Maybe it's the recent bout of unseasonably warm weather, but for some reason I just can't get my brain to compute that we are already mid winter and fast approaching the end of yet another year. For me, December has always been a unique month and one that I spend 11 months looking forward to, maybe it's a childhood thing? However gauging by our behavioural patterns It would probably be fair to say I am not alone, for this has to be the only time of the year when there seems to be an almost collective frenzy around anything to do with gifts, loved ones, turkey, and getting drunk at the office party!
So this year I've decided to try and leave behind the usual Christmas traditions, to re-align my focus away from the carols and the Christmas pudding in order to acknowledge someone who is truly inspiring,original and without a doubt has more substance than the chocolate you'll find in your advent calendar.

No longer should the second half of December be purely about popping corks or alka seltzers, form now on I believe we should turn our attention to creating a period of recognition to a ground breaker, a trail blazer, an inventor. The time has come to throw down those stockings, remove the Christmas cracker party hats and salute the original pioneer of clean energy transport:
Yup you guessed it,I am talking about the one and only
Mr Claus and his band of merry reindeer. I make this point not only because Mr Claus and Co. manage, year in year out, to hold their own against the likes of Fedex, DHL and UPS but in my eyes it's how he goes about doing it that's puts his competitors to shame and reinforces Mr Claus's position as the pioneer of clean energy transport. The facts speak for themselves, not only does he continue to provide a global delivery service, but he manages to do it without releasing little more than a few puffs of Methane!Now this all may sound like a bit of a joke, and maybe it is, however there is a much more serious message in all of this. In the beginning of March 2006, myself and two others set off on Mission 1 of the Adventure Ecology series with two teams (16) of Canadian Innuit Sled Dogs from Cape Arctichesky in Russia, the aim; A full crossing of the Arctic ocean via the North Pole. You may rightly ask what was my driving force behind embarking on a trip that would deprive me of a shower and bed for such a long period of time, the simple answer: to highlight the effects of Global Warming, on the Polar regions.
I guess I often hear people say things like"I live in London what does the North pole,or in fact any of this have to do with me"? " Does it matter about sea ice"?In all fairness I can really sympathise with these types of comments, connecting with out of site out of mind environments isn't easy, let alone grasping the extent of damage. To be honest I even find it hard to pin down that connection and I've only been back 5 months! so to refresh my memory and to help make the connection a little more real I though I would post one of my final blogs of the trip.
June 06"Now that I’m back at home safely it’s crystal clear in my mind what I left behind is a rapidly dying ecosystem. Over the last 100 days I’ve had the unique privilege to call the Arctic Ocean my home. This opportunity has given me a first hand glimpse at the truly devastating effects of global warming and climate change. It's fair to say that most eco systems are usually very capable of maintaining themselves but like everything in life there is always a breaking point when you push things too far, the same applies to the Arctic.
Prior to this expedition I don't think I had truly grasped the sensitivity of our climate systems. The bottom line is they are littered with a multitude of tipping points and feedback loops which when crossed replace the so called 'slow creep' of environmental decay with a sudden and self perpetuating collapse. In my eyes the debate is over! Climate change exists. The fact that we couldn’t get any further reinforces the point! If we are to have any chance of creating a sustainable future now's the time to stop talking and start acting and that is exactly what Adventure Ecology plans to do."When I left for the North Pole in February scientist estimated that there would no longer be any sea ice during the summer by 2100, this week the BBC announced that scientist have revised this estimate to 2040, that's a drop of 60 years in 6 months! If this is true and we also take into account the current melt rate , based on 2005 perennial melt (14%), then we may have less than 7 years until there is no longer any sea ice! Do we really need an excuse to champion clean energy transport?
So with that said, I wish you all a merry Xmas and a clean energy New Year!
David Adventure is a global learning network that works by mixing education, adventures and arts in order to provide a platform for the curious. The Adventure Ecology community is there to support people that want to learn, share and speak on the environment but more importantly its there to encourage change through providing realistic solutions and positive actions.