AN ACTIVIST and photographer has launched a picture-led campaign to help raise awareness of climate change and coastal submersion.

Lauren Darn is a 23-year-old graduate from the University of Leeds who has founded SubmergedUK, which uses Lauren’s own photographs to highlight risks of rising sea levels.

Lauren’s campaign is based upon the Surging Seas Risk Zone Map from Climate Central, which locate towns and cities which are most likely to be submerged by rising sea levels of 29 feet.

This is the amount which has been predicted to occur if there is a four degree rise in global warming from existing levels.

SubmergedUK uses lighthearted images by Lauren, including ones shot in Maldon, to encourage collective action against climate change.

The risk zone map highlights that areas of the Dengie, Burnham and Maldon coastlines could be at risk of being submerged in the near future if global temperatures continue to rise.

Lauren created a set of photographs which depict the predicted flooding of various UK cities and towns, including one of three female gymnasts on a tightrope, set in Maldon in 2194, to highlight the risks the town faces from being submerged in years to come.

Lauren said: “To most of us in the UK, climate change still seems to be temporally and geographically distant.

“Polar bears, ice sheets and environmental refugees seem so very unrelated to our day to day lives.

“The truth is, millions of people currently live on land at risk from coastal flooding and as polar ice caps continue to melt, coastlines will be submerged on every continent.

“Humans are now the dominant cause of sea level rise, and it is more important than ever that we adopt sustainable lifestyles.

“I want to remind people that we all have enormous power to change the world if we, as billions of individuals, work together towards a common goal.

“Engage in climate action and don’t be afraid to tell everyone. In one lifetime any person can steer the whole course of the earth's future, simply by caring enough to spread the word.”

Visit www.submergeduk.com.