Mark Lynas (born 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.
Lynas' "High Tide: The Truth About Our Climate Crisis" was published in 2004. He has also contributed to a book called "Fragile Earth: Views of a Changing World", which presents 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 bleak look at the effects of mankind's actions on the planet.
"Gem Carbon Counter", which helps people to calculate their own personal carbon emissions and recommends how they can reduce their impact on the atmosphere.
In 2007 he published "Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet", a book detailing the progressive effect of Global Warming in several planetary ecosystems, from 1 degree to 6 degrees and further of average temperature rise of the planet. Special coverage is given to the positive feedback mechanisms that could dramatically accelerate the Climate Change, possibly putting the climate on a runaway path. As a possible end scenario the release of Methane hydrate from the bottom of the oceans could replicate the end-Permian extinction event.
In 2008 National Geographic released a documentary film based on Lynas's book, entitled Six Degrees Could Change the World.
Lynas's book Six Degrees won Royal Society Prize for Science Writing. Previous winners have included Bill Bryson, Stephen J. Gould, Roger Penrose, Stephen Hawking.
*The lecture will be held in English with simultaneous translation into Estonian.