CHRISTMAS WISHES

May this be the best Christmas you ever knew, one which left you overwhelmed with a sense of being the most fortunate person on Earth. May it be one that spoiled you breathless, with countless gifts of enormous magnitude and incalculable value. And, may you have lavishly given to others more magnanimously than you received.

More importantly, may none of those treasured gifts – given or received – be adorned with glitz or come from retailers’ round-the-clock halls of profit. May none of the gifts that mean the most be spawn of the self-indulgent consumerism that is North America’s religion – where the faithful worship at shopping malls and adhere to the gospel according to advertisers. Marketing seems now to be the highest vocation, preaching a new set of obscene commandments to live by that begins with the admonition to give stuff unto others as you would have them give unto you.

Christmas is irrevocably associated with giving, regardless of your belief about its origin or meaning. Religious or not, this December season brings us closer to people – family, friends, and sometimes even strangers. But, very often the connection we’re inexplicably compelled to make is weakened – or goes miserably unfelt - because of a fixation on “stuff”. Succumbing to the buying frenzy that has become Christmas leaves the less wealthy feeling inadequate in their ability to demonstrate love for family, and imbues those of means with a false and unwarranted sense of meaning.

Don’t misunderstand; I like being remembered. Remembered, not bedazzled. A card. A note. Any token that on occasion I’m pleasantly thought of – that my existence matters a bit to someone else. But, the really big gift – the one that I only ever truly want – is any amount of time spent with family, or at least precious moments hearing the voices of my children and grandchildren.

May your Christmas be rich in what really matters – feeling the loving embrace of family, and finding the opportunity to personally help another living creature (human or otherwise). Perhaps more importantly, may your children learn from your example which gifts are truly priceless.

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All content © Eric W. Manchester. All rights reserved. Any use without prior written permission is prohibited. http://www.ewmanchester.com/

SIGN OUR GUEST BOOK OR WE’LL SHOOT

OK, it hasn’t exactly come to that, but, Canada’s nice and polite reputation is developing muscles because of foreigners’ rising penchant for shortcuts through private property – notably our Canadian Northwest Passage.

However, for Canada to wield dominion of significant calibre, it’ll need more than rhetoric, my grandfather’s rifle (carried by the Canadian Rangers) and surplus WWII deck guns (currently sported on some naval ships). Considering our tardy and soft foray into the Arctic sovereignty game, we urgently need solid, deliberate, effective plans and action instead of speech-making and after-thoughts.

In case you missed it, following is a CANWEST NEWS SERVICE article on the subject.

“OTTAWA — A Senate committee probing the role of the Canadian Coast Guard in asserting Arctic sovereignty is urging the government to arm patrol ships with "deck weaponry capable of giving firm notice" to foreign vessels that this country controls the Northwest Passage.

The Senate fisheries committee also recommended new rules that would require all ships — regardless of size or country of origin — to register their presence in northern Canadian waters, strengthening the partly voluntary NORDREG system now in place.

The proposals are potentially provocative because while Canada considers the Northwest Passage part of this country's "internal waters," the U.S., the European Union and others insist the sea route is an "international strait" beyond Canada's exclusive jurisdiction.

Notably, the Senate report paired its recommendations for bolstering Canada's Arctic presence with a push on the diplomatic front, urging the federal government to "proactively engage the United States in bilateral discussions" to resolve the long-running dispute over the status of the Northwest Passage.

"As the Arctic grows in strategic and economic importance, Canada needs to do more to ensure control of shipping in northern waters," said Liberal Senator Bill Rompkey, chair of the committee. "Full control over Arctic waters is a matter of sovereignty. It is also a matter of protecting the exceptionally fragile coastal and marine environment for northern residents — primarily the Inuit who have used those lands and waters for countless generations."

In 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced plans to expand NORDREG so that all large vessels entering Canada's northern waters would have to notify Canadian authorities. But Rompkey said that plan has not yet been implemented and it wouldn't include smaller vessels anyway, leaving a serious gap in Canada's Arctic security.

"We're saying that all vessels — no matter what size and what they carry — should have to report to Canadian authorities," Rompkey told Canwest News Service. "The threat is not just oil spills and not just commercial vessels moving through. The threat is drugs and the threat is terrorism. And we've got to counteract that."

He said anything but mandatory registration of all foreign ships in Canadian waters is "going to lead to chaos" as melting Arctic ice opens northern waterways to more and more traffic from the oil industry, tourism and — potentially — crime.

Rompkey said those concerns are also behind the Senate committee's recommendation that coast guard ships — and the fleet of six to eight additional Arctic patrol vessels promised months ago by the Conservative government — should be adequately armed to deal with trouble in the North.

"The key word is preparedness," Rompkey said. "If you're not prepared to meet the ultimate challenge, nobody is going to pay attention to you and you're not going to be credible. We have got to be up there with a robust (presence) — and that means armaments: arms on the deck and arms in the hands of the people on board."

The report highlighted the unauthorized 2007 voyage to Cambridge Bay, Nunavut of the Berserk II, a Norwegian-flagged ship** that included two armed crewmen with criminal records. After leading RCMP on a chase for several days to avoid detection, the crewmen were eventually detained and deported and the ship sent out of Canadian waters.

** Note: Berserk II is a sailboat, not a ship. To read about the Berserk II incident go to: http://www.ewmanchester.com/articles/Berserk_Arctic.pdf **

Rompkey acknowledged that the Conservative government has set a new benchmark for action on Arctic issues and "is on the right track, and thinking the right way" with a northern policy that has made — or promised — considerable investments in ships, military training, research centres and other northern infrastructure.

"But those things aren't enough," he insisted. "I know this is a period of restraint and we're coming out of a recession. But we're running out of time. Those waters are opening up."

The report emphasized the need for a closer relationship between the government and Inuit leaders in planning Canada's Arctic strategy. And it called for an Arctic-based control centre for all northern coast guard operations and other activity aimed at asserting Canadian sovereignty and security.

MPs recently approved a plan to rename the sea route through Canada's Arctic Islands the "Canadian Northwest Passage" to symbolically assert authority over the disputed waterway.

But the U.S. has given strong indications this year of strengthening its own presence in Arctic waters. Just before leaving office in January, former president George W. Bush issued a White House directive that reiterated the U.S. position that the Northwest Passage is an international strait and called for a stronger projection of American force in the Arctic.

And the U.S. navy recently issued a report predicting potential military conflicts in Arctic waters as the international struggle for control over oil and gas resources intensifies.

Russia and Canada have clashed several times in recent years over military test flights in the Arctic and controversial Russian "stunts" at the North Pole — including a 2007 flag-planting on the seabed and a proposed parachute drop in early 2010.

But Canada and the four other nations with Arctic Ocean coastlines — the U.S., Russia, Norway and Denmark (Greenland) — have also pledged to work peacefully to establish undersea boundaries and open the polar region to sustainable economic development.”

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All content © Eric W. Manchester. All rights reserved. Any use without prior written permission is prohibited. http://www.ewmanchester.com/

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Only time will tell if the patriotic moniker recently added to our Northwest Passage will be simply symbolic or seriously substantive, but it does illustrate a perceived need to nationalize something we thought Canada already owned.

In case you missed it, here’s a CANWEST NEWS SERVICE article describing the renaming event.

“OTTAWA — A controversial bid to rename the country's Arctic sea route the "Canadian Northwest Passage" has passed almost unanimously in the House of Commons, a surprising outcome after Inuit leaders and opposition MPs argued the renaming process initially lacked input from the North's aboriginal inhabitants.

But an amendment to the private member's bill that promises recognition of an additional Inuktitut name for the disputed waterway appears to have allayed concerns, allowing all MPs to support the symbolic boost to Canada's Arctic sovereignty.

Just one MP abstained from voting on the proposal, championed by Ontario Conservative MP Daryl Kramp.

"I am obviously very pleased," Kramp, who missed Wednesday's vote on the motion, told Canwest News Service by e-mail from China, where he's part of Canada's delegation for the state visit by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Kramp said 11th-hour assurances to all parties that Inuit communities were widely consulted about the proposed change sealed the vote in favour of renaming the passage.

Liberal MP Larry Bagnell, an original backer of the motion who later withdrew support over Inuit concerns about the change, said the "major problems have been addressed" with an additional round of consultation ahead of Wednesday's vote.

He said there "a lot more problems" confronting northern communities than the waterway's name and that it was time to halt the debate over a relatively "inconsequential" symbolic act.

In early November, Inuit leader Paul Kaludjak pressed MPs at a Commons committee to consider the wishes of Nunavut's aboriginal population — and honour the millennium of Inuit history in Canada's North — before proceeding with plans to rename the Northwest Passage the "Canadian Northwest Passage."

He said many Inuit living along the sea route know the passage as "Tallurutik" — an Inuktitut word derived from linear landscape features along the coast of Devon Island and an associated tattooing ritual among Inuit women.

Canada has faced an ongoing challenge to assert control over what this country considers "internal waters" but which the rest of the world — most notably the U.S. — sees as an "international strait."

That jurisdictional challenge prompted Kramp's proposed addition of "Canadian" to all official references to the passage, meant to symbolically bolster Canada's sovereignty over the shipping lanes through the country's Arctic islands.”

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COMING TO AN ARCTIC NEAR YOU

Foreign warships, icebreakers and stealthy aircraft are headed our way. Many nations – some nearby, some faraway – have the Arctic plotted on their big road atlas of places to visit, infringe or exploit. Regardless of their guise, foreign interest in the Arctic means that Canada's northern sovereignty will have to be more than just a line drawn in the receding ice.

Here’s what The Ottawa Citizen (newspaper) recently published…

“OTTAWA — The U.S. Navy is planning a massive push into the Arctic to defend national security, potential undersea riches and other maritime interests.

An "Arctic roadmap" released by the Department of the Navy details a five-year strategic plan to expand fleet operations into the North in the expectation the frozen Arctic Ocean will be open water in summer by 2030.

While the plan talks diplomatically about "strong partnerships" with other Arctic nations, it is clear the U.S. is intent on seriously retooling its military presence and naval combat capabilities in a region increasingly seen as a potential flashpoint as receding polar ice allows easier access.

"This opening of the Arctic may lead to increased resource development, research, tourism, and could reshape the global transportation system. These developments offer opportunities for growth, but also are potential sources of competition and conflict for access and natural resources," says the 33-page document, signed by Admiral Jonathan W. Greenert, vice chief of Naval Operations.

"While the United States has stable relationships with other Arctic nations, the changing environment and competition for resources may contribute to increasing tension, or, conversely, provide opportunities for co-operative solutions," it says.

"Action items" in the planning document include:

- Assessment of current and required capability to execute undersea warfare, expeditionary warfare, strike warfare, strategic sealift (and) regional security co-operation.

- (Assessing) current and predicted threats in order to determine the most dangerous and most likely threats in the Arctic region in 2010, 2015 and 2025.

- Focus on threats to U.S. national security, although threats to maritime safety and security may also be considered.

- Identify the relevant actors concurrent to the forecast time frame.

- Determine incentives and motivations for each actor.

If the recent surfacing of a U.S. submarine near the North Pole left any doubt, the roadmap makes it clear the U.S. and other nations will increasingly flex military muscle in the resource-rich region, says a specialist on Canada's northern security.

"The Arctic is transforming and everyone else gets it and they're not going to go away," Rob Huebert, associate director at the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary, said Friday.

But behind a public facade the promotes international Arctic co-operation, "if you read the document carefully you'll see a dual language, one where they're saying, 'We've got to start working together' . . . and (then) they start saying, 'We have to get new instrumentation for our combat officers,'" says Huebert.

"People want to hope for the best and everyone's talking about co-operation and playing by the rules and I think they're trying not to provoke the Russians. But everyone has also recognized that, to a certain degree, the Russians are going to do what the Russians are doing," including more test launches of their Bulava intercontinental missiles from submarines on Russia's Arctic coast.

Canada was one of the first countries to identify the strategic issues of a melting Arctic, Huebert said, and successive federal governments this decade have, "a very accurate set of understandings of the problems that are coming. But in a typical Canadian fashion, we're still in a situation that we haven't started spending."

The Harper government has announced over the last several years the creation of a military training centre in the Arctic, economic aid to the region, as well as the construction of a new port, an icebreaker and a fleet of Arctic patrol ships. Work is underway on the various projects but in many cases it will take years before they are ready.

Defence officials recently told a parliamentary committee that six to eight Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS) set for construction will have minimum armament capabilities and few add-on capabilities. "(And) probably . . . a gun, but that seems an afterthought," said Huebert.

"The speed is being reduced so, if you're in a situation where the ice is indeed diminishing, you're going to be left with this very slow craft that's going to be the major instrument for us for the next 40 years. So we're penny-pinching at this point in time."

The Norwegian and Danes, by comparison, have spent the last 15 years re-arming with a very combat-capable and Arctic-capable navy and air force, he said. The Norwegians recently spent $7 billion on the most expensive class of ships that they've ever built. The five frigates are designed for high-Arctic operations with an air superiority capability and state-of-the-art U.S. Ageis combat systems.

"They're clearly understanding that the future is not nearly as nice as what all the public policy statements say," said Huebert.

And the U.S., in addition to the planned naval re-armament, is to station 36 F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jets — 20 per cent of its F-22 fleet, consisting of what many consider the best overall fighter jet in the world — in Anchorage, Alaska.

"If the north isn't important, why are you taking such a scarce, such an expensive aircraft . . . and putting one fifth of them in the Arctic? That tells you something."

Even the Chinese, he said, are building two to three new icebreakers that will give them an icebreaking fleet larger than the Americans and, "pretty well . . . larger than ours."

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All content © Eric W. Manchester. All rights reserved. Any use without prior written permission is prohibited. http://www.ewmanchester.com/

POLAR BEAR CANNIBALISM

While it’s true that the Polar Bear population in Canada significantly increased during the past 20 years, after the decimation caused by over-hunting, the Arctic’s changing environment poses a new and critical threat to that species.

Reportedly, the Western Hudson Bay population dropped 22% since 1987. The Southern Beaufort Sea bears are showing the same signs of stress, including smaller adults and fewer yearlings. At the most recent meeting of the IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group (Copenhagen, 2009), scientists reported that of the 19 subpopulations of polar bears, eight are declining, three are stable, one is increasing, and seven have insufficient data on which to base a decision.

Consequently, the following observations should be no surprise.

CANWEST NEWS SERVICE…

“Faced with a shrinking habitat in Canada's Arctic, polar bears are increasingly turning on their own kind in an act of hungry desperation. According to Manitoba Conservation, at least four cases of polar bear cannibalism have been confirmed in the northeastern Manitoba community of Churchill this year. Several more cases are being investigated.

Scientist Andy Derocher, who has spent more than 25 years studying polar bears in the Western Hudson Bay area, said the water usually freezes by mid-November, allowing the bears to drift away from the main land and hunt seals.

Warmer than normal temperatures this year have delayed that, he said.

"The cannibalism events are really just a manifestation of the effects of global warming on the bears," Derocher said. "It's an act of desperation; it's what they do when they can't find something else to eat. The rub here is that they've now been forced to sit on land for an extra month . . . The animals are winding down on the stored body fat that they have."

Infanticide occurs among all bear species, according the Polar Bears International, but, in the past, Manitoba has only received one report annually.

The organization said 20 years ago, polar bears would return to the ice in the Western Hudson Bay on Nov. 8; a decade ago that date extended to Nov. 20.

"It occurs with sparse regularity," said John Gunter, general manager of tour group Frontiers North Adventures, which leads polar bear expedition trips in Churchill.

On Nov. 20, one of his company's tours came across a case of polar bear cannibalization. "It was a sombre day after that event occurred."

Dubbed the polar bear capital of the world, about 16,000 tourists pass through Churchill each year.

Gunter said he's only heard of two other such cases in the past 30 years.

The group -- consisting of mainly amateur and professional photographers -- captured a number of graphic images of the adult male eating a young cub. "Seeing a natural event like this occur, no one was broken down by it," said Gunter of the naturalists’ reaction to the gruesome scene. "I think the real story here is what is causing the event."

"The problem for polar bears is it is nothing more than a habitat loss issue -- we are taking their habitat away from them and there is no real place for them to go," Derocher said.”

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All content © Eric W. Manchester. All rights reserved. Any use without prior written permission is prohibited. http://www.ewmanchester.com/

INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT

Where I live is now emptier, with a silence that crushes my heart. The house used to be so much fuller and richer, in a taken-for-granted way. She was always noisily here, although her behaviour often lacked affection. Now and then she’d spontaneously snuggle against my cheek or lay her head on my lap, but it mostly seemed that she only wanted my company at mealtimes or on cold evenings.

She rarely cleaned up after herself, debris and smudges marking where she’d been. But, when the tumour began, housekeeping issues ceased to matter. Her doctor said that it was inoperable and incurable – maybe it would slowly grow, but the outcome was inevitable. She would, little by little and painfully, starve to death. Despite willing it to be otherwise, the tumour quickly grew and the agony began.

There was no reconciling the desire for her to breathe every possible moment of life, against a slow, painful decline to a wretched end. With appalling loss of body mass until she could barely walk, no longer able to eat or drink, she stoically faced her fate – still attempting lifelong routines even though they brought no benefit or comfort. She had no way to stop suffering, but there were means to bring her peace. The injections would be painless – the first to soothe, the last to mercifully end her misery.

Last Saturday morning she died in my arms, uncharacteristically and intently gazing through my teary eyes into my tormented soul – as if to say, “You must be strong enough to do this for me.” I was, but I’m not. Few go gently into that good night, but in the end she did and I’m thankful for her serene release. For a being who never wronged anybody in her long life, she at least deserved that.

When the doctor withdrew his stethoscope and said that she was gone, grief and conflict overwhelmed me. I killed her to spare her, and I don’t yet know how to live with that. Callie died at the age of 20 - being the equivalent of 100 human years, that was a long time for any cat to enrich a person’s life.

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All content © Eric W. Manchester. All rights reserved. Any use without prior written permission is prohibited. http://www.ewmanchester.com/

POLAR LAND & LIFE DAY

IPY

On June 18th, 2008, the International Polar Year 2007-8 (IPY) launched its fifth ‘International Polar Day’ focusing on Land and Life: the plants and animals of polar lands and the changing permafrost and hydrologic systems. This Polar Day occurred as hundreds of researchers focus on Arctic environments. It has been timed in conjunction with the Ninth International Conference on Permafrost (NICOP) in Fairbanks, Alaska, and the UNEP TUNZA International Children’s Conference in Norway, part of IPY’s continued role in raising public awareness of polar science.

Polar landscapes and terrestrial ecosystems extend from the tree line of the continental tundra to the remote northern islands of the Arctic, and from southern cold maritime islands to the dry continental deserts of Antarctica. Ice, particularly in the form of permafrost and seasonal snow cover, plays a dominant role in all these environments. Biological communities survive through remarkable adaptations and extensive migration. A range of climatological and ecological pressures act on these northern-most and southern-most ecosystems. IPY research is assessing changes in vegetation (so-called greening) methane production (due to permafrost degradation), wildlife health and migration patterns, coastal erosion, and freshwater availability.

A special Land and Life webpage has been prepared with information for Press and Educators, details of current projects, profiles and contact details for scientists around the world, images, background information and useful links and resources. There will also be a wide range of educational and community activities, including classroom experiments, a virtual balloon launch, and three live web-conferencing events connecting polar scientists to students around the world.

About IPY and International Polar Days
The International Polar Year 2007-8 is a large international and interdisciplinary coordinated research effort focused on the polar regions. An estimated 50,000 participants from more than 60 countries are involved in research as diverse as anthropology and astronomy, health and history, and genomics and glaciology. This fourth IPY was launched in March 2007, and will continue through early 2009. During this IPY, a regular sequence of International Polar Days will raise awareness and provide information about particular and timely aspects of the polar regions. These Polar Days include press releases, contacts to experts in several languages, activities for teachers, on-line community participation, web-conferencing events, and links to researchers in the Arctic and Antarctic.

The remaining schedule for International Polar Days:
September 24th 2008:

People social sciences
December 2008:

Above the Poles astronomy, meteorology, atmospheric sciences
March 2009:

Oceans and Marine Life marine biodiversity, physical oceanography

Contact For more information regarding this event:

Dr Rhian Salmon, IPY IPO Education and Outreach Coordinator ipy.ras@gmail.com, +441223221297

Dr David Carlson, IPY IPO Director, ipy.djc@gmail.com, +447715371759

Please visit the IPY Land and Life webpage.

Ninth International Conference on Permafrost: http://www.nicop.org/ International Polar Year http://www.ipy.org/

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All content © Eric W. Manchester. All rights reserved. Any use without prior written permission is prohibited. http://www.ewmanchester.com/