Eric and Sustaining Life

Eric Chivian sees the copy of his book Sustaining Life for the first time...

A distant island, far far away

by Tracy Sachs

I've been back from this incredible journey for about 1 week and am still processing all of the amazing sights, sounds, people and experiences of the week. I realize now that for the past 4 months, I had been so focused on the planning and working out the details, I hadn't really stopped to think about what an amazing life experience the "Alaska expedition" had the potential to be -- a week touring an incredibly beautiful place with an inspiring and wonderful group of people dedicated to learning as much as possible about some of the most pressing environmental and ethical issues of our time - -what could be better?!

We started our week together by making the long journey to Shishmaref on Sunday morning, which meant flying to Nome and then taking a charter flight to this tiny island community. I had never been in a place so wild - so un-inhabited. Looking out the window from the flight, there was no sign of human activity for hundreds, if not thousands and thousands of miles. And yet, we were about to visit a place where the effects of climate change were visible to the naked-eye. I couldn't help but think about this contradiction as we made our descent into Shishmaref, which by the way, was the most unique and exciting welcome I'd ever had departing an airplane.

We were greeted on the airstrip by Nancy, our local village contact, and several members of her family, all there waiting to transport our luggage and us, in tiny wooden wagons pulled by A.T.V.s. I scrunched into a wagon with a couple other folks, along with 2 little boys who were about the age of my son Ben. They were wide-eyed and curious, just like me! When I close my eyes and think about our 2 days in Shishmaref, those are the faces I see - 2 little boys - so young, so curious, and born into a community experiencing incredible upheaval and change. Their faces continue to remind me that the decisions we make today about climate change are going to have the biggest and most profound impact on these boys, and my own children. I came to realize during my visit in Shishmaref that the main reason the village of Shishmaref has voted to move together as a community is to have some hope of preserving their life and community mostly for their children.














I highly recommend checking out Carl Safina's blog entry "Baked Alaska" about Shishmaref and the rest of the trip. Carl is President and Founder of Blue Ocean Institute, a Center board member, and one of the scientists on the trip. For me, his writing about Shishmaref captures the essence of our the visit there: carlsafina.org.

Before the trip, Shishmaref was a logistical challenge of figuring out how to get the group there, what and how to eat, and where to sleep. We brought in all of our own food and prepared it as a group (we divided people up into kitchen crews. We slept on air mattresses (also brought with us) on the floor of pre-school. The 18 of us shared one bathroom and there was no shower. But an amazing thing happened to the group when we were out of our element -- the lack of privacy, fancy restaurant meals, and hot showers didn't seem so bad. In fact, it brought us together and allowed for lots and lots of time of discussing, learning and some fun.

I'll never, ever forget our last night in Shishmaref. We stayed up late playing Apples to Apples and my sides hurt from laughing and finally got to sleep around mid-night, just as the sun was going down. We were awakened 20 minutes later by the high school teacher, Ken, calling out that the Northern Lights were dancing across the sky and there was a full lunar eclipse. We all dashed outside as fast as we could and stood in awe "til nearly 2:00AM. It was a magical night, and even though I was 5000 miles away from my own family, I felt so much at home.

Coverage of the Alaska Expedition by The Associated Press

Click here to read The Associate Press coverage of the Alaska expedition.


http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/30/america/NA-GEN-US-Evangelicals-Global-Warming.php

Anchorage Daily News article

Click here to read the local Alaska press coverage of the trip. http://www.adn.com/life/story/9261129p-9176125c.html

No Place Like Nome

By Tracy Sachs & Meg Thomsen

Here we are in the Anchorage airport waiting for our flight to Nome. In Nome we will dine on the freshest of Alaskan King Crab legs at the Polar Cafe on the Bering Sea before taking our charter flight to Shishmaref.

The flight to Anchorage from Boston was long and very crowded. Just when Tracy thought she'd had it with the flight, she looked out the window and saw mountains, glaciers and ice fields which literally took her breath away. At that very same moment, Meg, Heather and Carmen were walking though the aisles of the Anchorage farmers' market selecting the finest lettuce, zucchini, and squash to bring up to Shishmaref.

Seeing the entire group at dinner last night was an incredible feeling -- so thankful that all 18 made it safe and sound. Dinner went until about 9:30PM, and the beautiful sunset over Cook Inlet made for a fine ending to the evening. We tried to go to a higher floor in the hotel but a frowning hostess denied us our view. Oh well, we were weary from the day. No big kinks so far -- a couple people forgot their sleeping bags but a last minute trip to REI solved that easily.

This morning we were on the Magic Bus by 7:40AM and ready to roll. Lots of laughter, cinnamon bun munching and a palpable feeling of excitement and adventure for the day.

It is a privilege to be here.

Coming Soon! The Center is off to Alaska

by Tracy Sachs

Preparations are under way for the Center and the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) joint expedition to Alaska! Together, we've organized a week-long trip to the wilds of Alaska with 5 prominent scientists and 5 evangelical leaders to witness together the effects of climate change on people, glaciers and ecosystems in our northern most state. The trip is going to be a once in a lifetime opportunity for all 18 of us. Three people on the expedition are from PBS, a film crew who will be shooting the trip for a documentary to air on NOW in the fall.

We'll begin the trip with 2 days in Shishamaref, a tiny island community located 2,700 miles north of Seattle, inhabited by about 500 people, that is faced with the awful prospect of having to relocate their village because of the drastic effects of climate change.

With the trip officially starting in just 2 days, we're down to the final items on our list. Meg and I are really ready to "get this show on the road" as it has been at the top of our list for the past 4 months. Meg just finished wrapping about 40 pieces of Eric's fruit from his orchard that he is going to share with group. I'm about to track the Country Ham I ordered from Calhoun's Ham Shop in Culpeper, VA for delivery in Shishmaref - last I checked the ham had made it to Louisville, KY - next stop Alaska. At this point our thoughts are on food as the group will be preparing all our own meals, with food we are bringing with us, while we are visiting this tiny village way up in the Bering Strait. We are keeping our fingers crossed that the stove will be in working order and that there will be some running water....if not, it will be nuts, cheese, bread, ham and chocolate all around...

On Location for Once Upon a Tide

By Kathleen Frith

I just returned from Monterey, CA where I worked with Sea Studios Foundation on our live action shoot for Once Upon a Tide - a ten-minute film we are producing about how the ocean nurtures all life on Earth, including our own. The film is largely the creative output of David Elisco at Sea Studios, who took a concept about ocean and human health to a fantastical tale centered around a nine-year old heroine. Drew Takahashi is the Director, and he's been working closely with Gesine Krätzner from LAIKA studio in Portland, OR on the animation. We all gathered in Monterey last week (August 14) to shoot the live action scenes with budding actress Olive and a great crew. We shot at a fabulous house in Monterey that was picture-perfect, and we were gifted with great sun for our afternoon shot on the dunes (see picture above of Olive and Sally). For me, it was especially poignant to see how one small idea has transformed into a project that is bringing together so many great folks - all using their unique talents to create a beautiful, urgent message about ocean conservation. My daughter Hannah was on set and kept busy making sure Olive had ample opportunity to enjoy the dunes.

The Crew....

Actress Olive's mom, Jen, Olive, me (Kat Frith) and Hannah (Kat's Daughter)