Saving civilization from fossil fuels involves burning an enormous amount of fossil fuel: Australian Greenpeace guide Eric Philips takes a fossil-fueled trip to 30 km from the North Pole, skis for a week to get another 5km closer, then gets on a pole-bound fuel-guzzling helicopter

The Icy Arctic Treadmill | Greenpeace International

Our journey began 30 km from the North Pole with the ice drifting northeast; a direction that was of benefit to us. But on the second day, a shift in the wind sent the ice southeast and we began to battle the drift, much like an icy treadmill.

Such is the unpredictable beauty of the Arctic ocean that now, after nearly a week of skiing, the southeasterly drift — which amounted to 10 km per day — was enough to stymie our forward progress, the irony being that despite having skied more than 30 km across the ice, we were still 25 km short of the North Pole. Given the current and the wind, I advised the team that we would not be able to make it from where we were with the supplies and time we have. So we contacted Barneo base and they had a helicopter going to the north pole Friday afternoon. They were able to stop on the way and pick us up, and drop us at a better spot that put us within striking distance of the pole to make sure we could fulfil our promise. Hitchhiking at the top of the world — who knew?

...Eric has journeyed to the South Pole five times, traversing Antarctica from the coast to the south pole three times. Eric [Philips] has worked as a polar guide on Greenpeace's Climate Impacts expedition to Greenland, and lives in Hobart, Australia where he operates his North and South Pole guiding company, Icetrek Expeditions.