UK NEWS

TAKING THE (COLD) PLUNGE TO PROVE GLOBAL WARMING

Cracks are emerging at the North Pole due to global warming

Monday May 28,2007

By John Ingham

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A BRITISH explorer will become the first person ever to take a swim at the North Pole, in a dramatic attempt to highlight global warming.

Lewis Pugh, 37, will face the coldest waters a human has ever swum in – and survived.

But the Pole will not be fully frozen, evidence of the warming of the planet.

Last year, Mr Pugh, a maritime lawyer from London, became the first person to swim the entire length of the Thames.

He has already completed long-distance swims in all five oceans, including the Arctic and Antarctic, and went training in icy Norway.

But his 21-minute dip at the geographic North Pole will be his toughest challenge yet. The water temperature when he attempts the Investec North Pole Challenge in July is expected to be -1.8C (28.8F).

He will swim according to Channel Swimming Association rules, in just costume, cap and goggles. Mr Pugh holds the previous record for the coldest swim – he braved zero degrees Celsius, off Antarctica.

The fact that Lewis can now swim at the North Pole demonstrates the need for urgent action on climate change

WWF campaigns head Colin Butfield

He has such an ability to cope with exceptionally-cold temperatures – and raise his body temperature before a swim – that he is nicknamed the “Polar Bear”. He is taking the dip in his role as an ambassador for WWF-UK, the wildlife-conservation campaign, hoping it will focus the attention of G8 leaders on climate change.

“I want to raise awareness of this by showing dramatically what is happening in the Arctic,” he said.

WWF campaigns head Colin Butfield said: “The fact that Lewis can now swim at the North Pole demonstrates the need for urgent action on climate change. “It is imperative that we reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent, by 2050.”

TAKING THE PLUNGE IS NOTHING TO DO WITH PROVING GLOBAL WARMING ITS PURELY A CASE OF LOOK WHAT I CAN DO!

28.05.07, 1:58pm

Global warming is a natural phenomenon the world has been covered in ice and many land masses have been forests and deserts aand cover in ice in the past.

Man is not going to change anything in the long run without the cooperation of all mankind including the third world very little will be accomplished.

Such stories of doom and gloom are unproven and bandied around when some moron wants to fund his latest expedition or raise taxation because we all live above our means!

• Posted by: The_Way_I_See_It • Report Comment