Perreault Magazine - 74 -
The sun has now set in Antarctica and I’m still trying to wake up to the fact I’ve actually been there. I know it wasn’t a dream because I’ve got a gazillion photos to prove it. More importantly my heart is filled with memories that will last a lifetime. The tranquility was exhilarating—the polar opposite of the mental and physical world I came back to. I spent the first few weeks feeling in a similar state to the conditions that now envelop the continent—frozen and engulfed in darkness. I couldn’t get over how intrusive and disruptive the everyday subliminal noise we’re immersed in affects our ability to think and stay focused. It’s taken a while to acclimatize, but I’ve now regained my land legs and recalibrated my brain to function above the Antarctic Circle!
The visual and auditory landscape of Antarctica is now an intrinsic part of who I am—something I can draw on to both revitalize my energy and recapture a sense of peace. In the same way a picture is worth a thousand words, the rich tapestry within nature’s soundscape is priceless, it’s value subjective to the connection we feel and the story we want to convey.
A musical composition by the late Sir Peter Maxwell Davies to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Scott’s passing is a dramatic yet somber piece—a stark contrast to my own experience, but a fitting portrayal of the conditions and hardships he endured—something I believe Peter could not have expressed so eloquently had he not stipulated he be allowed to go to Antarctica and experience it for himself. The irony is that he travelled on the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) ship, the ‘James Clark Ross,’ which is also about to meet its demise—a ship that hopefully NERC do not replace with a vessel named ‘Boaty McBoatface!’
I firmly believe anyone involved in making decisions on the future of Antarctica should have to go there to fully integrate what it feels like to be a part of something bigger than yourself. Only then can a group of individuals with different ideals really appreciate how they can set aside their disparities and work collaboratively for the greater good of all—CCAMLR representatives for starters! In the same way you can’t judge a book by it’s cover until you’ve read the pages, or a person unless you’ve walked in their shoes, you cannot decide on the fate of a continent with an economic mindset governed by a system where money and winning are the dominant forces—a system I believe actually only creates a scarcity of resources. You have to immerse yourself in the environment to recognize the significance of what’s being asked of you and be humbled to the fact that nature doesn’t need us, but we sure as hell need it.