Everyone should visit the Arctic or Antarctica or both at least once in their lifetime. If you go to both, you can claim to be “Bipolar!”
The remote and inhospitable stretch of land, ice, and desolate wildlife offer life enriching lessons worth experiencing as well as in advancing a more robust understanding of the arctic’s vital role in earth’s global ecosystem and the elaborate interdependencies that safeguard our planetary equilibrium.
Context is important as I gaze upon the vast grey of the ocean, an endless panorama of nature’s fractured collection of sea ice languishing on the surface of the biting cold waters, while the cruise ship navigates carefully around them towards the north pole. This is a vast inhospitable wilderness that is strikingly picturesque and serene, while ostensibly incompatible with prolonged human survival. But WE didn’t worry about our survival because we depended on the comforts of a 423 foot long, 10,000 gross tonnage cruise ship, provided of course at a hefty price. Representing a class of typically entitled humans that are mindlessly dependent on the engineering feats of the past and present, we were guaranteed safety so long as the cruise ship functioned to provide the comforts of home and more. Left to our own accord or abandoned by misfortune or by malevolent intent, we would not have a clue of what to do in the next moment to secure our survival!
Hey, think about what happened over one hundred years ago when Ernest Shackleton and his men endured the challenge of surviving the harsh realities of a similar frigid and hostile wilderness – Antarctica, without the promise of warmth, fresh water, general hygiene, and an adequate supply of fresh and cooked comestibles to endlessly graze upon. Personally, it would be maddening to even consider participating in such a polar expedition of this kind……with the risks heavily weighted towards failure and death. And can you imagine dying knowing your helpless numb body was being progressively frozen…I suppose there are other ways to die that are even more dreadful.
My flickering moments in this magnificent and powerful polar region were ONLY possible feeling safe from the risks it imposes. In this scenario, people and technology promise – for a price - to protect me from the elements. The broader world in many ways is no different than the arctic. We are utterly helpless in either domain although we take so much more for granted for our safety and comfort at more inhabitable domains of the planet. Indeed, we inherently take for granted the earth that we inhabit. The lifegiving forces; the light from the sun, the richness and vibrancy of the earth, limitless water, the elements - rain, the snow, the wind, the shudder of the earth, mostly serve us for the purposes of survival, that is until each element’s unapologetic anger reign upon us.
Peering out from the ship, from the small zodiac boats zipping through the frigid ice studded waters, or on the stretches of land of the Svalbard archipelago, whether looking for wildlife, climbing closer to view the sprawling finger of a glacier, or just simply viewing the splendor of the vast scenic swathes of mostly barren nature, one can’t help but feel insignificant while contemplating the sprawling beauty of the sweeping landscapes of the arctic. The power of nature is indeed exhilarating!
In comparison; we are nothing but a loose mess of flesh sewed onto a surprisingly brittle skeleton. And the reality is that left to fend for oneself, survival would be at best a day or two without prior wilderness survival skills. But even then, an untimely meeting with a hungry polar bear, an injury sustained on the rocky and uneven terrain, and/or the prolonged consequences of the freezing temperatures augmented by windchills from piercing gusts of wind will provide the ultimate challenge to one’s survival. And without food or water, the odds are clearly not in your favor.
At home, we don’t worry about the cold, we don’t worry about going hungry, we don’t worry about getting sick. We do worry when our favorite sports team doesn’t win, or when we get criticized for our behavior or performance. We rely so much on personal and community resources and infrastructure, and societal norms that we never really have to acknowledge how oblivious we really are in this total dependency. We are never forced to look in the mirror. It’s also true that although most of us live in cities with a plethora of vistas to witness, we default to focusing most of our attention on a tiny portion of space and time, weary of what is immediately in front and what is in back in a dynamic 5-20 feet surrounding perimeter. In this respect, you are at the center of your universe, a tiny speck of nothingness. I was particularly obsessed with this notion of human insignificance, frailty and dependency during my time in the arctic.
While the wildlife was plentiful, we didn’t see as much as some on the cruise ship such as the arctic fox. We did see polar bears but every time we sighted one, we ran away like frightened children rather than trying to press our luck by getting a closer glimpse for a more meaningful look. Ironically, the polar bear is the apex predator of the Arctic, but it was the primary reason for not being able to explore many of our intended land excursions during the cruise. We didn’t want to get too close to the polar bear, but we went to the arctic to look for them – does that make sense???? We did see many dolphins, beluga whales, terns flying above, an occasional seal, about five polar bears, and a herd of smelly walruses.
I left the arctic thinking that most people do not live in the real world, they live in one created for them by the social and legacy media, by their limited experiences in life, or a product of their own contrived imagination. Everything in nature is taken for granted until it is no longer there to exploit. In its place is a false sense of self based on how they see themselves, outward appearances, their wealth, their talents, their accomplishments, their positions, their age, their ability to communicate or con, their wisdom to engage others in their midst, and a bunch of really evil traits and behaviors that showcase the worst of human nature.
I think everyone would understand what I’m trying to convey if they were dropped off in the arctic and expected to survive for at least one day without knowing when or if the rescue party would come for them. Even with a rifle, even with food and water. What do you think? Up for the challenge?
I leave you with a few pictures taken by my barely adequate iPhone camera. Yes, i was also in the arctic 10 years ago as shown below!
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