1 Report for CMOS Project Maury 2018 Canadian Participant Andrew Young - Courtenay, B.C WHERE I COME FROM I’ve never really strayed too far from the water throughout my life. In my early years, I lived along the lake shore in Oakville only to find myself as a young teen watching the waves crash on the shores of the Atlantic while living across the harbour from Halifax. Throughout my adult life I’ve lived, lounged, loved, laughed and worked on the west coast with the mighty Pacific lapping at my feet. By plane, train, car and bus I’ve traveled the inner bits of our country, but it has always been the margins that have drawn me in; the coasts have always called my name. For the past 23 years, I have been incredibly fortunate to call Vancouver Island my home. Living on an island off the west coast of Canada with the Salish Sea to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west, one would be hard pressed to find a day where the ocean that surrounds us doesn’t make a significant impact on our lives. The daily weather we live with, the transportation of goods and people to and from our island, the industry and jobs we work at, the vibrant, dynamic and unique Indigenous cultures and our collective history on this island, the food we eat, the air we breathe all depend on the Pacific that surrounds us. So, if the oceans are the lifeblood of planet Earth and play such a central role in our lives, one work think that the topic is well covered in our education system, right? Wrong. Now let me state, I’m also at fault here. I am both a physical and human geography teacher for grade twelve and eleven students. Although I do have units on coastal geomorphology, climatology, meteorology, and tectonics in my physical geography class, my coverage of oceanography is marginal at best. In my human geography class, I cover units on development, transportation, agriculture and urbanization and given that about 40% of the world’s population lives within 100 kilometers of the coast the dearth of coverage I give oceanography is wholly inadequate. This is why I was excited when the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (CMOS) and the Canadian National Committee/Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (CNC/SCOR) offered a Canadian teacher the chance to participate in the American Meteorological Society/United States Naval Academy Project Maury workshop.
