Experience On The Ice:
Began To See What I Couldn't See

After the preparation in Narsarsuaq, we finally began the longitudinal crossing.

The view from the helicopter on our way to the ice cap took my breath away! We flew over a rugged mountain with its bare surface showing snow-melted spots. Suddenly, the scenery opened into a blue glacier. The color that filled my vision was that of the blue sky on a fine day.

A vast expanse of glacier spread in front of us

Literally "blue ice", it has a mystic blue color

As we approached the start point, my field of vision went blank for a moment, but then soon I recovered and found two small black dots on the ice, Ohba-san and Nagatani-san, who arrived there on the first flight. The ever-changing weather didn't allow me to even have the time to feel the sorrow of parting.

Mr. Ohba and Mr. Nagatani set foot on the ice cap

I don't think I stayed on the ice cap even for 10 minutes. But what I felt there was the inexplicable force of nature. It was something you simply cannot perceive just by reading vast number of books. I felt as if some kind of switch in my consciousness had been turned on. I was awakened.

At the start point

I had never known such a place ever existed on this planet.

From the helicopter high above the air, I gazed upon the mother Earth, not wanting to miss any part of it by blinking. It completely captured my heart. Then, it suddenly came to my mind that the Earth has some kind of feeling and that it is silently accepting and suffering from the arrogant and defiant doings of us human beings. I felt that eventually we would see the devastating consequences of our own actions.

A view of the glacier from above. The Earth looks like a living organism

I believe wherever we are, we can hear the SOS messages from the Earth. As we go around the Earth for the next 6 years as a part of "Global EdVenture", I earnestly hope that the SOS from nature will be heard and some hints for co-existence with nature will be gathered from our everyday lives.

Back to Narsarsuaq

Arne, the pilot, had commented to us, "You'd better go to the Arctic. The ice is melting. You must hurry up!"

I wish it won't happen in the future!

Noriko Miyashita