Jenna Spearing

With love, to Russia

It’s been almost five years since I last left on a big adventure. That time, I sailed on a tall ship with 36 strangers from Hawaii to Tahiti, with stops in the Marquesas, the Tuamotus and Moorea. Since then, my vacations have consisted of work with a few brief run-aways to Kelowna and Florida.

It’s time to hit the road again. This time I’ll go for longer, by myself, and over land by train. I want to see Lake Baikal, the world’s oldest and deepest freshwater lake. I want to see the 10,000 year old, 6 kilometre long Kungar ice cave, which stays frozen all year round. Museums and onion domes. Walk along Nevsky Prospekt, have some kvas and hopefully see a black cat. I’ll camp in a yurt in Mongolia, I’ll couchsurf when possible, and I’ll ride the Trans-Siberian and Baikal Amur trains through the Urals, steppes and taiga of Siberia. Maybe I’ll even find the village my Great Grandpa lived near, Nemonovka—a name my family only knows by word of mouth—if it still exists.

It’s Russia, where rules are comprehensive and strict, so there’s a fair bit of planning involved. My contract in the oil business ends in June. If I don’t do it now, I may not have consecutive free months with enough money saved up for a very long time.

I have my map, my guidebooks, web advice, my highlighter, my pen, my copy of Anna Karenina and the Master and Margarita. This post is as much a pledge to myself as an excited announcement. No backing out, no freaking out. Just Russia.

Pearls Pearls Pearls

A lady in my jewelry class, Dr. Judith Samson-French, is the founder and owner of Lotus Lines, an ecologically-conscious Canadian freshwater pearl business whose profits go in part to rehabilitating ill-treated pets and injured wildlife. Today she brought in an enormous duffel bag stuffed full of really nice pearls and sold them to us for cheap.

Basically, we freaked out. I wouldn’t hesitate to pay full price for these beauties with a cause.

Which made me think of this more expensive but unforgettable experience in Papeete, Tahiti, digging through the cheapest bowls at the Pearl Market. Also, check out that sailor’s tan.

Fish Fights

Craziness is going down in the world’s oceans, as of the last 24 hours.

Yesterday James Cameron dove to the deepest known point of the Marianas Trench in his own custom-built submarine (and Tweeted from there too—ah, the modern age). Then this morning, media outlets burst with news about pending changes to the Canada Fisheries Act that the government is trying to quietly slip under the table, withholding details until the changes are passed. The changes would allegedly weaken Canada’s strongest ecological legislation and damage its ability to protect fish habitats by dividing fish into “valuable” and “non-valuable” species. As long as the fish are “non-valuable,” go ahead and destroy—we’re sure the food chain will be just fine.

So while one high-profile man explores the last frontier and continues to bring awareness to environmental issues like preserving the world’s oceans, his country of citizenship tries to sell out its fisheries before anyone notices.

Which do you think is making bigger headlines?

It’s funny that the first solo expedition 11,000 metres below the ocean’s surface (briefly reached by a duo of scientists in 1960) should be executed by a Hollywood film director—not a scientist, a biologist, an oceanographer, or a geologist. Just a man who’s interested in oceans the same way I’m interested in rocks—only he can afford to follow up on his fascination.

And it’s funny that our government would try to amputate its own fishing industry in a time when all anyone can talk about is trying to grow industries and create jobs . Nevermind that the industry already has its fair share of apocalypse to deal with, as fish populations are vastly declining even with habitat protection. No habitat, no fish, no jobs. But hey, as long as we can get oil to the Pacific faster, nothing else matters, right? It’s not like the delicately balanced marine ecosystem affects us—we live on land! We have oil revenue—we can make our own fake fish as uniformly perfect and shiny and pesticided as the apples at Safeway. Because genetic scientists are definitely the ones most in need of work right now. Then when the climate and environment go berserk, all the natural predators starve and there are only jellyfish left, we can use oil revenue to send all the “valuable” people into space.

The changes are allegedly inspired by word that the Fisheries Act does “not reflect the priorities of Canadians.” “Canadians,”  of course, referring to Albertans, the Mining Association of Canada and Enbridge. (Corporations are people in the States, remember, so the same must apply under Harper.) Such disregard for basic ecology brings into question whether experts were consulted—and if they were, if their advice was even considered. Elementary school students could tell you what’s wrong with this picture in two sentences. Over 600 Canadian scientists have signed a letter demanding the changes not go through. When you try to keep a legislative change secret until it’s passed, I’m not sure you can say you’re responding to the priorities of Canadians.

Remember Cameron is Canadian.

Maybe Cameron’s environmental escapades are exactly what we need. Yes, we, as in all of us, including proponents of the change. Someone who will make the evening national news, not just National Geographic. Someone with the ability to mobilize the hordes of Avatar and Titanic fans who may not otherwise ever know what’s going on in Canadian politics. He may not have peer-reviewed legitimacy on his own, but he has notoriety that the professionals could use. The term “Fisheries & Oceans” does not exactly inspire passion—most would probably picture dingy bureaucratic offices in Middle-of-No-Where, Vancouver Island—but add James Cameron’s name to that and you get a nice storm of media interest and social media eruption.

Hey James, how about making your next sub stop Kitimat, B.C.—the proposed destination of Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipepline? Maybe a 3D documentary showing Canadian fish under attack by Harpersharks is exactly what the doctorates of ecology ordered.

Mayor Nenshi: Still Teaching Calgarians

Calgary is very fortunate to have a mayor who not only engages with Calgarians in candid conversation on Twitter, but who also, when Twitter-bombed about the Kony campaign, gives us the opportunity to explain ourselves.

“I actually love when people, especially young people, get excited about a cause. But, folks, explain it. Talk about why it matters to you,” he tweeted (twote? twate?).

Nenshi stated that he wouldn’t support the cause until he knew more about it, as the rest of us would be well-advised to do (and the resources to inform yourself are out there). He told those spreading the message that he needed to hear more than just “support Kony 2012!”

I can think of more than a few politicians who would not issue a response of any kind to this kind of social media/justice eruption. I’m excited to have a mayor who asks us, in real time, to explain what we care about and why. He took some abuse for that, unfortunately.

Though some called him ignorant and other names for telling people to do more than hashtag and for failing to endorse Invisible Children immediately, he defended those people to others: “They are not trolls. They are young people who passionately care about something, Just trying to help them be more effective.”

He closed the conversation with “And I will try to find a half-hour to watch that video. (I would never support anything I had not watched and critically examined.)”

It’s fantastic to have a mayor who cares enough to be critical, and who asks us young folk what the heck we’re talking about.

You decide what you think. It’s great to be passionate and active about something, but be aware, know what you’re supporting and why, and do it well.