After working as a film script reader in Los Angeles, an aid worker in Uganda, and a research assistant and junior journalist working on human rights and the arming of Iraq by foreign powers and other matters, he became co-ordinator of the Green College Centre[1] at Oxford University from 1992 to 1994, which focused on climate change and other environmental issues.
From 1996 to 2002 he wrote on topics such as energy, science, environment and human rights for The Financial Times, The Independent, New Scientist, The Ecologist, Environmental Finance, Green Futures and other newspapers, magazines, and broadcast media.
[5] His Book of Barely Imagined Beings: A 21st Century Bestiary [6] received the Roger Deakin Award from the Society of Authors in 2009 and the Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Award in 2010 while it was a work in progress, and was published by Granta Books in October 2012 and by University of Chicago Press in April 2013 (ISBN 978-0-226-04470-5).
Editions have been published in Chinese, Estonian, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Russian, Spanish and Turkish.
Editions are forthcoming from other publishers in Arabic, Chinese, French, Italian, Korean, Spanish and Turkish.