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Diary entry by Catherine, Campaigner By 1 p.m. we had bid farewell to the warm and welcoming people of Savoonga and were sailing toward the eastern end of the island and the village of Gambell. Gambell is named for a missionary couple who drowned while returning to the island in 1898. The population is roughly 636 people and the town is one of St. Lawrence Island's original settlements. The cliffs above the village, and throughout the island, are home to the largest seabird colonies in the Bering Sea. Polynyas, or open water areas within the sea-ice pack, form off the island in the winter and are critical habitat for marine mammals including bowhead whales. On the way to the village we passed a dead bowhead floating with the current. The villagers later told us they suspected it had been killed by an orca (killer whale) as the bowhead's tongue was missing. Orcas often attack bowheads and many older whales bear the scars of these encounters. The open boat in Gambell was a more sedate affair. Many of the villagers were out fishing and unable to visit the Sunrise. But we played host to numerous boatloads of locals, and a couple of families visiting from Siberia. Travel between Russia and Gambell is frequent and visiting Russian native people often take advantage of the relative plethora of foodstuffs available on this American island that cannot be found in Siberia. The town is the former site of a U.S. military base and at the evening meeting we heard many expressions of concern among the residents about the health effects of toxic wastes abandoned by the military. And again, we heard of changing weather patterns, warmer and earlier springs and other signs of an altered climate. Margie, Sallie and Angie are working to document these changes, and record testimonies from the villagers for compilation in a book and possibly a web site. Greenpeace believes that world leaders need to understand that climate change is not only a reality, but a reality that will profoundly affect the people whose lives are most dependent on the ebb and flow of natural cycles. The voices of the people of the arctic must be heard. The crew and campaigners on the Arctic Sunrise hope to help bring these villagers' concerns directly to the attention of politicians in Washington, Brussels, Tokyo, Ottawa and Canberra in hopes that their voices might help to spur world leaders to act, and act now, to prevent further destruction to this fragile environment. At 11 p.m we raised the anchor and set sail for the Bering Strait.
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