He’s searching for a human-made problem in areas largely untouched by humans. Answers are just emerging

A winner in one of the colders, remote Places on the ground, Polar explorer Alan Chambers searched for an invisible threat.

While traveling with his former royal colleague, Dave Thomas, he spent two long months in skiing at a distance of 715 miles (1,151 km) – completely not borrowed – from the entrance to Hercules on the coast of the Antarctic continent to the South Pole. The pair transported a large lapse with supplies and equipment, as well as an additional one to snow samples, all during the fighting of strong winds and bitter and white inherited temperatures.

“I built a specialized session with a completely made insertion inside,” explained Chambers. “Every evening, I was getting my hand and knee, and lying on my stomach in the direction of the wind from the camp and scraping the snow in Minus 35 to fill the cans, which we recorded and photographed after that.”

This effort, which was wrapped in January 2024, was the first exploratory flight of Chambers in partnership with senior climate scientists at Columbia University to draw a map of the spread of fine plastic and nanoparticles around the world. Ultimately, he plans to visit seven of the world’s most remote places to collect land, sand, snow, water, frosty and silt in the river course, which experts will then resolve to determine the extent of the spread of plastic waste.

Microscopic plastic, small parts of plastic that are separated from large products, smaller than a pencil eraser, with less than 5 millimeters. Once it is decomposed, it is classified as nanopolitan plastic, which measures less than 1 micrometer, or a thousand millimeters. Its microscopic size makes them difficult to monitor and appreciate, however research It appears to be eaten by hundreds of species – including humans. accident Ticket It revealed that the amount of plastic now in human brains is about 50 % of what it was a decade ago.

Research in the effect of this pollution on human health is continuing, but it is known that nanopolitan plastic can boycott cellular processes and deposits Chemical materials endocrine drug This can interfere with the reproductive system, while certain effects of cancer are also searching.

Small plastic materials have already been discovered across many various environments; The goal of Chambers’ cooperation with Columbia University is to know how human beings have not been affected by human beings. Their hope is that the analysis of these samples, a process that has already begun to provide interesting results, will provide scientists the necessary evidence to influence the environmental policy and push the regular change in the future.

“Every task is designed to push the border – physically and scientifically – with vital data contributing to the global battle against plastic pollution,” said Chambers, who also works as a motivational speaker, to CNN by video call.

The birth of the mission

Chambers obtained MBE, a British honor that recognizes the service of society or the remarkable achievement, in 2000 for “design and leadership in continuous adversity”. His many accomplishments include that it is part of the world’s first skiing team throughout Iceland in the winter in 1995, while after five years he led the first British team to walk from Canada without help to the Arctic Arctic.

The idea of ​​Mission Spiritus came to Chambers after he had a trip to an “very high value” individual and his family to Antarctica.

“He asked what I was doing in my life, which will have an impact 300 years ago. So I asked him,” What are you doing? He said, “I want to make the energy of the planet from the atmosphere.” This is a mental dawn. “

There is no doubt that Chambers made a difference in his time, after helping to collect more than 14 million pounds ($ 18.8 million) for charitable works – benefiting from reasons such as cancer research – while exploring and leading in extremist exploratory operations in more than 70 countries. But this proposal was different.

He said: “This was related to making a lot of effort during your life, but you don’t see the results – it had a profound impact on me.” “I said to the man, I walked through Iceland, through Greenland, along the way from the coast to the Arctic – so it makes sense to walk from the Antarctica coast to the Antarctic, but take your philosophy, I would like to conduct some scientific research.”

With this, in mind, scientists at the Climate School at Columbia University, who jumped to the opportunity to conduct such valuable research without the need to conduct extremist field work themselves.

“I felt overwhelmed when Alan continued, indicating exploration/scientific cooperation about his epic career across the Antarctica,” said Mourin Remo, a professor of Earth and the climate at the Earth Observatory in Colombia in an email. Chambers and Raymo have been friends since the first meeting on an exploratory trip to the Arctic in 2017.

“How many times a friend comes and says,” I walk to the Antarctic – is there anything for the scientific use that I can do along the way? “

Taking this kind in a place like Antarctica, “is very difficult” for researchers, according to Reimo. “For a regular team of scientists who are still specialized and trained to collect this group of samples, it took years of logistical planning and support from federal science agencies and perhaps a million dollars,” she said.

Chambers admits that “he had limited knowledge of small skills” until Rimo’s meeting. He said he understood their real impact, later traveled to New York City to meet her and her team in Colombia.

The research team taught him how to collect the correct samples and protocols surrounding how to store and record them.

The ambitious project is called Mission Spiritus. “Spiritus is the Latin word for breathing,” Chambers explained. “The idea is to try to do something now will eventually help the planet breathe on its own, and not to the life support system that we all know is at the present time.”

“a little”

For Chambers, Mission Spiritus revolves around “adventure with target”.

“If we collect samples from the most remote areas of each continent, this will provide experts with evidence and leverage they need to reduce the effect of plastic.

He said: “We are just gardeners on the ground – then returns to scholars to do so.”

After completing their mission in Antarctica in 2024, Chambers and Thomas traveled to southern Chile, where they met Dr. Bizhan Yan, an environmental geochimi scientist from the Lamont Duhreet Earth Observatory at the Climate School in Colombia.

“(All samples) were still frozen, and they were transferred to the United States in the same way as it might transfer a direct member,” said Chambers.

Chambers said the analysis continues, but the initial results are shocking.

He added: “The researchers found some of the effects of plastic in (samples) in the middle of Antarctica. The only way can reach there in the wind system.” “Is snow falling on the Antarctica?”

Rimo said that the results of the first group of samples will be completed by the end of the summer. She said: “We are currently measurement of the first intercontinental cut for plastic pollution and black carbon pollution in Antarctica using the snow samples collected by Alan.”

“Initial measurements indicate that there are some accurate plastic and a stronger sign in the black carbon, which is caused by the combustion of fuel,” said Rimo.

Chambers said the importance of this task is clear. “It is not a matter of plastic devil because plastic is used in every part of our lives,” he pointed out. “It comes to how to recycle plastic so that it does not enter into the atmosphere or wind system.”

New horizons

After that first campaign, Colombia researchers have set the list of future destinations for the sampling project.

“When we thought about how to continue this cooperation, the idea of ​​taking samples from some wilderness, societies and ecosystems in the world has become the most famous and most famous in the world, our northern star,” said Rimo.

Earlier this year, Chambers started in the second stage of the mission with a new team. This time the goal was to collect 52 samples of sand during a 26 -day exploratory trip through the empty quarter in Amman, the largest sandy desert in the world, which includes a group of the Arabian Peninsula.

He said: “We have operated the samples and recorded the conditions, temperature and wind direction.” “We photographed every sample before filling it in a safe state.”

The covered distance was the same as in the Antarctica – half a walk and the rest through sand vehicles and camels. The samples were delivered again to Yan, who met them in the vast desert region of the sandy sands.

CHAMBERS and his team in July will address all 18 main FAROE Islands, an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean, where they will collect the waters of the lake and sediments.

“The samples of the Faro Islands will also be compared with the measurements that we will do using the sediments collected more than a decade ago, allowing us to also look at the changing trends of the time in plastic pollution in this remote area,” Rimo said.

If Chambers succeed in collecting about a million dollars in financing, the plan is to go to the Atakama desert in Chile in 2026 for samples from the most non -polar desert in the world. After that, the Comoros will be. West Canada’s North Pass Corridor; Finally, the Gibson Desert in Western Australia.

“The most important thing is to raise awareness of the spread of harmful plastic materials in our environment, air and water,” said Rimo. “Alan has a great audience through his public talk, charitable work and adventures. We can together help raise the level of awareness of plastic pollution while inspiring hordes of people with its amazing exploits of exploration.”

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