Mekong River
Mekong River, Laos
(Photo : Pixabay)

An anti-environmental columnist has finally accepted the existence of global warming for the first time after seeing the impact for himself. 

Jeremy Clarkson, Britain's well-known TV personality, has made what could be the most significant repeal of his 30-year career after he and his Grand Tour co-stars got stuck in on a dried-up portion of the river in a Southeast Asian country.

As Clarkson and his Grand Tour co-stars tried to sail the Mekong river system from Siem Reap to Vietnam, the TV personality noticed that one lake had shrunk until it was barely knee-deep.

"The irony [was] not lost on me," he told the Sunday Times. "A man who hosted a car program for 30 years [got reduced] to 7 miles per hour by global warming."

He narrated enduring "two days of sheer frustration" as he and his group's boat towed through the river, which eventually turned to a puddle.

"It's the first time that we've ever [agreed to global warming]," Clarkson said. "[The climate crisis] was alarming, genuinely alarming," he continued.

Clarkson, who probably more known than any other for his love of powerful petrol cars, said he had let go of his long-held skepticism and had concluded that, actually, "the climate is changing."

Having experienced what he recognized as the consequences of global warming first hand and just about endured to tell the tale, Clarkson also believed that something needs to be done to solve the climate crisis. 

The former UK's Top Gear host admitted he found the graphic illustration of global warming. Clarkson, however, does not seem to have fully embraced the green campaign he once called "eco-mentalists."

 "But we don't blame [the humanity] for [the climate crisis]," Clarkson said. "We [would] allow Greta [Thunberg to] do that," he added.

Clarkson again took another taunt at the 16-year-old Swedish campaigner in his interview, blaming Thunberg of giving no solutions to the environmental crisis.

"'Ooh, we're all going to die.' Right, [great]. Now go back to school," Clarkson said. "But I genuinely [wish that humans] are working on what on earth to do about it," he continued.

Clarkson had previously used his column in the Sun to call Thunberg a "spoiled brat," following her speech at the United Nation's climate action summit in September.

"I agree with you that the world is [warming] up," Clarkson told Greta in his newspaper column. "You may even be [correct] that [humans] have something to do with [climate crisis] - but science [will] solve the problem eventually," the column added.

According to the Daily Star, Clarkson's global warming awakening is just "the latest leg in the petrolhead's eco journey."

He has also claimed to be carbon-neutral - thanks to the crops and hedgerows planted on his 1,000-acre Oxfordshire farm, and earlier this year took a role in a beach clean-up in Vietnam.

Environmentalists previously 'attacked' Clarkson for his beliefs on climate change

Environmental campaigners previously criticized Clarkson in 2009 because of his views on climate change. He once called the nomads as "urban communists," cyclists as "Lycra Nazis," and people working for transport pressure group Transport 2000 as "ugly."

Clarkson has also lauded naturalist David Bellamy on Top Gear for disputing that human-made warming exists.