The 2nd Stage: Arctic Canada
Greetings from the leader

Outline

Route

Members

Experts

Pilot schools

Overall view

Project brochure (PDF)

Greetings from the leader

Thanks to everyone, we have successfully completed the Greenland expedition, the first journey of our Global EdVenture. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the students and experts who have followed our footsteps as well as the corporate sponsors and individual supporters who have given us financial support.

Now I set the next destination to be Arctic Canada. Two main themes are the same as previous ones: "nature and environment" and "ethnic culture". We will attempt to research and report the effect of global warming on Arctic Canada, the traditional cultures of local people as well as wild fauna and flora, geological formation and atmospheric phenomena of the area.

In recent years, abnormal weather conditions have become quite noticeable in various parts of the world. Bangladesh is facing a serious situation where two-thirds of its land was submerged by the massive flood of July 2004. Bihar of northeast India has also suffered a flood resulting from heavy rainfall occurring upstream in Nepal. A great deal of damage has also been reported in Sweden and the American state of Texas where half-a-year's equivalent of rain fell in a few hours. In Algeria of North Africa, unexpected rain led to heavy infestations of locust, whose swarms migrated to Europe and back to Algeria destroying crops along the way and leaving the land without a trace of greenery. At the same time, heat waves hit Spain and the south of US, causing temperatures of up to 49 degrees centigrade and causing bushfires that have burned out large areas of forest land. Unusual heat is becoming more common around the world like in Mexico, Japan, and other Asian nations.

This warm temperature trend is also contributing to the melting of the sea ice in the Arctic Ocean, which is said to be decreasing 10 percent every decade. In Greenland, recession of glacier and melting of sea ice have been greatly affecting the lives of the Inuit people. Many, not being able to make a living by the traditional hunting on the ice, have had to seek another source of income by making and selling craft works or becoming public workers, etc. The South Pacific island nation of Tuvalu is in danger of sinking, and the people have to resort to immigration to New Zealand. One or two degrees centigrade rise in sea temperature results in expansion of water volume. This is the reason why low-lying nations are in danger of sinking under water. Other nations in the South Pacific, such as Fiji and Tonga, are also suffering from huge hurricanes. In the Republic of Mongol, permafrost has been at risk of melting. It has been reported that a huge chunk of ice about the size of 600km broke off from the Ross Ice Shelf of Antarctica and floated into the ocean.

If these natural disasters occurring all over the world are due to the effects of global warming resulting from human activities, it is crucial for us to take immediate action to stop further damages.

The Arctic Ocean is a delicate place playing a vital role in determining the atmospheric currents of the northern hemisphere. It is for this environmental significance that I feel it is worthwhile to see and feel what is actually happening in the arctic region. I plan to collaborate with universities and research institutes to conduct environmental researches on sea water, sea ice, glacier, iceberg, snow, ultraviolet rays, etc. as well as to gather scientific data on the ecosystem of the area by carrying out research on the polar bear, caribou, arctic fox, etc. Not only that, we will also focus on the people and their cultures. We will try to have a broad view of things and report on various topics from different angles. For example we could report on how global warming is having an effect on people's lives.

Expedition members will share their experiences via the Internet by uploading journals on a website (http://global-edventure.net). They will also communicate with school children via satellite phone for real-time question-and-answer sessions. Questions that require professional knowledge will be answered on the website by experts from universities and research institutes. I also aim to organize an international team of young people and invite schools from various countries to participate in the program. It is my hope that this project will be a venue to feel and realize the preciousness of our planet Earth, and that this will contribute to the creation of a sustainable society.

Global EdVenture Secretariat
Leader
Mitsuro Ohba
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Outline
Scheduled period February 16 - June 30, 2005
Route of travel Ward Hunt Island - Churchill
Purpose 1. To cross Arctic Canada from Ward Hunt Island to Churchill

2. To experience, carry out research, and report the current nature and environment of Arctic Canada

3. To experience and report the lives and cultures of people (Canadian Inuit) in Arctic Canada

Through the above activities, we aim to provide opportunities to heighten the awareness and understanding of the global environment, diverse cultures that exist on our planet, and to think and discuss where we, as citizens of the global village, would want direct ourselves towards the future.
Mode of travel Walking, skisailing
Educational program We will select several schools (called pilot schools) from various countries, such as Japan, Canada, Russia, and Norway. Students at the pilot schools will learn environmental issues and diverse cultures via first-hand reports from expedition members on the field. Questions can be answered by the expedition members and/or experts from universities and research institutes. The interaction will be done via satellite phone and website (http://global-edventure.net).

§ The expedition members will convey their experiences in words, images, and movies in a section called "Photo Journal" on the website.

§ There will be regular real-time interaction via satellite phone between the members on the filed and the pilot school students. The expedition members will make reports and answers questions from the students.

§ The expedition members and experts from universities and research institutes will accept and answer questions from the pilot school students as well as the general public. Questions will be posted in "Question Box" set up on the website.

§ We will create a cross-cultural interaction program among the pilot schools of different countries in order to think and discuss the environmental issues by exchanging information and sharing ideas. Actual interaction can be done using e-mail and video conferencing technology via the Internet.
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Route
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Members

Mitsuro Ohba (Expedition leader / Japan)

Born January 10, 1953. President of Earth Academy Mitsuro Ohba Adventure School.
After engaging in agriculture until age 29 in his home town in Yamagata Prefecture, Mitsuro traveled to China, Europe and South America to see agriculture in other parts of the world. In 1983, Mitsuro rafted down 6,000 kilometers of the Amazon and observed agriculture in surrounding regions. Mitsuro subsequently succeeded in solo trek across Greenland in 1985, across the Arctic Ocean in 1997 and across the Antarctica in 1999, becoming the first person in the world to walk across both poles alone. Received the Fourth Naomi Uemura Award.

<Comment from Mitsuro>

The second stage of "Global EdVenture" has been set on Arctic Canada, where I had many memorable experiences. In 1986 I walked 900 km back and forth between Resolute and northern magnetic pole. In the following year I solo-trekked from Resolute to Smiss Sound via Grise Fiord, the northernmost town of Canada.

Severe weather hits Nunavut in early spring. At times the temperature goes down below -50 degrees centigrade. Many wild animals and birds such as tundra wolves, polar bears, seals, Arctic foxes, rabbits, musk-oxen, caribous, lemmings, grouses, eagles, Arctic terns, owls, and etc., inhabit in such a harsh environment. The Inuit people hunt these animals for food and utilize their skins for clothing. Receiving the blessings of the nature, they live in harmony with the nature.

I wonder how they, the Inuit people, live under such a harsh condition. What are they thinking and dreaming about? What about the effects of global warming on the nature and wild animals? And what do people think of global warming and how are they dealing with it? These are the themes I would like to pursue from a broad perspective. I would also like to take school children to the Arctic Canada and have them report what they see and experience from their own viewpoints.

Join us for the journey to the Arctic Canada!


Joichi Kobayashi (Basecamp manager / Japan)

Born November 1, 1971. Graduated from Meikai University.
In the past, Joichi traveled around the Europe by bicycle and climbed the Alps. In Himalaya Mountains he conducted a research picking up trash on his way down the Himalaya/Everest trail. He also traveled through North America and Southeast Asia, and various other places. During those journeys, he was touched by the nature and the kindness of many people. He was so moved that he decided to dedicate his life for the sake of the Earth and the people of the world. At present he is a senior student at Tohoku University of Community Service and Science. This April he will proceed to the Graduate School of the same university.

<Comment from Joichi>

I would like to think through the snow and coldness:"Why the Canadian Inuit keep living in Polar Regions in spite of such harsh conditions? What is the charm of the place, if there is any?" I will try to lead an arctic life in the same way as they do in order to understand the reason why they don't want to leave the place. I will report what I felt through five senses straight to you!


Stepan Vitalyevich Gvozdev (Expedition member / Russia)

Born February 17, 1967. Graduated with a degree of Bachelor of Science from the Tomsky University of the Automated Control Systems and Radio Electronics.
Stepan started to participate in the outdoor expeditions while at the university. He has since then traveled Altai and Caucasus Mountains and climbed Lenin Peak, Tian Shan. He is also a member of the historical expedition of Matvey Shparo to Mt. Mckinley where a team of 11 members including 2 disabled participants with spinal cord injury all succeeded in climbing to the summit.

He likes many different kinds of sports, among which are skiing, judo, parachute jumps, diving, and swimming. He currently lives and works as an electronic engineer in his home town of Krasnoyarsk, Russia. He is married and has two sons and one daughter.

<Comment from Stepan>

I would like to use my large experience in life, sport and tourism in the International Scientific Expedition. I would like to study the theme of relations between people in a small team group, which will live for a long time under severe extreme natural conditions, the reasons of the conflict situations and the methods of their resolving. I would also like to widen my experience of using modern expedition polar equipment.

I am very much inspired by the program of the forthcoming expedition, connected with the education of children. I hope that one of the selected pilot schools will be from my native city of Krasnoyarsk. I would also like to be helpful to the Earth Academy Mitsuro Ohba Adventure School of the outstanding Japanese explorer Mitsuro Ohba, who is well- known in Russia. And I have one more objective: I want to study the problems of preservation of the natural environment, what is of very high importance for Russia.


Håvard Svidal-Haugan (Expedition member / Norway)

Born November 04, 1976. Self employed consultant, with education from agricultural, nature and environment studies.
Håvard grew up in the small mountain village of Geilo, in the heart of Norway where he first got his interest in outdoor activities. This interest has only increased over the years. Håvard has some artic experience including a 400 km round trip of Svalbard, an outpost island of Norway situated at 78 degrees north, And a 600 km west-east crossing of the ice cap of Greenland.

He has a wide ranging interest in sports including cross country and down hill skiing, bicycling, Brazilian jiu jitsu, rock climbing and of cause the adventure of nature. Currently he is living in Oslo, the capital of Norway, where he works.

<Comment from Håvard>

I feel much honored to be a member of this project "Global EdVenture", and joining the great Japanese explorer Mitsuro Ohba and the other team members in artic Canada. I think it is necessary to collect scientific facts and highlight the serious global changes we experience. We are after all only safe keeping this planet for generations to come.

I have always had an interest and attraction of the artic climate and environment. Together with the rest of the team, I now truly have the opportunity to explore and get in close contact with the true artic nature, the people and animals which live there in close dependence.

I hope to be able to cheer my artic experiences to people of interest especially to the children in pilot schools that will follow us from different countries during the expedition.

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Experts

Mr. Akeo Watanabe (Sociology)
Lecturer, Tohoku University of Community Service and Science

Prof. Gordon Giesbrecht (Human thermophysiology)
Director, Laboratory for Exercise and Environmental Medicine
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada

Ms. Hiroko Araki (Food and Nutrition Science)
Full-time lecturer, Seitoku Junior College of Nutrition, Japan

Prof. Henry Stewart (Anthropology of Northern Peoples)
Culture and Information Sciences, Interdisciplinary Cultural Sciences Program
School of Graduate Studies, The University of the Air

Prof. Mitsuko Masui, Ph.D., D.V.M. (Zoo & Wildlife Medicine, Zoology)
Director, Yokohama Zoological Gardens Zoorasia

Assoc. Prof. Nobuhiro Kishigami (Cultural Anthropology)
National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, Japan

Prof. Tsunehiko Otoshi (Environmental Monitoring, Acid Deposition)
Tohoku University of Community Service and Science

Dr. Sumito Matoba (Snow Ice, Polar Environment)
National Institute for Environmental Studies

Prof. Yasunobu Iwasaka (Atmosphere and Climate)
Department of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Japan

Prof. Yoshiyuki Fujii (Snow Ice, Polar Environment)
National Institute of Polar Research, Japan

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Pilot Schools

American School in Japan
1-1-1 Nomizu, chofu-shi Tokyo 182-0031, Japan

Daigou Elementary School
974 Shimode, Kedoin-cho, Satsuma-sendai City, Kagoshima 895-1504, Japan

King George School
2108-10th Street NW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2M 3M4

Mitsuzawa Elementary School
309-1 Mitsuzawa, Oaza, Mogamimachi, Mogami-gun, Yamagata 999-6107, Japan

Municipal Secondary School 99
8A Ushkova Street, Krasnoyarsk 660113, Russia

Hitotsubashi Junior High School
2-6-14 Hitotsubashi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0003, Japan

Rand skule (Elementary School)
Rand skule, 6896 Hopland, Norway
website: http://gs.stryn.kommune.no/rand.skule/

Uehara Elementary School
383 Aza-Uehara, Taketomi-cho, Yaeyama-gun, Okinawa 907-1541, Japan

Utvik barnehage (Kindergarten)
6797 Utvik, Norway

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Overall view
1. There will be regular real-time interactions via satellite phone between the members on the filed and the pilot school students. The team members will make reports and answer questions from the students.

2. The team members will report their experiences in the form of words, images, and movies in a section called "Photo Journal" on the website. They will also answer questions posted in another section of the website "Question box".

3. The team members will communicate their field experiences and local information through various media, for example, by writing newspaper series, appearing in radio programs, etc.

4. The pilot school students and the general public will access the website to learn about environmental issues and diverse cultures through the field experiences and study reports of the team members. Questions will be posted to the "Question box" link on the website.

5. Experts from universities and research institutes will answer questions posted in the "Question box" on the website.

6. Public relations and publications for Global EdVenture will be carried out through partnerships with various media.

In addition to the above activities, A cross cultural interaction program will be held among the school participants to exchange information and opinions on environmental issues as well as to deepen the understanding of other cultures.
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