Dubai-based explorer Adrian Hayes faced “utter catastrophe” in Greenland this week because of the disastrous effects of global warming.
Speaking from deep inside the Arctic Circle, the British expat told 7DAYS that one of his skis was swept away by a fast-flowing stream in an area that was once solid ice.

He described wading through waist-high water all night and facing ruin when his skis became trapped under the rapidly fading ice.

“We were soaked to the skin, wading through the water all night. There was panic when my ski fell into the fast flowing water. It could have made the whole journey treacherous but we’re lucky to get it back,” he said.

His three-man expedition is raising awareness about global warming by using wind-powered kite-skis to travel the length of Greenland.

Hayes described seeing the quality of the ice get worse and worse as they headed north to the coast. “The ice is retreating about 250 to 300 cubic kilometres a year. You don’t see the damage in the centre of Greenland, but you really see it toward the coast,” he said.

The team, which is publicising eco-charity BioRegional’s One Planet Living campaign, is also collecting scientific data on global warming to be used by international scientists.

Last December, NASA released shocking satellite imagery showing that two trillion tonnes of landlocked ice has melted in Greenland, Antarctica and Alaska since 2003, with one half of that in Greenland alone. ?

Hayes and his two Canadian colleagues have now travelled 2,998km in 46 days to reach JP Kocks Fjord, the most northerly point of Greenland.

The Emirates NBD Greenland Quest team hopes to become the longest unassisted Arctic expedition in history after it turns left and moves toward Greenland’s northwest coastline.

The expedition’s experiences so far support the massive scientific evidence that global warming is already having a devastating effect on the planet.

The World Wildlife Fund’s Living Planet report 2008 said UAE residents consume more natural resources than anyone else on Earth, with an average per capita footprint of 9.5 hectares.

The earth only has 2.1 hectares available per person, the WWF said. You can catch up with Adrian Hayes’s blog on greenlandquest.com

Sorce:http://www.7days.ae

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