Last year when I was here, I was speaking to you about a swim which I did across the North Pole. And while that swim took place three years ago, I can remember it as if it was yesterday. I remember standing on the edge of the ice, about to dive into the water, and thinking to myself, I have never ever seen any place on this earth which is just so frightening. The water is completely black. The water is minus 1.7 degrees centigrade, or 29 degrees Fahrenheit. It's flipping freezing in that water. And then a thought came across my mind: if things go pear-shaped on this swim, how long will it take for my frozen body to sink the four and a half kilometers to the bottom of the ocean? And then I said to myself, I've just got to get this thought out of my mind as quickly as possible. And the only way I can dive into that freezing cold water and swim a kilometer is by listening to my iPod and really revving myself up, listening to everything from beautiful opera all the way across to Puff Daddy, and then committing myself a hundred percent -- there is nothing more powerful than the made-up mind -- and then walking up to the edge of the ice and just diving into the water.
Kada sam bio ovde prošle godine, pričao sam vam o tome kako sam preplivao Severni pol. Iako je to bilo pre tri godine, pamtim kao da je bilo juče. Sećam se stajanja na ivici leda, samo što nisam zaronio u vodu, i razmišljanja kako nikada nisam video mesto na Zemlji koje je tako zastrašujuće. Voda je potpuno crna. Temperatura je bila minus 1.7 stepen Celzijusa, ili 29 stepeni Farenhajta. Užasno je hladno u toj vodi. A onda mi je jedna misao prošla kroz glavu: ako stvari pođu naopako prilikom ovog plivanja, koliko će biti potrebno mom zamrznutom telu da potone četiri ipo kilometra na dno okeana? I onda sam rekao sebi, moram da ovu misao pod hitno izbacim iz glave. I jedini način da skočim u tu ledenu vodu i da preplivam kilometar je da slušam svoj iPod i da se ubrzam, slušajući sve od prelepe opere, do Paf Dedija i onda da se sto posto posvetim - ništa nije moćnije od donete odluke - i da došetam do ivice leda i samo uskočim u vodu.
And that swim took me 18 minutes and 50 seconds, and it felt like 18 days. And I remember getting out of the water and my hands feeling so painful and looking down at my fingers, and my fingers were literally the size of sausages because -- you know, we're made partially of water -- when water freezes it expands, and so the cells in my fingers had frozen and expanded and burst. And the most immediate thought when I came out of that water was the following: I'm never, ever going to do another cold water swim in my life again.
Plivanje je trajalo 18 minuta i 50 sekundi, a izgledalo je kao 18 dana. Sećam se da sam izašao iz vode a ruke su me tako bolele i gledao sam u svoje prste a oni su bukvalno bili veličine kobasice jer - znate, mi smo delimično sačinjeni od vode - kada se voda zamrzne ona se širi, i tako su se ćelije u mojim prstima zamrzle i raširile i pukle. I prva misao koju sam imao kada sam izašao iz te vode je sledeća: nikada više u svom životu neću plivati u ledenoj vodi.
Anyway, last year, I heard about the Himalayas and the melting of the -- (Laughter) and the melting of the glaciers because of climate change. I heard about this lake, Lake Imja. This lake has been formed in the last couple of years because of the melting of the glacier. The glacier's gone all the way up the mountain and left in its place this big lake. And I firmly believe that what we're seeing in the Himalayas is the next great, big battleground on this earth. Nearly two billion people -- so one in three people on this earth -- rely on the water from the Himalayas. And with a population increasing as quickly as it is, and with the water supply from these glaciers -- because of climate change -- decreasing so much, I think we have a real risk of instability. North, you've got China; south, you've India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, all these countries.
U svakom slučaju, prošle godine sam čuo za Himalaje i topljenje - (smeh) topljenje glečera zbog klimatskih promena. Čuo sam za to jezero, Imdža. Jezero je nastalo u poslednje dve godine zbog otapanja glečera. Glečer je nestao sa vrha planine i na svom mestu ostavio ovo veliko jezero. Čvrsto verujem da je ono što vidimo na Himalajima sledeće veliko bojno polje na ovoj planeti. Skoro dve milijarde ljudi - znači jedna od tri osobe na Zemlji - oslanjaju se na vodu sa Himalaja. I kako populacija sve više raste, a snabdevanje vodom sa ovih glečera - zbog klimatskih promena - se toliko smanjuje, mislim da imamo veliki rizik nestabilnosti. Na severu je Kina; na jugu Indija, Pakistan, Bangladeš, sve te zemlje.
And so I decided to walk up to Mt. Everest, the highest mountain on this earth, and go and do a symbolic swim underneath the summit of Mt. Everest. Now, I don't know if any of you have had the opportunity to go to Mt. Everest, but it's quite an ordeal getting up there. 28 great, big, powerful yaks carrying all the equipment up onto this mountain -- I don't just have my Speedo, but there's a big film crew who then send all the images around the world. The other thing which was so challenging about this swim is not just the altitude. I wanted to do the swim at 5,300 meters above sea level. So it's right up in the heavens. It's very, very difficult to breath. You get altitude sickness. I feels like you've got a man standing behind you with a hammer just hitting your head all the time.
Tako sam odlučio da se popnem na Everest, najvišu planinu na Zemlji, i da simbolično preplivam pod samim vrhom Mont Everesta. Ne znam da li je neko od vas imao priliku da ode na Everest, ali prilično je naporno stići tamo. 28 velikih, snažnih jakova koji nose svu opremu uz planinu - ne nosim samo kupaće gaće. Ali tu je i velika filmska ekipa koja potom šalje sve snimke širom sveta. Druga stvar koja je bila toliko izazovna u vezi sa ovim plivanjem nije samo nadmorska visina. Želeo sam da plivam na 5.300 metara iznad nivoa mora. Dakle nebu pod oblake. Veoma, veoma je teško disati. Dobijate visinsku bolest. Osećaj je kao da neki čovek stoji iza vas sa čekićem i udara vas u glavu svo vreme.
That's not the worst part of it. The worst part was this year was the year where they decided to do a big cleanup operation on Mt. Everest. Many, many people have died on Mt. Everest, and this was the year they decided to go and recover all the bodies of the mountaineers and then bring them down the mountain. And when you're walking up the mountain to attempt to do something which no human has ever done before, and, in fact, no fish -- there are no fish up there swimming at 5,300 meters -- When you're trying to do that, and then the bodies are coming past you, it humbles you, and you also realize very, very clearly that nature is so much more powerful than we are.
To nije najgori deo toga. Najgori deo je to što su ove godine odlučili da urade veliko čišćenje Mont Everesta. Mnogo, mnogo ljudi je tamo umrlo i ove godine su odlučili da pronađu sva tela tih planinara i spuste ih sa planine. I hodate planinom u pokušaju da uradite nešto što nijedan čovek nije uradio pre, ali i nijedna riba. Ne postoje ribe koje plivaju na visini od 5.300 metara. Kada pokušavate to da uradite, i onda tela prolaze pored vas, to utiče na vas i takođe veoma, veoma jasno shvatite da je priroda mnogo moćnija od nas.
And we walked up this pathway, all the way up. And to the right hand side of us was this great Khumbu Glacier. And all the way along the glacier we saw these big pools of melting ice. And then we got up to this small lake underneath the summit of Mt. Everest, and I prepared myself the same way as I've always prepared myself, for this swim which was going to be so very difficult. I put on my iPod, I listened to some music, I got myself as aggressive as possible -- but controlled aggression -- and then I hurled myself into that water.
Penjali smo se tom stazom, skroz gore. Sa naše desne strane bio je veliki Kumbu glečer. I celom dužinom tog glečera videli smo velike bare leda koji se topi. I onda smo stigli do jednog malog jezera pod vrhom Everesta, pripremio sam se, na isti način na koji se uvek pripremam, za ovo veoma teško plivanje. Uključio sam iPod, slušao malo muzike, postao agresivan koliko je moguće - ali kontrolisano agresivan - i onda sam uskočio u tu vodu.
I swam as quickly as I could for the first hundred meters, and then I realized very, very quickly, I had a huge problem on my hands. I could barely breathe. I was gasping for air. I then began to choke, and then it quickly led to me vomiting in the water. And it all happened so quickly: I then -- I don't know how it happened -- but I went underwater. And luckily, the water was quite shallow, and I was able to push myself off the bottom of the lake and get up and then take another gasp of air. And then I said, carry on. Carry on. Carry on. I carried on for another five or six strokes, and then I had nothing in my body, and I went down to the bottom of the lake. And I don't where I got it from, but I was able to somehow pull myself up and as quickly as possible get to the side of the lake. I've heard it said that drowning is the most peaceful death that you can have. I have never, ever heard such utter bollocks. (Laughter) It is the most frightening and panicky feeling that you can have.
Plivao sam brzo koliko sam mogao prvih sto metara, a onda sam veoma, veoma brzo shvatio da imam ogroman problem. Jedva sam disao. Borio sam se za dah. Onda sam počeo da se gušim, a to je brzo dovelo do toga da povraćam u vodi. Sve se to desilo toliko brzo - ne znam kako se dogodilo - ali potonuo sam. I srećom, voda je bila prilično plitka, i uspeo sam da se odgurnem od dna jezera i izronim i ponovo udahnem vazduh. Onda sam rekao, nastavi. Nastavi. Nastavi. Nastavio sam još nekih pet, šest zamaha, i onda nisam imao ništa u telu i potonuo sam na dno jezera. I ne znam odakle, ali nekako sam uspeo da se što brže izvučem i dođem na obalu. Čuo sam kako kažu da je davljenje najmirniji način da se umre. Nikada nisam čuo veće sranje. (smeh) To je najstrašniji i najpaničniji osećaj koji možete doživeti.
I got myself to the side of the lake. My crew grabbed me, and then we walked as quickly as we could down -- over the rubble -- down to our camp. And there, we sat down, and we did a debrief about what had gone wrong there on Mt. Everest. And my team just gave it to me straight. They said, Lewis, you need to have a radical tactical shift if you want to do this swim. Every single thing which you have learned in the past 23 years of swimming, you must forget. Every single thing which you learned when you were serving in the British army, about speed and aggression, you put that to one side. We want you to walk up the hill in another two days' time. Take some time to rest and think about things. We want you to walk up the mountain in two days' time, and instead of swimming fast, swim as slowly as possible. Instead of swimming crawl, swim breaststroke. And remember, never ever swim with aggression. This is the time to swim with real humility.
Stigao sam do obale. Moja ekipa me je ugrabila i onda smo hodali koliko smo brzo mogli dole - preko kamenja - dole do kampa. Tamo smo seli i raspravili o tome šta je pošlo naopako na Mont Everestu. Moj tim mi je iskreno rekao. Rekli su, Luis, moraš radikalno da promeniš taktiku ako želiš da ovo preplivaš. Sve što si naučio u poslednje 23 godine plivanja, moraćeš da zaboraviš. Svaku sitnicu koju si naučio dok si služio u britanskoj vojsci, o brzini i agresiji, ostavi sa strane. Želimo da se ponovo popneš za dva dana. Odmori malo i razmisli. Želimo da se za dva dana popneš na planinu i umesto da plivaš brzo, plivaj što je sporije moguće. Umesto kraul, plivaj prsno. I zapamti, nikada nemoj plivati agresivno. Ovo je vreme da se pliva sa poniznošću.
And so we walked back up to the mountain two days later. And I stood there on the edge of the lake, and I looked up at Mt. Everest -- and she is one of the most beautiful mountains on the earth -- and I said to myself, just do this slowly. And I swam across the lake. And I can't begin to tell you how good I felt when I came to the other side.
Tako smo se za dva dana ponovo popeli na planinu. Stajao sam tamo na ivici jezera, pogledao u Mont Everest - to je jedna od najlepših planina na Zemlji - i rekao sam sebi, samo uradi ovo polako. I plivao sam preko jezera. Ne mogu vam ni opisati kako je bio dobar osećaj kada sam stigao na drugu stranu.
But I learned two very, very important lessons there on Mt. Everest, and I thank my team of Sherpas who taught me this. The first one is that just because something has worked in the past so well, doesn't mean it's going to work in the future. And similarly, now, before I do anything, I ask myself what type of mindset do I require to successfully complete a task. And taking that into the world of climate change -- which is, frankly, the Mt. Everest of all problems -- just because we've lived the way we have lived for so long, just because we have consumed the way we have for so long and populated the earth the way we have for so long, doesn't mean that we can carry on the way we are carrying on. The warning signs are all there. When I was born, the world's population was 3.5 billion people. We're now 6.8 billion people, and we're expected to be 9 billion people by 2050.
Ali naučio sam dve veoma, veoma važne lekcije tamo na Everestu. Zahvaljujem svom timu Šerpasa koji su me tome naučili. Prva je ta da, samo zato što je nešto bilo dobro u prošlosti, ne znači da će biti dobro u budućnosti. I slično, sada, pre nego što nešto uradim, zapitam se kakav mentalni sklop mi je potreban da uspešno završim taj zadatak. I uneti to u svet klimatskih promena, koji je, iskreno, Mont Everest svih problema - samo zato što tako dugo živimo kako živimo, samo zato što trošimo na isti način već dugo i naseljavamo Zemlju na isti način već dugo, ne znači da možemo da nastavimo na način na koji nastavljamo. Svi upozoravajući znaci su tu. Kada sam ja rođen, svetska populacija iznosila je 3,5 milijarde ljudi. Sada nas je 6,8 milijardi, a očekuje se da nas bude 9 milijardi do 2050.
And then the second lesson, the radical, tactical shift. And I've come here to ask you today: what radical tactical shift can you take in your relationship to the environment, which will ensure that our children and our grandchildren live in a safe world and a secure world, and most importantly, in a sustainable world? And I ask you, please, to go away from here and think about that one radical tactical shift which you could make, which will make that big difference, and then commit a hundred percent to doing it. Blog about it, tweet about it, talk about it, and commit a hundred percent, because very, very few things are impossible to achieve if we really put our whole minds to it.
I druga lekcija, radikalna promena taktike. Došao sam danas da vas pitam: kakvu radikalnu promenu taktike možete napraviti u svom odnosu prema okolini, a koja će osigurati da naša deca i unuci žive u bezbednom svetu, u sigurnom svetu, i najvažnije, u održivom svetu? I molim vas da odete odavde i razmislite o toj jednoj radikalnoj promeni taktike koju možete napraviti, koja će biti veoma značajna, i onda se 100% posvetite tome. Pišite blog, tvitujte, razgovarajte o tome, posvetite se sto posto. Jer veoma, veoma malo stvari je nemoguće postići ako im se zaista u potpunosti posvetimo.
So thank you very, very much.
Hvala vam, veoma, veoma mnogo.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)