Polar Environmentalist

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Paul’s huge concern for the environment, coupled with his great expertise in the arctic region, led him to become a polar environmentalist.

Paul believed that it was symbolic to choose the top of the world, the North Pole, to highlight the damage that humans were causing to the planet. The polar regions are the world’s early warning system, showing physical signs of the consequences of our actions on the environment before any other region.

In 1989, Paul took up the campaign to save the ozone layer, launching the first hot air balloon from the North Pole. He repeated this feat in 2007 to highlight the increasing danger of global warming and promote nuclear power as the only currently viable solution.

Ozone '89

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During the 1980’s, Paul realised that the world was in great peril from the loss of the ozone layer and could see that there was a solution. He didn’t just want to talk about it; he wanted to do something.

As he was living in Norway at the time, Paul formed an alliance with Norwegian scientists and decided it would be symbolic to take off in a balloon from the North Pole. At the time, NASA were sending flights over the North Pole to assess the damage to the ozone there and Paul conducted some experiments on their behalf during his trip. A subsequent documentary that Paul made with NASA about the problem made headline news.

The EU was keen to encourage people to use ozone safe alternatives and wanted Paul’s team to carry that message on their balloon. Margaret Thatcher was a personal contact at the time and signed the safe use of ozone gas treaty shortly after. The event was successful in attracting a huge amount of publicity.

This is an excellent illustration of a really successful campaign. The world was in grave danger but we solved it and the ozone hole finally closed last year. Paul’s success with this campaign mobilised him to act to solve the similar peril humanity is facing now.

Nuclear campaign

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Paul’s concern for the future of humanity led him to apply his philosophy to the significant and urgent problem of global warming.

Whether we like it or not, Paul has found that nuclear power is the only technology capable of achieving the 80% cut in CO2 that is required to halt global warming. Having successfully campaigned to protect the ozone layer in 1989, he decided to take up the challenge and actively campaign for the only thing that can presently save humanity - nuclear power.

To highlight the campaign, Paul and his team launched their Nuclear Cool hot air balloon at the frontline of global warming - the North Pole region - an area that graphically illustrates the damage we are causing with melting ice and wildlife in increasing peril.

Paul’s trip was covered by news teams from around the world and he has been called on to speak in debates, lectures and news broadcasts alongside leading world scientists.

Arctic Base

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Richard Weber and Josee Auclair run Arctic Watch, Canada's most northerly wilderness adventure lodge located on Somerset Island, Nunavut. A visit to Arctic Watch is an all-encompassing arctic safari. Visitors to Arctic Watch can see thousands of beluga whales, muskox, arctic foxes, birds, and archaeological sites. They can travel the land and water by foot, sea kayak, raft, mountain bike and ATV (All terrain vehicle).

Guests can climb mountains and hike or ride through canyons, across tundra, and around waterfalls, experience immense vistas and the fantastic 24-hour sunlight.

The accommodation is the most comfortable remote facility in the High Arctic. The food is stupendous. Menus include local food like muskox and arctic char. Everyday starts with fresh gourmet coffee and hot muffins; it ends with a hot shower, a great dinner and a glass of wine!

To find out more, visit www.canadianarcticholidays.ca

Expeditions

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For over 25 years Paul has been involved with a number of expeditions in the Arctic and mainland Russia.

During the Communist Russian period Paul organised ground breaking environmental trips both inside Communist Russia and the high Arctic regions of Norway and Finland.

Paul has been on expeditions to the North Pole many times. His initial North Pole Arctic environmental campaign saw him as the first man to take off in a specially designed hot air balloon from the top of the world.

Equipment design

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At Stonebee Travel, we understand that the success of an expedition can be greatly affected by the quality and suitability of the equipment. We are constantly looking for ways to improve our gear for our North Pole trips and have developed sophisticated testing methods for doing this.

To ensure that our North Pole equipment is the very best available, we use laboratories as well as our unique Environment Simulation Chamber and our Arctic testing base to compare current products and develop our own systems.

We also do a huge amount of field-testing and every year when we travel to the North Pole, our guides carry out tests on new equipment, always looking to improve the polar experience in the future.

Contact

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