I’m most grateful to Abby Lord for inviting me into two of her A-Level Geography classes at Abbeygate Sixth-Form College yesterday to speak with students about the Arctic.  As with my visit to Ringsfield Primary School, I arrived in the full gear I would wear when ‘on the land’ in the Arctic, so that the students could try on special items and feel a tangible connection to the place.  I then spoke with them about how we should understand the political geography of the Arctic today, considering that Russia governs one geographic half of the Arctic, and its geopolitical rivals govern the other geographic half.  My guest lessons followed the lecture on Arctic political geography that I gave to students at the Scottish Association for Marine Science earlier this year.  I hope Abby’s pupils found it enjoyable and informative!

Abby and I also talked about the possibility of developing Model Arctic Council for the three colleges that form the Eastern Colleges Group—Abbeygate, Suffolk One and West Suffolk College.  Exciting!