LEWIS PUGH FOUNDATION | CLIMATE SWIM IN GREENLAND | Discover

Ahead of the UN Climate Conference (COP26) which will take place later this year in Glasgow, Lewis Pugh, UN Patron of the oceans has started the first ever attempt of a multi-day swim in the Polar Regions to alert on the Climate Crisis.
The endurance swimmer and maritime lawyer has started to swim across the Ilulissat Icefjord, in Greenland. This challenge will serve as a wake up call for urgent action from world leaders to tackle Climate Change.

The Icefjord swim

The distance Lewis will swim may be considerably more than the 10-kilometre mouth of the Icefjord. This is because he will have to deal with icebergs and brash ice, which means he won’t be swimming in a straight line.

The water will be near freezing, and the wind chill could plummet temperatures deep into negative numbers.The cumulative effects of swimming, day after day, in water that may drop to minus 1.7°C, have never been tested.

Why here? The Ilulissat Glacier

The Ilulissat Glacier, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the world’s fastest moving glacier.

It moves at an average of 30 m per day. Due to its sheer size and speed, it is one of the most studied glaciers in the world – legend has it that the Ilulissat Glacier calved the iceberg that sank the Titanic.

Currently, the glacier discharges around 30 cubic kilometres of ice per year into the sea.

Now, due to warming air and ocean temperatures, the glacier is melting at an accelerating scale and pace. If the entire Greenland Ice Sheet were to melt, it would lead to a global sea level rise of over seven metres.Any sea-level rise will be devastating, with one billion people living less than 10 metres above sea level, and around 230 million within one metre. This includes those living in London, Tokyo and New York.

There is no better place in the world than Ilulissat to show the dramatic impact of the Climate Crisis. This is ground zero. This is why Lewis has chosen to swim across the Ilulissat Icefjord.