Dubai: "I had a dream when I was 11 years old to be the first person to walk to the North Pole and South Pole and it took years and years but eventually we did it as a team," British polar explorer Robert Swan recalled during a visit to the UAE this month. He is the first person in history to walk to both the North and South Pole.
As Swan pursued his childhood dream of becoming an adventurer and environmentalist, 20 years later he is on a mission to create sustainability champions focusing on youth in various countries, including the Middle East, India and China.
"On those journeys 20 years ago, I walked under a hole in the ozone layer in the South Pole and my eyes burnt out… when I walked to the North Pole all the ice caps were melting and I made a decision back then that my job would be to inspire young people. I took up the role of being the Indiana Jones of environment for young people globally."
Adventures with youngsters
In September he will take a group of schoolchildren, who won the Shell Better Environment Award 2011 in collaboration with Shell and the Knowledge and Human Development Authority, on a trip on his yacht to Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar.
This comes after a series of recent school visits to encourage students to participate in programmes supporting the UAE environment and urging them to heighten their interest in health, safety and the environment.
The Shell Better Environment Awards 2011 were launched in November 2010 to raise awareness and inspire the younger generation to contribute in addressing key challenges concerning the environment, health and safety.
"I came here on my yacht a few months ago to the UAE and I thought it has the worst carbon footprint on the planet but there's great leadership here where leaders have vision."
In addition to his polar trips, Swan travels the world in a yacht that runs solely on renewable energy talking to students about sustainability.
He said the UAE has realised it has to do the right thing and think about ways which will sustain its wealth for the future with renewable technologies and looking into different types of fuels.
Later this year Swan will take a group of students from the Higher Colleges of Technology to Antarctica. A competition focused on technology and education will be held and winners will accompany him there "and they come back as champions".
"That's how I insist on working in my partnerships — they help me speak to students and they get their value from sending their up-and-coming people to Antarctica."
Every year Swan takes students, teachers and business leaders to the South Pole to observe the melting ice caps and learn about the impact it would have on the rest of the world.
A month ago Swan took two promising young Emiratis from Shell and Dubai Airports to the South Pole in addition to a Saudi and Egyptian.
Career opportunities
In terms of career opportunities Swan said he is trying to get young people to think "not to go and hug a tree and have lofty dreams of saving the planet but to go into whatever career they're doing" with the right attitude to social responsibility.
"It doesn't have to be an entirely separate career thing because the environment is everything. Whether they're in marketing or flying an airplane, they have this thing inside them not to throw out all their rubbish on the street. It starts at a young age."
He said big companies are trying to fast track their sustainability efforts and avoid mistakes made by countries like the US, and careers can also be pursued in corporate social responsibility.
Swan currently has partnerships with Masdar, HCT, Etihad and Dubai Airports, among others.
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