An Expedition for Hope

Bobby del Castillo at Mount Kinabalu.

An Expedition for Hope

What will it take for us Filipinos to seriously address Global Warming? Does it take another typhoon of Ondoy’s magnitude to snap us out of our stupor? Bobby del Castillo hopes that his solo South Pole Expedition will unite us in the universal fight for survival against nature gone haywire. Rick Olivares writes in the next issue of Philippines Free Press.

The signs are there and they are ominous. The disappearance of New Moore Island of the Bay of Bengal swallowed up by the rising seas. The frightening frequency of earthquakes. The havoc wreaked by El Niño on crops across Northern Luzon all the way to the Baguio Rice Terraces, one of the world’s natural wonders.

It takes someone disconnected from the urban grind to appreciate the world, nature, and the rape of the environment. And since man has a tendency to disbelieve prophets from their own town, what if that man took his message to one of the most desolates place on earth --- the South Pole?

A place – to borrow the initial adjective – disconnected that there no flora nor fauna exits out there save for American Amundsen-Scott Station, a research facility that has been staffed since 1956.

Bobby del Castillo is an extreme outdoor sportsman who was out of the country in 2008 when he caught the news in February of 2008 that 160 square miles of the Wilkins Ice Shelf in Antartica is on the verge of breaking off the continent and drifting off to the Weddell Sea. The news hit every news bureau around the world and set off alarms that estimates of scientists about its immediate effects have been off base. Instead of later they happen much sooner.

Yet its collapse will not immediately raise the ocean levels as it will float. What it does is point out is how climate change is rapidly changing and affecting the face of the planet.

And the signs are beginning to get too big to ignore.

Del Castillo thought long and hard about the incident and everything related to Climate Change that has happened since. And he then came to his life changing decision to go on a one-man expedition to the South Pole to call attention to the greatest danger to human kind since the invention of nuclear weapons. He also hopes to break the current world record of 33-days walk from the Hercules Inlet to the South Pole’s geographic center while lugging a 150-kilo sled containing supplies.

The current record was set by Canadian outdoorsmen Ray Zahab, Richard Weber, and Kevin Vallely just last year.

It is life changing for del Castillo since the day he made his decision to go for it, he has dedicated his time, energy, and efforts to embarking on the solo expedition.

While climbing Mount Kinabalu in Malaysia with a friend some time ago, his companion came down with altitude sickness. Rather than leave him behind, del Castillo patiently helped him complete the climb. “It was then at the summit of Kinabalu that I came to the decision that I will have to do the South Pole Expedition alone. I am also doing this to break the world record. This way it is on me alone.”

The signs of such an expedition are suicidal given the harsh conditions of the South Pole, but del Castillo believes that the pros outweigh the cons. “It isn’t just trying to achieve something for the Filipino people but also to call attention to climate change. We are not a heavy contributor to carbon emissions but ironically we will be – and we’re feeling that now – one of the worst hit countries because of global warming. Our attitudes have to change. We cannot just throw up our hands and tell nature, ‘I’m sorry. Please stop now.’ It doesn’t work that way. If unchecked, there will be no winners. Survivors, yes, but everybody loses.”

Barbie Abrogar, who along with del Castillo is a part of the group Climate Changers, posed the question, “What would galvanize Filipinos to seriously tackle the issue of Global Warming? Do we need another Typhoon Ondoy? People have already dismissed is as a one-time occurrence. We can never be more wrong. Coach Bobby’s South Pole Expedition will capture the hearts and minds of our countrymen much like the Everest Expedition of several years ago. Except that this one is to really call attention to the issue by attempting to break a world record.”

Del Castillo has been undergoing specialized training here in the Philippines and abroad. By August or September this year, he will be going to New Zealand for more training under winter conditions before heading out to Chile, his final stop before heading out to the South Pole.

He will attempt to break the record by skiing for seven hours a day while battling snowstorms, Katabatic winds, crevices, sasturgis (ridges of snow formed by the blowing winds), and going about the feat alone. He will abide by the Antarctic Treaty regulations that obligate people to bring back everything that he carries including his waste. “That also sends a message about cleanliness and care for our environment.” Added del Castillo. “It doesn’t lighten my load but this isn’t about me; it’s about our environment. It would be off poor taste for me to leave my belongings and waste when I am asking everyone to be more conscious of our environment.”

He will be at first guided by a Norwegian but only up to a certain point. Then he goes it alone.

Abrogar notes that del Castillo need not go it alone. She explained, “On May 23, 2010, we have the OCAI (Ortigas Center Association Inc) Run* which is an inaugural fun run and benefit concert for the expedition. On that day we will be soliciting prayers from everyone that Coach will bring along with him. These messages of hope will keep him going on that dangerous quest.”

“This expedition,” summed up del Castillo. “Is the Filipino people’s message to the world. This will be the klaxon horn call to our countrymen and the peoples of the world and hopefully start off a ripple effect towards positive action on the issue of Climate Change.”

With Bobby del Castillo at the Discovery Suites press con for the South Pole Expedition.

Notes:

* What is the OCAI Run?

The OCAI Run will have a run fee of PhP 400 for interested parties. The race starts at exactly 5pm at Exchange Road fronting the Tektite Tower. The fee is inclusive of a generous loot bag and free admission to a benefit concert in front of the Discovery Suites along ADB Avenue.

Why the South Pole?

The South Pole is where Global Warming is most evident. It hosts the biggest hole in the ozone layer and 90% of the world’s glacial ice. The combustion of both means a dramatic rise in water levels all over the world.

The ice lost since 1998 from the Wilkins Ice Shelf alone totals more than 4,000 square kilometers, an area larger than Rhode Island.