Sam Branson

Opening Sentence: ‘…In the spring of 2007 Will Steger, a renowned arctic explorer, asked my dad and me if we would like to join his Global Warming 101 Expedition to the Arctic to highlight climate change.…’

So opens Sam Branson’s diary. Sam is the twenty something year old son of billionaire Virgin magnate, Sir Richard Branson. The two of them were invited to take part in the whole 4 month expedition – but instead opted for the last leg. When the trip was over, Sam showed his dad show more his diary and as dad owns a publishing company – the result is this book. That is not to say that the book is not worth publishing, it is, and it is a quick and easy read. Sam has put the ‘heavy stuff’ at the back of the book, and it is very interesting reading. It is a good narration of an adventure in the arctic – it is not so much an in-depth lesson on the effects of global warning as it portrays.

The reader joins Sam on a voyage of discovery, how igloos are made, how to run a dog sled, and are there really thousands of Inuit words for snow. And he does record some of the changes that are occurring in Inuit life due to global warming, but it is not in your face, more a mention in passing. Like a photo of a glacier showing how high it was 50 years ago compared to how it is now. There is mention of the lengthening ‘warm’ season resulting in some of the native animals struggling to survive, and an influx of warmer climate species.

Sam joins the expedition at Clyde River on Baffin Island where he receives a crash course in Arctic survival. His father arrives a few days later and then they set off on the last scheduled leg. Dangers abound – thin ice collapsing under a sled, a mass evacuation of tents in the middle of the night as a polar bear wanders into the camp site. Richard Branson only stays a week – a prior injury and a grand opening requires him to evacuate – but Sam stays until they reach the final destination.

As a young person he does mention about how the global warming is affecting the young Inuits. How they live between rapidly changing traditional ways and the modern world and seem to be losing their identity. Sam may be the heir to his father’s empire – but he is coming over as a caring person. He returned to the Arctic the following year as part of the Ellesmere Island Expedition Team

There is a National Geographic documentary of the expedition available as well. show less