Sandy & Olivier - Explore Svalbard 🇨🇦 🇫🇷 🇲🇦

We believe the outdoors changes lives. We strive to connect and reconnect people with nature to learn to appreciate and love it. Our motto: explore/learn/change and share. Based on this belief and vision, we created Explore Svalbard in 2019.

The Explore Svalbard project brings students and educators to Svalbard in the summer to explore and study this Arctic region. This experience focuses on outdoor challenges combined with educational goals related to the effects of climate change in polar regions. We believe that educating through emotion, discovery and experience, and creating empathy with nature are the best ways to awaken young people to the seriousness of climate change.

Svalbard’s Significance: Deepening Our Connection to Nature and Climate Action

Svalbard represents a convergence of past and future. Historically, it was a site of intense natural exploitation, beginning in the 17th century with whaling, walrus hunting, and the exploitation of other wildlife. This was followed by the coal rush at the beginning of the 20th century. Today, Svalbard represents the future and offers a unique perspective on climate change. It houses the Global Seed Vault, which preserves seeds from around the world, and a university center dedicated to Arctic studies. It serves as a critical point where the effects of rising temperatures—felt more rapidly here—impact the local fauna, flora, and the entire cryosphere. It’s a place where we can fully grasp the deep connections between this remote region and the rest of our planet.

Hiking

Ski Snowboard

Sail

Urban exploration

A global project throughout the year

In preparation for the trip, students engage in a number of learning and training activities. We start with a focus on how the climate in the Arctic is warming at an amplified rate. Students work in teams to create education material related to the effects of climate change on the cryosphere, meet with various scientists and explorers working in the Arctic, and reflect on how we can explore the world in a manner that fosters a closer connection to nature by minimizing our impact and maximizing our respect for the environment. We engage in lessons related to exploring the world differently, while acknowledging that every step we take leaves a mark. We commit to treading lightly. This belief is very important to the Explore Svalbard team. It informs our trip itinerary, packing list, what we eat, what we buy, and how we move through Svalbard during our time there. Immersing our team in a place like Svalbard, where nature's grandeur dominates, is one of the most powerful ways to deepen our understanding of the planet, reconnect with the natural world, and reinforce conservation efforts through direct action.

Engaging Students in Sustainability: Lessons from Our Lagoped Partnership.

The Svalbard rock ptarmigan holds special importance for our Explore Svalbard team. As the only terrestrial bird that lives in Svalbard year-round, it symbolizes our commitment to leaving the lightest possible trace on the Arctic landscape. Our partnership with Lagoped has allowed our students the opportunity to learn about and engage in circular economy and study the environmental costs and impacts of fast fashion. We feel that teaching our team, students and parents, about fast fashion and climate change is important because it raises awareness of the significant environmental impacts associated with the fashion industry. We hope that by empowering students with this knowledge, it will inspire them to take action, whether through personal choices, advocacy, or future careers in sustainability, and help build long-term habits that contribute to addressing climate change. We are happy and proud to be part of the Lagoped family which supports us with our project and inspires our community.

Inspiring Climate Action Through Immersive Learning

While in Svalbard, the team engages in a two-week itinerary that includes learning about the history and importance of Svalbard and Longyearbyen, engaging with the local community by leading a Moroccan tea ceremony, and conducting a workshop comparing the Sahara and Arctic deserts at the local library. Students also learn about the importance of the Global Seed Vault, the effects of permafrost melting, and Arctic breeding birds. At the glacier camp, students explore this environment while hiking on the moraine and tundra close to the Sveabreen glacier. They engage in practices that leave the lightest trace possible in and around our environment. We create an outdoor classroom where students participate in a number of scientific investigations focusing on the effects of climate change in polar regions. This involves gathering data on temperature and wind speeds, analyzing nutrient levels in soil samples, testing salinity, temperature, and pH levels of various water bodies, and measuring albedo on and around the glacier. Learning through immersion in a place like Svalbard, where nature is both omnipresent and grand, fosters a deeper understanding of our planet. It helps us reconnect with the natural world, rekindle our love for it, and take meaningful action to preserve it

Memories in pictures

Connecting Students to Global Climate Change

The primary objective of the Explore Svalbard project is to cultivate an understanding among students of the importance of the Arctic region in the broader context of global climate change. By exploring the impact that changes in the Arctic have on the environment, weather patterns, and ecosystems worldwide, we aim to make students aware of the interconnectedness of our planet and why these distant changes are relevant to everyone, no matter where they live.

We want students to recognize that the rapid warming of the Arctic, melting sea ice, and thawing permafrost are not isolated events but signals of broader environmental shifts that will affect global climate systems. Through this awareness, we hope to inspire a sense of responsibility and urgency. Our goal is for students to take this knowledge and apply it practically, translating their awareness into actions within their own communities.

Whether it’s through advocating for sustainable practices, participating in local environmental initiatives, or simply spreading the knowledge they’ve gained, we want students to feel empowered to make a difference. In doing so, they will contribute to the global effort to combat climate change, starting at the local level, and help build a more sustainable future for all.

Rather than taking an anxiety-inducing approach to the issue, our project fosters empathy and kindness through a spirit of sharing and reconnection with nature. Our students return stronger and with a sense of purpose: climate change is not something to passively endure.

This spirit of sharing continues through the creation and distribution of educational materials for everyone—teachers, students, or anyone interested in the polar regions and their importance to our planet.

You can find these resources available for free download on our landing page.

https://campsite.bio/explore.svalbard

They are in English, but we welcome any support to help share them with a wider audience and translate them into other languages.

Stories

The Svalbard Rock Ptarmigan

Discover the rock ptarmigan, the discreet emblem of Svalbard, a fascinating Arctic island. As an endemic species, it epitomises survival in a harsh environment. Explore its unique seasonal adaptation and join us as we explore Svalbard and reconnect with nature.