First up, do you have a telescope?
No, but I do love the stars. On our small farm in deepest, darkest Kintyre, the beauty of the night sky can take your breath away.
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As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?
I wanted to be David Attenborough. To see the natural world, explore jungles and dive the oceans.
Explain what you do in one easy paragraph.
I work on climate change. I study how we can cut carbon emissions as fast as possible, especially those from food production and land use.
What do you love most about what you do?
Teaching. Our students are some of the most brilliant and passionate people you鈥檒l ever meet. Working with them on tackling climate change is a privilege I treasure every day.
Sum up your life in a one-sentence elevator pitch鈥�
A climate change scientist who walks his talk 鈥� I am trying to balance my lifetime carbon debt before I die.
What鈥檚 the most exciting thing you鈥檙e working on right now?
I鈥檝e become a novice 鈥�carbon farmer鈥�. Last year, we bought a small sheep farm on the west coast of Scotland and are now busy mapping every tree, bush and soggy field corner. The focus will then be on enhancing species diversity, planting native trees and boosting soil carbon in order to pull a lifetime鈥檚 worth of emissions out of the atmosphere.
Were you good at science at school?
Yes, especially biology. The wonder of how life on Earth functions and evolves has never left me.
If you could send a message back to yourself as a kid, what would you say?
It鈥檒l be OK.
What鈥檚 the best piece of advice anyone ever gave you?
Effort never betrays you.
If you could have a long conversation with any scientist, living or dead, who would it be?
Charles David Keeling. In the 1950s, Keeling was responsible for starting the first continuous measurements of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Today, the Keeling curve is still plotting our collective failure to tackle climate change, and when we finally turn the corner, it will be the Keeling curve that tells us we can open the champagne.
What鈥檚 the best thing you鈥檝e read or seen in the past 12 months?
The 鈥溾�� report from the UK鈥檚 Committee on Climate Change. It will change all our lives, and for a carbon geek like me, it鈥檚 simply brilliant.
鈥淚鈥檝e become a carbon farmer. I am trying to balance my lifetime carbon debt before I die鈥�
Do you have an unusual hobby, and if so, please will you tell us about it?
I keep chickens and I grow veg, which ends up as a weird-looking hobby. The chickens destroy everything, so I鈥檝e had to build cages around my small veg plots. Most weekends, I鈥檓 crouched in the cages tending plants, while the chickens run round the outside trying to get in. It鈥檚 like being trapped in a game of Pac-Man.
How useful will your skills be after the apocalypse?
Not bad. I grow plants, bake bread and brew beer quite well. I鈥檓 guessing we鈥檒l need a lot of beer.
OK, one last thing: tell us something that will blow our minds鈥�
In the time it takes to read this article, humankind will have emitted another 190,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere.
