Environment is focus of Swan voyage

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

After plodding across Antarctica on a 70-day trudge to the South Pole, Robert Swan said he is now sure of four things.
He hates walking, he hates ice in his underwear, he will never find a company that will offer him life insurance and, most importantly, he will continue to take on missions that people say can’t be done.
The polar explorer and environmental leader made the longest unassisted trek in recorded history when he walked to the South Pole in 1985. He became the first man to walk to both poles after reaching the North Pole four years later.
In Santa Barbara for the last West Coast stop of his international lecture tour and sailing expedition, Swan delivered words of environmental encouragement and inspiration to a roomful of people at the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum yesterday.

“Our survival on the planet isn’t somebody else’s job,” he said. “It’s our job.”
His vessel — a 67-foot, steel-hulled sailboat powered largely by vegetable oil, solar panels and wind generators — is an example of lighter living and travel.
And his five-year trip, dubbed Voyage for Cleaner Energy, is Swan’s self-described commitment to creating a global network of environmental champions before he ends his voyage in Asia at the 2012 World Summit on Sustainability.
“If you want something to happen, show commitment,” he said.
Peppering his lecture with dry and self-deprecating wit, the Englishman described his own commitment to long, dangerous expeditions and efforts to bring environmental awareness to people around the world.
Inspired at a young age by previous explorers such as Robert Falcon Scott and Roald Amundsen, Swan decided to follow in their footsteps. It was Scott’s footsteps, in fact, that he followed in 1985 when he walked across Antarctica.
It took seven years working nights as a cab driver and pleading for donations during the day before Swan finally convinced Jacques Cousteau to serve as their patron for the trip.
Cousteau’s condition was for Swan to leave only footprints — removing every scrap of trash created along the way. Swan had his own conditions: only the sun, a sextant and a watch for guidance, and absolutely no radio communication.
“We felt it wrong to march off into the great unknown and then ring up mummy for help,” he said.
As his team hit the halfway point and that moment of commitment, knowing if they pressed on they couldn’t turn back, they stood above 16,000 feet of frozen water, the vast majority of the Earth’s ice.
“It’s probably not a good idea if we melt it,” Swan noted.
Then, after trekking for ten weeks and shedding 68 pounds, he approached the South Pole.
“Bang on 70 days, there it was,” he said. “A great moment.”
What he didn’t know was that five minutes earlier, his ship, Southern Crest, had been crushed by the ice pack and destroyed along with his plan to recoup expenses and repay his debt by selling the ship upon his return.
Per his agreement with Cousteau, he also had to recover every piece of wreckage from the destroyed vessel. Ten years later, he had finally paid off the $1.2 million he owed.
“But it was worth it,” he said.
During the 10-week journey, Swan’s eyes changed color and his skin blistered, something Scott never experienced. The cause: a gaping hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica.
But when he returned and appeared on a talk show and described his experience, he got little feedback. The audience seemed more interested in how he went to the bathroom in 80-degrees below zero (the answer is very quickly).
“It was incredibly depressing,” Swan said.
So he approached Cousteau and other notable environmentalists and asked what he could do. They suggested 2041 — a mission to ensure that when the moratorium on mining in Antarctica comes up for review in 2041, it is preserved.
In an effort to build awareness, he continued plugging away on short-term projects, always with the long-term concept of saving Antarctica in his mind.
“Wouldn’t it be fantastic if we had one place we left alone forever,” he said.
In 1989, he crossed 700 miles of frozen ocean to reach the North Pole. In 1992, he traveled to Rio de Janeiro, a warmer climate than usual for a Swan expedition, and spoke to leaders at a world summit about his plan to think global, act local.
When he brought 35 youth together from conflict regions such as the Middle East, Bosnia and Northern Ireland to Antarctica to show they could work together, they came up with the idea of removing junk from an abandoned Russian scientific station.
With a small team, they hand-loaded approximately 1,500 tons of twisted steel and junk and shipped it off to be properly recycled. His next mission: building a small educational station in Antarctica out of recycled materials.
That dream came true in January 2007, when he spent two weeks in the E-base, living on renewable energy alone.
“It worked in Antarctica,” Swan said of solar water heating. Now people need to invest in solar power in the United States, he added.
During a yacht race to raise awareness aboard 2041, the name of his now-sustainable vessel, the 2004 tsunami hit Asia. Hurricane Katrina came soon after. Then a massive ice shelf collapsed in Antarctica. This year is on track to be the deadliest tornado season on record in the United States. Just examples, he said, of something everyone should now by now.
“These places are really the canaries of our lifetimes,” Swan said.
So after a year of planning, he retrofitted his yacht with environmentally friendly deck paint, sails fashioned from recycled plastic bottles, eight solar panels and two wind generators to do his own part.
“In terms of energy, we are 100 percent self-sufficient,” said Maura Fallon-McKnight, the communications director for the voyage.
Swan and his crew of four plan to remain in Santa Barbara until Thursday before setting off to the Panama Canal and hitting the East Coast before taking their message to Europe, India and China in preparation for the world summit in 2012.
More information on the Voyage for Cleaner Energy is available at www.2041.com. Before he leaves, Swan will address local community members again during a free lecture at UC Santa Barbara on Wednesday — 7 p.m. in 1910 Buchanan Hall.
And his message is very simple: reduce the use of fossil fuels. Swap for energy-efficient lightbulbs. Recycle plastic bottles. Vote.
“Use the power you’ve got,” he said.