Expedition Around North America contre le réchauffement climatique

Around North America Newsletter

Newsletter # 11 / October 2008

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October 23, 2008

‘Southern Star’ is presently in the northern part of Georgia Strait, 75 nautical miles from Vancouver, where the 10th leg of the expedition ‘Around North America’ will end tomorrow.

The Vancouver stopover marks the end of the crossing of the Gulf of Alaska. Since the expedition left Dutch Harbor, violent depressions have swept over the huge Gulf, one after the other. Providence granted the crew favorable weather conditions all the way to Sitka. However, from Sitka on, we’ve experienced strong wind gusts once about every 30 hours. The trip south from Alaska toward British Columbia was particularly stormy. Arrival in Vancouver marks the beginning of a string of city stops. The polar sailboat will stay in the capital of British Columbia October 24-31 and will leave for San Francisco on October 31.

Stopover

Planning for the San Francisco and Acapulco stopovers is under way and on schedule. The San Francisco Yacht Club will host the sailboat in California, while the Maritime Museum of Acapulco will do the same in Mexico. The Vancouver program is already very quite loaded.

Sailboats from the ‘Blue Water Cruising Association’ will welcome the crew tomorrow upon arrival at the Vancouver Maritime Museum. The following day, a presentation of the expedition will be given at the Museum and, in the course of the week, at the Aquarium, the BCA and the French Consulate. The French School of Vancouver will also come on board for a visit of the boat.

Scientific program
A roundtable on the theme of climate change in the Arctic is planned at the Vancouver Aquarium. Scientific guests will comment the observations collected on the field by the crew during the summer, while ‘Southern Star’ was in the mythical Northwest Passage.

The following persons will take part :

- Olivier Pitras, chief of the expedition ‘Around North America’
- Daniel Pauly, professor at the University of Bristish Columbia (UBC), director of the Fisheries Centre
- Lance Barrett-Lennard, assistant professor at UBC in the department of zoology, killer whale specialist at the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Centre
- Paul Leblond, professor of oceanography at UBC, president of the Pacific Fisheries Resource Conservation Council (PFRCC), member of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Expedition themes
The Vancouver stopover will give us the opportunity to broach the topic of ‘Climate change and everday life’. The contacts that were made by Adeline Borot and Thomas Binet (scientific coordinators of the expedition) should lead to meetings immediately upon the arrival of the boat in town.
The Cool Vancouver Taskforce, made up of members of local government, manufacturers, NGOs and citizens, has written up a plan of action for business companies on climate change, indicating goals for the city’s private sector, as well as a community plan of action.

Vancouver, a green city at the service of committed citizens, does all it can to allow citizens to consume more durably in matters of public transport, water, waste, food, lighting, construction...

Vancouver Renewable Energy (VREC) helps Vancouver residents, citizen associations and organizations buy and install systems of production of renewable energy.

BCSEA is a NGO of citizens, professionals and technicians committed to the promotion, understanding, development and adoption of durable energy, energy conservation and energy efficiency in British Columbia.

The network of hydrogen-powered buses was also contacted.

The documentary
The first episode (from Tromsø to Ilulissat) of the documentary series came out in preview at the ‘MIP’ (a show of upcoming TV programs) last week in Cannes. The projection elicited interest from about 50 TV channels (national and international). Right upon editing, the original French version was coupled with an English version.
The second film (from Ilulissat to Dutch Harbor) in being edited and should be ready before the end of the year.

Our partners
The municipalities of Lalonde-les-Maures and Aulnay-sous-bois decided to support the participation of one partner crew member.
The local administration (‘Conseil général’) of Seine-Saint-Denis took the same decision.

Donations :
The whole ‘Around North America’ crew warmly thanks Opus Ingénerie SARL for its gift to the ‘Association 69 North’, which organizes the expedition.