wandering + wondering

The Harbour City

Students on Ice Antarctic Youth Expedition 2011, Day 3 part 1                     December 28th, 2011, 5:20pm, on our Buenos Aires - Ushuaia flight

“Well, we’ve crossed into summer.”

That’s what my seatmate Arnold told me as we drifted out of sleep and into Buenos Aires, and the sunlight started to stream into the cabin as people around us lifted their window shutters. Today I have come farther South than I’ve ever travelled before. I’m in South America. Buenos Aires was a barrage on the senses. The baggage claim area opened into the exit, packed with people, and we snaked our carts piled with luggage out into the sun. The first thing I could smell was thick smoky air, and second, humidity on our skin.

I was torn between listening to our tour guide, Alicia, and looking out the window, but I found a balance staring out, observing the city, while listening to her voice in the bus - almost like an extra layer of history and richness, superimposed upon what I was seeing. Alicia had a lovely voice. it was careful but informal, leaving off the “g” in words like “being” and pronouncing the silent one in words like “high.” She told us how Buenos Aires had begun a humble, precarious city on the harbour of the Rio de la Plata (we flew over it, its width was unbelievable). There were no resources in the land to build a community, to create other jobs. It was a difficult time as the natives tried to fight for the land. Argentina is a mosaic now, its culture having been informed by many years of borrowed European traditions - many of its citizens are descendants of Italians or the Spanish. Buenos Aires was the last Spanish-founded city in all of South America.

Alicia told us that the city is home to a couple million people, with many more millions living in the outskirts of town. Argentines prefer not to drive so much, partly because they are notoriously naughty drivers - Alicia’s words, not mine. There are 40,00 taxis (they’re black, yellow and everywhere) and 10,000 local buses. Cyclists weave in and out of traffic and most Argentines walk, finding any of a hundred excuses to stop for coffee. Alicia said they can’t imagine not stopping and enjoying their meals. In the city, many of the buildings further back are residential, tall, thin and flat, with roofs shaped like Tetris puzzle pieces. Closer, on either side of the road, are the poorer areas of town. They looked like buildings constructed out of popsicle sticks and string, skeletons of the city.

Some of the more public buildings - the bank, the theatre - are ornate and formal. The early 20th century was a rich period for Argentinian architecture. We also visited La Recoleta Cemetery in the city, before heading off to a hotel to meet the American contingent and have our first proper expedition briefing.

Eva Perron’s grave (top) and stained glass (bottom) at La Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires, courtesy of Alisha Fredriksson

Trees line the squares - thick, leafy groves of them, and some palm trees. Surprisingly, none of those trees are native to Argentina; they’ve all been imported and planted. The only natural vegetation is the green grass. In my head, the reel turns back almost like an archive or microfilm of what it must have been like without those trees - a flat, sunny expanse of green and sky. The bottle trees are mossy green, and this is because they store vast amounts of water and eventually assume the shape of bottles - sometimes they’re called drunk trees.

Alicia said the Argentine people are fairly easy going, but as a young country having known economic hardship, it’s still finding its place. At the beginning, when we had just entered Buenos Aires, I was struck by all the graffiti, words I couldn’t understand, painted on the cement walls lining the highways. What caught my eye was that a couple minutes later I saw someone painting in this very same style under a bridge, slapping bright yellow paint on top of the grey. Was he painting his way across the city? Alicia explained later that the people were finding their voice and sometimes used graffiti as a way to express their message - it isn’t regarded as vandalism as it might be in our cities.

From my journal entry for the expedition website the morning of December 29th, at our hotel in Ushuaia:

“She was talking about how it’s easy to live in Buenos Aires, as if the city itself smooths the path. An 80-year-old could go back to university now and start a new career. She said, “Perhaps that’s the magic of the city. It allows everyone to find a way.” Later, as we were pulling away from Hotel Las Americanas in downtown Buenos Aires where we had our first expedition briefing, she said that when Argentines are travelling to other places, they often tell each other to keep their mind in the place they are - “Keep your stories where your feet are touching the earth,” they say. Don’t let your mind wander anywhere else. We are part of the places where we find ourselves. Alicia was talking about the history of the city as we drove along the 9th of July avenue from the airport to the hotel, near the end of our visit, and she told us, “You’re part of its history now.” —

State of the X: TEDxTalks in January

tedx:

TEDx events by the numbers: January

• 77 TEDx events happened around the world
• 67 cities hosted one or more TEDx events
• 29 countries hosted one or more TEDx events

TEDx by the numbers: All time

• 3190 TEDx events have happened around the world
• 800 cities around the world have hosted one or more TEDx event
• 126 countries have hosted one or more TEDx events —

And, as of January 5th, 2012 - 7 continents have hosted TEDx events!

Dusk Journey

Students on Ice Antarctic Youth Expedition 2011, Day 1

The first leg of our journey begun as we took off from a YVR runway and headed  East into the sky.

Here the clouds stretched endlessly beneath us, white-tipped Rockies sometimes poking through at the beginning of the flight. The two other girls on my flight and I were split up, so I was catching up on the pre-trip reading material in the packages given to us by Students on Ice. Well, that, and daydreaming about where I was headed. 

As we flew towards the night, we could see ghosts of cities on the surface of the Earth, shining spider webs of light. I had just finished reading a journal entry of Dan Hill’s called Of brains and cities; neuroscience and and cultures of decision-making, and I couldn’t help but notice how the lights looked like electrical synapses and neurons (or at least how I imagine them…), some kind of massive nervous system spanning miles and miles. A dozen blurry pictures later, here’s a good one of Toronto:

This is part of my journal entry for the Students on Ice blog about that night, written the morning after from a conference room at our Toronto hotel:

Vancouver disappeared really quickly yesterday under cloud cover and the sky turned to purple dusk while we were somewhere over the Prairies. We flew in over the Toronto city lights and Alisha, Kelly and I regrouped at the gate, claimed our bags and met Lacia who was waiting for us with a Students on Ice sign. Then it was off to the hotel where we met Tim from Students on Ice and grabbed a bite to eat before heading off to bed. That quiet near-midnight conversation with Tim, Lacia and the girls over the dinner table was the best part of the night – a hint of what’s to come over the next two weeks. At first we started off talking about where we come from – A, K and I from BC, Lacia from the East Coast but living in Yukon, and Tim’s lived all over, but is now in Ottawa – and what’s to come on this adventure. Then somehow the conversation turned to what we might want to do as we get older, and those personality-type tests most students take at some point in high school. Across the table we agreed we didn’t find them particularly valuable in terms of pointing you in a specific direction, but the conversations they sparked were interesting. (How do people with different planning processes work together towards an end goal? What does it actually mean to be introverted or extroverted and how do you create an environment where both can thrive?) This was the first of what I’m sure will be many more perfect moments. —

That night those of us from the West Coast didn’t sleep at all - whether because of the time difference or excitement, I’m not entirely sure!

The third picture is of Amundsen’s team, the first explorers to reach the South Pole. I love this picture because I don’t feel like there’s any sense of victory in it, no pride at having conquered one of the last great frontiers. It’s almost a scene of humility. I like the idea that these explorers, the first men to set foot and flag on the South Pole, were touched by the same awe that touched us in Antarctica.

HOME!

Antarctica is surreal, the expedition was so powerful, and I feel incredibly blessed and lucky to have shared it all with a group of beautiful and inspiring people. First order of business: sleep!

Day 1: Vancouver-Toronto

We flew in over the city lights, had dinner and went to bed. This morning: breakfast at the hotel, group activities, getting suited up with gear from Canada Goose. We’ll board an afternoon flight to Miami and an overnight flight to Buenos Aires from there!

T minus a few hours

I’m leaving for the airport in a bit. From then on I may or may not have any opportunity to check in on tumblr or Twitter but I will definitely be contributing to the official expedition blog. Follow our journey there, at http://www.studentsonice.com/antarctic2011/daily.html.

I am so excited that the trip is starting - it came so quickly. The challenge will be to experience it fully so it doesn’t pass by so fast, although I know it will, so I’ll settle for making lots of good memories, taking many pictures and capturing as much as I can in my journal. What are you supposed to say before starting something that you know is going to be life-changing?

It’s been one incredible year, and I could not ask for a more amazing way to round the bend and kick off 2012 than to do it in Antarctica. Before I leave, I owe many thanks to many people: thank you Mom and Dad and Raiya. Thank you Kima - you are an amazing mentor and I’m so grateful for your support, technical know-how and brainstorms. Thank you Mrs. O’Neill and my teachers - you are wonderful. Thank you to all my friends: my school and Encounters With Canada and Symposium and TEDxKids@BC families - so much love to you guys. Thanks in advance to Students on Ice, for prepping me so well and for the amazing adventure to come. Thank you Roslyn Burn for this incredible opportunity. Thank you all so, so much for your support. I’m so grateful for all the love, help, encouragement and guidance I’ve received, and I couldn’t be doing any of this without you.

Happy holidays and wishing you a wonderful break and fantastic beginning to the New Year! To my Vancouver friends, I’ll see you in a couple weeks. To the others - I’ll get in touch when I get back!

Antarctica, I’m coming.

One small thought and one long ramble

In the wake of all this trip madness, a few people have asked me if I want to pursue environmental studies after I graduate.

Well, no, but yes - kind of. No because I don’t know what I want to do yet. There’s so much out there and I’m interested in so many things. As much as I care about the environment, I’m not sure if I will want to study environmental science specifically. But at the same time, yes - kind of, because I think that while we obviously need people who study the Earth’s reaction to our actions and who suggest ways of reversing the damage, this sort of consideration - of our impact on the planet - shouldn’t be restricted to people who study the environment for a living. Isn’t it at the heart of the idea of sustainability that people across many fields rethink their environmental impact? Aren’t those of us part of this movement trying to build better systems and encourage widespread change?

I don’t know if I want to pursue environmental studies, but no matter what I do, I’ll do my best to approach it through the lens of sustainability.

***

Ramble

Aside from the fact that I have actually been asked that question, this post was also inspired by the architect Jeanne Gang, who’s been an inspiration of mine lately. Her designs are wonderful from an environmental perspective: they interact with elements like rain and wind rather than fight it. They make use of resources, but don’t exploit them. She talks about filtering rain runoff through to soil and plants so it replenishes water tables instead of letting it drain into the sewers - it’s not biomimicry, it’s more like she’s inserting her designs into already-existing natural processes in a way that doesn’t cause any negative impact. Not only that, her design reduces city’s impact - it’s fixing something broken.

Cities make ecological sense because we can best conserve resources in dense urban cores. These are ecosystems, and with some creativity, we can make them work much better.

-Jeanne Gang, A Big Fish in Many Ponds

And her architecture doesn’t detract from the beauty of the city where they’re built, they help people to understand it better. This in turn reminds me of an article by Craig Mod, Seeing Prime, which is a really nice reflection on seeing under the guise of a camera lens review. In it, Mod describes how photography - placing a layer between oneself and the subject - helps us understand the world better:

Curious, that. To get closer we have to stick a bunch of glass and metal and plastic between us and the world. But it works. …Thoughtfully adding layers to minimize or change our relationship with distance.

And he points to James Turrell, whose architecture reunites us with the sky and the stars by separating us from them with material. So we come full circle. Lots of food for thought about the built environment and the natural environment and the interactions between the two.