
When thinking of Antarctica, we typically think of isolation and loneliness. However, according to one of its past inhabitants, it is actually a very tight-knit community where one is constantly surrounded by others. Marco Frascone spent six months in Antarctica where he held a janitorial position at McMurdo Station.
Frascone found the position through a coworker’s cousin, who set him up with the United States Antarctic Program. He then applied to work at McMurdo Station, a process beginning with an automated system that screens one’s application. If you make it through the automated system, you have a quick interview where you are determined to be a fit for a primary position at the station, or, if there are no primary positions left open, you will be assigned to an alternate position, which is similar to being on standby.
Frascone became one of the janitorial staff, which he states is the best job at the base, since janitors get to go everywhere and see everything on base. “You get to be close to the science that happens,” Frascone says, recalling when he got to see the setup for the study of the oldest light in the universe. He described the setup as being made of duct tape and foam from Lowe’s, showing how science isn’t always a high-tech operation.
There was no real feeling of isolation on the base, as it was a very social community that Frascone referred to as a “social pressure cooker,” stating that “it’s not a place you go to get away from people.” He said that the climate was his biggest challenge, especially since nature is his escape, but, being in Antarctica, the conditions outside made it impossible to sit out there for more than a few minutes. Frascone was pushed to challenge himself in this job in more ways than one.
Waste at McMurdo Station is treated in a waste facility and then shipped back to the mainland, while other Antarctic facilities choose to freeze their waste in caves, but this is not sustainable, as it will need to be extracted eventually and cannot decompose in the freezing conditions.
Stark and hostile is how Frascone describes Antarctica. “Humans are really not supposed to be there,” he says. “I think it’s the closest I’ll ever get to being on another planet.” Every morning he would wake up and be in awe: “I’m actually here, I’m still here!”