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John Elkington

John Elkington

A world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development.

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In a Washington state

John Elkington · 1 November 2008 · Leave a Comment

Feeling utterly exhausted after flying in to San Francisco a few days back for a session with Physic Ventures – and then heading on up to Seattle for a session yesterday with Microsoft.  I kicked off a special session of the Microsoft US CIO Summit, focusing on green IT.  Today I only briefly ventured out of my hotel In Bellevue to visit the nearby Apple Store, which Chris Guenther (who was with me at Microsoft) had pinpointed for me.  Had scallops when he and I had dinner last night – and have had an attack of food poisoning today. 

Have spent much of the time writing articles for magazines in Brazil and Japan – and being interviewed this morning by the Christian Science Monitor.  Have also been working on slide presentation for Nisan in Japan next week. 

Apart from a brightish period towards sunset this evening, the weather has been pure Seattle, with a good deal of rain, blurring the plate glass windows of my hotel room. My other small problem at the moment is a blurring of vision in my left eye, which I hope is simply just the cataract the doctors told me I am busily developing – but they argue that such things should be left to “ripen” before they are operated on. Makes one acutely aware of just how impoirtant our eyesight is. 

Part of our family here in the Seattle area was afflicted by colour blindness, indeed I am told that one member of the family was the infernally corrupt Schuyler Colfax, who made it to Vice Presient under U.S. grant, a career path which he apparently owed in part to having been disqualified from driving trains by his own colour blindness.  A nice story – and one I must check in a bit more detail one of these days.

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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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