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Lewis Pugh, a British explorer and endurance swimmer, is about to attempt a swim in the ice-cold water surrounding the North Pole. Why? To draw attention to the issues surrounding climate change.

Pugh, a 37-year-old originally from Cape Town, plans to swim for one kilometer in nothing but a swim cap, trunks and goggles. He expects the journey will take around 21 minutes and plans to do the swim on July 15. He hopes the swim and surrounding attention will add to mounting pressure on leaders at the forthcoming G8 summit, encouraging a dramatic reduction in carbon emissions.

“Most people have no idea that you can find patches of open sea at the North Pole in summer,” said Pugh in a press statement. “I can’t think of a better way to show that climate change is a reality than by swimming in a place that should be totally frozen over.”

Just 10 years ago, swimming in the area would’ve been impossible, according to Pugh. Last year, he set a new world record for swimming in ice water - covering 1.2 kilometers in a Norwegian fjord during a swim 10 seconds shy of 24 minutes.

According to experts, an average person would’ve hyperventilated and probably drown from extreme shock within minutes of diving into water so cold. Pugh, however, has an astonishing ability to resist the effects of the freezing cold water - it’s this resistance to cold that’s gained him the nickname Polar Bear.

As part of Pugh’s preparation for his July dip in the sea, he’s increased his body weight by nearly 20 kilograms and trained in a specially-designed ice pool. The next month of his training will be done in a glacial lake in Norway with Jorgen Amundsen.

Amundsen, a relative of the first man to reach the South Pole, will ski to the North Pole with Pugh before his swim. “This expedition represents the end of an era of Arctic exploration as we know it,” he said. “It is becoming increasingly difficult to walk to the North Pole and many expeditions fail each year when they encounter big stretches of open sea.”