The North Pole now a swimming hole
July 16, 2007 by William K. Wolfrum
Shockingly, those intrepid reporters at the National Review – who only care about science, not ideology — seem to have missed this one.
19 mins, -1.8C: the first swim at the North Pole
Clad only in his Speedo trunks, cap and goggles as required by the rules of the Channel Swimming Association – which also forbid any buoyancy aids, swimming caps that offer any thermal protection or trunks cut above crotch level – Mr Pugh spent just under 19 agonising minutes in the melted sea ice navigating a path in a crack between broken floes.
The feat would not have been possible ten years ago, when the water was entirely frozen over, even in summer. …
Scientists predict that by 2040 the Arctic could be virtually free of ice in summer. Mr Pugh said yesterday that his achievement was a bittersweet victory. “It’s a triumph and a tragedy – a triumph that I could swim in such ferocious conditions, but a tragedy that it is now possible to swim at the North Pole.”
Don’t worry, though, I’m sure NRO can somehow spin this into a way to make Al Gore and Live Earth look bad. It’s what they do. At least when they are not cowering fearfully from Middle Eastern countries, tearfully begging their leader to drop more and bigger bombs on any ME nation not named Saudi Arabia.
–WKW
[...] It is one thing to feel saddened by humanity’s lack of foresight when it comes to Global Warming. But when leaders ignore basic history in order to profit is when you start to realize that the term “blood money” no longer carries with it much stigma. [...]