Tim Flannery

Timothy Fridtjof "Tim" Flannery (born 28 January 1956) is an Australian mammalogist, palaeontologist, environmentalist, Australia's leading conservationist, explorer, and global warming activist. Having discovered more than 30 mammal species (including new species of tree kangaroos), he served as the Chief Commissioner of the Climate Commission, a Federal Government body providing information on climate change to the Australian public. On 23 September 2013, Flannery announced that he would join other sacked commissioners to form the independent Climate Council, that would be funded by the community. Tim Flannery is a professorial fellow at the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, University of Melbourne. Flannery was named Australian of the Year in 2007 and previously, until mid-2013, was a professor at Macquarie University and held the Panasonic Chair in Environmental Sustainability. He is also chairman of the Copenhagen Climate Council, an international climate change awareness group. His sometimes controversial views on shutting down conventional coal-fired power stations for electricity generation in the medium term are frequently cited in the media. 2Background Flannery was raised in a Catholic family in the Melbourne suburb of Sandringham, close to Port Phillip Bay, where he learned to fish and scuba dive and became aware of marine pollution and its effects on living organisms. He completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in English at La Trobe University in 1977, and then took a change of direction to complete a Master of Science degree in Earth Science at Monash University in 1981. He then left Melbourne for Sydney, enjoying its subtropical climate and species diversit