Pen Hadow and the Green Party
From last Thursday's Metro (a free UK newspaper):
Explorer's Arctic quest pole-axed
A British explorer who plans to trek to the North Pole to measure its melting ice cap has been criticised… Pen Hadow was accused by Green Party MEP Caroline Lucas of using the quest for the sake of an adventure. "Exploration of the Arctic should not be seen as a glamorous adventure but rather needs to be serious and co-ordinated scientific effort".
I find Lucas's argument baffling: the world desperately needs more field scientists, and if we're to have a hope of engaging a generation that are less in touch with nature than ever before, then I can't see how making exploration look more boring is going to help. In a world full of vapid celebrity, footballer's wives and pop stars staggering out of rehab, a glamourous and inspiring spokesperson or two is just what climate science needs right now.
[Here's a link to Pen's forthcoming expedition, the Vanco Arctic Survey. Also a Youtube video from the press launch, with Pen explaining the "missing data set for scientists" that they're setting out to gather.]
— Filed under Climate Change, Other expeditions, Schools/Education