Why PFS

Dan Blessing and I met co-instructing a 3 week Outward Bound course (Weasel Scat) in northern Minnesota in 2007 with an exceptional group of students and a mutual interest in big adventures. We agreed to partner in the future on an epic paddling trip across the North American continent. Inspired by the educational efforts of expeditionary educators like Will Steger and Michael Fay, I began to build and propose a plan of study to various colleges, finding support with John Miles, and Western Washington University’s Huxley College of the Environment in Bellingham, Washington. With the help of friends, family, and faculty, the beginning of Paddle For Sustainability took shape.

__________________Background_____________________

Hundreds of weeks working with youth in the woods and countless personal adventures had solidified my wilderness skills. The goals, vision, and discipline necessary to mentally accomplish what hard skills cannot do alone can be attributed to 17 years as a gymnast. At age 21, after NCAA nationals I moved on from the sport but a desire to do something on a world class level remained.

My paddling partner on this journey, Dan Blessing, is the only person I have met that I was confident would be able to handle the physical and mental challenges of this trip. His background in expeditionary education is impressive.

Resumes: MVG Resume.pdf Blessing.Resume.pdf

__________________Academics_____________________

The vision began to take more shape during the winter and spring of 2009, with the academic stimulus of graduate school. Classes inspired questions, critical thinking, and multiple perspectives.

The idea of a paddling expedition that would incorporate environmental education was proposed and accepted as my degree’s capstone event, in the form of a field project.

__________________Sustainability_____________________

Some of the goals at this point were:
-To paddle historical routes of the voyageurs era
-Build a birch bark canoe for the expedition
-Buy locally, or obtain personally, all foods
-Use recycled or personally manufactured equipment
-Focus the environmental education curriculum into a strong theme.

Patrick O’toole, a very clever friend of mine, came up with the name Paddle For Sustainability.

Sustainability encompassed many of the ideas I had, and inspired many more. For example, In addition to recycling, borrowing, and personally manufacturing all of the gear we would need, I envisioned sponsorship by outdoor gear companies like Patagonia, who I knew were involved in sustainability efforts though their product design, funding programs, and in manufacturing by causing the least amount of harm to the environment as possible. The idea that we would reduce our impact, or carbon footprint, by using gear that was obtained through these means was a vision of Paddle For Sustainability. Unfortunately, despite sending out sponsorship packets I created, and soliciting companies creating innovative products, no equipment was obtained though these measures. Disappointingly, I did not even hear back from Patagonia, Sierra Designs, Pacific Outdoor Equipment, or LaFuma. The challenge to do it ourselves, however, was not passed up, and we sought out used, recycled, thrown-away, or borrowed equipment. From a garage sale at Outward Bound in Ely we bought retired portage packs, old canoe spray decks, our tent, tarps, and our PFD’s. We needed a couple more portage packs so we borrowed them from friends, and returned them when we were finished. I bought some clothes and shoes from the REI collection of used and returned equipment.

In partnership with the idea of our gear is the goal of obtaining personally, locally, or by some other means sustainability, all of the food for the expedition. Expecting the trip to take more than 12 months, this is quite a project. The summer prior I collected several gallons of berries and mushrooms and dried them. Dan went hunting in the fall, was successful, and made a quantity of venison jerky. Our friend Van Conrad also donated venison. We sourced a quantity of “Roadkill”- dried goods left over after Outward Bound Courses, which Dan collected over the course of a year, yielding several garbage bins full. At the last minute we had the great fortune of meeting Tim Melby, who canoe-harvested true wild rice from Northern Minnesota, processing it himself, via wood-fire. We bought 90 lbs. Besides the lower environmental impact of using recycled, minimally transported, and/or personally obtained foods, the spiritual aspect of knowing the origin of your food- a relationship highly diminished in 21st century America- was endorsed. While packing food for an expedition this big may seem daunting, it was contrarily easy, and we simply packed everything we could fit into the canoe and left, which lasted us about 4 months. Supplemented by the many fish we caught (I had some success getting our fishing license fees sponsored by family members) we were eating well. I had a vision of hunting along the way as well, replenishing our food with game along the way, but the reality is hunting licenses for U.S. citizen in the Canadian Provinces are very expensive, and paying $600 for a deer tag was unaffordable. We resorted in the last months to a staple of mac and cheese, rice, peanut butter, and nutella.

It is important to note that although we tried very hard to be as sustainable as possible, there are barriers, and like trying to live a “green” lifestyle in this globalized modern world, exceptions to the rules exist and challenge our values. Items I was not willing to go without, that were bought and not sustainable, for example, were my digital camera and film camera. Also, per the pleading of my mother, a satellite phone. We ate ice cream when we got to a town, and enjoyed getting the feel of a small town in a local diner. We enjoyed an occasion with scotch from time to time. By acknowledging we live with contradictions and discuss the ways we are unsustainable as well as sustainable, a.k.a. being real, we hope to create a more valuable perspective on the word sustainability, which is often abused to meaninglessness.

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