Out Spotlight

Today's Out Spotlight has gone green for Earth Day. She is an author, environmental activist and journalist and has campaigned for the government of the United Kingdom to take action to avoid man-made climate change. Today's Out Spotlight is Tamsin Omond.

Tamsin Omond was born November 19, 1984 the grand-daughter of Sir Thomas Lees, a baronet, the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown. A baronetcy is the only hereditary honor which is not a peerage. A baronet is styled "Sir" like a knight, but ranks above all knighthoods except for the Order of the Garter and, in Scotland, the Order of the Thistle.

Having completed her secondary education at Westminster School, she went to study at Trinity College, Cambridge for her undergraduate degree and went on to received Masters in Ecology and Social Justice from the Open University

When she left Trinity she had one ambition - to become the first female Archbishop of Canterbury. After reading a book about climate change she rethought her goal.

One morning she left her church office to go climb the roofs of Parliament to drop banners that read: No Third Runway (at Heathrow Airport). This was the beginning of a new chapter in Osmond's life - to build a radical environmental movement in the UK. Since then ago she has organized (and been arrested for) a number of high profile protests, founded a Suffragette inspired climate action group called Climate Rush and coordinated the recent Save England's Forests campaign.

The first protests she organized against the expansion of London Heathrow Airport got Osmond arrested and May 2008, she said that she would be prepared to be imprisoned for life for her cause. In October 2008, she breached the condition of the terms of her bail by organizing a 500 person "rush" on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. This led to her being re-arrested and threatened with imprisonment due to her breach of bail. Instead she was then bailed with a strengthening of her bail conditions to ban her from going within one kilometer of Parliament. The condition was lifted and she is now free to enter Parliament.

Omond claims that her activism has been inspired by the Suffragettes, who had campaigned using direct action for Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom at the beginning of the 20th Century. An indie documentary has been made about Omond's connection to the campaigning techniques of the women's suffrage movement.

In 2009, she published her first book : "Rush - The Making of a Climate Activist". Omond has written articles about Christianity, climate change and human rights. She has been published in the Church Times, The Ecologist, The Guardian, The Evening Standard and The Mail on Sunday.

In 2009, she was included in the Sunday Times list of "Top 30 Power Players Under-30" and also listed in the Independent on Sunday's 2009 "Pink List", a list of the 101 most influential gay men and women in Britain.

She was included the Daily Mail's list of people to watch in 2010 and again was placed on the Sunday Times's Top 30 Power Players Under-30.

Omond stood in the 2010 General election in the newly created Hampstead and Kilburn constituency and created a new independent party, The Commons. The Commons' goal is to engage young people in voting and promote sustainability in the local area. She received 123 votes about 0.2% of total votes cast.

In 2011, Omond was placed in 3rd place in the Daily Mail's 50 "most powerful posh people in Britain under 30".