JPG Magazine: Stories: Photo Essay: Flying around the North Pole

Flying around the North Pole

Aproaching the North Pole: Close to Foxe Basin

By Gustavo Morejon

24 July 2008

When I was a kid I remember my grandpa telling me stories about the fantastic inhabitants of the North Pole. He told me about the bears that ate very big ice creams, the elegant penguins that used to dance in magical parties and all sorts of fantastic creatures that actually lived in the North Pole.

When I was in school, I saw the amazing refugee of Superman in the North Pole with wonderful crystals of millions of colours and an unbelievable technology that came form Superman's planet, Krypton. But, he was not the only one visiting the North Pole: Santa Claus had his house in the North Pole and he had a Toy Factory in there.

It is not surprising that me, as all the kids in the world hearing that stories, felt such a fascination for this cold land called the North Pole. Now, on my 40's, I had the chance to visit this magical world from the air, so I took my camera, lenses, batteries and storage devices and prepared myself to catch the beauty of this world. Let me share the views from the window of our air plane !!!

But, as I soon discovered, it was not that easy to catch the frozen beauty of the North Pole. The windows of our plane got frozen and we always had ice on the windows. The clouds were always trying to hide the beautiful lands behind us and it was very hard to focus the camera from such a high altitude. The windows had scratches and I had to run from one window to the next one in an effort to get the best views.

I made a short selection of pictures that I hope you all enjoy. Unfortunately I was not able to remove the scratches and pieces of ice that were adhered to the window, but I am sure you will understand that those were very hard conditions to take a picture. Send me a note if you can see somewhere Santa !!!

A few words about the North Pole and Global Warming

There are enough evidences to support the theory that global warming is becoming a very delicate situation and will cause very serious problems to us, that might affect our survival as a specie on Earth's surface.

There is a high probability that global warming has been caused by our emissions of CO2, but regardless of who is responsible for this phenomena, we have to think, for the first time in human history, as a group instead of thinking about it as countries.

The borders of countries are in the minds of us and they do not contribute to make it a better world, but separate us from each other. It marks differences between us and make us fight against each others. But we have to fight the effects of global warming as a group, not as little spots dispersed on planet Earth.

If we do it, we will make it a better world. If we don't, we are condemned to run to extinction. I know there are political issues that have to be resolved, I know that we have to think about our own people and I know that we depend on technology and fossil fuels to survive.

But we consider ourself the more intelligent specie on planet Earth. Are we intelligent enough to act as a group and make the decision of fighting this dangerous natural phenomena as a whole group? Or, are we too selfish and blind enough to fight it when it is too late to make a wise decision ?

Global Warming is the more important environmental problem today and it is caused in a big percentage by human activity. 25% of Global Emissions of CO2 comes from the US. Almost every single planet in the world is taking actions to control it. But the less committed country in the world to reduce CO2 emissions is the US.

Regardless of it, we as individuals can make a difference. Lets try to help our planet supporting the initiatives that can make a difference. NGO's like "The World Land Trust" (www.worldlandtrust.org) are trying to fight it with the help of people like you and me. Support them. A very little help can make a huge difference.

The pictures that I am showing here makes evident that we will face a very important problem in the near future. This fantastic place that once painted our imagination with fantastic creatures is disappearing very fast, along with the beautiful creatures that depend on its stability. Please help our planet.