"Growing up in Canada, I always considered the Arctic part of my backyard, a part of the country's identity and history. So I was overjoyed several years ago when I got what I considered a dream assignment: a week-long voyage through the fabled Northwest Passage, a series of waterways high above the Arctic Circle. I was aboard the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent, a hulking Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker affectionately known by the crew as simply the Louis."
"I felt my soul replenish with joy as I breathed in the frigid, clean air and gazed out at the endless expanse of ice there were no buildings or boats, nor any hint of humankind for hundreds of miles in any direction. The ice twinkled with the light of the sun, which shone 24 hours a day at that time of year."
Growing up in Canada, the Arctic felt like part of the backyard and national identity. A week-long voyage through the Northwest Passage aboard the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent provided restorative solitude after intense reporting rotations. The frigid, clean air and endless ice fields offered 24-hour sunlight and absence of buildings or boats for hundreds of miles. Polar bears daily approached the ship, curious and majestic. The experience felt breathtaking and solitary while observing the thick ice crack under the hull. There is sadness at the arrival of massive cruise ships and oil tankers now transiting the Arctic and concern for impacts on this rapidly changing region.
Read at www.npr.org
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