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John Elkington

John Elkington

A world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development.

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CPI is 20 – and I feel like 120

John Elkington · 26 September 2008 · Leave a Comment

Replica bazooka might work just as well Replica bazooka might work just as well

Quite day, starting off with a session with Charmian (Love) at Accenture, then on to Generation Investment Management for lunch at The Fishmonger with David Blood, Colin Le Duc, Peter Knight and Lila Preston, then back to Volans, and then by train to Cambridge for the twentieth anniversary for the Cambridge Programme for Industry, held in King’s College.  Lovely to see people like Tim O’Riordan and Polly Courtice, but my bat’s ears meant that I couldn’t hear people over the sound of the band – and took off home relatively early.  Very much enjoyed reading James Benn’s WWII novel Billy Boyle as I went.  Felt 120 by the time I got home, around 23.30, but finished off the book before falling asleep.

Was once again amazed to see Cambridge cyclists at night with no lights.  There ought to be a law.  People from Volans saw a great deal of blood in the street near the office earlier in the week: it turned out to be from a female cyclist who had been knocked off her bike and killed by a bus.  The number of altercations I have had with buses in that stretch of road, from Tottenham Court Road through to Holborn, is legion.  It is as if bus drivers pass through some sort of personality warp there, ignoring cycle ways and cyclists.  Have often meant to fit a bazooka to my handlebars, but somehow haven’t yet got around to it. 

And, in intemperate old age, I found myself wondering whether , instead of dancing the night away in King’s College, we oughtn’t to have a more open discussion about the industries and technologies we would happily bazooka – or dynamite – to ensure a more sustainable world?

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Introduction

I began this blog with an entry reporting on a visit to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod, on 30 September 2003. The blog element of the website has gone through several iterations since, with much of the older material still available.

Like so many things in my life, blog entries blur the boundaries between the personal and the professional. As explained on this site’s Home Page, the website and the blog are part platform for ongoing projects, part autobiography, and part accountability mechanism.

In addition, my blogs have appeared on many sites such as: Chinadialogue, CSRWire, Fast Company, GreenBiz, Guardian Sustainable Business, and the Harvard Business Review.

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About

John Elkington is a world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development. He is currently Founding Partner and Executive Chairman of Volans, a future-focused business working at the intersection of the sustainability, entrepreneurship and innovation movements.

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john@johnelkington.com  |  +44 203 701 7550 | Twitter: @volansjohn

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