Cape Town - How far would you go to raise awareness for climate change?
A 31-year-old Norwegian woman has embarked on a journey, in aid of raising awareness of climate change.
Teresie Hommersand from Sea Point will be cycling from Cape Town to Norway, because of her passion for the environment.
“It's slightly crazy I know, sometime ago I started looking at my lifestyle and I started to develop a strong passion for the environment,” Hommersand said.
She is extremely excited about her epic low-carbon emission journey.
“I found that flying was my single most pollutive activity. I therefore decided to try to the best of my ability not to fly. This was back in 2012 and I have not flown on an aeroplane since.
"I'm Norwegian by birth, but South Africa has been my home for the last six years. Now that I am moving back to Europe, I am choosing to cycle instead of flying.” Her journey will take her about a year to get to Norway.
“Climate change affects everyone and it will be ongoing, the climate will continue to change and the results will be more severe.” Her trip will be about 17 400km and she will be cycling all the way and will be going through Syria and Iraq to Turkey.
She said she plans to make a significant impact while on the trip.
“I hope firstly that I make it all the way, but I hope I make a positive influence through this.”
She came to Cape Town as a student six years ago and was an intern at the Western Cape provincial government.
“While I was interning I learnt so much about how local government works and what they do for the environment. It was very interesting.”
Hommersand is also busy raising funds for two environmental and health projects. For more info please visit the bicycle project website: http://cape-to-kapp.com/about-the-project/.