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Environmental Impact and Climate Change

We must all recognise that, as polar explorers – whatever our starting point – it is a long way to the places we have set our sights on, and that all travel imposes an environmental footprint. The very least we can do is take a look at alternative options, or choose different techniques to compensate for our actions.

To put things in perspective, the impact of the few polar expeditions that wend their way across the frozen (Ant)Arctic each year is close to zero by comparison with the footprint of the scientific bases or the more classic forms of tourism. At a rough estimate, polar expeditions are responsible for 0.001 per cent of the total impact of human activity in these fragile areas. However, it is not really about how much we ‘do wrong’ or who is responsible, but about what we honestly can or should do to minimise our impact. It is up to each expedition to decide how far they want to go in this regard. One option, for example, is to offset the emissions of the aeroplane and other motorised travel leading to your departure point and getting you back home.