UK Kayaker "Thrilled" To Not Paddle To N. Pole - But 2007's 3-Meter Ice Now 1 Meter Thick

[hatrack]

London - British explorer Lewis Gordon Pugh declared on Friday he had kayaked further to the top of the world than anyone else ever has, as his bid to reach the North Pole failed - much to his delight. But the renowned extreme swimmer, dubbed the human polar bear, nonetheless warned the Arctic ice pack was thinning and urged world leaders to take immediate action to halt it.

Pugh, 38, made it to 81 degrees north latitude before hitting solid pack ice. He temporarily planted the flags of 192 nations and territories into a floe in a bid for worldwide attention to the issue of climate change. "Last year at this latitude I saw three-metre-thick ice. Now I can only see one-metre-thick ice," he said. "In 2007 I predicted the Arctic would be largely free of summer sea ice within 10 years. Everything I have seen on my expedition confirms that prediction."

"The disappearance of this sea ice is happening considerably faster than scientific models predicted a year ago," he added.

"I am deeply concerned that policy makers are using the wrong information to inform their policy decisions. Unless world leaders appreciate the speed of change, any measures that they take will be wholly inadequate."

EDIT

http://www.news24.com/News24/Technology/News/0,,2-13-1443_2389113,00.html

[XemaSab]

1. .

[The Croquist]

2. I don't really see what Pugh accomplished

http://polardefenseproject.org/blog/

I don't really see what Pugh accomplished here except spending a bunch of other peoples money and a whole lot of carbon while stroking his own ego.

He left from the island of Virgohamna about 79 degrees north and made it all the way to about 81 degrees north. That means he made it about 138 miles while accompanied by the Havsel a 300 ton ship. He was still 621 miles short of his goal. He expected to make the trip in 7 days but made it only about 20% after 6 days and gave up because of ice.

Considering that he wanted to bring the melting Arctic to the worlds attention I would say that he failed miserably.

Now he claims that the ice he saw was much thinner then the previous year but Arctic ice is in constant motion. To compare a specific place one year with different year is of marginal value. His website however only mentions year and longitude. I don't know what month or latitude he is comparing it to.

His past accomplishments were to travel all over the world, spew tons of carbon into the atmosphere and try to bring attention to environmental issues. Maybe he should stay home, become a vegetarian and plant an organic garden.

[Nihil]

3. I know it doesn't happen often around here ...

... but I agree with you on this one - especially your last paragraph!

:toast:

[tom_paine]

4. Hey, the North Pole didn't melt this year!

That mean Global Warming is a Librul Lie!

(do I really need a :sarcasm: icon?)

:rofl: