The ice is melting

Marc Cornellisen, from the Netherlands, pulls no punches. “We’re like an alcoholic,” he says, “and only after we’ve ruined our lives will we regret what we’ve done.” Marc is the Curator of Climate Change College, and he is talking about the developed world’s approach to what has become a critical fact of contemporary life.
Cornellisen has seen first-hand the impact that global warming is having on the North and South Poles. Acutely aware of the scale of the threat, he wanted to do something practical to address it.
He approached the Vermont-based ice-cream company Ben & Jerry’s and suggested bringing a number of young Europeans to the North Pole so that they could study the phenomenon and raise awareness of it. Thus the Climate Change College (CCC) was born. It is now into its second year.
Marc is in his small home office when we speak, planning this year’s CCC. Last year was a big experiment for everyone involved, but it paid off, and now they want to expand and take the project further. On this occasion, an Irish person will join British, German and Dutch students to study the impact of global warming. He believes that it’s important to introduce young people to the issues surrounding climate change, and that schemes like the CCC are one of the best ways of doing that.
“I don’t think young people can recognise themselves in the standard campaigns,” he says. “There’s a lot of talk, hardly any walk – it’s mainly focused on politicians and large-scale change. But in order to be realistic and inspiring as well, you have to prove that it’s possible within your own domain.”
Cornellisen believes that it is important for corporations like Ben & Jerry’s to get involved in promoting environmental change. “The true power nowadays is partly within the political domain, but largely in the corporate domain. This is where the money is. Everything that corporate organisations do influences the choice the consumers have, so they’re really key in offering alternatives and leading by example.
“There are always people who hide behind the fact that our company’s bigger, it’s a different market blah blah blah. There’s always a good excuse not to do it but there’s also a very good reason to do it. Quickly.”
To illustrate the seriousness of the crisis facing the Arctic, he cites the fate of the polar bear. There is ample scientific evidence that the animal’s habitat is being destroyed as the ice caps melt. Marc has no time for those who say that this won’t happen for decades yet. The fact that it happening should be warning enough.
Having made his first succesful expedition in 1997, Cornellisen is one of the few people to have reached both the North and South Pole. He admits to getting upset at the changes he has seen since then, and notes how different a ski-trek in the North Pole was just ten years ago. “You see that the sort of terrain is totally changing in character. Now, a lot of times you will have to cross stretches of open water. Nowadays we bring dry suits so we can swim.”
But as well as highlighting the role young people can play, Marc is also keen to draw attention to what politicians can do. He mentions David Cameron as an example, and admits that while he may not agree with some of his other policies, he’s pleased to see the Tory leader take a lead on environmental concerns. But he warns against politicians playing political games with green issues.
“What we have to do is take it out of the domain of the left and the right,” says Marc. He points out that although The Netherlands likes to see itself as environmentally conscious, subsidies for energy efficient homes were cut suddenly when other pressures came to bear on the government. He thinks environmental policies need to be locked down, so that changing governments have no affect on them. “We have to say these are such central elements in society. These won’t change.”
He remains optimistic that the Climate Change College can contribute to changing our behaviour and slowing down global warming. “Global warming is going to happen partly, but we can avoid the most extreme events. And I’m totally positive about it – we will change our behaviour. The question is when and by how much?”