Ian Christie, a trustee of the Foundation for Democracy and Sustainable Development, is an associate of the UK environmental policy think tank Green Alliance and a Visiting Professor at the Centre for Environmental Strategy, University of Surrey. He is a researcher, advisor, teacher and writer on environmental policy and sustainability and has experience of politics and policymaking for sustainable development at local and national levels in the UK. Ian was joint head of Environment, Economy and Sustainability at Surrey County Council, one of the largest local authorities in England, in 2003-2006; and in 2006-2008 he was a part-time policy advisor to Ministers and Officials in the Department for Communities and Local Government in Whitehall, working on climate policy, sustainable housing and planning. He is co-author (with Diane Warburton) of From Here to Sustainability: politics in the real world (Earthscan, 2001) for the Real World Coalition of NGOs.