For a few hours on Tuesday November 18th, a giant canoe covered in signatures was propped up in Schermerhorn Hall. The boat belonged to the National Geographic Adventurers of the Year—Amy and Dave Freeman—who gave a presentation at Columbia University Tuesday evening. Columbia was just one stop on their current journey titled Paddle to DC. The Freemans are in the last two weeks of an adventure from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Northern Minnesota to Washington, D.C. They are canoeing the entire 2,000 miles.
They are en route to Washington, D.C. to deliver a message to President Obama and other lawmakers in the capitol via their canoe and thousands of other paper petition signatures against sulfide mining in the Boundary Waters, an area very close to their home in Minnesota. The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is situated in northeastern Minnesota in the Superior National Forest. With more than one thousand lakes, it is a popular destination for visitors—in fact, the Freemans are employed, when they are not exploring, guiding canoe and dogsled tours through the region.
This is not their first trip, nor their longest. In 2010, they embarked on the “North American Odyssey” which spanned 11,700 miles from Seattle, Washington to the Florida Keys. They completed the Odyssey by kayak, canoe, and dogsled.
A key feature of these trips is their emphasis on education. The Freemans founded a website and non-profit titled Wilderness Classroom, through which students could learn about their travels and connect with them. They saw the site as a tool to teach young people the importance of nature and wilderness travel. They travel around the country giving presentations in classrooms, engage in Skype sessions with schools around the world, and frequently update their website with videos, photographs, blogs, and activities so that students can learn from their work.
On their current trip, as they paddle from Minnesota, up to Canada, and then down the East Coast, they have been taking breaks to speak with students and educators and collect signatures to present along with their demands in Washington, D.C. In the capitol, they have organized meetings and events to raise awareness of sulfide mining in the Boundary Waters.
Metallic sulfide mining is a process by which metals (nickel, gold, copper) are extracted out of a sulfide-rich ore body. This process unavoidably causes the release of sulfides, which combine with air and water to form sulfuric acid. This sulfuric acid is toxic and can poison water, threatening the biosphere and communities nearby.
The Freemans, along with thousands in Minnesota and around the country, are calling on politicians to pass legislation to protect the Boundary Waters and protect the beautiful wilderness and the communities that live nearby, as well as the 18,000 people who work in the tourism industry. This is an issue of conservation of wilderness, health and safety, and people and nature over profit.
Dave Freeman noted that as they paddle to DC, they have come across many local struggles to protect the environment and address climate change. Communities across the country are fighting mining, power plants, pipelines, and more—this struggle to preserve the waters in Minnesota has been echoed in local campaigns along the route.
To learn more about the project, check out their website.
