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U.K. explorer plans to kayak to North Pole to urge climate change action |
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Written by Bob Weber, THE CANADIAN PRESS
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Wednesday, 16 July 2008 |
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Last year, he swam where sea ice should never have allowed him to swim. This year, he plans to paddle waters that are expected to be open for the first time in recorded history in another effort to warn the world of how quickly the Arctic is melting.
Lewis Pugh, the U.K.-based explorer, athlete, climate crusader and maritime lawyer whose 2007 North Pole swim drew headlines around the world, is back with a dream to kayak from Norway to the Pole to draw attention to global warming - and to encourage all nations to back off territorial designs on a region he says should belong to everyone.
"There is no need whatsoever for the countries around the Arctic to be fighting about the natural resources up there," said Pugh in a phone interview from England.
"I believe the Arctic belongs to all of us, because all our futures will be determined in the Arctic."
After last year's record-breaking loss of sea ice in the Arctic, many scientists are predicting that waters all the way up to the North Pole will be largely ice-free by the end of the summer.
"It wouldn't have been possible to do this kayak even last year," said Pugh. "The Arctic has changed so much in just one year."
Pugh's route will take him 1,200 kilometres from Spitsbergen Island, Norway, to the Pole. He's been training for the two-to three-week paddle in northern Norway in conditions, he said, "that, frankly, frightened me."
"Not only was I wearing a wetsuit, I was wearing a drysuit over top and I was still getting cold.
"It's very cold up there and it's going to be even colder on a kayak."
He will be accompanied on the trip by a crew following him in a small, ice-strengthened boat. He'll spend nights on the boat and paddle during the day.
Pugh, who has raised about half the $400,000 he needs for the project, said the results are worth the work and suffering.
After last year's swim, in which he swam one kilometre in below-freezing water clad only in a tiny bathing suit and a pair of goggles, Pugh said he has had the opportunity to speak with hundreds of political leaders and businesspeople from around the world about how climate change in the Arctic is the bellwether for the planet.
"I want to show world leaders what is happening," he said. "It shouldn't be possible to kayak to the North Pole."
He also plans to use the feat to advocate for a global Arctic treaty similar to the one that has suspended territorial claims and resource development in the Antarctic. Pugh notes that tensions between Arctic nations have already started to rise as energy resources in the region become more accessible and attractive.
"My dream is that we have a treaty very similar to the Antarctic treaty, where these claims are frozen. There is no reason why we should have an increase in hostilities in the Arctic region. There's enough hostilities around the world; we don't want it in the Arctic."
At a recent meeting in Greenland, representatives from the five nations with Arctic coastlines rejected any kind of international treaty governing the Arctic. Claims for control over portions of the Arctic seabed are being made to the United Nations under the Convention on the Law of the Sea, which is expected to be settled some time around 2020.
Still, Pugh said, people around the world need to realize that what happens in the Arctic has consequences not only for the future, but right now.
"We need to protect the environment, not for our children, but for ourselves."
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 07 September 2008 )
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