“With the National Geographic 33, we’re honoring a diverse group of changemakers, from all over the world and different walks of life, who aren’t just recognizing the urgent challenges of our time, they are taking action to address them,” summed up Nathan Lump, Editor in Chief of National Geographic.
The National Geographic adventurers are boundary pushers who explore frontiers to inspire and raise awareness. The select group includes open water swimmer Lewis Pugh who has done numerous well-documented swims on Mount Everett, in Antarctica, in the North Pole, around Maldives, in fjords, down the Thames and Hudson River. His National Geographic profile is here: Swimmer Lewis Pugh braves near-freezing waters to protect them.
This month’s National Geographic article by Alex Hoyt describes Pugh’s September 2021 swim in the Ilulissat Icefjord that lies within the Arctic Circle on the western coast of Greenland. Pugh said, “It’s ground zero of the climate crisis.”
His Greenland Swim was a 12-day 14-stage swim that totaled 7.8 km across the Ilulissat Icefjord that is fed by the world’s fastest moving glacier [read Pugh’s summary of his adventure here] During those 14 swims, he swam every day in water between 0°C and 3°C (32°F – 37.4°F) that was meant to impress upon world leaders the speed of the climate crisis.
While Pugh is the most vocal, most visible, and most politically connected open water swimmer who serves as a staunch defender and protector of the marine environment as the United Nations Patron of the Oceans, he is potentially butting up against another powerful voice with well-documented policy positions and statements that reverberate globally: U.S. President Trump.
Trump not only first expressed his intentions to acquire Greenland in 2019 (“…control of Greenland is essential for national security and international security…”), but he has also been vociferous and adamant in his second term as President in the following areas that run counter to the long-held positions of Pugh:
- eliminated U.S. federal government’s climate efforts at limiting pollution
- declared an energy emergency to increase domestic oil and gas production with a promise to “drill, baby, drill”
- abandoned efforts to reduce global warming and meet emissions reduction goals
- withdrawn from the Paris Agreement, an international treaty on climate change aimed at limit global warming
- stopped financial commitments to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
- enabled federal use of eminent domain and the Defense Production Act which allows the government to use private land and resources to produce goods deemed to be a national necessity
- declared the Endangered Species Act cannot be an obstacle to energy development that is predicted to accelerate the decline and potential extinction of numerous endangered species, including whales and sea turtles
- opened up areas in the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling
The National Geographic 33 includes visionaries such as singer-actor Selena Gomez and soccer player Héctor Bellerín, creators such as actors Jason Mamoa and Yara Shahidi, icons such as Yvon Chouinard of Patagonia, Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh, and actor Edwin Norton, actor Don Cheadle, and Paralympian Oksana Masters, and adventurers including astronaut Victor Glover, mountaineer Carla Pérez, big-wave surfer Maya Gabeira, social influencer Alexis Nikole Nelson, horticulturist Carlos Magdalena, sailor Cole Brauer, snowboarder Jeremy Jones, activist Pattie Gonia, and open water swimmer Lewis Pugh.
They all have their hands and agendas full with the current and future challenges ahead for Mother Earth and all its societies.
© 2025 Daily News of Open Water Swimming
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