Global Warming Makes North Pole Swim Possible

A new mark in the horror of global warming has come to pass:

19 mins, -1.8C: the first swim at the North Pole

Had it been just one degree further down the thermometer, not even the polar bears could have managed what Lewis Pugh achieved in the early hours of yesterday.

Mr Pugh, a maritime lawyer and environmental campaigner from London, swam a kilometre (.62 miles) at the Geographic North Pole to highlight the effects of global warming. At -1.8C (28.76F), it is believed to be the coldest water a human has ever swum in.

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.

Pugh is a smart guy. By learning to swim in such harsh conditions, he is really getting ready for the effects of global warming.

That sounds like a solution straight from the Bush administration. They would probably rather teach everyone how to swim than stop global warming because it would be cheaper in their minds.

In reality, it is cheaper to stop global warming than it is to deal with all the damage that it would cause, but, hey, Republicans only care about fiscal responsibility when it supports their politics.