The Home Stretch!

Well, with internet being pretty patchy during the middle of our trip, I haven't done as many updates as I had hope to, but here is the final entry for our ACER 2011 Road Trip Blog!

While the boys threw the frisbee back and forth on the playing fields outside South Kamloops Secondary School, we awaited our last presentation of this 2 week road trip. There were two Chemistry 11 classes today, both with the same teacher (who was a Chem Major himself in university) and both groups of students were fabulous! The presentation was a bit more specialized, and Zack and Jeremy took the reins here to explain Carbon Cycling and Climate Change in more detail. We had great response from both classes, and ended the road trip on a high note!

Yesterday on our drive to Kamloops from Quesnel, we saw the odometer on the car click over to 2000km for our trip -note that doesn't count the distance travelled on the ferries of course! What a feeling to see with a map how far we all have taken the ACER presentation: now to all corners of Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlottes (Haida Gwaii), and completely throughout our massive province; from the most remote communities to some of the biggest cities here. Well done, ACER's!!!

We were very excited to start heading home, and even more excited to be catching the ferry - during the Canucks game! The lineup heading onto the boat went nuts when Vancouver scored, and everyone on the boat cheered when we won! :) As great as this road trip has been, it will be a wonderful feeling to unpack our bags and be back in our own beds.

This trip has been exhausting, inspiring and altogether just incredible. Hopefully we've done our job, and  have given the next generation of thinkers (and scientists) a reason and some hope to continue on and create new technology and come up with new solutions to solve the global problem of climate change.

I have no clue where my career in geology will take me, and likewise, at the end of all this schooling, I wonder if my fellow ACER's have as much uncertainty in the exact nature of where and what they will end up working on in the future. What I know for certain is that this ACER group is full of young, enthusiastic minds that will no doubt go on to amazing things and make a difference for other students along the way, no matter what field of study they pursue. Now, we have a chance to, in the words of our favorite cartoon, pictured below, "...create a better world 'for nothing.'" (haha)

Google Map of our ACER trip to Haida Gwaii and through the Interior!

Nanaimo is now within our sights, so long from Ginny, Jeremy, and Zack!

Prince George and the Spruceland Motel

Hello all!

Having yesterday off to get oriented and organized for the week's presentations ahead, we are now full-steam back into visiting high schools!

After suggesting the Spruceland Motel, I have now banned myself from choosing our sleeping locations for the rest of the trip! With mysterious stains on walls and ceilings, ancient mattresses, and too many surfaces that haven't been dusted in centuries, we stayed one night in our sleeping bags here before requesting to be relocated! We are now happily situated in an updated, comfortable hotel with plenty of room, which is nice as we'll be here for a few more nights.

My brother works in Prince George every summer for the Forestry Fire Crew (Go Firehawks!!), and on Sunday night, before he got shipped up north to the Dease Lake fire, showed Jeremy and I around PG to get ourselves accustomed to the area. We visited Fort George Park, which is gorgeous, clean, and enormous, and found grocery stores and the best restaurants in town. We also went up to UNBC and toured around the fabulous new campus and cruised through their amazing fitness centre. Winter's in PG are long and filled with snow, so having a facility like this (with indoor soccer fields and an elevated running track) are essential to staying sane!

Zach has now joined us, having come directly from Sointula's Living Oceans Day on Malcolm Island, and we have already done our first presentation as a group this morning at a high school out of town. We have one more today, so there's some time to get our car organized (it's much like a mighty game of tetrus getting 3 people and all our gear in there) have some lunch and prepare for a Science 10 Honors class this afternoon. It'll be the last low-key day of the trip, as we're now fully booked through PG, Quesnel and Kamloops!

Spirits are high with our group as we soaked up the sun in the park yesterday and got some exercise; the weather's promised nice until the end of our trip, and now we're on the home stretch!

Check out facebook for links to our photo albums, but we'll have some more pictures later on today!

Thanks to all our fantastic ACER volunteers who invested their time travelling up and around the island (Sointula, Ucluelet, etc) presenting and partaking in adventures of their own! I don't know about you, but after the fatigue of travelling and presenting wears off, it's inspiring to think that we've been given the chance to spread the word with ACER beyond our usual Nanaimo area and Lower Mainland. Go team!! :D

Back in Prince Rupert and Onwards!

Google map of our trip to date...

Hello again!

The previous post was written in Word and now that we are done today's presentations, time for some more updates! Check out the link above to see where we are...

Today's presentations were great! We presented to Science 8, 9, and got the opportunity to work with a Geography 12 class in the afternoon! All went very well, and we had some wonderful feedback - including many students who said they would like to go into scientific studies and engineering with the aim of solving the problems of climate change :) hooray!

Jeremy explains Daniel Nocera (MIT)'s new catalyst among other new technology to help us get off fossil fuels!

Kate left us today after the morning presentations, and is now hopefully getting some rest on the ferry ride back to Port Hardy. Although we slept solidly last night, it takes a bit of practice to actually GET to sleep on a boat, so we're a bit short on our REM cycles. That problem is solved, at least for Jeremy and I, as we're now checked into our hotel for the evening and are planning out our trip to Prince George that (if we can make the time) include a stop at the Tseax volcano and Nisga'a Lava beds memorial site just out of the way between Terrace and Smithers. The volcano erupted violently in the 1700's and is the most recent eruption in Canada.

We plan to spend the night in Smithers, breaking the 8-9 hour drive up over the weekend and arriving in Prince George on Sunday night to pick up another awesome ACER from the airport who will replace Kate and join us for presentations in PG, Quesnel, and Kamloops. Word of our journey is spreading, and we are getting more classes booking us as we go!

Okay, time for a shower and then to scavange through the groceries for dinner before a good night's rest. Oh right, and uploading some pictures tonight!

Queen Charlotte City -Masset

Sitting in the ferry lineup seems like as good a place as any to do some updating on our journey! It’s 10pm, and we’re awaiting our midnight-7AM trip back across Hecate Strait into Prince Rupert again.

Haida Gwaii has been quite the challenge and such an adventure! We did presentations at Queen Charlotte Secondary yesterday in the morning, and were very impressed with the intelligent and insightful questions posed by the students - clearly the wheels are turning! Many of the students are also planning to come to VIU when they graduate, so we look forward to seeing them again and perhaps having them as part of ACER!

Saying goodbye to two fantastic teachers at Queen Charlotte Secondary

On Wednesday night we traveled up to Masset, and checked in to the Alaska View Lodge - we were sure there was actually a view of Alaska, but with the thick fog we didn't see it!  Some of the truck space (well, a fair bit) is now stuffed with shells and stones that we accumulated while beach-walking. For dinner our hostess recommended a new restaurant just down the road, which produces and cooks to order all their menu items for prices that were way to reasonable for the fantastic quality of food we feasted on! Since there were no other guests at the lodge, we had the hot tub all to ourselves as well :) Our time on the north shore was definitely too short (only 15 hours including sleep), but thankfully we started today with a massive breakfast of local bacon and eggs, homemade bread and the essential coffee before heading to George M Dawson Secondary in Masset.

 Here we had the opportunity to teach to a wide range of different classes, from Science 8 and 9 to Biology 11 and Social Studies 9. It was a busy day at the school, as Science World was presenting as well! The teachers were great, and we had a wonderful time presenting - even our touchy Radiant Warming of CO2 experiment was working well! It seems Jeremy has finally worked out most of the kinks J The school has also just installed a brand new greenhouse, and plans to grow vegetables for it’s lunch program - very cool!

After our presentation and before our trip back down to Skidigate, we took a drive to Old Masset, which is on both the very edge of the inlet and the north shore of Moresby Island. It was a strange experience to see so much poverty here so close to home, although it was promising to see some new buildings and a renewing respect for local customs and traditions beginning to emerge.

A main point of contention is the proposed installment of wind mills off the North shore - many are against this idea as it will ruin the natural scenery that the economy depends on for tourism. There are also protests here against Enbridge Oil, which plans to start drilling off the coast, and the First Nations are in particular opposed to this idea. We have been learning the local issues as we go, and have focused on teaching the students about the science behind climate change and the amazing new technology that they could be working on in the future to get us off fossil fuels!

Our theme of posing on one foot for pictures begins at Balance Rock near Skidigate :D

One of the surprising benefits of this trip has come from traveling with my fellow presenters, and realizing how differently our brains work to interpret ideas and challenges. Coming from a more artistic background, it is strange how the same topic can appear so differently to the mathematic or engineering mind. This has caused me to remember that not every student is the same, and reminded me that when you’re speaking to one class, they are not all processing the information the same way - some are thinking very visually, and others very analytically. The key to this global issue is to make sure that everyone can have a solid understanding of why the climate is changing, and how they can help to stabilize it, and we can make this happens by reading how our audience is processing the information we present as we go. The demos help to do both for sure!

Well, it’s time to board the ferry and head back to Prince Rupert. We arrive in at 7am, and present at 840am at Charles Hays Secondary. Then, sadly, we send Kate on her way back down the Inside Passage on the ferry, and Jeremy and I will continue on the Prince George to meet our next crew member at the airport. Kate will be joining another ACER group for a presenting at the Living Oceans day in Sointula on Malcolm Island, and then taking another group out to Ucluelet - busy lady!

Thanks to all our amazing ACER’s who continue to use their knowledge and wonderful personalities to engage students on this important issue of climate change!

Prince Rupert - Haida Gwaii

We have successfully made it across Hecate Strait and are now happily situated in our cozy accommodation in Queen Charlotte City! While Kate and Jeremy catch up on some sleep lost on the overnight ferry across from Prince Rupert, I will take the time to update the blog...

Prince Rupert Secondary School was great! The students made up some of the best audiences that we've all ever experienced, and the teachers were fantastic - we feasted on muffins and exchanged coffee mugs, and had a few lively discussions. We also got the opportunity to speak to a wide range of classes, including Social Studies 10, Science 10, and a Chemistry 11 Honors class (which Kate and Jeremy thoroughly enjoyed!!). I was encouraged to see the boxes of rocks that had just been donated, and meet the teacher that will be instructing the Earth Science 11 and Geology 12 courses next semester :)

Kate and I feeling excited about our presentations at PRSS! 

The applets from KCVS are a hit with the students - so far we have used Collisional Heating, Infrared Spectral Windows, and Planetary Climates (my personal favorite) having the interactive animations is a huge help in explaining some of the major process of climate and climate change.

The rest of the time spent in Sunny Prince Rupert we played tourist and wandered around the tourist side of town, caught a Dragonboat race down by the water, ate lunch in the park, and hiked out to the Butze Rapids on the east side of town.
We caught the overnight ferry from Prince Rupert last night at 9pm, and arrived here on Haida Gwaii in Skidigate at 530AM. Since nothing was open, we parked the car by the beach and watched the eagles (dozens of them!) scavenge the beach for their breakfast while we tried to stay awake long enough to get ours at the first cafe that opened. It was probably the best breakfast ever.

It's hard to believe that the sun is still shining and the weather is so warm up here! Our apartment is located right across the main road in QCC and we have an amazing view of Moresby Island from our deck.

Today we will regain our land-legs, perhaps mingle with the locals, and then prepare for our presentation at Queen Charlotte Secondary tomorrow morning. After that, it's North off to Masset, where we will play tourist along the drive (there's some cool geology to see!), and settle in up there for another presentation.

View from the beach in Queen Charlotte City as the sun sets on our first night...

Later this evening we should have some more pictures up as Jeremy bought a memory card reader for his camera - can't wait to share the pictures with you all!! We are having an exhausting but FANTASTIC time :)

The Road Trip Begins...

Google Map of our trip so far...
A late evening drive to Port Hardy and a beautiful 15 hour boat ride up the Inside Passage, we have arrived in Prince Rupert! Not quite sure what to make of it yet, but at least the forecast is for no rain the entire time we are up here...
Leaving the torrential downpours on the Island behind us, the MV Northern Expedition took us north across Queen Charlotte Sound into the brilliant sunshine! The whole trip up to Prince Rupert we had warm sun, smooth waters, and incredible scenery. Even the food was amazing...What a way to begin our journey! Sadly, we spotted no Spirit Bears on Princess Royal Island, but saw many glacial features, whales, and met some great people.
Today in PR is our day to get organized with our presentation schedule at PRSS tomorrow and pick up any essential items we may have forgotten before heading to Haida Gwaii tomorrow on the overnight ferry. Our first presentation will be in Haida Gwaii on Wednesday in Queen Charlotte City, (allowing Tuesday for the motion sickness meds to wear off...) and Thursday in Masset, before coming back to Prince Rupert and continuing on to Prince George.

Grenville Channel

Google Map of our trip so far...