A CARDIGAN glaciologist has cycled 17,000km from Antarctica to Paris to raise awareness of climate change, arriving for the crucial UN talks on the issue this month.

Dr Daniel Price went to Cardigan secondary school and was a member of the town's lifeboat crew until 2010.

He completed his PHD at Gateway Antarctica last year, focussing on global research into techniques to monitor the Antarctic sea ice.

Dan, who spent the summer planning the project, set off from 77 ? South on the McMurdo Ice Shelf last year and cycled through Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, China, Central Asia and Europe.

His teammate Dr Erlend Knudsen ran 3,000 from the Arctic Circle to Paris.

The two men met at the United Nations 21st Congress of the Parties on Friday, December 4, where an agreement on reducing carbon dioxide emissions is being negotiated.

Today, Tuesday, the two men spoke at an official Climate Change Conference side event, relating the hundreds of climate stories gathered during their epic journeys.

"I 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.

"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.

"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."