Sudbury family to see puffins, whales and melting iceburgs in Greenland

BY JANET GIBSON

A Sudbury man will travel to Iceland and Greenland on Aug. 14 to see firsthand the effects of global warming. Craig Jackson, a student in the energy systems technology program at Cambrian College, is so excited about the trip, he bought a new camera to document every step.

Jackson will share his knowledge and photographs with his classmates and the public at a gala dinner on Sept. 26. The event, called Adapt, features keynote speaker Justin Trudeau and will raise money for students to visit wind power companies in Denmark and Germany during reading week.

Jackson is travelling to the Arctic with his wife Marion Maar, a professor at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, and their four-year-old son Benjamin. The couple want Benjamin to see the iceburgs before they melt.

Jackson, president of the Cambrian Native Students Association, was born on the Wikwemikong Unceded Reserve on Manitoulin Island. He moved to Toronto with his family when he was one. After graduating from high school, he served for eight years with the U.S. Marine Corps, then worked as a pipefitter across Ontario.

However, he was stopped in his tracks when he injured his wrist. While he was recovering from reconstructive surgery, Maar heard an interview about the energy systems technology program on the CBC. Jackson researched the program on Cambrian's website and spoke to co-ordinator Len Lisk for an hour. He was hooked.

The three-year program teaches students how to harness energy from the sun, wind, water, geothermal heat and biomass in order to have a sustainable environment. It also shows them how to use renewable energy to power residential and small commercial buildings.

While in Iceland, Jackson will learn how the country heats its cities with the hotsprings. In Nuuk, Greenland, Jackson and Maar will attend the International Congress of Arctic Social Sciences. The conference has 11 themes, among them sustainability and climate change, and inclusive research. In one workshop, Jackson will learn how climate change impacts Inuit hunting practices. The ice is melting to such an extent that the hunters can't jump across the sheets of ice. A similar phenomenon is happening in Ontario, Jackson said, where moose are migrating farther north, meaning aboriginal hunters have to go farther to get their winter meat.

Maar, who has a PhD in medical anthropology, will speak at the conference on empowering rural, northern communities and indigenous people through participatory research. She's worked with First Nations people on Manitoulin Island to research diabetes care and the treatment of cancer and mental illness.

Jackson and Maar met on Manitoulin Island in 2001.