Step by Step is my campaign to join the South Pole Energy Challenge (SPEC) - Last Degree. I have already raised £25k -over 1/3 of total of £70k required to enlist!
I have been invited by Robert Swan OBE to join the SPEC expedition at 60 nautical miles from the South Pole - the Last Degree. Using NASA technology, the challenge will be the first polar expedition to be solely fuelled by renewable energy, using only the sun, wind and biofuels. No fossil fuels will be used on the 600 mile, 50 day man-haul across Antarctica, arriving at the South Pole January 2018.
If we can survive Antarctica, the coldest, driest and most inhospitable place on Earth, Step by Step, we can make similar changes in our everyday lives.
I am a surgeon and an Associate Postgraduate Dean in the NHS working in Sheffield. I am married to the Mountaineer Roger Mear and we have two young sons. I live in the beautiful Derbyshire Peak National Park.
For half my life, it has been my dream to experience the Antarctic Polar Plateau.
Antarctica - the last great wilderness - is under threat from global warming. Glaciers are retreating and ice shelves the size of France are breaking-up. Despite the urgent need to reduce manmade emissions, business has continued as usual. 2016 has already seen the hottest temperatures yet recorded.
30 years ago, Gareth Wood, Roger Mear and Robert Swan made the first unsupported journey to the South Pole ‘In the Footsteps of Scott’. Step by step they made it happen. In celebration, a Mear and Swan will again walk to the South Pole in January 2018. This time they carry a message of responsibility and sustainability. At the South Pole, where all lines of longitude converge, our individual actions - what we buy, sell and consume - connect us all and their impact affects us globally.
NOW is the time to act, to build a sustainable future, based on renewable energy to preserve not only Antarctica, but the world for our children.
Step by Step EVERYONE can make a difference.