UBC Polar Club Seminar Series
There’s a new club on campus, the UBC Polar Club, that I think will interest many of you folks out there in the Terry-verse. The club brings together a wide ranging group of students, academics, and creative types involved in some way with either of our planet’s poles. As part of their mandate, the Polar Club will be hosting a monthly seminar series which showcases the work of one exceptional individual who has spent a significant amount of time working at one (or both!) poles. On Sept 27th, Dr. Joel Heath (UBC Mathematical Biology) will be speaking about his documentary People of a Feather that will be premiering at the 2011 Vancouver International Film Festival.
Synopsis: Featuring groundbreaking footage from seven winters in the Arctic,People of a Feather takes you through time into the world of Inuit on the Belcher Islands in Hudson Bay. Connecting past present and future is a unique cultural relationship with the eider duck. Eider down, the warmest feather in the world, allows both Inuit and bird to survive harsh Arctic winters. Recreations of traditional life are juxtaposed with modern life in Sanikiluaq, as both people and eiders face the challenges posed by changing sea ice and ocean currents disrupted by the massive hydroelectric dams powering eastern North America.
You can watch the trailer for the documentary here, and keep up to date with future Polar Club seminars at the blog here.
