Inside our travel bucket list, mentioned the northernmost part of the Earth that we always want to see with our own eyes. It’s the Arctic! Imagine stepping your feet on the most unexplored regions, experiencing an encounter with polar bears, and witnessing surreal natural beauty.
Arctic
If you’re with us, sadly we have to tell you that we all have been deceived by the commercials and documentaries spread on the internet. The Arctic is not as beautiful as they were.
Nesha Kannama Ichida, a 22-year-old woman from Indonesia got the lucky chance to visit the Arctic in September 2015, along with 4 other young people from diverse countries in the world. Graduated from The Open University, UK, majoring in Natural Sciences major, Nesha has a serious concern in marine biology, and that’s the reason why Nesha joined Youth 4 Arctic Program.
In order to celebrate earth day, Youth 4 Arctic Program which is held by The United Nations, Unboxed Media Australia, and Yayasan Peduli Bumi Indonesia, aimed to make a campaign about continuous world preservation. Considering that we live in a digital era, Youth 4 Arctic Program supports young people in telling stories using films and social media.
It’s not some act of fortune that she’s chosen as representatives of Indonesia— together with Kevin Hendrawan—to walk on this expedition. They needed to win against numerous candidates with countless achievements. From essay writing, psychology test, until conducting a presentation in front of the panelists, these five people were selected carefully between hundreds of other applicants.
left-right: Nesha Ichida (Indonesia), Thomas King (Australia), Kalinda Palmer (Australia), Kevin Hendrawan (Indonesia), Delphine Zacharias (Germany)
During 23 days in the Arctic, they had a meeting with some scientists, talked to natives, and looked at the inhabitants closely. Based on their reportage, the icebergs in the Arctic have melted around 6-8 metres every year. The temperature rises and forces polar bears and seals to migrate in higher and colder area.
It breaks our hearts seeing these facts, and if you want to know more, you can watch the vlog by clicking here.
Nesha Ichida and four other young people got home and came up with solutions that we have already heard very often since our early age like reducing unnecessary electricity usage, using public transportation and some of familiar advice.
You often hear it quipped that one person can’t make a difference. But it has always been small acts of kindness that have changed the heart and mind of others. Starting from one person, you, and who knows that your kindness spread like a contagious infection and give impact to lifestyle changes of 7 billion people? It’s not impossible.
We hope that Nesha Ichida, a young soul that has a serious concern about our nature inspire you as much as she inspired us.
Three years after the expedition, she’s still in the running to conduct wildlife conservation, by being a marine conservation field officer in Indonesia Manta Project.
A reef manta ray feeding beneath the waves in the protected waters of Raja Ampat. (Instagram @indonesianmantaproject)
“There is a strong bond between human and nature, a harmony that keeps us balanced.” – Kevin Hendrawan
references:
JPNN / PeduliBumi / YouTube
SBH // ve
Beauty & Beyond 