| massive balloon designed to serve as environmental education tool |

The Humboldt Journal | April 25, 2002
By Keri Dalman

You don’t realize just how much water there is on earth until you stand in the centre of the planet.

The Journal got an opportunity to do just that -- stand at the centre of the earth -- last week, thanks to a local environmental organization.

Earthcare Connections in Humboldt blew up its brand new Earthcare Balloon at St. Peter’s College gym on April 17. Made in Circle Pines, Minnesota, the balloon is a huge globe that Earthcare plans to use to educate people about the environment.

The globe-shaped balloon, made of dacron sail cloth, is an impressive sight, dwarfing those standing beside it with its massive girth and height. It measures 22 feet or 6.7 metres in diameter and 17 feet or 5.2 metres in height. It’s inflated with just a 16-inch fan, and a zipper in the side of the earth, right on the International Date Line, allows people to enter and see the world from the inside out.

All continents of the world are depicted on the sides of the balloon -- even Antarctica is drawn on the floor on the inside. There are 24 panels making up the entire balloon, each representing a time zone.

Everything on the globe is to scale, and though the locations of some cities are shown --including Saskatoon-- as well as the topography of the planet, the map doesn’t show any political borders or boundaries. Just natural boundaries like mountains, grasslands, and the different ocean depths are shown.

The balloon is the first of its kind in Canada, according to the manufacturer, noted Duane Guina, executive director of Earthcare Connections. As the only company in the world that makes these educational balloons, they ship them all over the place. In fat, a balloon was sent to Saudi Arabia the same day the Saskatchewan balloon was shipped out.

Each of the balloons from this manufacturer is hand-constructed, Guina said, and takes 500 hours to put together.

Earthcare Connections has been working and planning for the arrival of this balloon for over a year now, and they are delighted that it has finally made its way here. It cost just over $30,000 Canadian to have made, and was afforded by Earthcare only through sponsorship and fundraising, the latter of which still has to be completed.

The balloon was purchased for Earthcare’s Earth Awareness program, which promotes sustainable living and living in harmony with everything on the planet. Earthcare’s balloon will be available for rent to any event or organization hat has a place to house it indoors. Guina is expecting the balloon to visit schools primarily, but organizations and conferences can book it as well.

It will be at the Quill Plains Children’s Festival on May 30 at the Uniplex.

Abbot Peter Novecosky, who’s on the board of diretors for Earthcare, made a few comments from the middle of the earth as he stood staring up at North America from the inside out.

“It gives a new perspective on the earth, our oneness and the relationship of the continents,” he said.

What also struck him, he said, was the amount of water there is on the earth.

This globe, he added, will provide a fun, educational experience to those who tour it.

The balloon will likely be touring all over Saskatchewan, educating students and adults alike. Question sheets and other educational material have been included with the balloon, mainly for use by teachers. As this was the first balloon made for Canada, the company had to convert all measurements into metric for Canadian students.

Earthcare Connections is a faith-based organization that promotes living in balance with God’s creation, Guina noted.