Why I am a Blue Ambassador:
Q1. How does your sport connect you to the natural environment and how does that environment continually motivate and inspire you to achieve goals – sporting and other life goals?
As a teenager, I dedicated much of my free time to mountain sports including skiing and snowboarding, hiking and climbing. At college, I studied a HND in Public Services, placing myself in the ideal position from which to enter the armed forces. I successfully completed time in the Territorial Army and the Royal Navy before returning home to pursue a career in the great outdoors, which I have thoroughly enjoyed ever since. I have always wanted to explore – it’s in my nature and that is enough to keep me motivated, even when times are tough out in Arctic.
Q2. What has your sport, and experiences through it, taught you about your natural environment?
Being a polar explorer I get to go to the arctic, a stunning environment rarely visited by man but a land which has been shaped and molded by obvious climate change (e.g the last ice age and glaciations). However, the arctic is rapidly changing in the past ten years, I have seen noticeable evidence of climate change occurring due to mans influence in the surrounding areas. The arctic is at the front line of climate change.
Q3. Sport is intimately connected to nature and a healthy environment is necessary for a healthy planet. By participating in your sport, have you encountered anything that’s truly shocked you about the impact human activity is having on the natural environment?
One of my expeditions to the Baffin Island was to investigate how the arctic environment is being effected by climate change after receiving alarming emails from friends on Baffin Island about two disastrous floods. One flood occurred in the village of Pangnirtung and the other in the Auyuittuq National Park. Moraines have been almost cut in half; moraines are made up of rock and ice which has been pushed down the valleys by a glacier. Since the last ice age these moraines have been left behind as the glaciers have retreated. Since the last ice age these fortifications have stood the test of time and have never melted, they are completely frozen even in summer. Last year they were eroded in half by the shear volume of water cascading down the river. One on the lakes, Summit Lake which is 9 km long is now 12 ft lower due to the volume of water which burst its banks. This I witnessed and much more. The shear scale of destruction was mind blowing and I had to pause and pay respect to the powerful force of Mother Nature. Climate change is nothing new in the arctic, the very landscape was created by snow and ice during the past ice ages, what is worrying is the rate of change which is now occurring. Records are being broken with record rainfall and high temperatures. The majority of people are very concerned at how the seasons are changing, Parks Canada staff told me that it is even worse the further north you go. Ellsemere Island has especially under gone extreme change with glacial and ice cap retreat as well as the Ward Hunt Ice Shelfs breaking apart. This will have to be investigated in another expedition.
Q4. If you were to motivate people (on a local, national, or international level) on one particular environmental issue, what would it be?
For the Inuit, life is completely intertwined with their surrounding environment. In Qikiqtarjuag there are no roads, there is no way of getting around apart from by plane, and even snow mobiles are expensive with today’s fuel prices. Even with snow mobiles, if you break down in the dead of winter, you’re in trouble; there is no AA to help you. For this reason food has to either be shipped in during the summer or flown in. Food is extremely expensive; a bottle of sunny delight is $20 or about 15 pounds. A small loaf of bread is $5 or 3.50 pounds. Nothing from a seal goes to waste, the meat is eaten and the skins are used for clothing. Skins from animals that provide food but are not needed for personal clothing are sold, either as they are or made into items for tourists. This provides a much needed source of income and helps keep traditional skills alive.
Now here is the problem, the European Union is looking to ban all seal imports. This, based largely on the campaign against seal clubbing, does indeed allow for traditionally Inuit caught skins to still be traded, or so it says.
When I visited Qikiqtarjuag, everywhere I went with my camera I got asked, “Are you Greenpeace?” People say that some filming was done here and around Baffin’s communities recently under false pretences and has caused an underlying cautiousness and unwillingness to be caught on camera. If there are no markets for seal products then hunting skills will be lost. I have seen Elders teaching traditional net making and seal skin testament classes in the hope to pass on these skills. Without these tradition skills, which make up the core of Inuit cultural identity, then they will cease to be Inuit. There are few jobs as it is and the bedrock of village society will be lost. No wonder people are cautious about being filmed on camera.
Q5. What have you actively changed in your day to day living behaviour and choices, including how you go-about your sport that makes a positive difference to the health of our planet?
February 2009 saw the launch of my School Outreach Project, where, because of the technology which now exists in schools, pupils can actively take part in my totally interactive expeditions from the safety of the classroom. My School Outreach Project is about educating our next generation about environmental awareness and is currently connected to 25 schools and colleges here in the south west and the rest of the country.
The students are able to ask questions free of charge, directly to my satellite phone via my website. I can then answer these questions via posting blog, photos and audio in really time when on the actual expedition. This provides a fantastic educational tool and helps to make the classroom a fun and inspirational place. Talks are ongoing as I go to the involved school and talk about my experiences helping to inspire and educate about the world around us.
To travel to a place and experience such environments first hand is so much more powerful than reading a textbook in a classroom. Earth is a classroom and life has many things to teach us. I believe that in our world you really can achieve whatever you wish from life, it may just take effort and determination to reach your goal.
Q6. What motivated you to become involved with The BLUE Climate and Oceans Project?
The BLUE Project complements and reinforces what my School Outreach Project is all about – inspiring young people and showing them they can achieve whatever they want – nothing is out of reach.
The Blue Project also features great people, such as Conrad Humphreys who introduced me to the site, who all think alike and together we can drive a stronger force to promote each other.
Q7. What one piece of advice would you offer to encourage people into thinking proactively about a BLUE future?
“The future of the human race depends on educating our next generations on environmental awareness”
Q8. A call to action – What can people do to become BLUE?
The BLUE Project is a great way to meet new people and learn more about adventure sports so log onto www.blueproject.org to find out more. Get active – experience your natural environment…
