A Cardigan glaciologist has set off on a 17,000km journey from Antarctica to Paris to raise awareness of climate change, before crucial UN talks on the issue this December.

Dr Daniel Price completed his PHD at Gateway Antarctica last year. His studies focused on global research into techniques to monitor the Antarctic sea ice using satellites.

Dan, who went to Cardigan secondary school and was a member of the town's lifeboat crew until 2010, spent the summer planning the project.

He set off from 77 ? South on the McMurdo Ice Shelf last year and is currently cycling through Australia. Dan will then cross Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, China, Central Asia and Europe by bike before he reaches the UN climate congress in Paris this December.

His team mate Erlend Moster Knudsen will run from the Arctic Circle to Paris and the two men will meet at the United Nations 21st Congress of the Parties in December; this is where an agreement on reducing carbon dioxide emissions will be negotiated.

"I have started the journey from the Antarctic to Paris to make the public aware of the importance of this meeting in Paris, but also, to motivate them to engage in the climate story," said Dan.

"We want to hear the public's voice on this. An agreement in Paris will be a signal from the highest level that action must begin now. If a climate deal is not made, we have missed our opportunity for action. This could come at the cost of billions of people all over the world.

"We all need to take responsibility and put pressure on our own leaders now, to ensure that they do the right thing for us in Paris.

"Society needs to shed the idea that climate change is a green or an environmental issue. It is already becoming many people's issue around the world and will eventually become everybody's issue if we fail to act."

For more information on Dan's mission visit http://poletoparis.com or the Pole to Paris Facebook page.