Ice dives, walrus snaps and whale encounters: the person telling excessive tales of an Arctic in danger | International growth

To say the photographs of Andreas B. Heide throughout his working day are dramatic is an understatement: a freediver deep underwater in a black wetsuit, his lean silhouette enhanced by highly effective bladed fins, trying up in direction of a bunch of orcas; or standing on an ice sheet subsequent to a small sailboat within the Arctic, amid a sea filled with harmful trying ice floes in poor visibility.

However for the marine biologist and adventurer, plunging into freezing waters with orcas or embarking on a 4,500-mile crusing expedition from the Arctic north to the UK and again, documenting whale behaviour and their dramatic encounters with polar bears, whales and walruses, is all half and parcel of storytelling that he hopes can in the end change human behaviour. He works with scientists and conservationists, photographers and drone pilots, to underline the significance of conservation within the excessive north, below difficult situations.

“There’s a query all of us ask ourselves, as environmentalists and journalists, which is, why, when as people we’re conscious of local weather change and plastic air pollution, will we fail to behave collectively to do one thing about it?” says B. Heide. “A part of that cause is a lack of information.

“Think about a photograph of the moon from the moon’s floor. However then, think about the moon’s floor with an astronaut on it, it’s utterly totally different. It has an emotional response. That’s what we wish to convey.”

B. Heide, 44, is one in every of eight individuals to be nominated for the Shackleton medal for the safety of the polar areas, which recognises people placing every little thing on the road to guard the Arctic and the Antarctic. The winner of the award, judged by the explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes and the historian and presenter Dan Snow, amongst others, might be introduced on 10 Could.

Born within the Norwegian coastal city of Stavanger, B. Heide spent his childhood near the water. He started freediving on the age of 10, and had his first boat at eight or 9. He spent two years within the navy as a parachutist, working with helicopters and submarines, to construct up the talents wanted to navigate the Arctic.

He says he needs to share information and create an emotional reference to the marine surroundings. “To make individuals perceive what they do issues for the Arctic ecosystem, together with the polar bears and the blue whales and the orcas.”

He works with whales, he says, as a result of they’re the “final ambassador for the ocean and spark an emotional connection amongst individuals”. “The bigger an animal is, the extra you join with it. That’s human psychology.”

He accepts that being freezing chilly is a part of his job, nevertheless painful. “Typically after I come to the floor, I battle to talk as a result of my lips are numb with the chilly. I take advantage of a wetsuit usually, as a result of it’s quicker within the water. Velocity is every little thing if you wish to sustain with a whale. However typically we use drysuits which let you keep down for longer – you’ll be able to keep within the water for half an hour with a drysuit.”

Heide believes his technique of navigating the customarily treacherous Arctic situations in a small crusing boat, Barba, helps him higher join with nature and folks.

“If we had been there in a €5m [£4.3m] state-of-the-art expedition vessel, it could be much less impactful. In a small boat, it’s important to join with nature and your life is ruled by nature. You get sea spray in your face.

“Ernest Shackleton and his crew had been out pushing the boundaries with the means that they had at their disposal, with an adventurous spirit and a willingness to discover.”