Godspeed, Joan and Jan

Godspeed: n. - a wish for
a prosperous journey,
success, and good fortune

Joan and Jan are in the air between Chicago and Delhi right now. I've been thinking about how fantastic it is that in the span of just one day, we can be halfway around the world. Just two generations ago, this sort of speed would have been only a dream. But technology advances, jets get faster, people get on and wake up on a different continent, all in a space measured in hours. Our ancestors would have considered this to be time travel.

While I'm not quite as startled by it as my forebears might have been, I still consider crossing such tremendous distance in such a short time a miracle. Just think, in our lifetimes, we've come to not only measure the distance to a far space in mere hours, but have also measured a few hours in far space. Technology advances, rockets get bigger, processes get safer and suddenly a man is hurtling in orbit 200 miles above us. A journey beginning with the quietly spoken prayer of one daredevil to another: 'Godspeed, John Glenn'.

This week, I logged some digital time travel trying to find historical records of the tiger census in India to understand the dwindling population of Bengal tigers. What I've discovered is that there is little concrete information out there -- mainly because of the disparate and rather unreliable methods of counting tigers in the jungle. It can be difficult and dangerous work. Seems that some tigers have contributed to the dwindling population of census takers a little too often.

Best I can find is that there were somewhere in the neighborhood of 40,000 tigers in India in 1900 but their current numbers are estimated to be around 4,000. A 90% reduction in population in the span of one century. Much of this reduction is attributed to the results of human use of the tigers' habitat -- deforestation and over-hunting of tiger prey-- as well as hunting of the tigers themselves.

Our ancestors would have considered this to be a tragedy.

And this is why Joan and Jan are hurtling through space about seven miles above the earth right now. To photograph, record, and preserve something that they believe is precious, something our descendents may never have a chance to see: the royal Bengal tiger while he still rules his own wild kingdom.

We can change continents in one day. Maybe through the passions of people like my friends Joan and Jan, we can change the fate of the graceful big cats within our lifetimes.

Godspeed, Joan and Jan.