Update from Alex: a Dartmouth student's term abroad

Posted 04/13/01

Alexios Monopolis '03 embarked on a spring break journey to Svalbard, a territory in the Arctic north of Norway, in March 2001. He reports from the Czech republic where he is participating in a Foreign Studies Program for the spring term.

The Arctic Circle was an absolutely amazing experience! I learned a great deal about the Svalbard archipelago wilderness ecosystem and arctic biogeography and especially about wilderness management from the point of view of all the stakeholders involved (locals, government officials, the tourist business, coal mining industry, scientific research interests and environmentalists).

It was definately the perfect experience for me to have as its relates to the research I'm doing here in the Czech Republic on the Krkonose/Karkonosze Bilateral Biosphere Reserve and my senior thesis (whose preliminary title is "The Tao of Wilderness: The Geography of Environmental Ethics and the Global Political Science behind the Protection of Nature with an Analysis of Trans-frontier Nature Reserves as Mechanisms for International Dialogue and Cooperation and the Promotion of World Peace") is concerned.

I had a chance to meet one-on-one with many of the conference participants including the Director of World Wildlife Fund's Arctic Program, Svalbards's Environment Minister, tourism operators, etc...

Although no formal agreement was written up or signed, a great deal of commitments were promised. For example, the head of the coal-mining industry dropped his objections to the creation of new nature reserves, the snowmobile industry promised to use more environmentally-friendly equipment (quieter and more fuel efficient), the scientific community promised to limit its research into environmentally sensitive areas when the same research could be done near settlements, ship-based tour operators reinforced their commitment to sustainable and environmentally-friendly tourism, etc...

I am preparing an oral report now which I will be ready to present when I return in the summer to the Geography Department and Dickey Center for International Understanding.

The dogsledding/sea kayaking expedition after the conference was amazing. We had to dogsled to the coast where the kayaks were and then take off from there. I saw a great deal of wildlife including polar bears, reindeer, etc... Unfortunately, the minus-50 degree celcius temperature drained all my camera batteries in a matter of minutes, so I only have a few photos from the dogsledding part of the trip. We were never in any real danger, but we had to fire one warning shot once when a bear came too close for comfort. The kayaking itself was definitely the most challenging, dangerous, and best I have ever done.