What is the biggest dilemma facing Arctic and sub Arctic communities these days? Not how many cups of coffee to have, nor how many layers of caribou hide to wear on a -50c winter day…not even how to keep those big, furry polar bears in check….more importantly how to ship goods and supplies all over the North at an affordable rate. Well, Barry Prentice a University of Manitoba supply chain management professor may have come up with a solution..albeit very futuristic.
Prentice has been researching the idea for over ten years now and he thinks he has the capability of solving the problem. If all goes as scheduled, the first airship he has designed will take flight over the North this Fall in what will be a maiden voyage for a fleet of six or more flying transportation vessels. Many pieces of the first ship are assembled and a hanger has been assembled at St. Andrews airport in Winnipeg.
” I think that this could be a very large industry for Manitoba one day. This is a need that spans our entire northern three-quarters of the country.” Prentice stated. The need could be particularly timely as the port of Churchill is under threat of losing a vast majority of its’ capital with the impending government- forced closure of the Canadian Wheat Board. If that happens, shipping from the port to the North may also severely diminish. The old outdated cargo moving system of track-rovers has gone by and the barge shipping season is a short one. With no rail -lines farther than Churchill, the need is there for a prudent alternative method.
His final product will be about 25 metres long and cost about $100,000, not including labour costs. Its top speed will be 50 kilometres per hour. While the cost seems extensive when one figures in testing, repairs and modifications, and maintenance, it outweighs the effort to build roads, a nearly impossible task, in the permafrost – laden arctic. However, the affects of cold weather on these ships is unknown and somewhat of a concern in the frigid Winter months.
“(Conventional) airships are basically fair-weather flyers, and they’re not engineered to operate in 30-below. If we want to operate airships in Canada, then they have to be robust, year-round vehicles, and that means they have to be engineered to deal with freezing temperatures so the valves don’t stick and the rubber doesn’t fasten to the door when you’re trying to open it.”
All this testing will go on most likely over the next few years and hopefully funding from his company Buoyant Aircraft Systems International (BASI) and its’ funding investors will endure the preliminary stages.
Churchill residents will soon have their say on the fluoride issue that has been looming for the past few months. A grass roots movement aptly dubbed Churchill No Fluoride has been vehemently advocating the removal of fluoride from the town’s water supply. If the September vote goes through against fluoridation, Churchill will join a growing list of communities worldwide that have already banned adding fluoride to their water supply. Two Canadian cities have recently joined the club. Flin Flon banned fluoride in January and Calgary did the same just this past May.
Closer to home, Winnipeg recently lowered the added dosage from .85 milligrams per liter to .7 mg/L based on reccomendations from Manitoba Health as well as Health Canada. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends the maximum lifetime exposure to fluoride be 4.0 mg/L and a secondary standard of 2.0 mg/L for areas that have high levels of naturally occurring fluoride.
Mark Brackley, spokesman and founder of Churchill No Fluoride, states that fluoride is naturally pervasive in water and there’s no way of knowing how much people are absorbing. The chemical has recently been linked through studies to facilitation of lead in children, arthritis prior to old-age, dental fluorosis in adolescents, and even cancer in young men. “It’s a toxic waste product,” said Brackley of fluoride, adding that no scientific evidence supports any claims it prevents cavities.
Conversely, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States said past and current reviews of scientific studies found no basis to claims that fluoride poses a health hazard. The CDC describes fluoride as one of the “ten great public health achievements” of the last century, along with vaccinations, motor-vehicle safety and family planning. It does state children’s exposure to fluoride from birth to age six should be restricted. This introspective video below on fluoride gives excellent background information on the entire issue. Enjoy and learn!
The beluga whales, by the thousands, are very active thesee days as they move in and out of the Churchill river. As the Summer “heat” (insert Arctic weather joke here) begins to wane somewhat…today’s temperature is around 14C…down a bit from earlier in the month. Personally, I feel this time of year is unmatched as far as all you can take in nature-wise. The cool, crisp air, ideal for all the trekking and whale viewing excursions, is a blend between the early Summer warmer days and the colder Fall days just around the bend. Wildflowers are hanging tough…especially the fireweed, and birds still in the area are feeling the slight urgency to journey South.
Colors of Fall on the way.
Natural Habitat Guide Sue Zajac, in town with a group of travelers, reports sadly that a third polar bear was shot after possibly breaking through a trailer house on the edge of town. That same bear may have been responsible for another foray into a Manitoba housing unit on the east side of town. This is the third fatal shooting of a polar bear this Summer as the aggressive behavior continues…most likely due to a shorter ice season in the hudson Bay. Expect more seal-kills this Fall by hungry polar bears.
The group of travelers had some spectacular beluga viewing trips out on the water, albeit hindered a bit by some pesky black flies. Then on a rover trip to the tundra for a barbeque lunch they followed a wandering polar bear out on the tidal flats in the Churchill Wildlife Management Area. Always an awesome sight to see these bruins near the water with no snow around yet.
Sue also noted that her travelers had some good looks at red foxes that had moved back into a previously vacant den down by the orange, suunburst lichen-splattered rocks on the dirt road leading to Mike Macri’s boat docks. Arctic terns are starting to make their incredibly long journey South to the pole area as they take in their last feedings of capelin that escape the beluga’s mouths. Canada geese are also nearing their departure South just as soon as their flight feathers develop a bit more. Seems like all the species beach vacations are close to an end.
All in all the signs of Fall are creeping in and soon the the tundra will take on its’ vibrant Autumn colors. Within a short time the hustle and bustle of polar bear season will be upon us…another year in the sub -arctic ..season by season.
As the debate heats up regarding the federal government’s plan to introduce legislation this Fall to dissolve the Canadian Wheat board (CWB), OmiTRAX, current owner of the Port of Churchill is looking at ways to diversify itself in the Northern Arctic region.
Churchill's Port growth could become frozen.
Canada’s conservative ruling party vows to end the monopoly of the CWB as early as August 1, 2012 thereby allowing prarie wheat farmers to sell their products on the open market. What seems to be a no-brainer for people looking at the issue from the outside, there seems to be a fair amount of resistance from those on the inside…particularly many Canadian wheat farmers that want to focus on farming instead of marketing. The CWB has been marketing the distribution of the products primarily through the Port of Churchill since the 1940’s. The stability in pricing in low markets and reliability of steady income has spawned resistance to change from the very farmers for whom the new legislation is aimed at liberating. It’s a sideways issue in many ways that the government is remaining stubbornly bent upon solving their way despite any resistance of a possible majority.
Earlier this month, the first of seven forums involving prarie farmers was opened to an overflowing crowd in Regina. Standing room only in a facility that held 400 seats indicated just how pressing this issue is. This plebiscite of sorts was initiated by the CWB in an effort to alert the government to what they feel is a majority of satisfaction with how the current system works.
However Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz states that despite the results of the forums, legislation will still be initiated this Fall.
“The CWB needs to realize that regardless of how many pro-board farmers attend their meetings or participate in their expensive survey, no one farmer should trump the rights of another farmer,” Ritz said in an email to The Canadian Press.
“In contrast, our government wants to provide every farmer with marketing choice, whether that’s selling individually or in a marketing pool.”
With all the turmoil brewing across the plains and in the chambers of government, OmniTRAX is stepping up it’s plans to diversify its’ usage of the only inland deep-water Arctic seaport in Canada. The company recently appointed Canadian , Brad Chase, to oversee OmniTRAX’s Canadian operations at this current crossroads.
Last year, 656,298 tonnes were shipped through the Churchill port. That was the second-highest tonnage since Denver-based OmniTRAX bought the port and rail line in 1997. It was also the first time in three years that non-CWB shipments moved through the port. With the looming elimination of the CWB, that growth through wheat and barley sales could dissapate in the coming years. OmniTRAX is preparing for that possiblity by opening up new transportation lanes to Northern Manitoba and Nunuvut communities to the North. Some of those potential viable markets include transporting fertilizer to and from Russia, the potential developments of huge, new iron ore mines on Baffin Island and the possible opening of the North West Passage to shipping transport. OmniTRAX also has been promoting the possibility of utilizing the Port of Churchill to import mega-loads of industrial equipment made in South Korea and needed in the Alberta oilsands.
With all these new possible markets OmniTRAX seems poised to keep the Port of Churchill viable through all the impending changes to come.
Good numbers of polar bears are showing up in and around the Churchill area….however not all of these bears are behaving very …um..good. Or, maybe it’s the people who need to check their behavioral habits in what really is a town placed smack dab in the natural habitat of these wandering, hungry bears. In fact, there have been two incidents this Spring and Summer in which polar bears have behaved aggressively towards humans resulting in the bears having to be put down by Canadian Conservation officers. Not many people who live in or know about Churchill can remember the last time two bears have been put down in the same year, never mind the Summer season. With climate change possibly affecting polar bears behavior, residents and visitors to Churchill need to modify careless behavior in what really is a true wildlife refuge.
Wandering alone on the Churchill shores can be dangerous.
