Lynas, Mark 1973-

PERSONAL: Born 1973, in Fiji. Education: University of Edinburgh, degree (first-class honors).

ADDRESSES: Home—Oxford, England. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Flamingo, 77-85 Fulham Palace Rd., Hammersmith, London W6 8JB, England. E-mail—marklynas@zetnet.co.uk.

CAREER: Activist, journalist, broadcast commentator, and author. Worked for One World.net, until 2000.

WRITINGS:

High Tide: The Truth about Our Climate Crisis, Picador (New York, NY), 2004.

Author of articles for Manchester Guardian, London Observer, New Statesman, Granta, and other periodicals.

WORK IN PROGRESS: A book about the future of global warming.

SIDELIGHTS: British activist and journalist Mark Lynas traveled for three years to various parts of the world—from Alaska and Peru to China and Inner Mongolia—to collect information for his first book, High Tide: The Truth about Our Climate Crisis. Lynas traces the abnormal weather changes he believes are occurring rapidly throughout the world. Although he interviews several scientists to give readers a scientific perspective on global warming, his book relies strongly on non-scientific interviews with local inhabitants to emphasize how the phenomenon is already drastically impacting peoples' lives, including Alaskan Eskimos, South Sea islanders, Chinese sheep herders, and British flood victims. For example, the author relates how rising global temperatures have led to a crippling drought affecting China's Yellow River that has caused villages to disappear under advancing sand dunes. The author contends that glaciers are disappearing throughout the globe—for example, Montana's Glacier National Park has lost a hundred glaciers in the last century—and that glacier loss is threatening water supplies to millions of people. He also points to rising tides in the South Pacific that he claims are displacing some island dwellers as proof that global warming is occurring, perhaps much faster than believed. In his final chapter, "Feeling the Heat," Lynas discusses the need for an international agreement to help stop global warming and examines the Kyoto protocol and other issues related to controlling carbon dioxide emissions through enforcement.

Writing a review of High Tide in the Library Journal, Betty Galbraith noted, "For readers on the fence about or new to the global warming issue, Lynas provides a clearly written introduction to its human perspective." New Statesman reviewer Will Self commented that Lynas "aptly demonstrates" that global warming is happening. While noting that the author includes more information about himself and his travels than readers would likely find interesting, Self added of Lynas: "When he confines himself to the environment, he is clear, lucid and informative." A Publishers Weekly contributor pointed out, "In prose that is deeply felt and poignant, if sometimes awkward, Lynas makes no concession to evenhandedness in his assessment of the status quo." Gilbert Taylor concluded in Booklist that High Tide is a "worthwhile supplement to science-heavy treatments of global warming."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

African Business, October, 2004, review of High Tide: The Truth about Our Climate Crisis, p. 65.

Booklist, May 15, 2004, Gilbert Taylor, review of High Tide, p. 1583.

Geographical, October, 2003, Mark Lynas, "Saving the Snow," p. 108; March, 2004, Chris Edwards, review of High Tide, p. 93.

Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 2004, review of High Tide, p. 314.

Library Journal, August, 2004, Betty Galbraith, review of High Tide, p. 115.

New Internationalist, June, 2004, review of High Tide, p. 30.

New Statesman, May 31, 2004, Will Self, review of High Tide, p. 50.

Publishers Weekly, March 8, 2004, review of High Tide, p. 57.

ONLINE

Mark Lynas Home Page, http://www.marklynas.org (December 15, 2004).