Max Wilbert

Max Wilbert

Max is a 2010 participant of the Polaris Project. He attends Western Washington University where he has self-designed a major in environmental communication and advocacy. Max is a senior and grew up in Seattle, Washington.

Journals

  • cl_20100729034430

    Max Wilbert Wins Journalism Award

    Max Wilbert, a recent graduate from Western Washington University and a participant in the 2010 Polaris Project field course, has just won a national competition for his article “Siberian Summer” about his Polaris Project experience.

    • By Max Holmes
    • May 04, 2011

  • 2010 Photos

    After pointless and senseless delay we have updated the photos page with a subset of the 2010 photos by Max and Chris.

    • By Andy Bunn
    • January 27, 2011

  • Photo Essay: Ambarchik

    Ambarchik was a Soviet prison camp (gulag) beginning in the 1930′s. This place has a sad feeling to it, perched on the edge of the world, the Arctic Ocean to one side and the treeless tundra to the other. It is now the site of a new tragedy: as the climate warms, storms strengthen, ecosystems [...]

    • By Max Wilbert
    • August 31, 2010

  • Now The Real Work Begins…

    For many of us, the field portion of the Polaris Project was just the beginning. While the scientists have haystacks of data to sift through, I have a stack of 20,000 photos waiting to individually perused, ranked, tagged, and grouped – a task for days and days. Why do we do it? Because, rather quietly, [...]

    • By Max Wilbert
    • August 06, 2010

  • Seven Lessons from a Northern Adventure

    We left Saturday morning on what we imagined would be a long, hard day trip to the Arctic Ocean and tundra. We ended up weathering a storm in a fishing shack, relying on Nikita and Sergei’s resourcefulness and our positive attitudes. 

    • By Max Wilbert
    • July 25, 2010

  • To Duvannyi Yar and Back Again…

    Hello everyone! Its our first update in a while, as the internet has been intermittent and the team has just returned from a two day trip upriver. We went to a place called Duvannyi Yar, where Pleistocene-era soils are eroding at a massive rate as the underlying permafrost thaws and massive wedges of ice melt. [...]

    • By Max Wilbert
    • July 21, 2010

  • We’re Alive!

    Below is a series of snapshots of all Polaris students taken over the past few days.  Maybe a bit rough around the edges after almost 2 weeks in Siberia, but all are well and thoroughly engaged in their projects.

    • By Max Wilbert
    • July 16, 2010

  • 9 Days And Counting…

    When the sun does not set, keeping track of the days becomes problematic. They blend together – yesterday’s sun and sweat fading into today’s rain and thick clouds. Sweet smells are in the air, fresh and crisp after the rain. Flowers are blooming across the landscape. The local botanist, Davidov, says that all the blooming [...]

    • By Max Wilbert
    • July 10, 2010

  • Seattle to Moscow

    Our first full day in Russia! We arrived last night after 15 hours on planes, first from Seattle to Washington DC, then on to Moscow. The road that led us away from the airport gave us our first taste of the Russian countryside. Trees lined the highway, and billboards flashed ads from either side. Twenty [...]

    • By Max Wilbert
    • July 04, 2010

  • Howdy!

    Hello everyone. My name is Max Wilbert, and I am the Western Washington student who will be working with Chris Linder on multimedia production this summer. I’m quite looking forward to the trip – the Arctic is the front lines of the climate catastrophe, and I want to learn as much as I can while [...]

    • By Max Wilbert
    • April 02, 2010