#11 Palin - Pole to Pole

"A journey from North to South Poles along the 30 degrees East line of longitude, chosen because it crossed the greatest amount of land." 

Pole to Pole - Michael Palin

'Pole to Pole' is another geographical literary feat by Palin. I was initially apprehensive to read this travel writing, given the limited connotations of both the book's name and cover - even as I read it around school I received questions on why I'd read a book about penguins and polar bears... - but, as they say, DON'T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER! (And read the blurb before mentally passing judgement). 'Pole to Pole' follows Palin's journey between July and December 1991 through seventeen countries, starting in the North Pole and ending at the South Pole, along the 30 degree East line of longitude. The most important word of the title is overshadowed by the two Poles sandwiching it: TO. Only around 7% of the text is actually spent covering the Poles; rather, the bulk focuses upon his journey through North-East Europe and Africa. The sheer diversity that exists within the human race and the environment within just seventeen countries (on a modern atlas it would in fact be twenty countries) is absolutely fascinating. Honestly. 

One of the things I enjoyed most about this book was an unintended feature of Palin's journey; the juxtaposition between the modern world and its 23-years-ago-self. Who knew that the world could have changed so drastically within the lifetime of many people we know? Or at least, who really takes the time to acknowledge and consider this fact within a smaller spectrum than the contrast between half a century ago and now? I wish more people were exposed to such things. The renowned changes in the USSR (a) and South Africa (b) enthralled me most prominently because a) it reflected what is currently going on in Ukraine and Russia, and b) that was the environment my parents grew up/were 20-somethings in. And yet historical geography feels so distant. The interrelation of our present and the past is a fact both challenging and enthusing. It bears with it questions of sustainability and advancement - do these notions possess facets concealed in the past yet coming to light in the present?

"1991 was an exceptional year. A quarter of the countries we visited had undergone, or were undergoing, momentous changes. Communism disappeared in the USSR and apartheid in South Africa. We arrived in Ethiopia four months after the conclusion of a civil war that had occupied parts of the country for thirty years and in Zambia on the day Kenneth Kaunda's 28-year reign ended." - page 6

Given the book cover and title, it seems only fitting to expand upon the striking elements of the two poles. When reading of the relationship between man and nature existing in these locations, I was reminded of a quote from Sir David Attenborough; 

"Instead of controlling the environment for the benefit of the population, perhaps it's time to control the population to allow the survival of the environment."

This particular dynamic of our relationship with the world is something that I am especially enthused about; the idea of control. I think it's in human nature to seek control of things; we're only content or comfortable when we feel in control. But nature is not something to control. As I said in my musings about Palin's 'Himalaya', it is something to co-exist with. I loved Palin's depiction of such an acceptance in the South Pole, where he writes of the devotion of the small human population to keep pollution to an absolute minimum, so much so that toilet excretions are collected in a bag and shipped to South America to be disposed of! It was also interesting to read of the way of life experienced by those living in the Arctic where, unlike our culture, life is lived in accordance with nature's control. Palin writes of needing a 'mental adjustment to be back where humans control the environment, rather than the other way round' when he arrives in Helsinki (page 51). It equally challenged the idea of comparative levels of development, drawing ambiguous parallels to the writing of Jared Diamond upon traditional societies; fundamentally and in the most basic sense (excluding extremities which of course exist as anomalies), is the Western world really socially and environmentally more advanced? The economic superiority is undeniable, lending the ideal of MEDCs and LEDCs. But perhaps not so dramatically socially nor environmentally. 

"I'm told that there is a serious water crisis in the town. Wells have been sunk but the water is brackish. Southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya are becoming part of the Sahel - the sub-Saharan area that is turning rapidly into desert. This information only serves to turn my particular gloom into a general gloom. So little of what I have seen so far in Africa can by any stretch of the imagination be described as progress, with the possible exception of the pump and well I saw yesterday near Boditi. Maybe 'progress' is a Western concept, irrelevant in African terms. Talk of 'solutions' and 'ways forward' may make us feel better but can mean nothing until the yawning gap between Western and African culture begins to narrow and that probably requires a lot more listening and a lot less talking." - page 185/6

My response to such a statement as recorded in the margin of my book: YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (followed by a conundrum of stars and underlinings).

"Nick is hopeful that the Ethiopians will be able to solve their own problems. [...] If the new government can give some encouragement to farmers to grow for profit, he believes that Oxfam, along with other non-government agencies, could help the country to a stage which, as he puts it, 'Oxfam hopes to do itself out of a job.'" - page 180

"Oxfam's programme is designed to require the minimum amount of cost and technological expertise. There is little point in pouring money into sophisticated technology unless the local people can use it and repair it when it goes wrong." - page 183

I couldn't agree more. No combination of words could have summed up my views on aiding development in LEDCs more proficiently. It is not a matter of using our 'superiority' to develop countries less fortunate than ourselves, nor of implementing our 'perfect' solutions to our problems into their cultures. Rather, it is a matter of providing the tools and accessibility to resources such as physical tools or education, so that they may develop individually and solve their own problems. It is a process of communication, not leadership. It is important to recognise the divide between our perception of such areas and their inhabitants' - to us, as Palin writes on page 153, it may be a 'war-torn, famine-ridden country on the brink of economic collapse' but to those living there, it is home. 

Of a similar message, I am child-on-christmas-day-excited to now read 'Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles' by Richard Dowden. Ah!! 

Until next time,

C