Arctic Island is bound for Poole in Dorset

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Arctic Island is Bound for Poole in Dorset !

An Arctic "island" will be heading the way of Poole in Dorset during the 2012 Olympic year.

The island will be towed the whole length of the south-west's coastline in order to highlight climate change prior to the start of the 2012 Olympics.

It is in fact a portion of "Nowhereisland", a land mass the size of a soccer pitch in the melting ice of a retreating glacier and already included in maps, which was discovered by artist Alex Hartley.

A portion of the island will be taken by barge to Poole in mid-July 2012 after which it will start its 702-mile trip along the coast before ending up in Weymouth for the Olympic sailing events in August.

This project is part of a £500,000 collaboration between Mr Hartley and the Situations programme at the University of the West of England as chosen by Arts Council England and their Cultural Olympiad programme.

It has been created in an attempt to highlight and provoke thought about the most significant global issue of our time, climate change, in the lead up to the Olympics in 2012.