I've given talks in some bizarre locations over the years, but my most recent speaking engagement has got to top the list. I've just returned from the Maldives where I was speaking to a small gathering of people on a sandback in the middle of the Indian Ocean.
I had been invited to the Robinson Crusoe-esque Soneva Fushi to speak to their guests about the rapid melt of Arctic ice and its consequences for the wider world. It is frightening to think that these idyllic islands will all but disappear if sea levels were to rise by only a few feet.
En route to the sandbank
I chose to arrive on the sandbank by kayak, in part to burn off some of the incredible food I had been treated to since my arrival on Soneva Fushi, but also to demonstrate just how rapidly the Arctic Ocean is changing. In the future, the only way to reach the North Pole is not going to be by dog sled or manhauling, it will be by paddling through the ice floes, just as Norwegian duo Rune Gjeldnes and Cecilie Skog are attempting this summer. It really is changing that fast.
