After restoring the name Denali — coined by the Koyukon Athabascan people — to the former Mount McKinley, the highest peak in the United States (6,194 metres), located in the state of Alaska, US president Barack Obama is on a mission in those very "extreme lands" (to quote the title of Jon Krakauer's famous novel) to discover, learn about and recount the lives of the inhabitants who are suffering the worst consequences of global warming. From melting ice to permafrost swallowing up homes and villages.

As he explained in a video before his departure, the aim of the trip is to experience climate change first-hand where its effects are a daily reality. Obama is personally recounting his experience day by day. His updates can be followed on his social media accounts and on what can be described in every respect as a blog: President's Obama trip to Alaska.

The first video capturing his initial impressions has already been posted on the White House YouTube channel, showing Obama describing what he feels as he travels aboard Air Force One, taking his first smartphone photos through the window — not coincidentally, of Mount Denali itself — to the rallying cry of "as long as I'm president, America will lead the world in facing this threat." Climate change, that is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWwPk0gX3YE

As if that were not enough, Obama will be a guest on an exceptional episode of the reality show Running wild with Bear Grylls. An American format in which host Grylls teaches survival techniques to celebrities in, shall we say, challenging situations. In this case, Obama will have the opportunity to speak about what is happening in Alaska as a result of rising temperatures, and will put himself to the test with a number of techniques for surviving "into the wild."

Obama lands in Alaska to show the world climate change