"Climate Change: What Is Happening?"
Why is the United States out of step with the rest of the world? What should scientists and citizens be doing about it?
Sir Crispin Tickell GCMG KCVO
Biographical Sketch Sir Crispin Tickell is currently the Chancellor of the University of Kent at Canterbury; Chairman of the Climate Institute; Director of the Green College Centre for Environmental Policy and Understanding, University of Oxford; and Chairman of the International Council of Scientific Unions Advisory Committee on the Environment.
A former member of the British Diplomatic Service, Sir Crispin served as the Chef de Cabinet to the President of the European Commission from 1977 to 1981. He then became the British Ambassador to Mexico from 1981-1983. Subsequently he served as the Deputy Under-Secretary of State (Economic) in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 1983-84 and then as Permanent Secretary in the Overseas Development Administration (ODA) from 1984-1987. From 1987 to 1990 Sir Crispin was the British Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Permanent Representative on the UN Security Council while Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush occupied in the White House in succession and Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister of Britain.
After leaving the diplomatic service Sir Crispin has worked within numerous national and international scientific academic and professional organizations. From 1990-1993 he served as the President of the Royal Geographical Society, and from 1990 to 1997 he was the Warden of Green College, Oxford from 1990 to 1997. In addition he was the Convenor of the British Government Panel on Sustainable Development from 1994 to 2000.
Throughout his career Sir Crispin has been involved with the public policy implications of scientific understanding. In January 2000, for example, Sir Crispin was named as a member of a national three person task force organized by the British Government to investigate and propose recommendations on potentially hazardous near earth objects in space. Since its release, the task force's report has received worldwide attention, notably within U.S. astronomy circles. It considers the nature of near earth objects and potential risk levels, the current contributions to international efforts, actions to be taken by the British Government, and the communication of the problem to the public.
Sir Crispin is the author of Climate Change and World Affairs (1977 and 1986), a volume which appeared one year after he had been a visiting Fellow at the Center for International Affairs at Harvard University (1975-76). Written initially long before current greenhouse gases were publicly debated, this study was one of the first studies to underscore the importance of climate issues in the realm of international relations. In addition he has contributed to many other books on environmental issues including human population and biodiversity. In November 2000 prior to the climate conference held in the European city of the Hague, Sir Crispin participated in a special BBC global broadcast on the implications of global warming both in Britain and around the world. [Click here to view an
interview of Sir Crispin Tickell with Alex Kirby of the BBC on the importance of human contributions to climate change.]
Educated at Westminster School (King's Scholar) and Christ Church, Oxford, Sir Crispin received 1st Class Honours in Modern History from Oxford in 1952. Over the course of his career he has received numerous honorary doctorates (honoris causa) of Law, Civil Law and Science from British universities including the University of Sussex, the University of Birmingham the University of Bristol and Exeter University. He has been decorated as a Knight of Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) and a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO).
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