giles jackson  
 


Like others in my family, I was strongly influenced by my grandfather, Jack Jackson, who was for many years a disc jockey for the BBC Light Programme. At a time when broadcasting was rather dull and predictable, he pioneered techniques such as lightning cutting between comedy extracts and music. My hunch is that these same zany techniques can be used to illuminate issues such as global warming. Humour is definitely undervalued, as Julian Gough says in this essay:

http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=9276

I began to study environmental policy 15 years ago (doctoral dissertation a critique of World Bank policy). I spent 5 years in the wind energy business and among other things, I'm currently writing MBA case studies on sustainable business for publication by the University of Virginia Press.

I'm passionate about global warming for personal as well as professional reasons. Tragically, my sister-in-law lost her infant daughter during the blistering summer of 2003, when an estimated 30,000 Europeans lost their lives.

I know some people are still questioning whether it's all man-made. However I don't think people like James Hansen are out to make money. He stuck his neck out long before this went centre stage. Here's the link - scholarly article at bottom. This clinched it for me.

http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/news/20070530/