Ex-reporter spreads word on global warming crisis

A CULM Valley woman is embarking on a 35,000km expedition through 31 countries to raise awareness of the dangers of global climate change.

Former Gazette reporter Lynn Morris will circumnavigate the Atlantic Ocean by following the 1.5m contour line which some believe will become the new coastline in 100 years.

The 29-year-old from Stapley near Hemyock, will leave Tiree, Scotland, with three friends in a specially-adapted Land Rover at the end of this month for the eastern leg of their epic journey through France, Spain and Africa.

From Accra, Ghana, the team will cross the Atlantic and pass through south and central America and the United States before ending their expedition in Canada next year.

Named Atlantic Rising, the 10-month journey and educational project will include visits to 45 schools where the explorers hope to enlighten children about global warming and create a communication network so they can discuss the consequences with their foreign counterparts.

"We won't be trampling through people's gardens, but we will be taking the route closest to the contour line," said Lynn, who will be accompanied by friends Tim Bromfield, Will Lorimer and Rachel Arkle.

"Obviously, there are lots of predictions about how sea levels will rise, but we don't know exactly how.

"The sea rising 1.5m in the next 100 years is at the more extreme end of the predictions and we are not saying it will definitely happen — but it is a possibility.

"I don't know of any places in the United Kingdom that could be at risk, but towns like Weston-super-Mare and obviously low-lying areas could have a problem.

"We will be going to a number of English speaking schools along the route and the idea is to explain to them what could be lost if this happens.

"It is not just about the land, but also historic buildings and unique eco systems. It could have serious implications."

Lynn said the group's journey would terminate at a Tiree community in Canada that migrated there following the Highland Clearances during the 18th and 19th centuries.

Schools from the 'Atlantic community' — that includes England, Belize, Costa Rica, Mexico and the Sierra Leone — will link up through the website www.rafi.ki using video-conferencing, email and web forums.

Atlantic Rising has won a £10,000 Go Beyond bursary from the Royal Geographical Society and is sponsored by Land Rover, which is supplying a Defender 110.

Lynn said: "The aim is to make problems like rising sea levels more tangible because it is difficult for children in the UK to understand.

"But there are children in Sierra Leone (in west Africa), who may have had to move to a new home after their houses were swept into the sea by floods, can talk to those in the UK about how important it is."

For further information visit www.atlanticrising.org.