THE LIFE CYCLE — Discovering Biodiversity the Hard Way 8000 Miles in the Andes by Bamboo Bike

Kate Rawles

RIGHTS SOLD: UK and Commonwealth English Language/Icon Books

RIGHTS AVAILABLE: North America, Translation, Film/TV and all other rights handled by the bks Agency

The travel story involves a solo woman on an 8,000 mile journey through South America, a bike made of bamboo and a lot of mountains. The issue is biodiversity loss. Populations of wild animals have plummeted by 60% in less than the author’s lifetime. Across the world, we are losing species at such a rate it has been called ‘The Sixth Great Extinction’, caused for the first time in earth’s history by a resident species – us. This is a tragedy for many of our much loved ‘charismatic megafauna’ such as the jaguar, Andean condor, spectacled bear and numerous others on the endangered species list. Start thinking about smaller creatures and it becomes clear that biodiversity loss is a tragedy with potentially catastrophic consequences.

The Life Cycle has twin aims: to tell a cracking good travel story, and to leave the reader with an enhanced understanding of biodiversity - the astonishing variety of life on earth - and why its future concerns us all. It joins the genre of travel writing that explores an issue or topic in addition to, though often by virtue of, the lands and people the traveller encounters, and her adventures on the road.

Kate Rawles is a former university lecturer who is passionate about using adventurous journeys to help raise awareness and inspire action on our major environmental challenges. Her first book, The Carbon Cycle; Crossing the Great Divide, was based on a bike ride from Texas to Alaska, following the spine of the Rockies and exploring climate change in two of the most oil-intensive countries on earth. Kate lives in Cumbria and is a keen hill-walker and sea kayaker – preferably around remote, wildlife-rich Scottish islands – as well as a cyclist and bookworm. She’s a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a member of the Adventure Syndicate. The Carbon Cycle was shortlisted for the Banff Mountain Festival Adventure Travel Book Award, 2013. Kate is on Twitter and Instagram as @CarbonCycleKate and while travelling she blogs occasionally at www.outdoorphilosophy.co.uk