From climate despair to climate optimism

by Bamsebu Team | Mar 22, 2021 | News From Bamsebu | 16 comments

Solstice- moving towards the light to shine the light!

We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to

arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. — TS Eliot

Inspiration and guest expert

We are borrowing inspiration and text from a Financial Times article on ‘The Art of Exploring’, from Wade Davis. Wade is a gifted writer, anthropologist and explorer in residence at the National Geographic Society. He will be our guest expert on May 6^th. Read more about all our live satellite calls here www.exploringbytheseat.com/hiti

How far can you travel?

Unlike any of our other expeditions we find ourselves having the boldest, most impactful adventure from the same location, Bamsebu, for 16 months. This begs the question: How far can you travel if you don’t go anywhere? Given that crossing borders, fulfilling Easter vacation plans or jetting off to any remote location is severely restricted we have to wonder how you are all fulfilling your dreams, ambitions and needs. We travel by observing and participating in what is right outside our door.

From -24°C to +1°C in 12 hours

For us in the High Arctic being here is to be rendered vulnerable, humble and reverent. We are keen observers to the dramatic shifts from season to season and from day to day. Nothing is taken for granted, not even a good mood. In the space of 12 hours, we went from -24°C to +1°C. The winds went from 0 to 32 m/s.

Scared? Yes, a little

The hut has stood the test of time since 1930. Is it built to last? We hope so, but we are living in a time where nothing can be left to chance so we literally tied down the roof of the cabin – one hefty webbing strap across the front and one across the back. We were expecting the most violent hurricane winds ever predicted. Scared? Yes, a little. We had our clothing, waterproof bag with satellite phone, safety gear, thermos, extra clothes and a spare key for the emergency cabin in case the roof blew off.

To know a place is to be immersed in it. To understand the violent shifts in weather, the ways wildlife adapts, to feel compassion for every single living thing that lives the word ‘adaptation’. We try to understand the things we cannot see, like microscopic algae. And the things we can see, the 600 kg polar bear wandering the stretch of open ice for food.

Great Explorer Knud Rasmussen’s holy grail

Wade Davis writes about the greatest Arctic explorer of all time, the Dane Knud Rasmussen.

“He had no interest in being the first to do anything; his ambitions had nothing to do with self. Rather, his holy grail was not an object or a place, but a state of mind, a depth of understanding that would allow him to reveal to the world the wonder of Inuit life. His life’s mission was to know the world as they did, to understand the patterns of their lives, to enter their realms of magic and shamanic power. With knowledge as his goal, cultural understanding the quest, Rasmussen completely redefined the promise and potential of exploration not only in the Arctic but throughout all the far reaches of the inhabited world”.