This clearly isn’t my usual Climate Friday FAQ. Instead, this week, I’m writing a tribute to an influential friend who went missing in the Arctic yesterday and who’s had a profound influence on many of us working on the climate crisis.
Marc Cornelissen in Alaska for Ben & Jerry's Climate Change College Expedition, 2008 In 2008, I had the unique opportunity to go on an Arctic expedition sponsored by Ben & Jerry’s ice cream company to witness the effect of climate change first hand. The expedition was led by one of those brawny, intelligent Dutchmen you could imagine effortlessly summiting Everest or swimming the English channel – Polar explorer, Marc Cornelissen. As young environmentalists, my fellow adventurers and I were in awe of him with his confidence and unforgettable, cheeky smile. He told us incredible stories of his expeditions; had us in hysterics as he recounted a run in with a polar bear while he was “on the loo”; and earnestly explained that over his years of polar exploration, he was becoming increasingly concerned about the disappearance of ice in the Arctic.
It was Marc Cornelisson who showed me what climate change really meant. He introduced me to the Inupiat people, who were struggling to maintain their cultural heritage. He gave me the opportunity to work with amazing, internationally renowned scientists like Dr. Katey Walter Antony and Dr. George Divoky, measuring methane gas erupting from frozen lakes and standing on the frozen Arctic sea witnessing how rapidly it was changing. While Marc primarily stood behind the camera documenting our reactions to what we were seeing, I still recall his boyish joy when he had the chance to dig in to the research himself – plunging his arms into frozen water, getting dirty at every opportunity. He was a tough guy, an unstoppable survivor, and someone I trusted with my life. He changed my life and the lives of many other young people who he took to the Arctic. Nearly all of us have gone on to work on the climate crisis since we had the privilege of meeting Marc Cornelisson.
Marc Cornelissen helps students measure sea ice in Arctic Alaska for Ben & Jerry's Climate Change College, 2008
Cornelissen on recent expedition (coldfacts.org) Yesterday, I heard the news that Marc and his friend, Philip de Roo, had gone missing near Resolute in the Canadian High Arctic. They had been gathering data on sea ice there since March 23rd as part of Marc’s Cold Facts initiative. They were studying the so-called "Last Ice Area", where summer sea ice cover is expected to be most resilient to warming and to remain for decades to come. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has identified this region as an area in which special stewardship should be sought due to its resilience, but a solid science base is required to do this and that was the reason for Marc and Philip’s expedition.
Marc and Philip were surveying areas of mixed ice conditions on skis over a distance of 400 kilometers to establish sea ice thickness and snow profiles. On April 29th, their Dutch base received an emergency message from their tracer. A plane left Resolute, arriving at the latest location send out by the tracer. Their dog was spotted alive next to a sled and a big hole in the ice. Upon landing in the area, rescuers found two sleds -one on the ice, partly unpacked & the other in the open water, but still no sign of Marc or Philip.
Marc and Philip were surveying areas of mixed ice conditions on skis over a distance of 400 kilometers to establish sea ice thickness and snow profiles. On April 29th, their Dutch base received an emergency message from their tracer. A plane left Resolute, arriving at the latest location send out by the tracer. Their dog was spotted alive next to a sled and a big hole in the ice. Upon landing in the area, rescuers found two sleds -one on the ice, partly unpacked & the other in the open water, but still no sign of Marc or Philip.
Marc Cornelissen (coldfacts.org) Marc’s last post on Twitter (April 28) says ‘Skiing in shorts: Tropical day in the Arctic’. In the audio stream, he jokes that he’s skiing in his underwear because the heat was so intense and “too warm, actually”. He talks about seeing unusual thin ice up ahead. There is an eeriness listening to Marc’s account of the day – He’s his usual jovial self, finding the unusual weather quite amusing, but I can’t help wondering if climate change was to blame for my friend’s disappearance. He was an expert in polar exploration in the most resilient ice area in the Arctic. Has this area already become so thin and fragile that even someone so experienced could slip through its cracks? Is the so-called ‘Last Ice Area’ already gone?
Marc has been engaged in the climate change issue for decades. He’s worked on both raising awareness about the problem and improving our scientific knowledge on what’s happening. As much as I try to raise awareness and stay involved in climate science, I could never be the kind of climate hero that Marc is. – I’d never be brave enough or tough enough to endure the kind of conditions Marc so willingly endures, but Marc’s attitude to the climate crisis is something I was inspired to emulate after our trip together. He saw a problem and he just got on with fixing it in his own small ways, and in those small ways, he’s managed to influence so many of us to work on solving climate change. I should have said thank you a long time ago, and I imagine there are many people thinking that same thought right now. All we can do for the moment is live our lives the way Marc inspired us to do, fixing the problem in our own small ways and continuing to fight the good fight.
Marc Cornelissen (coldfacts.org)
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