Guest post by Steve Goddard
It is easy to become cynical about the motivations of some prominent figures in the global warming movement, but there are a few people who feel passionately enough about their beliefs to put their own life on the line. The Catlin explorers Pen Hadow, Ann Daniels and Martin Hartley are among the most dedicated. They have endured consistent minus 40 degree weather, frostbite, polar bear encounters, frozen sleeping bags, sleepless nights and general misery in their quest to prove that the polar ice caps are warming and melting.
Over the past 24 days they have traveled 84km of their 950km journey to the North Pole, averaging 3.5km per day. Every inch is hard fought across drifting and cracking ice. If their average travel rate were to continue, it would take another 250 days to reach the pole – stretching into the next Arctic winter.
Below are the titles of their most recent blog posts, which hint at the unimaginable difficulties they are facing.
# Mind games
# Like being in a milk bottle
# Frostbite (N.B Graphic Images)
# Spring in our step
# Stabbing pain
# Muscle Immobilisation
# Perran on Power Supplies for the expedition
# The difficulties of filming in such extreme environments
# Chivalry on the ice
# The Quitter
Compare their dedication and grit to Al Gore, who lives in a 20,000 square foot house, has a 150 foot yacht, jet sets around the world, and has made tens of millions of dollars promoting global warming.
No doubt Al is very appreciative of the foot soldiers in his infantry, willing to put their lives on the line for his Nobel cause.
Below is a headline from my personal favorite newspaper the UK Guardian, highlighting the brilliant thought process of AGW entrepreneurs.
Life vests for polar bears on melting ice
To raise awareness for the endangered species, a design company has come up with a life-vest for displaced polar bears.
Read about Polar Bear Life Vests at The Guardian (No, they aren’t made of Gore-tex – Anthony)
So whom do you admire? The entrepreneurs making millions off AGW, or those risking everything to help out the first group (and save the planet.) I know which group I would prefer to belong to.
One more question. If the Arctic really resembled the tropical paradise presented by The Guardian et Al, wouldn’t the explorers have a tough time walking across the (non-existent) ice?
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I wonder if they know the ice extent is still increasing?
http://www.nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/images/daily_images/N_timeseries.png
and,
Rachelle, did your mother not tell you that if you can’t say something nice about someone, don’t say anything at all! Relax. Have a piece of chocolate or something.
Did Hillary climb Everest alone? The first white man to scale the mountain was humble enough to accept the assistance of a noble Sherpa, Tenzing Norgay, and shared his accomplishment both in celebration and then in a lifetime of service to the people of Nepal. This service was in deference to their knowledge and assistance in his quest. The fact that the photos of that conquest show only Norgay is a tribute to the disinterest Hillary had with the issue of “who’s on first?”.
Were are the Inuit guides to this pathetic group? Roald Amundsen discarded his European habits and survived two years in the Arctic with the assistance and guidance of The People. I have little but disdain for this over-funded and under-prepared bunch of arrogant preppies. I see absolutely no preparation or consideration of the conditions they might face. It recalls the days of the English Lords, shedding their enui with an excursion to the “Colonies” and occupying Western Canada! The only reason they have “endured” their hardship is their unwillingness to admit their failure. They will need to be rescued from themselves.
Rachelle Young wrote:
Hear, hear! I expect when they finally fly out, there will shortly be a press release announcing a book contract. Then they’ll make like Al Gore and swan around the greenie circles raking in speaking fees.
Neither.
Surely these ‘explorers’ have brains? Were they surrounded by sycophants blinding them by the spectre of Green Glory? When in reality they should have found themselves something useful to do, preferably absolutely nothing to do with the myth of Man Made Global warming.
If they have to give up then – tough! Would I stand on an active high speed railway line waiting for the inevitable result? They can’t see the wood for the trees. Or the meltwater for the ice.
And the radar results are not being transmitted but will be recorded [result massaging, a la Hansen seems almost inevitable] and they are surrounded by US Army devices sending data about ice thickness anyway! Waste of sponsors money and once again the/our Prince of Wales/Wails has backed another of what he would describe as a ‘success’ that most would say is a futile gesture.
Yeees! People who try to find melting ice 40 below always gets my respect, or not. Survival under extreme conditions require a clear head and common sense, a trait not normally found among the extreme AGWers…
The ice extent is not still increasing, rather it is bobbling along near maxima and will soon be decreasing.
Regards
Andy
Just for point of interest, anyone who lives on a lake in a winter climate knows that ice makes a LOT of noise, and the colder it is the noisier it is. It BOOMS, cracks, clicks, pops, bangs, and whatever other onomatopoeic words you can find. Just a few weeks ago when that -32C cold spell hit there was a LOT of noise echoing through the neighborhood from the 42 acre lake I’m beside.
So when I hear them mentioning that the ice is noisily cracking around them, I’m glad they’re in a safe area… because when it melts it does so quite quietly. However, typical of these types of endeavors, they seem either completely oblivious to this fact or are using to dramatize for their own ends. People who don’t understand ice in a cold climate might well believe that the noise is a sign of breakup.
And Steve, I understand the intent behind this post, but I still think they’re idiots. Again, since I live in a winter climate I am aghast at the arrogance of someone attempting this without more thorough preparation AND RESPECT for the Arctic. Here in Calgary we sometimes dip to -40C and people need to be extremely careful just getting from their door to their cars, let alone attempting to travel hundreds of kms on foot. Even just the drive from Calgary to Edmonton, about 2.5 hours, is a challenge for most vehicles during those cold snaps. Oil workers almost HAVE to have large, diesel vehicles, in some cases with special “cold weather” mods, in order to get to the rigs during the winter months.
What is to admire about an expensive publicity stunt wearing a thin cloak of scientific endeavour?
The point of the trip was to confirm a pre determined result, the reason for the trip was to take measurements, have they achieved this?
A publicity stunt pure and simple taking funds that could have been used for actual real science, it seems that generous funding is readily availible for this kind of jolly all they have to do is tag on ‘global warming’ and the cheque book opens like magic.
People jump off tall buildings/climb mountains/swim the channel/sky dive/paddle across oceans and they do these things in the name of adventure, what pray is the difference between these Catlin adventurers and all the others? The Catlin crew wanted the adventure and to fund it they cooked up a wheeze to get funding from people with more money than sense, who is using who here?
This creative idea to go on a jolly using other peoples money isnt new, explorers and adventurers have done this from the time of Columbus, get some dummy with more money then sense and bamboozle them into funding an adventure!
sounds like they are candidates for the Darwin award
I once helped restrain two young women who were trying to enter the cage of a grizzly bear. They had convinced themselves the bear would not harm them because the bear would understand that, “We love him”. I did not admire their foolishness and I do not admire the Catlin Explorers for similar reasons. Foolishness and bravery are two distinctly different traits.
How embarassing for them. Several years ago a young Englishman several times launched his canoe off our New Zealand coast in an attempt to paddle round the world in the roaring 40s. Our coast guard saved him twice and he eventually got kicked out of New Zealand with our collective contempt.
And yet another political expedition, this time to Antarctica:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7962311.stm
http://www.commonwealthexpedition.com/
Eight women representing five continents are planning to reach the South Pole in time to mark the 60th anniversary of the Commonwealth.
The group plans to travel 800km (500 miles) over six weeks, braving sub -30C (-22F) temperatures to reach the heart of Antarctica, in an attempt to raise global awareness on global warming.
Some of the women selected to take part in the adventure had never seen snow before the practice session in Norway.
And one od the selecting criteria was the Awareness Of Climate Change…
which, apparently, the participant from India has more than enough, lecturing people about changing their behavior and starting to wash, dry, and reuse plastic bags (that symbol of our consumerish collective evil).
Steven Goddard. I very much hope this thread of yours is sardonic. Because no one could seriously admire these Catlin people – unless one does in the way that one might admire the bravery of a suicide bomber.
I’m totally cynical myself. I see TV interviews and a book coming. Self-publicists or delusional. You decide.
The mind boggles – if it’s true as it seems, that these three have not learned from (1) the natives (natural fabrics & igloos) (2) Amundsen (dogs and sleds and guns) and (3) have spurned snowmobiles that would facilitate their getting the route covered and ground measurements done and have tolerable sleeping quarters. This doesn’t make it look like a noble challenge, it looks like hubris and idiocy, paid for by newspapers.
Polar bear encounters? Seriously? What are the chances that these guys came across the last remaining polar bear in the world? We all know the polar bear is virtually extinct thanks to there being no snow or ice in the Arctic. Yet these guys manage to find one when they are not busy getting frozen to death. It is almost a shame they didn’t have to shoot it. That would have made for a fabulous headline.
I’m sorry I don’t admire them. I think they are gunning to be martyrs by getting themselves killed for no good reason.
I see lots of planning for a book on climate change and precious little science.
These people would find any reason to do what they are doing. Just check out the the sponsors for the AGW angle
http://www.catlinarcticsurvey.com/sponsors
Among them
European Climate Exchange & Climate Friendly
It seems the personal equipment suppliers need to do better
“Martin started his day having to sew himself into his sledging jacket, as the zips broke”
“The day’s intense bright sunlight gave them an opportunity to walk with their now sodden sleeping bags on top of their sledges in order to dry them slightly – the bags currently weigh around 3 times their usual weight due to all the moisture they are holding and provide very miserable sleeping conditions.”
Bill Jamison
I really hope they make it off the ice alive.
Amen to that.
I think we should keep in mind how our comments will be viewed and paraded by others if tragedy strikes. Myself, I am critical of the soundness of their motivation, and their funding, but I wish above all else to see them return safely.
“Restoring science to its rightful place”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/susanwatts/2009/01/restoring_science_to_its_right.html
4 YEARS TO SAVE THE WORLD
Life jackets for polar bears!
I’d love to see a video of someone trying to put it on – and how long it lasts with the bear trying to rip it off.
Anyway, doesn’t even look like a good design – I think it would push the bear’s head further down in the water.
Life jackets for polar bears? Bulletproof jackets for tigers? Is that Guardian article serious or pulling my leg?
Next they’ll have crash helmets for chimps to save the planet.
Oh you naughty people, making fun of these people who are genuinely trying to make a point. I have to be frank & say that I’m not too sure what that point actually is, & I’ve already commented on a previous post about Mr Hadow & his likely (66% ala IPCC) reasons for wanng to go somewhere sooooooo cold & formidable. The fact that WUWT has already noted that there are military markers doing the same thing on a long term basis seems to have illuded them.
I think on reflection I would rather join the ranks of those making a LARGE fortune out of AGW, spinning lies & deciet, distortion of the truth & reality, smearing & belittling others who question my rantings of scientific fact according to the faith. My pension wouldn’t look so small then so perhaps I will start to change my views & attack you all! Unfortunately, because of the way I was brought up, educated & trained, to think things through before acting, I just cannot do it, sorry, folks, no guts I’m afraid. I will just have to remain sceptical of everything I see & hear, like my good old Dad used to say, ‘never believe everything you read in the newspapers, hear on the radio, or see on tv’. Perhaps a few more good souls should do likewise in this modern twisted media driven 15 minutes of fame world in which we dwell!
BTW I really don’t know how he does it, but Piers Corbyn had predicted that March in UK would have, cold spells at first, followed by elements of Spring at times, then towards the end rough weather & mainly wet to finish. Well guess what folks, he’s only gone & got it bang on, & from a weather projection a month ago. Poor old Met Office, I do hope DEEP THOUGHT is being properly nutured! 5 x 9 = 42 as ever!
AND just to show I am not without feeling, I watched the BBC 2 doc on the Exon Valdez catastrophe last night, & if accurate was well worth it. However I believe EXON could & should have responded better & taken more responsibility over the issue in Prince William Sound! Having said that, I also believe that whilst it should never have happened, little old delicate wall flower mother nature would & is taking over as she always will, regardless of mankind’s existence. I await the demonisation to come!
While I admire their courage (or fooliness) to engage in such an adventure, I don’t think they really want to prove anything about global warming. In fact, I think they know by now that the arctic is very cold.
However, pretending to organize this expedition in the name of “global warming” secured them a lot of sponsorship which they wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.
correction: foolishness