British athlete is ready to undertake ‘the coldest swim on Earth’ to focus on the pace at which polar icecaps are melting
- Lewis Pugh will swim throughout the six-mile mouth of Greenland’s Ilulissat Icefjord
- Problem shall be in near-freezing waters with a wind chill that may add to chilly
- The 51-year-old has swam within the Arctic, Antarctic and Himalayas however says this swim to focus on local weather change ‘would be the most difficult of my profession’
- The swim is anticipated to final two weeks starting on August 25
A British endurance athlete plans to undertake ‘the coldest swim on Earth’ to focus on the pace at which the icecaps are melting.
Lewis Pugh will head throughout the six-mile (10km) mouth of the Ilulissat Icefjord in Greenland.
The problem – anticipated to take two weeks – shall be in near-freezing waters with a wind chill that may pressure temperatures under zero.
Mr Pugh has beforehand swum within the Arctic, Antarctic and Himalayas to focus on local weather change.
However the 51-year-old – because of set off on August 25 – mentioned: ‘This swim would be the most difficult of my profession.
‘The polar areas are feeling the consequences of the local weather disaster extra dramatically than wherever else on Earth.’
Mr Pugh will spotlight the fast melting in areas such because the Arctic because of local weather change, earlier than heading to essential worldwide Cop26 talks in Glasgow in November to induce governments to take pressing motion on the disaster.
He’s additionally calling for 30 per cent of the world’s oceans to be protected as a part of efforts to curb local weather change – with wholesome seas extra capable of retailer carbon and assist shield the land towards the impacts of rising temperatures.
The swim comes after the UN issued a stark report on how humanity is driving world warming, inflicting more and more harmful excessive climate, melting ice caps and glaciers and rising sea ranges that threaten coastal cities resembling London and New York.
Mr Pugh mentioned: ‘What occurs within the Arctic will decide the way forward for our planet and every thing that lives on it… If temperatures proceed to extend, the polar ice caps will soften and sea ranges will rise.
‘Except we take pressing motion to lower world temperatures by significantly decreasing our world carbon dioxide emissions, low-lying islands and coastal cities will, fairly actually, drown.’
He added: ‘The devastation of the pure world will have an effect on each single particular person, each future era and each creature, nice and small, on this planet.’
The Ilulissat Glacier, which is a Unesco World Heritage Website, strikes at a mean of 30 metres per day and produces 10 per cent of Greenland’s icebergs, a few of that are over 1km (0.6 miles) tall and together with – in keeping with legend – the one which sank the Titanic.
Mr Pugh’s earlier efforts in ‘Speedo diplomacy’, endeavor excessive swims in simply trunks, goggles and cap as a part of campaigns to drive motion to assist the atmosphere, have helped shield huge tracts of ocean.
He’s presently coaching in Iceland, earlier than transferring his coaching to Greenland forward of his swim.