2020: A climate of change

In Anthony Powell’s 2013 documentary “Antarctica: A Year on Ice,” the story focuses on life in an unfamiliar climate.

The film depicts the life of researchers at United States science bases in Antarctica. Life in this environment is not an easy one.

In the summer, a few thousand researchers live and work on and near the established bases, and the sun shines for 24 hours. The temperatures can reach about 34 degrees Fahrenheit. This is the desirable timeframe to stay on base.

In the winter, the sun doesn’t shine for four months, and social interaction is limited. Sometimes, only about 20 people roam the whole site near the base. There aren’t that many people to talk to, and the dark and cold don’t loosen their grip.

“I was scared how that might change me,” says Keri Nelson, a retail worker in Antarctica who is interviewed in the film.

When a good friend told me about this documentary, some of the details seemed too close to home. Limited social interaction, staying inside for safety, and a focus on survival and quiet, personal work.

Sound familiar?

The interesting thing is, many researchers who spend the winter in Antarctica develop what is called T3 syndrome. T3 syndrome occurs in people who live in polar climates, and this is what happens: the brain shifts the hormones in the body to different muscles in an effort to defend against the cold. It’s a part of “winter-over syndrome,” which is also caused by the stress of survival, isolation, and as Wikipedia says, “the relative monotony of the environment.”

But the travelers survive.

In the documentary, one of the researchers has returned for multiple winters on purpose.

To me, it seems like 2020 has been our version of the arctic. We’ve experienced a pandemic, a civil rights crisis, and Australian bushfires, to name a few. We are bracing, surviving, and learning. We are in a tough climate.

2020 is halfway over, and we’re already different than we were in 2019. While we won’t want to return to 2020 like researchers want to make their pilgrimage back to the cold, we might want to revisit mentally. Take more notes. Look more closely.

We can’t develop T3 syndrome in response to this year’s trauma. Nor can we physically reassign our muscles to better handle the global climate. But we can learn. We are learning.

We don’t need to change our muscles, but if we need to, we can change our ways.

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