[MUSIC]
My name is Terry Callaghan,
I have the great privilege of having worked in the Arctic for 47 years.
I'm passionately fond of the Arctic.
I love its environments, its wildlife, its landscapes and
it's people, but they are all under change at the moment.
And I want to do is I want to present you with an understanding of what is happening
throughout the Arctic's lands and how this is important to people who live there.
But not only to the arctic peoples also to the other people of the world.
Everyone will be affected.
I draw on many different sources for my information, but in particular,
I'll be using a book called the Interact Book of Science Stories.
Where more than a hundred people have come together to share small stories of
the science they're doing in the Arctic.
And the understanding that that is giving us to be able to mange the arctic for
the future.
Arctic landscapes are vast.
They cover about 11 million square kilometers, but
the lands are all occupied by a relatively few people.
But the arctic has these rich beautiful landscapes rich in resources for
the people who live in the arctic.
And in addition there are masses of non-renewable resources, oil,
gas, minerals.
In addition to these resources that are available,
we also have ecosystem processes.
And these processes are not only important to the people of the Arctic but
they will affect climate throughout the rest of the world.
During the course, we will work together to understand where the Arctic is,
what it is, and why the changes that are happening there are important.
We will look at how the landscapes of the Arctic have formed and
how they're changing now.
What is happening to the glaciers.
What's happening to the permafrost.
And what’s happening to the vegetation of the animals.
And then importantly, we will see how the changes that affect the people who live
in the Arctic and also how they affect the rest of the people in the world.
I look forward to working with you all during the course and
we will explore the Arctic together.
I also wish you all luck with the assessment part of the course.
Good luck. [MUSIC]