Sunday, October 8, 2006

4:32 PM

Today was the day we left churchill and we are all slowly starting to dissipate. This morning we all got up and went to breakfast then came time to get on the plane. Robert was not coming into Winnipeg with us and neither was JB, Lisa Joy, Captain (John), and Jake. The rest of us were getting on the plane to Churchill. It was so hard to say good bye to all of them, I am going to miss them and I hope its not the last time i see them either. Once we arrived in Winnipeg, three others left, Angela, Jon, and Bill the biologist. I don't even want to thnk about tomorrow morning when I have to say good bye to everyone because i know that i am going to cry because today at the airport I almost did. I thought that I would be more excited to go home than I am but I'm not. I mean I want to see my family and friends because I miss them, but theres a chance that I might not see most of these people again and we have all become really close. I hope we all stay in touch and maybe have a PBI five year reunion or some thing.

This trip has had an effect on me and the way I view some things in life. Meeting peple from different countries changed me because i got to learn how their life is the same and different from mine in Maryland. Seeing polar bears in the wild made me really want to aware people of global warming because it will be ashame when these magnificent creatures are extict except for the possibilities in zoos but that isn't the same as seeing them in their natural environment. I now understand some of the polar bears behavior and know why our zoo puts some of the enrichment we give our bears in there because its something that they would do in the wild. This experience taught me so much that I didn't know about global warming and how our climate is changing quite rapidly. I just hope my experience here at the PBI leadership camp will be enough to help me to effect and change peoples live so they can help make a difference and become leaders in saving our future.

I want to thank everyone who gave me this chance to participate in this truely once in a life time experience and the people I encountered on the trip for making it so much fun! All of the teachers and of course Robert and Carolyn for giving me this chance, I will miss you all so much and hopefully one day I will come back to be a teacher or a Tundra Buggy driver. I will miss all of my new friends that i have made so much. Even though we have only known each other for ten days it seems like it has been so much longer because we have all become very close. We are all part of the PBI family now and we all better keep in touch too!
I Love You guys with all my heart ! <333 Candace

Sunday, October 8, 2006

4:03 PM

This was supposed to be included in the last journal but I forgot. I just want to let everyone know my plan of action. Once I get home I plan to make changes in my own life before trying to get other people to change their ways so I am not a hypocrite. I am going to try and conserve more water, recycle, and use more efficient appliences etc. Everyone from this camp will be telling their family and friends about their experience, which will help spread the word of the impacts of global warming on us and the evvironment. Then I plan on giving some presentaions in my biology classes if it can fit into my teachers schedule. I might possibly be able to give a presentation at the Maryland Zoo with Jesse. Also I am going to try and publish an artice in our school newsletter about my trip to churchill. Interviews with media would be a plus but im not sure if that will happen or not. And another good idea would be is to hand out free pamphlets or dvds to people that gives people knowledge of what is going in the arctic and that soon it will start effecting our lives as well. I know this is a lot of action plans and i am going to try to do most of them. But i know that all i can do is light a match and hope it spreads into a fire.

Friday, October 6, 2006

6:04 PM

Riding in a Helicopter is so much fun! That was the highlight of my day. It was the first time that I had ever been in a helicopter and it was awesome. The Helicopter company sent out five helicopters to take us out to see the maternal den. Jesse, Jake, Emily, Tamara, and me were all in a helicopter together along with the pilot Adam. Out of the five helicopters we got the biggest and fastest one. It was such a great day for this because the sun was shining and it wasn't too cold. Looking out of a helicopter is very cool and since everything is so flat you can see for miles.

Once we landed out in the middle of the tundra, everyone got out and stood on the ground. The reason I am telling you this is because the ground is so different and weird feeling. It is really squishy and sponge like. The ground was also many different colors. I found out that what we were walking on was not actually land but it was a layer of different plants floating on water.

Now about the maternal den; it was actually smaller than i thought it would be. The den was located on a bank of a lake and had small plants and trees surrounding it and on top of it. It was damp inside and it didn't smell bad either, it just smelled like peat moss. I had to army crawl in and it was kind of hard to turn around and come back out. There was small little holes on the side. That was a once in a life time experience, I mean how many people can say that they've crawled into a polar bears den. I can officially say i have.

On the helicopter ride back to the lodge i got to sit in the front. That was amazing. We asked Adam if he could fly low to the ground and he did. All of us got some great pictures out of the helicopter. I am definately going to have to do this again sometime.

Thursday, October 5, 2006

10:29 PM

Another exciting day out on the Tundra. We only saw one polar bear today, I'm not complaining but I was hoping to see the mother and two cubs today. This polar beear was the closest I have seen the Bears come to the Buggy. He came over and actually stood up on the side of the Buggy. He was so close that I could of reached over the railing and touched his head but that would of been a bad idea.

We didn't go out on the Tundra Buggy but stayed in the lodge. We discussed and presented diffferent topics. In groups we presented chapters from the book we read called "The Impacts of a Warming Arctic." Our main topic of discussion was about how we are going to present the information and knowledge of what we have learned while we were here at leadership camp to the people back home. We have to seend the message across about the effects of global warming on our future lives and what things we can do to help stop increaing the warming of the arctic.

Tomorrow we are going to be taking a helicopter out to abandoned maternal dens. I am so excited about that because I have never been in a helicopter but i get to see a real den where a bear has raised her young. So stay tuned for tomorrow's journal because that is what i will most likely be writing about.

Wednesday, October 4, 2006

10:32 PM

Today all of us were awoken by the woderful singing of Robert. He came patrolling through our bunks at 6:30 in the morning singing at the top of his lungs. What a pleasent way to start the morning!

The mother and her two cubs were still around for most of the day. For most of the time they were lying out in the shrubs, and occasionally came up to the Tundra Buggy to explore.

The most interesting part of the day was definately when Robert set up 3 trappers to speak to us tonight. If you are not sure what a trapper is it is someone who sets up different type of traps and captures the animals to use their skins. Two of the trappers, Betty and Jim, have been doing it all of their life; and Parker has also been doing it since he was young. It was very interesting to listen to how passionate they are about their work. I was pretty much always against people killing animals for their skins because I thought it was a waste. After listening to them speak, it really gave me a completely different view on why these people do it. They do not just do it for money but it is such a part of their life, it is what they live for. Betty told us about what a basic day was like when she was 16. She said she would wake up before sunrise and she would leave out for the forests with her dogs to check the traps. She would have to start a fire and make herself some lunch and she would most likely return way after sunset.

They care for he animals very much because they know how much they can kill and try to do it the most humane way. if they would find themselves catching pregnant females they would stop and get rid of all of their traps for that animal. Also they say that mother nature has a way of keeping the populations normal; but with them trapping it is easier for the populations to stay more constant. Once they have skinned the animals i thought they would just throw away the insides. I found out that they stick the carcasses far out in the forest and various species will feed upon it which is not really a waste. Also if you think about it, it's not weakening an animals original instincs for hunting because animals who find naturally dead things will eat it. I know the way these people think about killing animals, they are respectful. When they have to give up their trapping land, I hope the others are just as passionate about trapping and not just think about the money aspect.

I really enjoyed these speakers and I'm glad they came because they really changed my mind on a few things. I hope that all of this made sense to you but it is really best if you heard it from the people who do it for a living. Hopefully this was a good enough summary to give you a chance to ask yourself how you feel about trapping based on the knowledge I gave you.

Oh and before I forget, I saw the Northern Lights last night! They were spectacular! I can't wait to possibly see them again at least once more before I leave. Talk to all of you later!

Tuesday, October 3, 2006

7:54 PM

Today I saw my first polar bear! It was so amazing; they are so beautiful. We were traveling through the tundra and we saw a polar bear lying among the brush. We think that it was probably a 5 year old sub adult male. He looked very peaceful and didn't seem to mind that we were watching him. Everyone ran to the leftside of the buggy and busted out their cameras. The bear never got up, but occasionally lifted his head up to look at us (which made for some great photos). We sat in the Tundra Buggy and ate lunch where we also saw an arctic fox. He ran along, stopped and starred, then rolled in the dirt; it was so cute! We rode around some more, spotting a polar bear way in the distance. It was a very exciting first day on the tundra.

I thought that would be the most excitement of the day, but I was wrong. We arrived at the Tundra Buggy lodge, which is so awesome by the way, and there we saw the coolest thing. As we were about to sit down to dinner, we saw a mother polar bear with her two cubs! We had all heard that last night people had spotted a mother and cubs by the lodge but we weren't sure if we would see them today. At first they were far in the distance but one of the adventurous cubs started to wander over towards us. The mother bear was not to thrilled that he was wandering over but she let him. He came up right to the buggies and was starring up at us. The mother eventually came over too and she stood up and looked around. That was so fantastic! I got some great photos of them. This has been the best day ever and i cannot wait to see what is in store for me tomorrow.

Monday, October 2, 2006

5:54 PM

Hello again everyone! Well today we got a tour around churchill and we were in search of some polar bears. All of us were an a bus and drovearound to a spot where we could walk up to the Hudson Bay. It was really cold outside today or atleast it was for me. Besides that the view of the Bay was amazing. It was very beautiful and so was the scene around the Hudson. There was gorgeous rocks everywhere, some huge like cliffs and some very tiny. Also I would not have thought that the Tundra could have so many different colors. The grasses were yellow and green, and shrubs were purple and a few other colors. That was a pretty neat site to see. Oh and of course I had to feel the water and I think it was cold but I couldnt really tell because my hand was already numb from not having my glove on. We walked along the Hudson and saw two day beds. That is a place where polar bears like to lay during the day and most of them use the same day bed for over a year. These indentations in the grasses made me actually start to believe like wow there are actually polar bears around here and I will be seeing them soon! As we continued our walk we came across a skull; it was from a baby beluga whale. A polar bear probably didn't catch it but we think it washed up onto shore; but what we do know that is someone had been chewing on it. We came across some more dismembered body parts and they were from big birds. There was feathers everywhere so something must of had a feast!

So tomorrow we are leaving on the Tundra buggies! I am so excited for tomorrow because we will hopefully be seeing some polar bears. We still have seven days here and each day keeps getting better and better. And it is supposed to be clearing up soon so we should be able to see the northern lights which is awesome! Talk to all of you tomorrow!

Sunday, October 1, 2006

10:56 PM

Finally today we left for Churchill. We had to get up pretty early but it was all worth it. When we took off on the plane it was a beautiful clear day which made looking out the window fantastic. I never would of thought that all off Manitoba was practically flat. I mean there is like no hills what so ever. Looking out the plane window was so cool because you could tell the differences in population very easily. The first few minutes in the sky you could see all of the many communities and the city of Winnipeg. Then everything starts to spread out. The farms were huge and looking at the ground seemed like it was a giant puzzle piece. There were diferent colored fields and many little lakes. Some of the lakes seemed like they were shaped so perfectly that you could find the right size land to fit in its spot. Also there was a long and pretty big road which i believe was the highway. It was amazing to see that it wasn't crowded at all! I am used to seeing backups and car collisions on like every road and here i saw maybe about ten cars. Then soon enough there were hardly no homes and i couldn't really find a road. There was so much open land for a long time which i haven't seen much of. In Maryland there is some country but still there is so many people about. It became very cloudy and when it came time to land, we were prabably about twenty feet off the ground but i still couldn't see land, I thought we were still in the clouds. It was so foggy i can'y believe that the pilot was able to make such a good landing and even find the landing strip.

We took a small tour of Churchill which was fun; it is such a cute abd peaceful little town. I cannot wait to see more of it tomorrow and possibly find those adorable husky pups we saw today! well until tomorrow...goodnight!

Saturday, September 30, 2006

6:24 PM

Seven 'o' clock a.m. came fast. I was so comfortable in my bed that I didn't want to wake up, but i knew we were going to be having some guest speakers and going on a field trip. After breakfast were the guest speakers who were awesome. They shered some useful information and I learned quite a good bit of stuff.

For the field trip we went to the Zoo in Winnipeg. There were many exciting animals, but the most fun thing was our little debate. Our debate was about polar bears in captivity against the disadvantages of having them and any other animal in captivity. For example, animals in captivity are good for educational purposes. People can learn about the species and the environment it lives in. Also they can learn about the different conservation issues on the animal and maybe they will contribute bacause they want their grandkids kids to be able to have a n opportunity to see them in the wild. They are also good for research which can then help in the study of the animal in the wild and they can learn why that animal does a certain behavior etc. We discussed how it is also not sucha good idea to have them in zoos. It isn't fair to the animal exspecially if they were taken from the wild and put into this "prison." We talked about so much more and i could go on for a long time but im about to go eat dinner. Well tomorrow we all leave for churchill which is so exciting! Talk to ya'll then!

Saturday, September 30, 2006

6:05 PM

I thought yesterday was going to be a normal travelling day but I was wrong. Me and Jesse's flight from Baltimore to Minnesota was delayed because of genorator failure. We were waiting for them to fix it for a little over an hour. This caused us to miss our connection flight to Winnipeg. They rebooked us on a new flight and we had to wait for about 2 hours before that plane took off. Once we landed in Winnipeg, and got through customs there was a group of very nice people waiting for us. They were so welcoming they felt like they were family.

After we checked into the hotel I went up o my room to meet my roommate. Shelby is her name and we hit it off as soon as we started talking. It felt like we were best friends even though we had just met. At dinner we all got to hang out and get to know each other a little but more and everyone is so awesome. I don't think i will want to leave here October 9th. We will all definately have to keep in touch and visit each other!