Everyone knows it rains a lot in Oregon. About a week ago massive landslides took out a parts of a little highway east of Mt Hood. I think these pictures say it all... except for one important detail: this little highway is the gateway to Mt Hood Meadows Ski Resort... where I just purchased a seasons pass! DOH!
Here is the article I wrote for the Frontiersman about my recent trip to Russia for a Youth Environmental conference. Take a look!
On a muggy mid-August day, six Alaskan youth arrived after a 24-hour flight to the Moscow International Airport. Eagerly making our way through customs were six Alaskan teenagers: two from Anchorage, two from Ketchikan, one from Fairbanks and me, a Wasillian. Sleepy-eyed and sore as we were, had an air of excitement about us, and for very good reason. We would be spending the next 10 days meeting with other youth from the world’s other northern regions and discussing ecological problems of the present and the future.
The event was the 4th Annual Youth Ecological Forum, created by The Northern Forum. Past years have been hosted in Alberta, Canada; Hokkaido, Japan; and Akureyri, Iceland. The Northern Forum decided upon Khanty-Mansiysk - an autonomous “okrug,” or district – in western Siberia for the 2006 Eco-Forum. This year’s chosen theme focused on Oil and the Environment.
As we began our Russian experience with three days in Moscow, we took in essential tourist sights, including St. Basil’s Church in Red Square as well as the grave of Lenin, the Armory and the Diamond Fund. Even the sweltering heat didn’t keep us from exploring The GUM, a famous mall in Red Square. Later, we met fellow Forum participants from various northern world regions: youth from Canada, Iceland, Japan and St. Petersburg all began their travels in the historic city.
After several urban excursions, the group of now 18 northern youth made our way - by a considerably shaky plane ride - to Khanty-Mansiysk, Siberia. The region is a principal center for Russia’s booming oil industry and made a perfect place for the forum to focus on the oil industry and its environmental effects. The Russian participants, numbering over 200 in all, greeted us upon arrival. Many more excursions were to follow, to locations such as the province’s Geology, Oil and Gas Museum and Research Institute of Information Technologies. The Forum quickly became a multilingual experience for the 230 participants, as most of them spoke Russian. Translators accompanied groups to nearly every event as to ensure opportunities to learn and participate for all.
The Northern Forum established the Youth Eco-Forum as not only a way for the youth of northern regions to discuss environmental issues, but to raise cultural awareness and understanding. Each delegation presented to the group about the culture and environment of their respective regions. Participants were able to find common ground with each other, and soon found that language barriers did not have to keep them from having fun and making friends. In the evenings, delegates of all cultures and languages could be found lounging in the hotel lobbies together, exploring the sights of downtown Khanty-Mansiysk, or just making a quick run to the nearest 24-hour store.
We also had the chance to ride down the Ob river where we admired the beautiful sights, sang karaoke – the Western delegates were happy to teach the Russian teens the art of the YMCA dance – and threw pennies over our shoulders where the rivers converged for good luck. On the last night, the Forum held the closing ceremonies at a dance club and, after breaking a sweat on the dancefloor, we enjoyed a spectacular fireworks display set to music.
In the culmination of the fun and learning-filled week, the participants split into separate groups simulating real-life organizations, such as the government, mass media, and education system. In these groups we presented our plans to work with the other branches of society in together promoting ecological culture in the population. These ideas, refined through discussion, became the resolution of the IV International Ecological Youth Forum.
Included in the resolution was an agreement to promote ecological awareness through TV shows, radio and the internet, encourage better environmental education in all levels, and government support of local-level ecological organizations.
The 2006 Youth Eco-Forum was a gathering of the world’s northern teens to address environmental issues. But more than that, it was a way for cultural barriers to be broken and international connections created - and that is the first step to effecting real change in the future of the environment and the people of the world.
It was actually fun, really! I went to sleep full of pasta and hydrated to the max, making sure to set not one, but two alarms for 5:15am. Woke up with no problem and made it to the start by 6:40am.
I had lots of family and friends meeting up with me along the way, and my friend, Janette from Bend, even ran the last 4.5 miles with me. Her incredibly positive energy was great - she helped charge me up and even pass close to 50 runners in the last two mile stretch. I finished strong at a time of 5:26!
I was thinking about Coffey Park the other day. The picnic table, the rope swing... I guess there wasn't really too much to it :) Anyway, I randomly did a google search, but couldn't find much beyond a mention of it on the snowplowing schedule... if anyone has some pictures of us playing down there, I'd love if you posted them on here!
The Portland Marathon is right around the corner!
What a beautiful ceremony and reception! Along the banks of the McKenzie river in Armitage Park, just north of Eugene.
I hope you all are enjoying your pictures that have recently been sent to you via the excellent courrier services I hired. Susan took all the pictures to the east coast, Bill and I delivered Kevin's on the Kenai and Barb and I brought the rest to west coast Oregon group. As you can see, sorting out these pics was a monumental task that I had procrastinated on doing for a year or more. The big blue tub on the right is the container that these pictures were in at Grandma's House, just all jumbled up in it. It was a process that took about 3 days of sorting and about 2 weeks of thinking, " I should go out in the garage and sort pictures". Thank goodness for summer vacations from school or this would have never gotten done!
On July 21, the Meekins and Sullivan crew threw a surprise party for Moira's 20th birthday at our new place! Susan, Tim, and Sterling all flew in to Boston for the big night. Moira came down for a recruiting open house and had no idea that everyone was in town! We grilled up some of the salmon that Carey caught. What a great surprise...the picture says it all! It was a fun evening with everyone in town.
Go, go, go!! As part of my training for running the Portland Marathon, October 1st, I'm running two half-marathons this summer. The first was on the 4th of July on beautiful Sauvie Island, just NW of Portland. http://www.sauvieisland.org/ My finishing time was 2 hours 32 minutes, which I was very happy with! Getting ready for the next one, in Champoeg Park http://www.oregonstateparks.org/park_113.php
