Alex Bellini:«I will arrive at the North Pole by boat to prove that climate change exists»

The explorer wants to try the melting of the Arctic ice cap

Alex Bellini is an explorer as well as a writer.And now he has a new record to conquer.That is, reaching the geographic North Pole by boat.In recent years he has rowed across the Atlantic Ocean (from Italy to Brazil) and the Pacific Ocean (from Peru to Australia), ran on foot from Los Angeles to New York and sailed along the ten most polluted rivers in the world. world.In March he returned to Alaska and rode 1,100 miles from Anchorage to Nome in 37 days on a mountain bike made of recycled plastic.And he discovered that everything has changed:«Starting from the climate.We had prepared ourselves to face very cold temperatures, with specific clothing and equipment.For the first ten days, however, the thermometer always remained above zero:pedaling a bicycle weighing 68 kilos was complicated.Then came the frost and finally the snow, so much snow fell that we were forced to stop in a bivouac."

Climate change

Bellini speaks today at the Milanese edition of Corriere della Sera.And he explains that «even emotionally it wasn't easy.We saw climate change first-hand, spoke with local populations, listened to their fears.The ice is thinning, the coast is no longer protected from hurricanes, entire villages overlooking the Bering Strait risk disappearing:Unalakleet, Shaktoolik, the same Name.Within two years the inhabitants will have to decide whether to abandon their land or continue fighting."Now he has new goals:«In Greenland I will move from south to north-west moving along the coast, with boats and sleds, trying to interact as much as possible with the locals.Almost an anthropological journey."Finally the geographical North Pole, aboard a rowing boat.He would be the world's first explorer.«If I succeeded in this undertaking it would represent a defeat and a victory at the same time.The pride of reaching a goal never reached before, and the bitterness of demonstrating with facts the melting of the polar ice cap."

Environmental issues

And he concludes:«At the beginning I traveled to untie some knots in my soul, then I realized that I had to share my experiences and skills.I don't have all the answers.On a tributary of the Ganges River, for example, we are placing barriers to prevent plastic from ending up in the ocean.But above all I try to use the evocative power of adventure to disseminate environmental issues."