daunting for the average individual; and explorations of this kind are essentially solitary. Is it reasonable to expect the achievements of one exceptional explorer to inspire an entire movement?Swan: The last great exploration left on earth is to survive on earth, as a species. My mission is to inspire the heroines and heroes of that exploration. This exploration requires commitment, holding on to a dream, and delivering. Using the story of our efforts, walking to the Poles, helps deliver that message. After all, we are the only people that can lead ourselves.

What do you believe is needed to establish an enduring movement for ecological conservation?

Swan: Education and inspiration. Here, in India, I see that it is really important that the youth are inspired not to import the unhappiness of the west. To be solely consumed by consuming is not the way. I also think that the education system is too narrowly focused on academics and not the whole person.

Your project 2041 has one springboard, but many hopes. Your initiatives range from the e-base in Antarctica to another in Pench, to the Ganges, on AIDS in South Africa, the ‘Wounded Warrior’ initiative for which you ran the Washington marathon. Aren’t you fighting on too many fronts to make any one of them viable?Swan: There is, with all respect, one theme that runs through all these projects and that is the promotion and testing of renewable energy. To save Antarctica, if we use more renewables there will be no need to go there to exploit fossil fuels.

The Antarctic and Pench Ebases run only on renewables. The tiger is a great way to catch the youth of India. The wounded warriors come from the American Marine Corps, who are using and promoting the use of renewables - a spokesperson for 2041 who lost an arm or leg in Iraq for oil is powerful.

The AIDS campaign in South Africa 10 years ago was to find a relevant mission through which to talk to African youth on the Environment. My work in the Middle East is also for these reasons. The ultimate goal is to preserve the Antarctic in 2041 and, on the way, help people use more renewables - and thus ensure our survival on earth.

Many say that India’s commitment to conservation is weak and lacks sincerity; thatIndia has no regard for its past or its future. How do you see India? 

Swan: India sadly suffers from MAFA - Mistaking Articulation For Action. My small effort is to shock and inspire people to action. Of course 8% growth is India’s target. If that happens without regard to sustainability then you will have growth but without water, forests, air and no social or economic stability. I try to inform companies that their overseas customers will start to demand that they have engaged in sustainability. If the world’s largest company - Walmart - asks that question to its supply chains, that becomes the trend. 

One thing which is hard to take here is that the majority of rich hide behind the poor and say “India only has one ton of carbon per person”. Yes, the 900 million have nothing. However the rich here have as bad a footprint, if not worse, than those in USA. The wealthy need to think about what they are doing, to look in the mirror.

On BBC’s Desert Island Discs in August 2000, you listed a mix of recordings: John Mills, Verdi and Puccini, Power of Love by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Good Thing by FYC and your then favourite, Better Off Alone by Alice DeeJay. Eleven years on, what would you add to this list?Swan: Infinity 2008 (Klaas Vocal Mix),  3:33, Guru Josh Project, Cream Future Trance [Disc 1] and Electronica 21.

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/article/82/201201082012010802031851514cbb87/%E2%80%98The-last-great-exploration-is-to-survive-on-earth%E2%80%99.html

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