“If we pass on an unsustainable environment to our children we have failed them.”
Address to the House of Lords (19 November 2010)
Speaking & Features
Lewis William Gordon Pugh, OIG, is a British-South African endurance swimmer and ocean advocate.
He has been described as the "Sir Edmund Hillary of swimming." He was the first person to complete a long-distance swim in every ocean of the world, and he frequently swims in vulnerable ecosystems to draw attention to their plight.
Pugh is best known for undertaking the first swim across the North Pole in 2007 to highlight the melting of the Arctic sea ice. In 2010 he swam across a glacial lake on Mount Everest to draw attention to the melting of the glaciers in the Himalayas, and the impact the reduced water supply will have on peace in the region.
He undertakes all of his swims, even those in the Polar Regions, according to Channel Swimming Rules – i.e. in just a Speedo costume, cap and goggles. In 2013 he was inducted into the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame.
In 2010 Pugh was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum for his "potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world through inspiring leadership."
In 2013 the United Nations appointed him as the UN Patron of the Oceans.In 2016 he played a pivotal role in creating the largest marine reserve in the world in the Ross Sea off Antarctica. The negotiations required consensus among 24 nations and the EU, a number of which had long standing disputes with one another. The media coined the term “Speedo Diplomacy” to describe his efforts swimming in the icy waters of Antarctica and shutting between the USA and Russia to help negotiate the final agreement.Pugh currently serves as an Adjunct Professor of International Law at the University of Cape Town.
“If we pass on an unsustainable environment to our children we have failed them.”
Address to the House of Lords (19 November 2010)
Speaking & Features
24 February 2012, Cape Argus (p5), in response to the building of a toll plaza on Chapman’s Peak, South Africa.
Speaking & Features
24 September 2014, Op-ed in the New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/29/opinion/swimming-through-garbage.html?_r=0
Speaking & Features
“…when you swim from England to France you’ve got to leave your doubt on the beach at Dover.”
p 11
21 Yaks And A Speedo (2013)
p 61, describing his swim in the Svalbard archipelago (2005)
21 Yaks And A Speedo (2013)
“The English Channel is the perfect stretch of water to truly test the human mind.”
25 November 2011, Twitter
Speaking & Features
p 168
Achieving The Impossible (2010)
Context: I resolved to follow my dream. I wanted to push every boundary. I wanted to swim further than anyone else. I wanted to cross seas and round capes that no one had dreamed of swimming before. And I wanted to swim in waters that were so cold no one thought it was possible to survive in them. And though it promised to make me poor and would take away the security provided by a career in law, that didn’t worry me.
Address to Cape Town Press Club, 13 May 2011 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpVFBOVJKX4
Speaking & Features
Address to the House of Lords (19 November 2010)
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6 November 2014, Twitter
Speaking & Features
p 65, describing leopard seals off Antarctica
21 Yaks And A Speedo (2013)
p 315-6, describing his swim at Deception Island, Antarctica (2005)
Achieving The Impossible (2010)
28 September 2014, Sunday Times http://www.pressreader.com/bookmark/NWNJXD8V5BO2/
Speaking & Features
Context: When we set aside MPAs we protect the marine habitat. When we do that, fish stocks recover. Which supports food security. When we create MPAs, we protect the coral, which protects the shoreline and provides shelter for fish. Marine Protected Areas are places people want to visit for ecotourism, so it's good for the economy. It has, if you'll pardon the pun, a ripple effect. Marine Protected Areas are good for the world economy, for the health of the oceans, for every person living on this planet.
Speaking & Features, Standing Up To Goliath
Context: Now is the time for change. We cannot drill our way out of the energy crisis. The era of fossil fuels is over. We must invest in renewable energy. And we must not delay.
“My father taught me to understand that not much was impossible, if you had a mind to go after it.”
p 7
Achieving The Impossible (2010)
Context: My father taught me to understand that not much was impossible, if you had a mind to go after it. What seems beyond you is only unreachable if that’s what you believe.
p 85, describing his swim at Deception Island (2005)
21 Yaks And A Speedo (2013)
Context: I knew now that I had to stand up and start speaking about protecting our environment. From that moment on, every swim should have the aim of inspiring people to protect and preserve the world’s oceans and all that live in them.
28 September 2014, Sunday Times http://www.pressreader.com/bookmark/NWNJXD8V5BO2/
Speaking & Features
Context: An estimated 100 million sharks are fished out of the world's oceans every year. Take a minute to mull over that figure. That's over a quarter of a million animals each day … If this number of humans were killed in a year, it would be called genocide. There is a name for what is happening in our oceans today: it is ecocide.
“For us to find lasting peace between people, we must first make peace with nature.”
28 September 2014, Sunday Times http://www.pressreader.com/bookmark/NWNJXD8V5BO2/
Speaking & Features
“You must not dither - swim like you're running through a minefield.”
Outside Magazine, 13 April 2009 http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/dropping-in/The-Ice-Bear-Cometh.html?page=all
Speaking & Features
4 November 2010
Speaking & Features
p 94, referencing his swim across Sydney Harbour (2006)
21 Yaks And A Speedo (2013)
Speaking & Features, Standing Up To Goliath
p 50
21 Yaks And A Speedo (2013)
“Never plan for victory and defeat in your mind at the same time.”
p 189
21 Yaks And A Speedo (2013)
p 234, describing his swim on Mt Everest (2010)
21 Yaks And A Speedo (2013)
TED Talk: Swimming the North Pole, September 2009 http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/lewis_pugh_swims_the_north_pole.html
Speaking & Features
Website
Speaking & Features, My African Dream: Faith Rally Address, COP17
Context: The right to have our environment protected for the benefit of our generation and the benefit of future generations is our most crucial human right. I do not say that lightly - especially given South Africa’s past.
p 21, describing his father
Achieving The Impossible (2010)
Website
p 261
21 Yaks And A Speedo (2013)
“There is nothing more powerful than the made-up mind.”
TED Talk: Mind-Shifting Everest Swim, July 2010 http://www.ted.com/talks/lewis_pugh_s_mind_shifting_mt_everest_swim.html
Speaking & Features
“Sometimes the moments that challenge us the most, define us.”
24 Nov 2011, Twitter
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p 12
Achieving The Impossible (2010)
“The essence of any great achievement is to believe in your purpose.”
p 75
21 Yaks And A Speedo (2013)
p 233, describing his swim at Deception Island, Antarctica (2005)
Achieving The Impossible (2010)
“Four-point-two kilometres is a long way for a frozen body to sink.”
p 1, describing his North Pole swim (2007)
Achieving The Impossible (2010)
Speaking & Features, My African Dream: Faith Rally Address, COP17
“I don’t know of any sport where the goalposts can shift the way they do with endurance swimming.”
p 17
21 Yaks And A Speedo (2013)
There's a big difference.
Website
p 150-1, describing his time in the British SAS
Achieving The Impossible (2010)
p 156
21 Yaks And A Speedo (2013)
“Don’t look for other people to validate your dreams. If it feels right, just go for it.”
p 262
21 Yaks And A Speedo (2013)
p 167
Achieving The Impossible (2010)
p 9, reflecting on his father's near-drowning off the Australian coast
Achieving The Impossible (2010)
p 192, describing his swim across the North Pole (2007)
21 Yaks And A Speedo (2013)
Against fracking in the Karoo, 3 May 2011
Speaking & Features
“Most Channel crossings are won or lost before the first stroke is even taken.”
16 January 2016, Lewis Pugh's blog
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