TEDGlobal 2010
Lewis Pugh: My mind-shifting Everest swim
Lewis Pugh-jevo plavanje pri Mont Everestu, ki mu je spremenilo način razmišljanja.
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Potem ko je preplaval severni tečaj, se je Lewis Pugh odločil, da ne bo nikoli več plaval v ledeni vodi. Nato je slišal za jezero Imja v Himalaji, ki je nastalo z nedavnim taljenjem ledu, in jezero Pumori, ki je voda na višini 5.300 metrov na Everestu -- in začelo se je potovanje, ki ga je naučilo povsem novega pristopa k plavanju in razmišljanju o globalnemu segrevanju.
Lewis Pugh - Coldwater swimmer
Pushing his body through epic cold-water swims, Lewis Gordon Pugh wants to draw attention to our global climate. He's just back from swimming in a meltwater lake on the slopes of Mount Everest. Full bio
Pushing his body through epic cold-water swims, Lewis Gordon Pugh wants to draw attention to our global climate. He's just back from swimming in a meltwater lake on the slopes of Mount Everest. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:15
Last year when I was here, I was speaking to you about a swim
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Lansko leto, ko sem bil tukaj, sem vam govoril o plavanju,
00:18
which I did across the North Pole.
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ki sem ga opravil čez severni tečaj.
00:21
And while that swim took place three years ago,
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Čeprav se je to plavanje zgodilo pred tremi leti,
00:23
I can remember it as if it was yesterday.
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se ga spominjam, kot da je bilo včeraj.
00:26
I remember standing on the edge of the ice,
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Spominjam se, kako sem stal na robu ledu,
00:29
about to dive into the water,
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tik pred skokom v vodo
00:31
and thinking to myself, I have never ever
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razmišljujoč, da nisem nikoli
00:34
seen any place on this earth
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videl nek kraj na zemlji
00:36
which is just so frightening.
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ki je tako zastrašujoč.
00:38
The water is completely black.
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Voda je popolnoma temna.
00:40
The water is minus 1.7 degrees centigrade,
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Voda ima minus 1,7 stopinje Celzija,
00:43
or 29 degrees Fahrenheit.
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ali 29 stopinj Fahrenheita.
00:46
It's flipping freezing in that water.
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V tisti vodi je prekleto mrzlo.
00:49
And then a thought came across my mind:
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In potem mi je skozi glavo švignila misel:
00:52
if things go pear-shaped on this swim,
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če bo šlo kaj narobe,
00:55
how long will it take for my frozen body
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kako dolgo bo potrebovalo moje zmrznjeno telo,
00:58
to sink the four and a half kilometers
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da se potopi štiri kilometre in pol
01:00
to the bottom of the ocean?
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na dno oceana?
01:02
And then I said to myself, I've just got to get this thought
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In potem sem rekel samemu sebi, da moram to misel
01:04
out of my mind as quickly as possible.
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izbrisat iz moje glave kar se da hitro.
01:06
And the only way I can dive
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In edini način, da se potopim
01:08
into that freezing cold water
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v to ledeno vodo
01:10
and swim a kilometer
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in plavam kilometer,
01:12
is by listening to my iPod and really revving myself up,
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je, da poslušam moj iPod in da se napolnim do konca,
01:15
listening to everything from beautiful opera
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s poslušanjem vsega, od prelepe opere
01:18
all the way across to Puff Daddy,
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vse do Puff Daddy-ja,
01:21
and then committing myself a hundred percent --
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in se potem sto odstotno predam --
01:23
there is nothing more powerful than the made-up mind --
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nič ni močnejše od odločenega uma --
01:26
and then walking up to the edge of the ice
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in grem do roba ledu
01:29
and just diving into the water.
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in preprosto skočim v vodo.
01:31
And that swim took me
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In za to plavanje sem porabil
01:33
18 minutes and 50 seconds,
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18 minut in 50 sekund,
01:35
and it felt like 18 days.
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zdelo pa se je kot 18 dni.
01:37
And I remember getting out of the water
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Spominjam se, ko sem prišel ven iz vode
01:39
and my hands feeling so painful
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in so me roke tako bolele
01:41
and looking down at my fingers,
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in pogledam dol v moje prste,
01:43
and my fingers were literally the size of sausages
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ki so bili dobesedno velikosti klobase,
01:46
because -- you know, we're made partially of water --
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ker -- vsi veste, da smo deloma narejeni iz vode --
01:49
when water freezes it expands,
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kadar voda zmrzne, se razširi,
01:51
and so the cells in my fingers
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in tako so celice v mojih prstih
01:53
had frozen and expanded
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zmrznile in se razširile
01:55
and burst.
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in počile.
01:57
And the most immediate thought when I came out of that water
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In takojšnja misel, ko sem prišel iz vode,
01:59
was the following:
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je bila:
02:01
I'm never, ever
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Nikoli več
02:03
going to do another cold water swim
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v mojem življenju ne bom plaval
02:06
in my life again.
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v tako mrzli vodi.
02:09
Anyway, last year, I heard about the Himalayas
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Kakorkoli, lansko leto sem slišal o Himalaji
02:12
and the melting of the -- (Laughter)
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in o taljenju -- (smeh)
02:14
and the melting of the glaciers
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in o taljenju ledenikov
02:16
because of climate change.
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zaradi podnebnih sprememb.
02:18
I heard about this lake, Lake Imja.
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Slišal sem o tem jezeru, jezero Imja.
02:21
This lake has been formed in the last couple of years
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To jezero je nastalo v zadnjih nekaj letih
02:24
because of the melting of the glacier.
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zaradi taljenja ledenika.
02:26
The glacier's gone all the way up the mountain
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Ledenik se je umaknil vse do vrha gore,
02:28
and left in its place this big lake.
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na njegovem mestu pa je pustil to veliko jezero.
02:31
And I firmly believe
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In trdno verjamem,
02:33
that what we're seeing in the Himalayas
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da je to, kar vidimo v Himalaji,
02:35
is the next great, big battleground
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naslednje veliko bojišče
02:37
on this earth.
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na tej zemlji.
02:39
Nearly two billion people --
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Skoraj dve milijardi ljudi --
02:41
so one in three people on this earth --
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se pravi, eden od treh ljudi na svetu --
02:43
rely on the water from the Himalayas.
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uporabljajo vodo iz Himalaje.
02:46
And with a population increasing as quickly as it is,
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In s tako hitrim naraščanjem prebivalstva kot zdaj
02:49
and with the water supply from these glaciers --
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in z zalogami vode iz teh ledenikov,
02:51
because of climate change --
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ki zaradi podnebnih sprememb
02:53
decreasing so much,
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tako zelo kopnijo.
02:55
I think we have a real risk of instability.
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Mislim, da resnično grozi nestabilnost.
02:57
North, you've got China; south, you've India, Pakistan, Bangladesh,
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Severno imaš Kitajsko; južno je Indija, Pakistan, Bangladeš,
03:00
all these countries.
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vse te države.
03:02
And so I decided
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In tako sem se odločil,
03:04
to walk up to Mt. Everest,
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da prehodim Mount Everest,
03:06
the highest mountain on this earth,
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najvišjo goro na tem svetu,
03:08
and go and do a symbolic swim
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in grem in opravim simbolično plavanje
03:10
underneath the summit
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pod vrhom
03:12
of Mt. Everest.
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Mount Everesta.
03:14
Now, I don't know if any of you have had the opportunity to go to Mt. Everest,
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Ne vem, če je kdo izmed vas imel priložnost iti na Mount Everest,
03:17
but it's quite an ordeal getting up there.
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vendar je priti tja gor težek preizkus.
03:20
28 great, big, powerful yaks
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28 lepih, velikih, močnih jakov
03:22
carrying all the equipment up onto this mountain --
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nosi vso opremo na to goro --
03:25
I don't just have my Speedo,
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nisem imel samo moje Speedo (plavalna obleka).
03:27
but there's a big film crew who then
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Tam je tudi velika filmska ekipa, ki je potem
03:29
send all the images around the world.
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poslala slike po vsem svetu.
03:32
The other thing which was so challenging about this swim
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Naslednja stvar, ki je bila tako zahtevna pri temu plavanju,
03:35
is not just the altitude.
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ni samo višina.
03:37
I wanted to do the swim at 5,300 meters above sea level.
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Hotel sem plavati na nadmorski višini 5.300 metrov.
03:40
So it's right up in the heavens.
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To je prav gor v nebesih.
03:42
It's very, very difficult to breath. You get altitude sickness.
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Je zelo, zelo težko dihat. Dobiš višinsko bolezen.
03:45
I feels like you've got a man standing behind you with a hammer
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Imaš občutek, kot da za tabo stoji človek s kladivom
03:48
just hitting your head all the time.
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in te ves čas udarja po glavi.
03:50
That's not the worst part of it.
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To ni najhujši del vsega.
03:52
The worst part was this year was the year where they decided
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Najhuje je bilo, da so se to leto odločili
03:54
to do a big cleanup operation on Mt. Everest.
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naredit veliko čistilno akcijo po Mt. Everestu.
03:57
Many, many people have died on Mt. Everest,
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Veliko, veliko ljudi je umrlo na Mt. Everestu
04:00
and this was the year they decided to go
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in to je bilo leto, ko so se odločili, da gredo
04:02
and recover all the bodies of the mountaineers
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in poberejo vsa trupla planincev
04:04
and then bring them down the mountain.
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in jih prinesejo dol po gori.
04:07
And when you're walking up the mountain
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In ko se vzpenjaš po gori,
04:09
to attempt to do something
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da bi poskusil,
04:11
which no human has ever done before, and, in fact, no fish --
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kar noben človek ni nikoli poprej naredil in niti nobena riba.
04:14
there are no fish up there swimming at 5,300 meters --
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Tam ni rib ki bi plavale na 5.300 metrih.
04:17
When you're trying to do that,
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Ko poskušaš to doseči
04:19
and then the bodies are coming past you,
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in potem mimo tebe prihajajo trupla,
04:21
it humbles you,
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te naredi ponižnega
04:23
and you also realize very, very clearly
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in se zelo, zelo jasno zavedaš,
04:25
that nature is so much more powerful
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da je narava veliko močnejša
04:28
than we are.
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od nas.
04:30
And we walked up this pathway,
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In po tej poti smo se vzpenjali
04:32
all the way up.
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vse do konca.
04:34
And to the right hand side of us
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In na desni strani
04:36
was this great Khumbu Glacier.
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je bil ta prelep ledenik Khumbu.
04:38
And all the way along the glacier we saw
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In po vsej poti ob ledeniku smo videli
04:40
these big pools of melting ice.
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te velike bazene topečega se ledu.
04:43
And then we got up to this small lake
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In ko smo prišli gor do majhnega jezera
04:46
underneath the summit of Mt. Everest,
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pod vrhom Mt. Everesta,
04:48
and I prepared myself
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sem pripravil samega sebe,
04:50
the same way as I've always prepared myself,
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tako kot se zmeraj pripravim,
04:52
for this swim which was going to be so very difficult.
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za to plavanje, ki bo zelo težko.
04:54
I put on my iPod, I listened to some music,
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Nadel sem si iPod, poslušal glasbo,
04:57
I got myself as aggressive as possible --
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in se naredil agresivnega kar se le da --
04:59
but controlled aggression --
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toda kontrolirano napadalnega --
05:01
and then I hurled myself
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in potem sem se vrgel
05:03
into that water.
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v to vodo.
05:05
I swam as quickly as I could
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Prvih sto metrov sem plaval
05:08
for the first hundred meters,
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kolikor sem lahko hitro
05:10
and then I realized very, very quickly,
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in nato sem spoznal zelo zelo hitro,
05:12
I had a huge problem on my hands.
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da imam velik problem.
05:14
I could barely breathe.
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Komaj sem dihal.
05:16
I was gasping for air.
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Hlastal sem po zraku.
05:18
I then began to choke,
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Nato sem se začel dušiti
05:20
and then it quickly led to me vomiting in the water.
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in takoj sem bruhal v vodi.
05:23
And it all happened so quickly:
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In vse se je zgodilo tako hitro.
05:26
I then -- I don't know how it happened -- but I went underwater.
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In nato -- ne vem, kako se je zgodilo -- toda šel sem pod vodo.
05:29
And luckily, the water was quite shallow,
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K sreči je bila voda plitva
05:32
and I was able to push myself off the bottom of the lake
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in sem se bil sposoben potisniti iz dna jezera,
05:35
and get up and then take another gasp of air.
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priti na površje in še enkrat vdihnit zrak.
05:38
And then I said, carry on. Carry on. Carry on.
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Potem sem si rekel, dajmo. Dajmo. Dajmo.
05:40
I carried on for another five or six strokes,
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Naprej sem šel še kakih pet ali šest zamahov
05:43
and then I had nothing in my body,
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in nato nisem čutil nič v mojemu telesu
05:46
and I went down to the bottom of the lake.
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in se potopil do dna jezera.
05:48
And I don't where I got it from,
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In ne vem, od kje sem dobil,
05:50
but I was able to somehow
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toda nekako sem se bil sposoben
05:52
pull myself up and as quickly as possible
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dvigniti in kar najhitreje
05:55
get to the side of the lake.
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priti do roba jezera.
05:58
I've heard it said that drowning
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Slišal sem, da je utopitev
06:00
is the most peaceful death that you can have.
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najbolj mirna smrt, ki jo lahko doživiš.
06:03
I have never, ever heard
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Še nikoli nisem slišal
06:05
such utter bollocks.
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večje neumnosti.
06:07
(Laughter)
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(smeh)
06:09
It is the most frightening and panicky feeling
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To je najbolj zastrašujoč in paničen občutek,
06:12
that you can have.
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ki ga lahko doživiš.
06:14
I got myself to the side of the lake.
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Prišel sem do roba jezera.
06:16
My crew grabbed me,
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Ekipa me je pobrala
06:18
and then we walked as quickly as we could
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in smo hodili hitro kar se da
06:20
down -- over the rubble --
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dol -- čez grušč --
06:22
down to our camp.
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proti našemu kampu.
06:24
And there, we sat down,
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Tam smo se usedli
06:26
and we did a debrief about what had gone wrong
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in smo se pogovorili, kaj je šlo narobe
06:29
there on Mt. Everest.
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na Mt. Everestu.
06:31
And my team just gave it to me straight.
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Ekipa mi je naravnost povedala.
06:34
They said, Lewis, you need to have
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Rekli so, Lewis, ti rabiš
06:36
a radical tactical shift
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radikalno spremembo taktike,
06:39
if you want to do this swim.
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če hočeš tole preplavati.
06:41
Every single thing which you have learned
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Čisto vsako stvar, ki si se jo naučil
06:43
in the past 23 years of swimming,
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v zadnjih 23-ih letih plavanja,
06:45
you must forget.
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moraš pozabit.
06:47
Every single thing which you learned
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Čisto vse, kar si se naučil,
06:49
when you were serving in the British army,
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ko si služil v Angleški vojski,
06:51
about speed and aggression,
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o hitrosti in agresiji,
06:53
you put that to one side.
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postavi na stran.
06:55
We want you to walk up the hill in another two days' time.
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Hočemo, da čez dva dni greš na hrib.
06:58
Take some time to rest and think about things.
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Vzemi si čas za počitek in razmislek o stvareh.
07:01
We want you to walk up the mountain in two days' time,
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Hočemo, da greš čez dva dni na goro
07:04
and instead of swimming fast,
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in namesto da bi hitro plaval,
07:07
swim as slowly as possible.
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plavaj kar se da počasi.
07:09
Instead of swimming crawl, swim breaststroke.
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Namesto da plavaš kravl, plavaj žabico.
07:12
And remember, never ever swim with aggression.
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In zapomni si, nikoli ne plavaj z agresijo.
07:15
This is the time to swim
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To je čas
07:17
with real humility.
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za ponižno plavanje.
07:19
And so we walked back up
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In tako smo čez
07:21
to the mountain two days later.
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dva dni šli na goro.
07:23
And I stood there
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In tam sem stal
07:25
on the edge of the lake,
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na robu jezera
07:27
and I looked up at Mt. Everest --
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in pogledal gor proti Mt. Everestu --
07:29
and she is one of the most beautiful mountains on the earth --
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ki je ena najlepših gora na svetu --
07:32
and I said to myself, just do this slowly.
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in sem si rekel, samo počasi.
07:35
And I swam across the lake.
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In sem plaval čez jezero.
07:37
And I can't begin to tell you
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In ne vem, kako naj vam povem,
07:39
how good I felt
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kako lepo je bilo,
07:41
when I came to the other side.
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ko sem prišel na drugi konec.
07:43
But I learned two very, very
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Toda naučil sem se dve zelo zelo
07:45
important lessons there on Mt. Everest,
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pomembni lekciji na Mt. Everestu.
07:48
and I thank my team of Sherpas who taught me this.
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In zahvaljujem se moji ekipi Šerp, ki so me naučile tega.
07:51
The first one is
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Prva je,
07:53
that just because something has worked in the past so well,
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da samo zato, ker je neka stvar v preteklosti delovala tako dobro,
07:56
doesn't mean it's going to work in the future.
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še ne pomeni, da bo tudi v prihodnje.
07:59
And similarly,
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In podobno,
08:01
now, before I do anything,
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zdaj, preden naredim karkoli,
08:03
I ask myself what type of mindset
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se vprašam, kakšno mišljenje
08:05
do I require
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rabim,
08:07
to successfully complete a task.
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da uspešno opravim nalogo.
08:10
And taking that into the world of climate change --
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In če prenesem to v svet podnebnih sprememb,
08:13
which is, frankly,
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ki je odkrito rečeno
08:15
the Mt. Everest of all problems --
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Mt. Everest vseh težav --
08:17
just because we've lived the way we have lived for so long,
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samo zato, ker smo tako dolgo živeli, kot živimo
08:20
just because we have consumed the way we have for so long
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samo zato, ker smo tako dolgo trošili, kot trošimo,
08:23
and populated the earth the way we have for so long,
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in poselili zemljo na način, kot smo jo,
08:26
doesn't mean that we can carry on
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še ne pomeni, da lahko gremo naprej,
08:28
the way we are carrying on.
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tako kot gremo danes.
08:30
The warning signs are all there.
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Opozorilni znaki so že vsi tukaj.
08:33
When I was born, the world's population
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Ko sem se rodil, je bilo na svetu
08:35
was 3.5 billion people.
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3,5 milijarde ljudi.
08:37
We're now 6.8 billion people,
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Danes imamo 6,8 milijarde ljudi,
08:40
and we're expected to be 9 billion people
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in pričakujemo 9 milijard ljudi
08:42
by 2050.
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do 2050.
08:44
And then the second lesson,
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In potem druga lekcija,
08:46
the radical, tactical shift.
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radikalen, taktičen premik.
08:48
And I've come here to ask you today:
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Danes sem prišel sem, da vas vprašam:
08:51
what radical tactical shift
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kakšen radikalen, taktičen premik
08:54
can you take in your relationship to the environment,
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lahko narediš z odnosom do okolja,
08:57
which will ensure
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ki bo zagotovil,
08:59
that our children and our grandchildren
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da bodo naši otroci in vnuki
09:01
live in a safe world
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živeli v zdravem
09:03
and a secure world,
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in varnem svetu
09:05
and most importantly, in a sustainable world?
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in še bolj pomembno, ki bo trajal?
09:08
And I ask you, please, to go away from here
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In vas prosim, da greste od tukaj
09:10
and think about that one
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in premislite o tem
09:12
radical tactical shift
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radikalnem, taktičnem premiku,
09:14
which you could make,
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ki ga lahko naredite,
09:16
which will make that big difference,
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ki bo naredil veliko razliko
09:18
and then commit a hundred percent to doing it.
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in se mu potem sto odstotno predate.
09:21
Blog about it, tweet about it, talk about it,
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Blogajte o tem, Tweetajte, pogovarjajte se o tem
09:24
and commit a hundred percent,
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in se predajte sto odstotno.
09:26
because very, very few things
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Zato, ker zelo zelo malo stvari
09:28
are impossible to achieve
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je nemogoče doseči,
09:30
if we really put our whole minds to it.
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če res vložimo vse naše misli v to.
09:32
So thank you very, very much.
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Torej, zelo zelo vam hvala.
09:34
(Applause)
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Aplavz.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Lewis Pugh - Coldwater swimmerPushing his body through epic cold-water swims, Lewis Gordon Pugh wants to draw attention to our global climate. He's just back from swimming in a meltwater lake on the slopes of Mount Everest.
Why you should listen
Lewis Gordon Pugh loves to pioneer new swimming routes around or between landmarks once thought unswimmable. In 2006, he swam the drought-stricken Thames; also that year he became the first swimmer to do a long-distance swim in all five oceans of the world. The following year, he made the first long-distance swim across the North Pole -- where climate change made the ice temporarily disappear. Heading into the second decade of his swimming career, he's regarded as the greatest cold-water swimmer in history.
His swims have given him a sea-level view of our planet, and inspired him to do his bit to help preserve it. He left a career in maritime law to become a public speaker on environmental issues with his group, Polar Defence Project -- and of course to plan more astonishing swims and treks. In September 2008, Pugh and Robbie Hedgus kayaked across the Arctic Ocean into the polar ice pack, to raise awareness of the thinning sea ice and the dangers of climate change in the Arctic and across the world. And at the end of May 2010 he swam 1 kilometer across Pumori, a meltwater lake situated next to the Khumbu Glacier on Mount Everest, at an altitude of 5300 meters, to draw attention to the melting of the Asian glaciers. He completed the swim -- the highest any person has undertaken -- in less than 23 minutes. "Glaciers are not just ice: they are a lifeline, they provide water to 2 billion people, and we need to protect them," he says.
Lewis Pugh | Speaker | TED.com