Of the english channel. Now, all of these feats of superhuman endurance have been undertaken by my guest today, lewis pugh. Why does he do it . To focus attention on the Climate Crisis and its impact on our blue planet. His death defying exploits have won him political access from Downing Street to the kremlin. But is the response too little, too late . Lewis pugh, welcome to hardtalk. Thank you so much. Its great to have you on the show. Here you are before me in your very smart suit but soon, youll be back in your trunks on another Marathon Swim youve Just Announced youre going to swim the entire length of the hudson river through new york state, ending up in New York City at the time of the un General Assembly. Its a massive undertaking. Do these things get easier with experience and with time . Mentally easier. Physically, perhaps not so but mentally, yes. Because, without being impolite, you began these endurance tests, this extreme swimming, in your30s. Youre now into your 50s. J
i mean, if you want to tell stories, the story that fascinates people the most is that sort of man against the elements to the point where death is a possibility. is that something you ve had to embrace? i don t seek death. i do these swims because i care deeply about life. and all forms of life notjust humans but also the whole of the animal kingdom. so i do these swims to tell a story about the health of our environment. but in order to really in a very, very busy news world, to be able to capture the imagination of the media, there has to be something special. so, undertaking a swim, the first swim across the north pole, it automatically gets the media s attention. and when you ve got that attention, you have influence. have things ever gone seriously wrong? i ve done a few swims which were very, very close to the edges, right? i mean, you re swimming in a very, very high consequence environment.
so, you re trying to capture the imagination of people. so, trying to be the first, it does matter. does that mean at times, you re deliberately putting yourself in jeopardy? i mean, if you want to tell stories, the story that fascinates people the most is that sort of man against the elements to the point where death is a possibility. is that something you had to embrace? i don t seek death. i do these swims because i care deeply about life. and all forms of life notjust humans but also the whole of the animal kingdom. so, i do these swims to tell a story about the health of our environment. but in order to really in a very, very busy news world, to be able to capture the imagination of the media, there has to be something special. so, undertaking a swim, the first swim across the north pole, it automatically gets the media s attention. and when you ve got that attention, you have influence. have ever things ever
yes, it does, stephen, and the reason why it matters is as follows. when you re trying to tell a story about a place, you want to be the first person to go there to tell that story, right? so, you re trying to capture the imagination of people. so, trying to be the first, it does matter. does that mean at times, you re deliberately putting yourself in jeopardy? i mean, if you want to tell stories, the story that fascinates people the most is that sort of man against the elements to the point where death is a possibility. is that something you had to embrace? i don t seek death. i do these swims because i care deeply about life. and all forms of life notjust humans but also the whole of the animal kingdom. so, i do these swims to tell a story about the health of our environment. but in order to really in a very.