ALIENS
IN ANTARCTICA
Susan, our tour leader,
asked us to participate in a study by a university in New Zealand. The study (Aliens in Antarctica) is trying to
determine the impact of tourism in the area.
So fifty of us volunteered to have all of our belongings vacuumed and
the remnants were then packed, labeled and mailed off to a university somewhere
in the universe. Right now, someone is
going though my debris and trying to determine what detrimental impact I have
had on the continent. If I am so
inclined, I can find the results of my contributions on their website.
We
have talked at length about our impact here.
We have been asked to minimize everything we bring off the ship. We are to pay particular attention to
tissues, gum and gum wrappers, any debris from our camera equipment. We are to make sure we bring everything back
on the boat with us.
If we
find any litter, we are not to touch it.
Instead, we are to inform a staff member who will examine the debris and
determine if an ecosystem has started there yet. If so, the litter is left there. If the staff member determines, with his
naked eye, that no ecosystem has started yet, the litter is brought back to the
boat.
I did
not find any debris and I did not leave anything behind even thought I was very
tempted to spit out my gum. I had been chewing on it for 1 ½ hour and it was
absolutely tasteless. And since I did
not bring any tissues with me, I had nothing to wrap it in. So I swallowed it
instead. This was just my small
contribution to saving the pristine environment of Antarctica.
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