Gaia still wandering

As the Copenhagen climate talks reaches the business end of proceedings, the boss’s daughter is seeing the effects of climate change first hand.

Gaia Vince, daughter of Principal Consultant Ivan Vince, has been travelling the globe for a full year - as of 10th December. Along the way, she's been documenting the effects of climate change on some of the world's poorest communities, blogging about her experiences at Wandering Gaia. We last caught up with Gaia and her travelling companion Nick in May, following their trip to the Ganges in India, so it's just about time for an update.

November saw Gaia and Nick pay a visit to Lake Turkana in Kenya, which, as they observed, is not quite the vast expanse of water it used to be. As Gaia writes, "Drought is becoming more frequent, rains rarer and less reliable, the lake is shrinking, the earth becoming saltier."

For now though, people at the Lake have far more pressing concerns. As well as a child mortality rate that would be unacceptable to the western world, access to the most basic of resources is limited. To get water, the Turkanas must purify it from the lake using a rudimentary distillation system. Those who drink straight from the lake pay the price - many suffer from deformed teeth and bones that are probably a result of the minerals in the water.

Even so, Gaia and Nick saw evidence of the Turkanas' efforts to curb climate change - including solar panels on the roof of a straw hut and solar-powered mobile phones.

In an effort to reduce its own impact on the climate, ASK will not be sending Christmas cards this year and will instead be donating the cost of cards and postage to the Wandering Gaia project. See "Help the Journey" on the right hand side here to make your own donation.

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