IGERT Fellows Present Posters at IPY 2012

This past week six Dartmouth IGERT Fellows presented their work at the 2012 International Polar Year Conference in Montreal.  The five students who gave poster presentations spent time in front of their posters chatting with fellow researchers, educators, media and policy makers about their work and findings.

Check out the videos below to see Lauren Culler, Laura Levy and Ben Kopec giving a shortened version of their poster talk for the camera!

Laura Levy and her poster “Holocene glacier fluctuations, Scoresby Sund, eastern Greenland”

Ben Kopec and his poster “Lake water balance near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland and their interannual variability”

Lauren Culler and her poster “Temperature alters interactions between Arctic mosquitoes and their predators in snowmelt ponds in West Greenland”

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Greenland’s Arctic Riches

Mr. Aqqaluk Lynge, Chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC), visited campus in February through the Dickey Center and spoke to the Dartmouth community about indigenous Northerners’ rights as well as the tension between the economic and environmental impacts of Arctic development.  

 

IGERT students attending IPY had an opportunity to see him speak again at Tuesday’s Keynote address.  He spoke passionately about the necessity of collaboration between and, indeed, mutual reliance of Inuit communities and scientists, offering that the Inuit “welcome the opportunity…of working with scientists from around the world.”  He believes that traditional knowledge and science must work in concert: with indigenous knowledge furthering scientists’ understanding of the Arctic regions and science serving to protect the Inuits’ “homes and culture.”  He implored scientists to view scientific and indigenous knowledge as “two ways of knowing,” neither of which merits more weight than the other.  After all, indigenous knowledge is rooted in experience and observation, much like scientific knowledge.

 

Mr. Lynge spoke, too, of the rights of his people with respect to culture, language, health, and employment. Greenland is a land of resources—renewable and nonrenewable, living and nonliving—but development must proceed with investment in and awareness of the social dimension.  Climate change’s impact on Inuit culture and livelihoods has prompted particularly great concern, and Lynge spends much of his time sharing local grievances over fish supply, shipping traffic, and ice melt with the international community.  He regularly reminds his people that just as they have adapted in the past, they will adapt also in the future.  He reminded the IPY audience of scientists and policymakers that “[the Arctic] is not a place with minerals or a science lab.  It is our home.”

 

In a particularly direct and poignant conclusion, Mr. Lynge shared a poem he wrote as a student reflecting on colonialism:

“But what you believe we do not believe.
What you don’t know we do know.
What you know we know as well,
for these are our Arctic riches.”

 IGERT students in Nuuk, Greenland with Mr. Lynge in 2010

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Aqquluk Lynge will be awarded an honorary degree at this year’s commencement (http://now.dartmouth.edu/2012/04/teach-for-america-founder-wendy-kopp-to-deliver-commencement-address/).  The Dickey Center and students in the IGERT program look forward to welcoming him back to campus.

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How to Look Good in the North

Normally I would not expect to write a fashion post about a conference, but the fact that I am demonstrates the wide range of events and activities taking place in Montreal for the International Polar Year conference this week.  Monday afternoon, while scientists, policy makers, educators and polar industry representatives mingled in the exhibition hall, the duo of Nunavik Creations sent one after another of their stunning pieces down the runway.

The region of Nunavik covers the land north of the 55^th parallel in Quebec, and is therefore Quebec’s northernmost province.  As the women behind Nunavik Creations suggest, the clothing they create is inspired by the harsh and beautiful climate of the tundra and taiga that they call home.



Their creations are a great example of how Inuit communities are adapting to a whole slew of changes, not just changes in climate.  In the pieces they incorporate traditional designs and materials, such as fur and seal skin, but also include new fashion, textiles and accessories, to reflect a “culture in constant evolution.”

To learn more about Nunavik Creations, check out their website nunavikcreations.com.

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