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A college professor and a high school student are among a group of scientists, artists and youth who will be travelling to the Arctic for a unique initiative called the Cape Farewell Youth Expedition 2008.

British artist David Buckland, with the support of the British Council - an international organization that promotes educational opportunities and cultural relations - created the international project.

Sixteen Canadian students as well as a dozen international students from Brazil, Germany, India, Ireland, Mexico and the United Kingdom will participate in the expedition, which is focused on climate change awareness.

The students, alongside a crew of supervisors, scientists and artists, are set to depart from Toronto for Reykjavik, Iceland tonight.

They'll set sail on a two-week trek that will circumvent the tip of Greenland, travel the Davis Strait and culminate at Iqaluit, on the south coast of Baffin Island.

The expedition was officially launched yesterday at the Ontario Science Centre.

Luisa Lizoain, a Grade 11 student at the Annex's University of Toronto Schools, is Ontario's youth representative, while Colette Laliberte, an associate professor of art at the Ontario College of Art and Design, is one of two artists participating in the trip.

Lizoain learned about Cape Farewell because of her involvement in another British Council program called Climate Champions, which brought a group of youth, supervisors and experts to Whitehorse, Yukon this past May.

"I think (climate change) is a really big issue for people of my age because we're the ones who are going to be dealing with the future consequences of climate change," she said.

"We really need to work together for a solution."

Laliberte, an upper Annex resident, said that social activism such as promoting the dramatic effects of global warming and climate change is inextricably linked to the work she does as an artist.

"My life is art but as artists we all have a certain degree of social and political awareness," she said.

Laliberte also said that as an artist having the opportunity to travel to the Arctic is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

"I think the landscape is beyond the imagination," said Laliberte, who has taught at the downtown college for eight years.

"It's a dream come true to experience such landscapes."

Both Laliberte and Lizoain plan on sharing their experiences and knowledge with others upon their return.

"I'm going to talk to as many people as I can," said Lizoain. "It's a big privilege to do this trip. It's my responsibility to communicate all I've learned."

Laliberte, who teaches sustainability-oriented curriculum in her fine arts courses at OCAD, said that she's already looking forward to sharing her newfound knowledge with her students, peers and the community at large.