In 1990 I was lucky enough to spend eight weeks in North East Greenland with the British Schools Exploring Society. The trip cemented my love of the natural world, and I remember it like yesterday.
We walked, climbed and explored the beautiful landscape. The coast is a maze of ice-cold glacial meltwater rivers, causing freezing cold feet each time we needed to cross, and massive boulder moraine fields which were a nightmare on tired knees. Inland you have snow, ice and mountains. The scale and majesty were incredible.
This week it’s been hard to ignore the selfie-obsessed “#10yearchallenge” pictures. But a more interesting development of this craze is many environmental organisations publishing “#10yearchallenge” pictures focussing on climate change.
In a word they are SHOCKING.
No other word describes these stark pictures of waste and devastation to our environment. My trip to Greenland as a teenager should be available to our children and grandchildren. If we are not careful, then such expeditions will be a thing of the past.
I leave you with the words of Robert Swan (Polar Explorer and environmental campaigner)
“The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.”
The only #10YearChallenge we should care about ??? #M1Ö pic.twitter.com/S8hU7gNgZJ
— Mesut Özil (@MesutOzil1088) 17 January 2019
A #10YearChallenge actually worth caring about (no disrespect to y’all who somehow look better now than 10 years ago): the world’s glaciers are melting at alarming rates. We’re losing freshwater fast, along with permafrost and precious habitats. #climatechange #seaicemelt pic.twitter.com/J7sXVtX24v
— Dr. Kristen Weiss (@DrKbythebay) 16 January 2019
Dec 2014 – Feb 2015.
Dramatic transformations can happen in a little as 2 months, not #10years. It will take swift action from all of us in order to turn things around for our planet. More at https://t.co/BIXEzpneyj. ?: @Ocean_Agency / XL CATLIN SEAVIEW SURVEY #10yearchallenge pic.twitter.com/oMVsR2vuwD— Chasing Coral (@ChasingCoral) 16 January 2019
Dec 2014 – Feb 2015. Dramatic transformations can happen in a little as 2 months, not #10years. It will take swift action from all of us in order to turn things around for our planet. More at https://t.co/BIXEzpneyj. ?: @Ocean_Agency / XL CATLIN SEAVIEW SURVEY #10yearchallenge pic.twitter.com/oMVsR2vuwD — Chasing Coral (@ChasingCoral) 16 January 2019
— Juana? (@juanacalvete) 16 January 2019
HAT-TIP to DesignTaxi.com for putting together this sequence of images.
