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An Intimate Connection with Nature

For the last 40 years, Norman Hallendy has spent his life learning about the Arctic and the many Inuit people who call the land home. His deep interest in this area has brought him across the Arctic, studying different communities and their connection to nature and one another.

Norman Hallendy began his Arctic journey in 1948, at a time in which many Inuit peoples were moving from the land into permanent settlements.

His work in the Arctic and his role in interpreting the inuksuit earned him the Royal Canadian Geographical Society’s Gold Medal in 2001.

An Intimate Wilderness: Arctic Voices in a Land of Vast Horizons (Image courtesy Greystone Books)

In his memoir,An Intimate Wilderness: Arctic Voices in a Land of Vast Horizons(Greystone Books, 2016), Norman writes of his adventures as an ethnographer in the far north, including wildlife encounters with polar bears, profound friendships and what it means to live alongside nature.

Also an Arctic researcher and photographer, many of his talents are woven within the pages of his book, which is filled with stories about the people and the Arctic and illustrated with stunning imagery.

I recently spoke with Norman about what drew him north and how his bond with Inuit elders strengthened his connection to nature.

As a cultural researcher from Ontario working in the Arctic, Norman had to set aside his previous perceptions of how people live and work in these rural communities and open himself up to new experiences. By faithfully recording everything he saw, he was able to develop a better understanding of Innu culture.

I had to put aside how I was taught to think, along with the beliefs, biases, opinions, and values I learned, shaped by the only material and intellectual culture I knew, says Norman. I had to learn the abandonment of who I thought I was and who I thought they were.

According to Norman, one of the difficulties of living in the Arctic is dealing with the distance and remoteness of communities from the rest of Canada. Away from technology, residents of the Arctic live a different life than someone with easy access to electricity and a Wi-Fi signal. Instead, many residents of the remote north may be more intimately dependent on nature and the land than Canadians in the southern portions of the country.

The Inuit perfectly adapted to their environment, ensuring not only their survival for more than 400 years, but the development and sustainability of a unique culture, says Norman. The expression inuutsiarniq asini,which means living in harmony with nature, is an ancient and powerful metaphor.

As Norman learned through his many interviews with Inuit elders, the Inuit are not only dependent on the land for survival; they have a spiritual connection to nature. This connection forms the foundation of their philosophy and shapes the way they see and care for the environment.

[The Inuit] believe that [nature] is both a physical and metaphysical entity. It is a living thing, says Norman. To behold, respect and understand the forces and behavior of the land, sea, sky and weather was the bedrock of their unique culture.

FromAn Intimidate Wilderness, one develops a sense of looking at nature in a more personal way. By reading this book, you are immersed in a new way of viewing your surroundings. It opens you up to seeing nature, other humans and wildlife as a full circle rather than as individual elements.

This post originally appeared onLand Linesand was written by Raechel Bonomo, editorial coordinatorfor the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

Post photo:Author Norman Hallendy with Inuit artist Kenojuak Ashevak (Photo courtesy Norman Hallendy)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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An Intimate Connection with Nature

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Oil and gas are a bad bet, warns Canadian government group

Oil and gas are a bad bet, warns Canadian government group

By on May 31, 2016 5:40 pmShare

One of the world’s largest fossil fuel producers is on the verge of cleaning up its act.

In coming years, Canada can expect a switch from oil and gas to renewables, according to a draft policy report from a government group. Even more importantly, the report notes, Canada should expect some of its oil to likely “remain in the ground.”

Sound familiar? That phrase just so happens to mimic the rallying cry of the U.S. environmental movement.

The dose of reality for Canada’s tar sands industry comes from Policy Horizons Canada, which provides advice to the federal government on emerging policy issues. CBC News obtained the report via an access to information request.

“It is increasingly plausible to foresee a future in which cheap renewable electricity becomes the world’s primary power source and fossil fuels are relegated to a minority status,” the report reads. It urges against investment in new oil and gas infrastructure projects, calling them “high risk” for becoming unprofitable. Electric cars like Tesla even made an appearance in the report, with forecasts showing that cars that use lithium-ion batteries would become affordable sooner than previously expected.

If the report’s takeaways stand, it means a big turnaround for a country that was until recently all-in on fossil fuels. Canada is the world’s fifth largest producer of oil, providing an estimated 6 percent of global energy supplies.

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Oil and gas are a bad bet, warns Canadian government group

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Here Is the Clearest Image NASA Has Ever Taken of Pluto and its Moon Charon

Mother Jones

For years now, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has been hurtling towards the far edges of the Milky Way for its July 14 rendezvous with one of the great mysteries of the solar system: Pluto. But we’re already receiving captivating, never-seen-before images of this icy world, such as the one above, of Pluto and its largest moon, Charon. NASA says New Horizons was about 3.7 million miles from Pluto when it snapped this picture late on Wednesday. See the full image here.

From NASA:

“These two objects have been together for billions of years, in the same orbit, but they are totally different,” said Principal Investigator Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), Boulder, Colorado.

Charon is about 750 miles (1200 kilometers) across, about half the diameter of Pluto—making it the solar system’s largest moon relative to its planet. Its smaller size and lower surface contrast have made it harder for New Horizons to capture its surface features from afar, but the latest, closer images of Charon’s surface show intriguing fine details.

Newly revealed are brighter areas on Charon that members of the mission’s Geology, Geophysics and Imaging team (GGI) suspect might be impact craters. If so, the scientists would put them to good use. “If we see impact craters on Charon, it will help us see what’s hidden beneath the surface,” said GGI leader Jeff Moore of NASA’s Ames Research Center. “Large craters can excavate material from several miles down and reveal the composition of the interior.”

The mission, which launched in 2006, has already traveled 3 billion miles to get to Pluto. The spacecraft will go on to race past the dwarf planet at 30,000 miles per hour next week, absorbing all the data it possibly can about our least-understood distant neighbor—snapping photos with its Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI), a little color-adding camera Ralph, and a host of other gadgetry.

We’ll bring you the latest images when they become available next week. Can’t wait.

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Here Is the Clearest Image NASA Has Ever Taken of Pluto and its Moon Charon

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