Tamsin Omond (born 19 November 1984) is a British author,

environmental activist The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement), also including conservation and green politics, is a diverse philosophical, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues. Environmentalists advoc ...

and journalist. They have campaigned for the government of the United Kingdom to take action to avoid

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

Early life and education

Tamsin Omond was born on 19 November 1984. They were educated at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

and

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. They went on to complete a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in ecology and social justice with the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

Climate activism

In 2009, Omond's book ''Rush – The Making of a Climate Activist'' was published. In 2009 Omond was placed in the ''Sunday Times'''s Top 30 Power Players Under-30. They were also placed in 56th place in the ''Independent on Sundays 2009 "Pink List", a list of the 101 most influential gay men and women in Britain. In 2010, they created a political party called The Commons which planned to engage young people in voting and promote sustainability in the local area. It was praised by the journalist

Giles Coren Giles Robin Patrick Coren (born 29 July 1969) is a British columnist, food writer, and television and radio presenter. He has been a restaurant critic for ''The Times'' newspaper since 2002, and was named Food and Drink Writer of the Year at the ...

. They received 0.2% of the vote. Omond originally campaigned as a member of the activist group

Plane Stupid Plane Stupid is a UK-focused group of environmental protesters who state their aim as wanting to see an end to airport expansion for what it sees as "unnecessary and unsustainable" flights. It is a loose association of autonomous regional gro ...

, although the group said in 2012 that Omond had stopped working with them. They are a founding member of the activist group

Climate Rush Climate Rush is a UK organisation that campaigns on various environmental issues related to climate change. Their website states that, "We are a diverse group of women and men who are determined to raise awareness of the biggest threat facing ...

. They have organised a number of high-profile protests, including scaling the roof of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

to protest against aviation, for which they were arrested and bailed on the condition that they did not enter Parliament. In October 2008, they breached this condition by organising a 500-person "rush" on the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

.The Telegraph 14 October 200
Cambridge graduate banned from Palace of Westminster
/ref> This led to them being re-arrested and threatened with imprisonment due to their breach of bail. Instead they were then bailed with a strengthening of their bail conditions to ban them from going within one kilometre of Parliament. Omond has also organised protests against the

expansion of London Heathrow Airport The expansion of Heathrow Airport is a series of proposals to add to the runways at Heathrow Airport, London's busiest airport beyond its two long runways which are intensively used to serve four terminals and a large cargo operation. The plans ...

. Omond has said that their activism has been inspired by the

Suffragettes A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...

, who had campaigned using

direct action Direct action originated as a political activist term for economic and political acts in which the actors use their power (e.g. economic or physical) to directly reach certain goals of interest, in contrast to those actions that appeal to oth ...

for

Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom A movement to fight for women's right to vote in the United Kingdom finally succeeded through acts of Parliament in 1918 and 1928. It became a national movement in the Victorian era. Women were not explicitly banned from voting in Great Britai ...

at the beginning of the 20th century. An independent film has been made about Omond's connection to the campaigning techniques of the

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

movement. Omond dressed as a suffragette for an anti-car protest targeting

Jeremy Clarkson Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson (born 11 April 1960) is an English broadcaster, journalist, game show host and writer who specialises in Driving, motoring. He is best known for the motoring programmes ''Top Gear (2002 TV series), Top Gear'' an ...

. They were a founding member and activist in the climate protest movement

Extinction Rebellion Extinction Rebellion (abbreviated as XR) is a global environmental movement, with the stated aim of using nonviolent civil disobedience to compel government action to avoid tipping points in the climate system, biodiversity loss, and the risk o ...

. In that capacity, they spoke at the

Port Eliot Festival The Port Eliot Lit Fest is an annual celebration of all things literary taking place at Port Eliot in Cornwall, in the United Kingdom. It was founded by the late Jago Eliot. Guests who have attended the festival in past years are Hanif Kureishi, ...

in 2019 about the group's campaign for people to not buy any new clothes for a year. In 2021, Omond's second book ''Do Earth - Healing Strategies for Humankind'' was published.

Green Party

Omond later joined the

Green Party of England and Wales The Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW; cy, Plaid Werdd Cymru a Lloegr, kw, Party Gwer Pow an Sowson ha Kembra, often simply the Green Party or Greens) is a green, left-wing political party in England and Wales. Since October 2021, Carla ...

. In the 2015 general election, they were the party's candidate for

East Ham East Ham is a district of the London Borough of Newham, England, 8 miles (12.8 km) east of Charing Cross. East Ham is identified in the London Plan as a Major Centre. The population is 76,186. It was originally part of the Becontree Hun ...

, where they received 2.5% of the vote, finishing fourth. Omond ran as a candidate on a joint platform with

Amelia Womack Amelia Helen Womack (born 12 January 1985) is a British Green Party of England and Wales politician. She served as the party's Deputy Leader from 2014 to 2022. She is a co-chair of the People's Assembly Against Austerity and co-founded Another ...

to be co-leader of the

in the

2021 Green Party of England and Wales leadership election The 2021 Green Party of England and Wales leadership election was held from August to September 2021 to select a new leader or leaders of the Green Party of England and Wales. It was triggered by Jonathan Bartley's announcement on 5 July 2021 t ...

. Omond's candidacy is believed to be the first time a non-binary person has stood for the leadership of a national party. Omond and Womack said that their joint candidacy "was aimed at getting more young people involved in the party" and offering "young intersectional feminist leadership". The election was in the event won by

Carla Denyer Carla Suzanne Denyer (born 1985) is a British politician who has served as co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales since 2021. She has been a city councillor in Bristol since 2015 (initially for Clifton East ward, and since the 2016 ...

and

Adrian Ramsay Adrian Philip Ramsay (born 1981) is a British politician and co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales alongside Carla Denyer. He was previously the deputy leader of the Green Party of England and Wales from 2008 to 2012. He served as ...

. On 1 March 2022, Omond announced that they had left the Green Party of England and Wales, criticising party processes such as conference being "used by terfs as tools to exclude and humiliate

trans Trans- is a Latin prefix meaning "across", "beyond", or "on the other side of". Used alone, trans may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Trans (festival), a former festival in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom * ''Trans'' (film ...

people." In late January 2022 they had tweeted about "a mid term plan" to move to Glasgow with their partner and join the

Scottish Greens The Scottish Greens (also known as the Scottish Green Party; gd, Pàrtaidh Uaine na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Green Pairtie) are a green political party in Scotland. The party has seven MSPs in the Scottish Parliament as of May 2021. As of the 20 ...

. On 2 March 2022, they tweeted a screenshot showing that they had joined the Scottish Greens, saying that they were glad for the party's "trans inclusive actions" and that they could be in "the arms of a party that listens to marginalised people and takes inclusion seriously" and that they planned to move to Glasgow the following year (2023).

Personal life

Omond is trans and

non-binary Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typically ...

, and uses they/them pronouns. They previously worked as head of global campaigns at the cosmetic company Lush.

Bibliography

* *

References

External links

Tamsin Omond's official websiteTamsin Omond
on ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''
Tamsin Omond
on ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Omond, Tamsin 1984 births Living people 21st-century British writers Alumni of the Open University Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Climate activists English environmentalists Extinction Rebellion Green Party of England and Wales people The Guardian people English LGBT politicians Non-binary activists Non-binary writers People educated at Westminster School, London Transgender non-binary people