Geoff Sims @ UNSW |
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Saturday, 26th January, 2013
Imagine (John)
As the search for the missing Twin Otter continues, the Hercules that would have taken us to McMurdo has been redeployed to the search and rescue mission. So, we sit and wait and hope for good news from the rescue team, and acknowledge that we won't be home for a few days yet.
South Pole Station is of course a highly artificial environment. Although we are structured as a small village, we produce nothing of tangible value and are utterly dependent on the enormous resources invested in our continued existence by the U.S. Antarctic Program.
Nevertheless, it is fascinating to live and work for a few weeks in a situation where are few private possessions and hence few locked doors, money is essentially meaningless, and the usual competition for resources that normally dominates our lives is absent. The effect this has on the manner in which people interact socially is to me the most interesting and rewarding part of the South Pole experience. Reducing inequality in a society benefits everyone.
John Lennon never visited the South Pole. He did, however, imagine it.
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
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