First Antarctic Education Base to Open
To celebrate the opening of the Antarctic Education Station and to showcase its learning potential, the opening of the EBase will be broadcast live across the world, both to schools and to corporations working in partnership with Swan and his organization 2041.
2007 was chosen to be the year of the opening of the Education Station because it is also the start of the International Polar Year. This scientific program is designed to increase awareness and learning about the continent of Antarctica and runs from March 1 2007 to March 2009. This will be the fourth International Polar Year in history (the first took place in 1882-1883).
For the past 5 years Swan has been leading an international team to help build the education center, as well as explore the continent of Antarctica. The 5th International Antarctic Expedition (IAE) will begin on February 21 2007. During the expedition the official opening of the EBase will take place.
Swan believes that it is more important than ever for people around the world to learn about climate change, and believes Antarctica is the perfect spot from which to do so. Antarctica is feeling the effects of global warming perhaps more than anywhere else on the globe, and must also deal with the problems of the hole in the ozone layer.
Beginning in the 1920s, products using then new chemicals known as CFCs (chloroflorocarbons) were made in mass quantities. The release of these CFCs began to damage the ozone layer, a vital part of our atmosphere. The creation of products which release CFCs was banned in 1979, but it will take decades if not longer for the atmosphere to repair itself. The thinning of the ozone layer is worse in Antarctica.
The idea for an education center in the Antarctic first came to Swan several years ago when he was cleaning up more than 1000 tons of rubbish from the shores of the beach on St. George Island. Since then it has been his dream to create such a center, a dream that is finally seeing fruition with the opening of the EBase in February 2007.
Published by Allen Butler
Allen Butler is a freelance writer and tutor living in Austin, TX. View profile
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1 Comments
Post a CommentThis is so exciting! Maybe the real threat of global warming will be better conveyed if school-aged children and teachers can learn firsthand the wonders and necessity of the Arctic. A well-written piece Allen.