Cara Augustenborg
  • Home
  • The Verdant Yank
    • Climate Friday FAQs
  • Down To Earth
  • Media Appearances
    • Watch
    • Read
    • Listen
  • Upcoming Events
  • Gallery
  • About Cara
    • Publications

Did climate change steal my friend, Marc Cornelissen?

4/30/2015

6 Comments

 
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. 

PictureMarc 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.

Picture
Marc Cornelissen helps students measure sea ice in Arctic Alaska for Ben & Jerry's Climate Change College, 2008
PictureCornelissen 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. 


PictureMarc 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. 

Picture
Marc Cornelissen (coldfacts.org)
6 Comments
Jan Paul van Soest
5/1/2015 12:26:56 am

Thanks for your heartwarming tribute to Marc.

Reply
Cara Augustenborg
5/3/2015 01:15:36 am

Thanks so much for the comment and for reading, Jan. It is really touching to see so many people who were influenced by Marc coming out of the wood work to share their stories. He's left an amazing legacy. -Cara

Reply
Martin de Wit
5/7/2015 03:38:44 am

Great tribute, couldn't describe the courage and inspiration of Marc better.

Reply
Cara Augustenborg
5/7/2015 03:12:26 pm

Thank you so much for reading and for the thoughtful comment, Martin. Nice to know others feel the same about Marc. -Cara

Reply
Phil Kearney
10/29/2015 12:48:09 pm

Hi Cara, just came across this now. A very moving tribute. Thanks. I had seen the report of Marc and Philip's disappearance but did not know of your connection. Your account gives their lives and work context and significance and reminds us of the scale of the risks we all face and the courage of those who are in the vanguard.
I imagine they may be remembered in your TED talk. I hope it goes really well. Phil.

Reply
Augusta Thomss
11/30/2016 01:18:29 pm

I met Marc in 2007. He taught me something that I'll never forget. Be proud of your home - simply because it id yours. I was reluctant for him and his crew to interview me in my humble home. In the end I even made supper for them. Tunatert en oondgebakte patat. Ek het eers n halfuur gelede van sy sterfte gelees. Meegevoel gaan aan sy dogter van wie sy hart vol was. Sterkte vanuit Suid Afrika!

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    September 2019
    October 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    September 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    September 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014

    Categories

    All
    Elections
    Electoral_registar
    Green
    Vote

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly