Professor Colin Butler is based at the Faculty of Health, University of Canberra. He is a medical graduate (University of Newcastle) with postgraduate qualifications in epidemiology (London) and population health (Australian National University). His interest in population and environment dates from his experiences in Nigeria as a student in 1985; he worked in areas that were then peaceful but are now frequently scenes of atrocity. In 1989, Colin and his late wife, Susan, co-founded the NGO BODHI (Benevolent Organisation for Development, Health & Insight). In 2014, he co-founded Health-Earth. Colin has published widely, including on health, population, sustainability, conflict and justice. In 2009, he was named one of ‘100 doctors for the planet’ by the French Environmental Health Association. Colin edited ‘Climate change and global health’ (CABI, 2014) and is senior editor of ‘Health of people, places and planet. Reflections based on Tony McMichael’s four decades of contribution to epidemiological understanding’ (ANU Press).