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John Elkington

John Elkington

A world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development.

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The Horse’s Eye View

John Elkington · 18 October 2008 · Leave a Comment

When I cycle to Volans, I pass the Animals in War Memorial by Park Lane.  But until today I hadn’t realised that of the one million horses shipped from Britain to France during WWI, only 62,000 had returned to this country.  Nor had I realised how many of the animals were shipped from the US and Canada when our own stables ran dry.  Those animals that weren’t killed outright tended to end up on the butcher’s block.  All this was brought home by War Horse, which I saw this afternoon with Elaine’s sister, Christine. 

The staging was incredible, with the main backdrop symbolising part of a page torn from an artist’s notebook. I surreptitiously took photos, without using flash, and though they don’t really capture the full measure of the thing, they’ll remind me of a deeply moving experience.  One image that will live on is the centre of the stage spiralling up to show a cross-section of the carnage beneath the surface, like one of those instruments that they push into a Stilton to extract a sample of the cheese.  Here, instead of the blue veins, you could see the bodies of men and horses. 

Outside the National Theatre Outside the National Theatre   Stage 1 Stage 1   Stage 2 Stage 2

  Cutout Cutout   Waterloo sunset Waterloo sunset

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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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