×
See Comments down arrow

What's this blasted ice doing in the Arctic?

24 Aug 2022 | News Roundup

To prove the horrors of man-made warming, or for the exquisitely woke human-made though perhaps women prefer not to get blamed, two groups of committed climate researchers set out to traverse the apparently wide-open sunlit expanse of the Northwest Passage in kayaks and paddleboards. Foolhardy you think? No worse than the Yacht Fiona expedition of 2009 or the Anahina sailboat expedition in 2018 or any of the other activist Arctic voyages that have ended up with the boats crushed in “unexpected” ice and the Canadian Coast Guard racing in to the rescue. Alas, just 260 miles into the latest epic 1864-mile journey two of the so-called “Arctic Cowboys” threw in the kayak paddle on August 18 because the weather was so icy and hostile (the third, a female Cowboy, had quit earlier due to “strong winds, rolling surf, and plenty of ice”). And what of the other one, a solo paddleboard venture by the intrepid Karl Kruger? Sigh. After 15 days and 420 miles, less than a quarter of the way, he gave up, blaming insufficient calories, of the food not temperature type. And in the spirit of true scientific inquiry we want to extend a sympathetic hand and go “Wuk wuk wuk you chumps”.

It’s yet another case of people being absolutely sincere in beliefs that do not match the world properly. We do our bit to help, such as our series earlier this year on the Sunburnt Lands up North. We are continually arguing, including on our social media platforms, with otherwise sympathetic readers and viewers who insist that climate change is some sort of plot or hoax. But if it were, the cunning minds behind it would avoid obvious face-plants like these expeditions, or Al Gore and others’ imminent demise of Arctic Ice and the snows of Kilimanjaro and so on.

The simple fact is that people believe what they say, and are rarely more obstreperously in-your-face with supposed proofs than when they have things so completely wrong that they try to paddle through a howling Arctic wilderness in the full glare of publicity.

6 comments on “What's this blasted ice doing in the Arctic?”

  1. On behalf of the "Arctic Cowboys", the ice was not an issue, whatsoever. While the winds would delay the expedition, they were not the sole cause of the expedition being put on hold. By flagging one of our paddlers as "female Cowboy" you show your sexist side and allude to the fact that a female is unable to paddle the same conditions as a male. Again, not true. Maybe if you had contacted anyone connected with the expedition before writing inaccurate information, you would have accurate information. In addition, our team is always open to speaking with all bloggers and real journalists about what they do.

  2. And yet you believe with utter certainty that the Artic must be melting, because climate change orthodoxy requires you to believe it is, so with utter disregard for the facts you persist in an expedition where people's lives are put at risk and taxpayers may have to fund your rescue.

    The Arctic is not melting, and any sane study of sea ice extent over the past 20 years or so should make this obvious. Please try to live in the world of reality rather than the woke fantasy world you evidently inhabit.

  3. As a newcomer to the site,simply trying to find out the facts,i await to see if the failed attempts receive as much coverage as they would have done had they been successful and what "spin" is put on the story now, as opposed to had they been successful.

  4. Sorry Ms Edington, but your confected indignation merely attempts to disguise the fact that the Arctic remains in rude health: that rumours of its imminent demise are greatly exaggerated.

  5. Had the author intended to be "sexist" he could have done much better. After all, this group seems to have self-identified as "Arctic Cowboys". By which we might affectionately refer to them as "Cowboys". And since one of the members was female then I don't see the sexism in referring to her as a "female Cowboy". Light mockery at worst. But maybe Arctic Cowgirl would have been better. And I don't see any place where the piece alludes "to the fact that a female is unable to paddle the same conditions as a male". That said, if it's a "fact" then why should it not be alluded to? But perhaps it's not a fact since the others in the expedition were male and they bowed out too.

    As for the ice not being "an issue, whatsoever" that may be true. But the linked piece mentions "strong winds, rolling surf, and plenty of ice, all of which have made for a challenging start.... So much so that Feaster was forced to bow out.....". So it appears that the ice may have been an issue. She is quoted herself as saying that she had to stop due to "nausea and anxiety". Understandable in my opinion. But perhaps the ice did not contribute to that at all.

  6. Surely, there was little point in paddleboarding or kayaking through the supposed 'North West Passage', since commercial transport is seldom inclined to use such low-capacity means. More sensibly, a small cargo ship, with shelter from those 'winds', would have been a better choice, especially any boat that Greenpeace may currently possess, then, when crushed by summertime ice, nobody important would be inconvenienced...

Leave a Reply to Alfred Ross Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

searchtwitterfacebookyoutube-play