More Global Warming Hypocrisy

Pretty spectacular photo huh?

The man diving into the ice water is Lewis Pugh. He is the first man to swim at the North Pole and, the water that he was in for nearly 19 minutes at -1.8 degrees Celcius, is, reportedly, the coldest water a human has ever swum in.

My first thought when I see something like that is, “that guy is a little crazy”. We have a fellow, here in town, named Chris. Every year on New Year’s Day, Chris water-skis on the lake. It’s a tradition. He’s done it for something like, I don’t know, 17 years in a row.

Now, Chris is a nice guy (There was one night when he was drinking and dancing, that he fell into my microphone stand twice and knocked the mic into my teeth both times but, other than that, a nice guy.) but, a little crazy. He would be the first one to tell you that too. I asked him why he skis the lake in the freezing weather every year and he said; “It’s a little crazy but I’ve been doing it a long time; it’s fun and people seem to like it”. So, harmless things like this, I think, are a little crazy.

What Lewis Pugh did at the North Pole is far more dangerous and difficult then what Chris does here at the lake. These quotes and the above picture are from the Daily Mail.

“It was like jumping into a dark black hole,” he said. “The pain was immediate and felt like my body was on fire.

“I was in excruciating pain from beginning to end and I nearly quit on a few occasions. It was without doubt the hardest swim of my life.”

“At first, you experience massive hyperventilation. Controlling this is extremely difficult.”

On leaving the water yesterday, his core body temperature had fallen to 36.5 degrees and it dropped further to 35 degrees 20 minutes later but a warm shower enabled him to return to normal.

That sounds just flat dangerous doesn’t it? But, you have to admire Pugh. He achieved a great personal accomplishment. I guess he did; he was the first person to swim at the North Pole and he swam in colder water than anyone else did. It was a harmless stunt.

But wait….

There’s more….

After I saw the Daily Mail piece, I wanted some more information. I found another article from Breitbart/AFP that contains these quotes.

“I hope my swim will inspire world leaders to take climate change seriously. The decisions which they make over the next few years will determine the biodiversity of our world,” he added.

“I want my children, and their children, to know that polar bears are still living in the Arctic. These creatures are on the front line up here,” he added.

“I am obviously ecstatic to have succeeded, but this swim is a triumph and a tragedy: a triumph that I could swim in such ferocious conditions but a tragedy that it’s possible to swim at the North Pole,” said Pugh.

Well, this guy is crazy. Does he think that world leaders are going to get together and say; “Until we saw Lewis Pugh swimming at the North Pole, we didn’t take climate change seriously. Now, thanks to Mr. Pugh, we have had a collective epiphany and decided to stop global warming”.

A man’s decision to do something like swim at the North Pole is driven by his ego; that’s all. I don’t have a problem with somebody doing something this ridiculous because of ego. I admire people that have the stones to do things nobody else does.

Saying that you are doing it to, once again raise awareness about global warming, is pure hypocrisy. It took a Russian icebreaker to get Pugh and his 29-man back-up team (including a Mind Coach!) up to the North Pole. What type of a carbon footprint does that leave.

I am sick of these crazy, hypocrites running around and doing whatever their egos tell them to do, telling me how to live my life.

If you want to do something constructive, leave the Russian icebreaker, the 29 man team and the mind coach at home; turn on an energy efficient lamp and use your amazing powers of concentration to develop a plan to evacuate L.A., Mexico City, Tokyo and every other coastal area to use when the doom you predict arrives.