Day 3: And the Swarming Commences

Today we said "Hello" to polar bears Mosquitoes. Let me explain. Every time we've gone out of the building we all get geared up in our bug jackets and bug hats and gloves to cover our skin and there are maybe 8-10 mosquitoes flying around each person. As for the researchers here, they haven't been wearing any bug gear and yes, mosquitoes are around them but they hardly notice. We've been looking at their lack of protection like they are crazy, but not after today...

But first let's start with breakfast, I woke same as yesterday at 7:30 and had breakfast. Today it was hot breakfast, egg and cheese sandwiches. I had two. By 8:45 we were out the door fully suited up in waders, rain jackets, and bug hats on our way to collect data at 3 ponds this morning.

Like a normal day, we piled into our vehicle and drove to our site. As we exited the van, it began. The swarms and swarms of mosquitoes accosted our group. That measly 5-10 that bugged us earlier became on average 200-300 mosquitoes swarming, buzzing, and landing on our bug-net covered body surfaces. While the constant buzzing sound was a bit obnoxious, it felt good to know that my gear was impenetrable, making me feel somewhat invincible!

We sludgged our way through wetlands to our first lake of the day. We passed over such beatiful color ground that it almost looked like coral. There were also lichens on rocks that were orange.

I was on the "Environmental" data collection team today. We collected our data first by going out to the middle of the pond and grabbing a water sample that would later be filtered in the lab and analyzed for presence of chlorophyll (indicating algae) in the water.


Then we walked around the pond and recorded the depth of 15 spots around the perimeter of the pond as well as took probe measurements about pH, temperature, and conductivity.

Kim and Steve were on my team and we all got stuck in the depths of ponds numerous times while taking data today. Imagine quicksand that eventually has a bottom because it has old thawed-out tundra beneath it. It's like walking through mucky water on a waterbed. The rumor is that everyone topples over at least once and falls in the water soaking the inside of their waders at least once on this trip. I didn't fall today but that just means the statistics fall less in my favor with each passing day. Today was also the first day that it rained while we were out in the field. It really only sprinkled and it didn't last long but the ripples the rain created on the pond were serine and lovely.

Because the probing part of data collection took a long time and was rather tedious since we had to do it 15 times for each of the 3 ponds we visited, I decided to make a few jokes. Here's what I came up with...

1. What kind of doctor likes to collect pond data?

~ A proctologist (because of the probing...ha, get it?)

2. What did the butterfly eat for breakfast?

~ Pro-biscuits (you know like a butterfly's proboscis)

3. What did the pond say when the scientists asked, "Do you think I'm going to collect data from you?

~Probe-ably. (This is just the nerd in me coming out.)

Ok, ok, so maybe I should stick to my current day job of just collecting data and leave the jokes to the comedians. Anyway, after lunch (hot dogs which I didn't eat, potato filled vegetable biscuits ended up on my plate), our team processed our data. We filtered our water from the center of each pond and prepared the filter paper to be sent off and analyzed. It took time but wasn't overly taxing work.

Late afternoon consisted of me giving my first Community Action Plan Project workshop to the teachers. (It was the 90 hour workshop, EWteacher inside joke.) This workshop was about social permaculture and some of the necessary components of social movements. I started my workshop series with this topic because I think its good to know some of the features of successful communities  in action and see examples of CAP projects and other social movements. My audience blew me away! Never have I had such eager learners. These teachers wanted to start their projects right then and there and had so many great questions. After the workshop was over, people just wanted to sit around and discuss options, and access each other's knowledge sets. It was just really awesome to see the energy in the room.   I was a little nervous before today's workshop but now I'm just excited to provide support to everyone as they begin to do this important work. I am so grateful for Juliet Crupi's passion and determination to take action in our school's community which had lead to a plethora of amazing programs and opportunities for students but also this incredible trip for me to be able to share, all her and I have learned over the past few years from our EarthWatch trips and community action projects, with a new generation of enthusiastic teachers. So thank you, Juliet for being an inspiration and for taking initiative!

Not to end so anti-climatically but dinner was awesome. Wings with 7 different dipping sauces. Lecture on the biological effects of climate change post-dinner, a shower, some emails sent and now it's midnight and still not quite dark, but it is late, and there are 3 more ponds waiting for me  tomorrow, so goodnight.