King Charles issues climate change warning amid ‘frustration’ at humanity’s handling of the crisis
King Charles has expressed frustration with humanity’s ability to deal with the climate crisis, saying he does not want future generations to inherit a “terrible legacy of fear”.
These concerns are aired in a new ITV documentary; Here, publisher Steve Backshall traces key moments from King’s formative trip to the Canadian Arctic in 1975, highlighting the region’s increasing vulnerability to climate change.
On the programme, Charles also considered a “very strange” phenomenon where scientific conclusions on many subjects are widely accepted as “fact”, but “apparently it is not that simple” in relation to climate change.
Backshall visited Charles at Buckingham Palace to delve into his experiences from April 1975, when, at the age of 26, he dived under the ice, raced on a snowmobile, ate raw seal liver and rode a dog sled.
The adventurer’s documentary further explores the devastating effects of climate change and pollution on Arctic ice caps, wildlife and indigenous peoples over the fifty years since Charles’ first voyage.
In the 90-minute documentary, Steve Backshall’s Royal Arctic ChallengeApparently commenting on the response to the climate crisis, the King tells the presenter: “That’s the problem, isn’t it? Why is it taking so long? By then, it’s almost too late to fix it.”
“That’s my biggest concern, because you’re reaching a tipping point. That’s what all the scientists are talking about.”
“These are salvageable things, but it seems very strange to me that, you know, in other fields everyone accepts what scientists say as absolute vital truth, but in this case, for one reason or another, it’s not seemingly simple.”
The King then says: “We must believe that this is still possible. Because you have to have hope. But you have to take action to provide that hope. This is hope.”
“So, all I can do is backstage. But I mean, it can be very frustrating to say the least.”
On 19 February 1970, five years before his trip to the Canadian arctic, Charles gave a landmark speech to the Welsh Rural Steering Committee in which he warned about plastic waste, chemicals dumped into rivers and air pollution problems caused by factories, cars and planes.
In his documentary, Backshall joins a research scientist studying pollution in Arctic seabirds who examined the stomach contents of two dead short-tailed shearwaters that spent most of their lives at sea and found pieces of plastic.
Backshall also visits the Coronation Glacier and chats with an expert who, using satellite images, shows how this glacier has melted, retreating about 0.6 miles over the last 50 years.
“The only place where climate change becomes an absolute reality is on a glacier like this,” Backshall says in the documentary.
“Where I’m standing right now, in about ten years, all this ice will be gone and this enormous glacier, one of the most beautiful places you’ll ever see, will be impacted by our world, our lives, our choices.”
Since his 1970 speech while Prince of Wales, the King has worked to help develop solutions to climate change and raise awareness of environmental issues ranging from overfishing to the threat facing rainforests.
Speaking to Backshall at the palace, Charles talks about the legacy that can be left to the “younger generation”.
“I don’t think it’s fair to leave them in a much worse situation than I found them in, if you know what I mean.
“I always thought the point was to develop this for people so they didn’t have a terrible legacy of fear that they had to deal with.
“That’s why I spent all these years because I don’t want to be accused by my grandchildren of not doing anything about it. That’s the key.”
There are also lighter moments in the documentary, which tells how Charles emerged with a bowler hat after diving under the ice.
The King said: “…I thought it would be quite fun to come back wearing the hat and…a chance to fool around.”
Charles’ memory is erased when he is shown footage of himself eating raw seal liver, a traditional food source for indigenous people.
“It took a while to get my larynx to work on swallowing,” he said.
He added: “Then when I turned around to wonder why they didn’t come and taste some, everyone who was with me had disappeared.”
Steve Backshall’s Royal Arctic Challenge will air on ITV1 on December 15 at 9pm.
