A former regional press reporter has quit her job at the Press Association to embark on an ambitious 20,000-mile voyage to educate the world about climate change.

Lynn Morris is joining two university friends on the ten-month journey which will circumnavigate the Atlantic Ocean and visit 31 countries and over 40 schools.

The 29-year-old, left, who worked for the Mid Devon Gazette, Dorset Echo and Bournemouth’s Daily Echo before quitting her PA job last month, plans to leave Scotland in a specially-adapted Land Rover to follow the 1.5m contour line around the ocean.

Some environmental experts believe this could be the new Atlantic coastline in 100 years due to rising sea levels, affecting certain countries like Brazil around 300 miles inland due to low land levels.

The scheme, which germinated last August, is called Atlantic Rising and is now established as a charity.

The planned route (below) will take in France, Spain, Africa, then across the ocean to south and central America, before finishing in the USA and Canada.

The route the ‘Atlantic Rising’ group plan to take

Lynn told HTFP: “The idea is to raise awareness about climate change and specifically among young people.

“We’re establishing a network of schools in low-lying communities which we will visit to do workshops, aimed mainly at young teenagers.

“The idea is to get them excited about talking to their peers across the world.”

The trip is being financed through fundraising and bursaries from bodies such as the Royal Geographic Society.

Lynn said she hoped that, rather than the expedition being seen as a one-off, schools would continue the educational work which they initiated.

She added: “I don’t have a job for when I come back but I don’t really feel like I will be leaving journalism as I am hoping to get commissions all the way round.

“We’ve got a blog, will be doing video reports and we’re taking audio recording equipment – all for our website.

“I’m pretty excited about it as it’s an amazing opportunity which I’m not likely to get again.”

Comments

MrNobody (25/06/2009 14:51:18)
Great idea – to highlight the issue of climate change, spend the best part of a year driving around the world in a smelly old 4×4 chugging out fumes!?

John (26/06/2009 13:04:04)
It’s a risk. She might struggle getting a job when she returns.
Still, you only live once I guess. Good luck!

Lynn Morris (07/07/2009 12:42:31)
Thanks for your comment Mr Nobody – I know it does seems strange to be using a 4×4 on a climate change project. It was something we thought a lot about but it just would not be possible to get the places we need to go to in any other vehicle.
We have had the carbon footprint of the entire project calculated – and amazingly it is a third of what we would be producing if we continued living in London. The main difference being we wont we working in an office or living in a house. It seems living under canvas is much more environmentally friendly.