Atlantic Rising is a three person expedition tracing what could be the new coastline of the Atlantic ocean in 100 years.
The idea behind our journey - circumnavigating the ocean along the 1m contour line - is to discover what could be lost if the predictions come true and sea levels continue to rise.
It will take a year to travel 32,000km through 31 countries. We will cover almost every terrain imaginable from the Sahara desert to the Amazon rainforest.
Tim Bromfield, Will Lorimer and I will be visiting historic landmarks, unique farming communities and a host of experts and communities all dealing with the rising tide. We hope by writing about the places we visit and the people we meet we can raise highlight the immediacy of the problem for people living around the ocean.
Along the way we are connecting English speaking secondary schools in low-lying communities around the ocean’s rim in a unique environmental network and launching school projects that will enable them to work together.
We have already visited 11 schools in Scotland, England and Wales and the most common question students asked is ‘why should I care about climate change?’. We hope by putting these children in touch with their peers who have very real experiences of climate change this question will be answered. And once they have made friendships across the ocean they will not just understand the issues but care enough to act.
It is slightly daunting to think in just less than a week we will be boarding the ferry for France. I think we are all a bit nervous and worried we will have forgotten something crucial but mostly excited to get started.
We leave from Poole on September 1st and will be spending our first night under canvas near Mont Saint-Michel. The area has a particularly large tidal range so is likely to be especially affected by any rise in sea level.
You can find out more about our project at www.atlanticrising.org and our blog will be appear on this website over the course of the expedition.
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