Mark Lynas

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Mark Lynas (b. 1973) is a British author, journalist and environmental activist focussed on climate change. He is a contributor to New Statesman, Ecologist, Granta and Geographical magazines, and The Guardian and The Observer newspapers in the UK. He holds a degree in history and politics from the University of Edinburgh. He lives in Oxford, England.

In 2001, Lynas achieved some international notoriety by throwing a pie in the face of Bjørn Lomborg during a public reading from Lomborg's The Skeptical Environmentalist, at a Borders Bookshop in Oxford. The reason for the attack, according to Lynas, was "pies for damn lies", in protest against Lomborg's assessment of the effects of global warming.

In 2004, Lynas' High Tide : The Truth About Our Climate Crisis was published by Macmillan Publishers on its Picador imprint (ISBN 0-312-30365-3):

Lynas vividly describes the physical and human toll our fossil fuel-based culture takes on the planet. ... This could well serve as a primer for budding anti-global-warming activists. - Publishers Weekly
While Lynas includes the requisite barrage of numbers and statistics and notes to support his examples, the real-life stories -- the human and emotional content -- are what make High Tide a compelling and powerful read, albeit profoundly depressing. Clearly the unpleasantness is upon us. - Washington Post

He has also contributed to an eye-opening new book, 'Fragile Earth: Views of a Changing World' published by Collins (0-00-723314-0), which presents dramatic before and after images of some of the natural changes which have happened to the world in recent years, including the Indian Ocean tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, alongside a stark look at the catastrophic effects of mankind's actions on the planet.

And in January 2007, Collins published its Gem Carbon Counter written by Mark Lynas (978-0-00-724812-4). Mark says "You’ve heard of counting carbs. This book is about counting carbon. It’s not the health of your body that is the object of our interest this time, but the health of the planet. Carbon dioxide is the main gas responsible for global warming, and humans are producing 25 billion tonnes of the stuff every year, raising the temperature of the planet to dangerous levels. This book will help you bring down your personal contribution to this rather daunting problem."