Cold Water Swimmers Turned Conservationists
Over the last twelve months in particular, cold water swimming has seen a massive surge in interest and a tidal wave of woolly hatted enthusiasts dipping their toes into icy waters. These brave individuals enter the water seeking both an adrenaline rush and a meditative-like experience but often emerge as brilliant environmental activists who are passionate about protecting our waterways. With a boom in the number of wild swimmers in the world, are we also about to see a rise in the number of people working hard to conserve and protect our blue spaces?
Throughout the last year, people all over the world have been confined to their houses and immediate areas for prolonged lengths of time. While the first few weeks may have seemed luxuriously relaxing, many soon became restless and craved our natural outdoor environments. With our options limited, families have taken to getting to know every nook and cranny of their local areas in search of an escape from the news. In this search for a slice of freedom and peace, many have discovered local rivers, lakes and coves which provide perfect calm swimming spots. With nothing to do but stay at home or exercise, thousands have decided to take the plunge and claim back control over a little piece of their lives. In 2006, the UK Outdoor Swimming Society had only 300 members; today it has over 100,000!
It seems that cold water immersion provides multiple mental health benefits which have been invaluable to many over the past year. From alleviating brain fog to reducing depression, releasing endorphins to mustering energy, cold water does wonders for our minds. When we immerse ourselves in cold water, whether that be the ocean or a meandering river, our fight or flight mechanism from our caveman days kicks in and prepares us for the dangers of hypothermia, underlying currents, submerged rocks and rogue waves. With our brains staying subconsciously alert, they simply have no capacity left to worry about deadlines, to-dos, day to day anxieties or global news. No wonder so many people have taken to the water in the last year! If this wasn’t enough, wild swimming, or cold water therapy as it is sometimes known, is thought to delay dementia as well as help boost the immune system. As we force ourselves to dip our limbs into chilly waters, our body creates a stress response. Every time we head back out into the water, this stress response lessens and in the longer term, is thought to help us deal with stress in all parts of our lives. When we are less stressed, our bodies have less inflammation, allowing our immune systems to work more effectively, something I’m sure all of us would be grateful for at the moment. Of course as well, many have turned to open water swimming in order to find a sense of community now that most of our usual social activities and meeting places are shut.
With the number of river, lake, ocean, rockpool and lido swimmers increasing, it seems likely that we will see a boom in sea lovers, possibly shortly followed by a rise in environmental activists. After all, who wants to exercise in a lake teeming with trash? Or swim in a river filled with untreated sewage? Or float in the ocean without the chance of seeing a cheeky seal head bob up or watch a gannet plunge down from the sky in the distance? As we find new hobbies and activities in nature, not only do we love and want to protect it more fiercely but the environmental destruction we have been causing suddenly becomes clear as we notice the dull colour of the water or the distinct lack of wildlife. So what are cold water swimmers turned conservationists doing?
One particular river in Yorkshire received large amounts of attention when its local bathers started a campaign to increase the environmental quality of the area. Ilkley lies on the River Wharfe which is a popular spot for wild swimmers, paddling children and fishermen, yet local water companies frequently discharge untreated sewage into its cool waters. It is said that in specific circumstances, sewage can be released into the river following large levels of rainfall. Except this rule seems to be bent as sewage is frequently discharged and often only after minimal rain showers. With the help of retired scientists, the local community kickstarted their campaign by taking water samples from popular bathing spots along the riverbanks. On one day in July, over 1,500 people took a bathe in the Wharfe’s waters, yet the levels of E-coli were found to be 40 times higher than bathing water limits! Throughout 2020, the group campaigned to have the river designated as a specific bathing site. This designation would mean that bathing water quality must be monitored closely throughout the three month bathing season to ensure it is safe for humans to use and therefore would lead to sewage outlets being checked more closely. The lead campaigner made a thought-provoking point: if our river waters are not safe for humans to swim in, then they are not safe for fish to swim in and not safe for the whole ecosystem to live in either.
Currently, only 14% of the UK’s rivers are considered to have a good ecological quality whilst according to DEFRA, none of our rivers meet legal water quality standards. Britain has a grand total of zero designated river bathing sites, yet Italy has 73 while France has a mighty 573! With a record number of wild swimmers and a highly supportive local community, the town of Ilkley hopes to become the first designated river bathing spot in England and is using this as a new way to force authorities to conserve our local environments. Whilst many beaches on the coast are closely monitored bathing areas, our rivers have been lagging behind despite the fact that they carry enormous levels of pollutants, such as sewage and plastic, to our shores. Communities along the Thames and River Windrush are following too as they push for better water quality, tighter restrictions regarding sewage and all year round water quality monitoring.
This ‘adventure activism’ is increasing around the world as more and more people want to be able to explore and exercise outside and along the way, discover their desire to do something more meaningful and set about helping to rewild the environments which sit on our doorsteps. It’s not just communities making a difference but thousands of individuals, such as Laura Owen Sanderson. Laura is a wild swimmer, adventurer and environmentalist who took to wild swimming after suffering from an illness. Her doctor suggested cold baths to alleviate some of the symptoms but she decided to venture to the coast instead and hasn’t looked back since. Today, she says she is addicted to rivers and mountain lakes which led to her collecting research about plastic levels in Glaslyn, a lake situated 600 metres above sea level on the slopes of Wales’ highest mountain, Snowdon. From this investigation, she was asked by Bangor University to collect water samples the whole way along the river from the source in the mountains to the sea. This project has now extended and Laura can be found swimming in all 15 of the UK’s National Parks collecting water samples to help us understand the distribution of microplastics in our aquatic environments. She’s even set up ‘We Swim Wild’, an organisation which aims to get swimmers involved in protecting all of our blue spaces.
Yet it is not just swimmers who are tackling conservation and it is not just in the UK that great community driven projects are sprouting. The Surf Conservation Partnership works on a global scale to help surfing communities protect not only incredible surf breaks but biologically diverse marine ecosystems too. We’ve all heard of government designated marine protected areas, but this organisation is creating a network of surf protected areas which, by 2025, aim to protect over one million hectares of coral reef, mangrove and coastal forest from Indonesia to California. With 35 million surfers worldwide, the organisation already has an enormous potential base of volunteers and ocean lovers who can spread their passion for our marine world and help get others on board with our conservation efforts.
Other water sports are playing their part too, with individuals carrying out sponsored paddleboarding trips to raise money for marine charities. For example, a couple of years ago, two friends decided to paddle all 555 kilometres around Mallorca’s coastline, battling shipping channels, headwinds and hostile cliffs to raise funds for a local charity which removes trash and ghost fishing nets from the island’s waters. Green Kayaks is another scheme in Scandinavia which lets people use kayaks for free if they collect a bagful of rubbish on their journey.
As you can see, everyone from swimmers to windsurfers, sailors to freedivers are finding incredible ways to combine their favourite pastimes with positive actions which protect the environments they love. These communities have great power to make a change too with their passion for our watery realms, extensive knowledge of local environments and sheer number of eager individuals. Even those working alone and collecting a few items of litter on their trip outside are making a very real difference to our local species which inhabit these spaces. Humans are known to protect what they love, yet often struggle to care deeply about what we don’t understand and can’t visualise. With more and more people rediscovering their love for our outdoor spaces and immersing themselves in nature, let’s hope that the next big trend is a wave of community-led conservation.
By Neve McCracken-Heywood