Lewis Gordon Pugh, the ”human polar bear” famous for being the first person to complete a long-distance swim at the geographic North Pole wearing only a Speedo, is about to attempt to become the first person to kayak there. Yet he hopes he doesn’t succeed.
Interviewed in his former hometown, Cape Town, this week, the extreme environmental campaigner and athlete told the Mail & Guardian: ”I hope I fail. I hope I don’t get all the way there, because that means the scientists are right.”
Pugh (38) is referring to the fact that on a healthy planet his expedition should be impossible: under normal conditions sea ice covers the pole. But recently water has been detected there.
As Pugh points out, ”This expedition is possible only because of climate change and I will see that up close. I want there to be a lot of ice in front of me.”
In August the British maritime lawyer, who studied in Cape Town, will paddle the 1 200km from the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, up cracks in the ice to the top of the world. It should take him and his support team three weeks.
”The Arctic Ocean is a frightening place, especially in a single kayak,” says Pugh. His record-breaking swim of 18 minutes and 50 seconds in 2007 in water ranging in temperature between -1,7°C and 0°C was intended to highlight the devastating effects of climate change in the Arctic. ”It was on this expedition that I realised my work was only half complete. The melting of the Arctic was evident all around us.”
The swim coincided with the lowest coverage of Arctic sea ice recorded. Pugh uses a technique called ”anticipatory thermogenesis”, which enables him to heat up his body temperature by more than a degree before diving into water that would be frozen if it was not salty. This enables him to swim in conditions that would kill other people.
Pugh prepares for a swim by increasing his weight by 15kg, but refrains from covering himself in goose fat, which would make him too slippery to be helped out of the water in an emergency. He states that both the anticipatory thermogenesis and the weight gain are attained without deliberate effort.
”I was unaware that I was raising my body temperature before a swim. We became aware of this only during training. Before a swim my body retains weight because subconsciously it knows it needs the warmth, in the same way that penguins and polar bears are not slender creatures.”
Robert Hegedus, seven-time world kayaking champion, has spent the past year training Pugh in Hungary. Sam Branson, son of Virgin’s Richard and an avid Arctic supporter, will keep a blog of the experience and is part of Pugh’s 13-man support team.
Pugh will be required to paddle against the current, nine hours a day in six-hour shifts to complete the mission in dire conditions. Fortunately he will have plenty of daylight as the North Pole is one of two points on the Earth’s surface that receive six months of continuous daylight, followed by six months of darkness. The team will use satellite navigation to determine a route during the mission to compensate for gale-force winds that cause the ice to move at incredible speeds.
”The industrial world wants the ice caps to melt. This would enable a direct shipping route and oil-mining opportunities,” says Pugh, who is also an ambassador for the WWF. His campaign is for the abolition of the exploitation of Arctic resources and territorial claims.
Pugh believes that every person on Earth can make a difference by voting only for politicians who will implement proactive environmental legislation and not exploit the Earth’s resources. He believes that people can be proactive in their daily activities by not wasting electricity and looking at healthier lifestyle options — such as low-gas-emission vehicles.
”I gave up my office job in London and spent the past six years campaigning for the Arctic, which I love so much. It is the last beautiful, pristine place on Earth and we need to protect it.”
Pugh’s passion for the Arctic began in 2003 on a holiday trip and he has returned every summer since. ”Quitting my job and starting my campaign was not a Damascus experience. I decided to combine my legal and athletic skills to fight global warming.”
Pugh has swum the world’s oceans, fjörds, channels and flooded volcanoes to create awareness of global warming. He was also the first person to complete long-distance swims in every ocean and has pioneered more swims around famous landmarks than any other swimmer in history.
In the interview Pugh is conservative in his answers. Many responses feel like generic press pleasers. He skirts around questions of spiritual beliefs … ”They say it is impossible to be an atheist in the Arctic … because it is terrifying. The temperature is so cold and the water is black … I am a Christian.”
He quickly changes the topic. On pleasure — ”I am always busy campaigning, but at home I spend time with friends …” He trails off. On whether he truly cares about the environment or if this is about publicity and business — ”I know you are playing devil’s advocate.” (I am not. I am truly cynical that any person is selfless enough to risk his life because a place is ”pristine”.) ”I believe we need to look after the Earth for ourselves. Not for our children or our grandchildren. The threat is that real.” (I’m not buying it.) Would he like to have children? ”Very much.” Genes that are able to sustain sub-zero water temperatures would come in handy if he is right about the speed of global warming.
Pugh has spent the past 20 years honing mind techniques. He spends four hours every day doing mind training. This entails spending early mornings or evenings listening to powerful music, visualisation and ”squeezing out negativity”.
”If I want to attain a higher state of power and aggression, I listen to rap music such as Eminem. If I want to dream and focus on positive outcomes, I listen to beautiful classical music.” He is in daily contact with David Becker and Martin Jenkins, his two mind coaches who have supported him in his expeditions.
”The mind is like an iceberg. Ten percent is the conscious above water and 90% is the subconscious. We need to spend more time focusing on what is happening in our subconscious to be able to achieve our goals.”
Though it is difficult to measure the effect one human polar bear has on the world, former British prime minister Tony Blair implemented an Act of Parliament that legislated carbon emissions in Britain months after Pugh swam the length of the Thames in 2006 and showed that the non-tidal section of the river had stopped flowing as a result of severe drought.
If Pugh reaches the North Pole, he plans to plant 192 flags, to show that the ice caps melting will affect every country of the world, and launch the Polar Defence Project.
Pugh’s family moved to South Africa from Wales when he was 10 and Pugh studied politics at the University of Cape Town. At age 17, only a month after his first real swimming lesson, he swam from Robben Island to Cape Town. He had to be escorted by armed guards and the swim took him three hours.
”Our future in South Africa will not be determined by what happens in this country or on this continent. Our future depends on what happens to the ice caps and the Amazon,” says Pugh, who has addressed heads of state across the world. ”What upsets me is that we could see this coming. Our leaders have known about this for a long time and they have dithered and failed to take action.”
Environmental campaigners warn that melting polar ice could cause rising sea levels, which would threaten low-lying coastal areas and islands. ”I want to be the voice of the Arctic. I want to defend the Arctic. No country can claim the North Pole. I hope I can act as the eyes of the world, through my expeditions and the filming and reporting of them,” says Pugh.