Former RSPB chief reveals why visiting the rapidly-melting Arctic ice edge would now break his heart

 

Mike Clarke - "I would never be at peace with myself"

FORMER RSPB chief executive Mike Clarke has forsaken a long- held ambition - to visit the Lancaster Sound ice edge in the Arctic.

Ever since watching a BBC TV documentary, Kingdom of The Ice Bear, as a teenager, Mike had always dreamed of watching belugas, narwhals and little auks.

But, in the wake of the growing climate crisis, he has put any plans on hold - probably indefinitely.

He says: "It is the place in the world where I most wanted to go.

"It still is. But I have known that I cannot go. It would break my heart.

"It would be too raw - the signs of global heating are magnified wherever you go in the Arctic.

"I would never be at peace with myself."

Mike's forthright revelation come in his foreword to Javier Caletrio's thought-provoking book, Low-carbon Birding which casts the spotlight on a inconvenient truth - that birding is a very polluting activity if it involves long-distance travel by car or plane.

But, for those willing to shrink their horizons, there is an alternative - local or 'patch' birding.

The book also includes chapters from some 30 other birders - from teenage newbies to professional ornithologists - who all testify to the rewards of seeking out birds closer to home.

This is a really good book with numerous insights from the various contributors.

It also addresses head-on a subject - eco-tourism - about which many conservation organisations, as well as individual birders, are sometimes in denial.

Low-Carbon Birding is published at £16.99 by Pelagic Publishing.

More details from www.pelagicpublishing.com  

The Wryneck says: As Michael Jackson sang, "if you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change." The former RSPB chief is thus to be commended for his admirable, almost saintly, stance. But there is another angle. In his book, Caletrio acknowledges that eco-tourism generates not just many jobs but also precious conservation initiatives, especially in poorer countries. What is more, for time immemorial it has always been part of the human spirit to want to explore faraway places and to see new sights - birds or whatever. There are some who would be dismayed, crushed even, if these instincts were to be denied. At the end of the day, personal response to climate change is one that can only be made by individual birders themselves.