From an early point in the planning of the 2009 Greenland Expedition, Steve and I decided that our focus should be on educating young minds as to the affects of Climate Change on where we live. The Greenland Icecap is a massive lump of Fresh Water which has been frozen for thousands of years. However now it is melting, slowly but surely. The bleak statistic is that if this Ice Cap were to fully melt the sea level of the whole planet would rise by an incredible SEVEN metres! When Steve and I discussed the affect that this would have locally (the Channel Islands), the way forward for our educational project was clear. We set about getting this message across, and the easiest and most direct way was to get into the classroom, and tell the kids and their teachers the facts.  When people start to realise what this means for the Channel Islands they soon become interested! Imagine L’Ancresse under water at Low Tide,  imagine the front of St Peter Port at High Tide - the sea would be half way up the high street! No more Marks & Spencers!

Hopefully in years to come the children who will become the island leaders will be in a position to try and carry on the work being started now by many organisations and individuals in trying to stop, if not slow down the rate of change in the worlds climate.

In January 2009 Steve and I packed our sledges and spent a week in Guernsey touring around eight schools and speaking to as many children as possible. We had already visited the kids on our own islands (Sark & Alderney) and in the end we spoke to over a thousand children face to face. As well as the environmental message, the kids also got to try on and use some of our specialist kit that we will be taking with us to Greenland.

Above are some photos from our visit to Vale Infants school in Guernsey. The kids were great, the teachers quite mad!