Cape Farewell Youth Expedition 2007

Today is going to be our last day here in Svalbard and we are all going to miss one another as we have got to know each other so much in the last few weeks and have had so much fun since we have been here.

During the whole expedition we have had alot to do from working on our art and science projects to writing blogs.

 We have also seen many Arctic animals since we have been here from polar bears to beared seals and even a reindeer which was dead.

This whole expedition has just be great and it will be an experince that will stay in my heart for the rest of my life.

Love   Peace   Happiness

 Akash

Big thanks to everyone who followed the Youth Expedition and sent messages of support. The expedition may be back from the Arctic, but it doesn’t stop there… Use the menu alongside or calendar below to read the latest posts added since the expedition returned. 
Read all the latest posts > 

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Colin here. Can’t believe I haven’t had time to make a post till now! We are about to leave Ny Alesund and head south again. Akash is next to me doing the final live Q and A session before we set off. Thanks to Kathy Barber and all at Bullet, Jess at Big Heart Media, Hannah at Cape Farewell central , and particularly Base Commander Sverdrup Institute, Trond, Karl, Jack and all the scientists at the Norwegian Polar Instititute, we have been able to keep our site bubbling with blogs videos and posts. They have also helped us to see how real scientists work on climate change related isssues.

Look out for everyone’s Video 3s summing up what they have been feeling and achieving – also some stunning footage of everybody actually SWIMMING in the King’s Bay last night. Mad or what? Climate change is definitely biting if most people felt able to swim at latitude 78 degrees 56 minutes! Everyone says snow is very late this year. Usually they have a big snow fall early in September

Last night we were all out on the quayside quite late watching Dan prepare his latest sculpture -burning ice – a large iceberg which Joe and I helped him to fish out of the bay on Wednesday with the help of Capt Arne Christofer and the King’s Bay tug – (see the image bank)

We’re all looking forward to the football match with the youth club at Longyearbyen tomorrow ! We’re not looking forward to saying goodbye to this very special place where we have shared so much together and learnt a lot about each other and this precious world we share.

Keep looking out for those reports!

Make a difference!

Love and changes – The Cape Farewell Youth Expedition 2007 at Furthest North!

Yesterday I went in to the Arctic sea which was about 3 degrees

Bye

I need to do glacier work Shona and Nonie are telling me to get off

Sorry! We had technical problems with the website on Monday and have had to reschedule the two QA sessions with both Nonie and Jethro. We apologise if you were trying to tune in for the video diary broadcasts or the QA sessions and were unable to connect to us. We have fixed the problems and are back up and running again. Check the QA schedule for the current times – Nonie and Jethro will both be online again on Friday 21st.

Our voyagers will be looking at your submitted questions 12 hours earlier than expected due to scheduling conflicts.  Please make sure to put in all your comments and questions ahead of schedule. They are all looking forward to your support and inquiries.

Please note: the time of video posting and the Q & A section will remain as planned.

The Cape Farewell Youth Expedition 2007 is welcomed by Carl Petter Nielson from the Sverdrup Institute for the next few days. The expedition will be assisted by the Polar Institute in carrying out their climate change experiments.

We have finally arrived in Ny Alesund! 

It was quite a lot of work to get here. The kids and the adults spent the entire night taking turns on night duty in 2-hour sessions. This involved waking up in the middle of the night, putting all their warm gear on, and standing on deck with the captain to help sail the boat, pull up sails and watch out for icebergs in the ocean around us. The kids worked really hard all night, and as a result, are very tired today.  However, arriving in Ny Alesund made all that hard work worth the while. It is absolutely breathtaking! 

Today, the weather is beautiful…warm and sunny…blue skies all around us.

News flash: the weather forecast is predicting snow and sleet as of tomorrow (17 September 2007) and possibly the rest of the week, which means our internet connection may be slow or affected by the weather.   We expect that our blogging and videos will be posted as scheduled, however it may changed slightly if we are not able to properly connect.

We have arrived at the Sverdrup Institute. We were greeted by Carl Petter Nielsen, an optical engineer, who has gratiously allowed us to use this facility as a basecamp for scientific analysis and art composition.

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Franzi and Katharina record an interview for German children’s TV show Tigerentenclub – the German Blue Peter – on the quayside at Longyearbyen Svalbard.

The youth team are featured on BBC London News discussing their projects and expectations for the trip. The feature focuses on Hayley, Akash and Liam as the London residents prepare for the Arctic.

See the video online