Cutting the Carbon

cuttingthecarbon was set up by Alexis Rowell after he discovered that man-made climate change meant the sea ice at the North Pole was going to disappear in his lifetime. Alexis's first career was as a BBC journalist from 1989 to 1998, mostly reporting on the consequences of the fall of the Berlin Wall. After completing an MBA at INSEAD in 1999, and spending seven years working in business development for technology companies, his concern about climate change led him into politics. From 2006 to 2010 he was a councillor in the London Borough of Camden and Chair of the council's all-party Sustainability Task Force.

In his four years as a local councillor Alexis made environmental issues a core concern of Camden Council. More than 100 recommendations from the Task Force subsequently became council policy and formed the core of its new Sustainability Delivery Plan. He also led the transformation of Camden's Development Control Committee (Planning) such that sustainability became a key concern of planners. In February 2010 Alexis won "Sustainability Councillor of the Year" at the national LGIU Councillor Awards.

Alexis has written a book called "Communities, councils and carbon - what we can do if governments won't". In his spare time he is News Editor of the new Transition Free Press newspaper, he works on food projects with Transition Belsize and is Joint Coordinator of the Camden Climate Action Network (CamdenCAN), an umbrella organisation for Camden's green groups.

Alexis has post-graduate diplomas in journalism from the Centre for Journalism Studies in Cardiff and the Centre de Formation des Journalistes in Paris, an MBA from INSEAD business school in France and an MSc in Food Policy from City University, London.