Atlantic Rising: A journey around the new coastline of the ocean

Atlantic Rising Photo: Will Lorimer

In 2009 two friends and I set off on a 28,000 mile overland journey through 21 countries around the edge of the Atlantic. The idea was to follow the one metre contour line, predicted to be the new coastline in 2100.

We called our project Atlantic Rising did research into how sea level change was affecting communities on both sides of the ocean. Will Lorimer, Tim Bromfield and I met people on climate change’s front line. We witnessed communities being washed away and met inspirational people doing research into adaptation methods. We met scientists and sceptics, ornithologists in Mauritania, explorers in Venezuela and amost everywhere teachers and teenagers keen to talk about the environment.

We developed a network between schools in low-lying communities. We put students directly in touch with each other through video conferencing over the internet and encouraged them to find out about their own environment and those of other people.

Altantic Rising camping in Western Sahara Photo: Will LorimerThis November, we are doing a talk at the Royal Geographical Society in London about our experiences. Find out how we coped with being kidnapped by rebels in Cote d’Ivoire, survived being shipwrecked in Guinea Bissau and dealt with dengue fever in Venezuela.

We will discuss how climate change is affecting the Atlantic community, show photos from the journey and play audio recordings of students talking about their environments.

The event is at the Royal Geographical Society in Kensington and starts at 6.30pm on November 18^th. Tickets cost £5 on the door and their will be a pay bar and opportunity for discussion afterwards. For more information please visit the Royal Geographical Society’s website.