• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
John Elkington

John Elkington

A world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development.

  • About
    • Ambassador from the future
  • Past lives
    • Professional
      • Volans
      • SustainAbility
      • CounterCurrent
      • Boards & Advisory Boards
      • Awards & Listings
    • Personal
      • Family
      • Other Influences
      • Education
      • Photography
      • Music
      • Cycling
    • Website
  • Speaking
    • Media
    • Exhibitions
  • Publications
    • Books
    • Reports
    • Articles & Blogs
    • Contributions
    • Tweets
    • Unpublished Writing
  • Journal
  • Contact
  • Show Search
Hide Search

Physic Ventures and Chelsea Physic Garden

John Elkington · 21 May 2010 · Leave a Comment

P1 Amy holds sweet cicely (left) and hemlock (right) P2 Queenie grapfruit P3 Cork trees – and corks P4 Handkerchief tree P5 Sir Hans Sloane P6 Gate – and Green Man, it seems P7 Place tag P8 My Sancerre P9 Detail of Unilever House P10 As I walked back to Bloomsbury

Early on Thursday evening, courtesy of Will Rosenzweig and his team at Physic Ventures, Amy (Birchall) and I made our way across to the Chelsea Physic Garden, by Tube and taxi. Arriving slightly early, we wandered around the paths, where we met the Curator Rosie Atkins, who very kindly took us under her wing and showed us a number of the Garden’s delights. These included the difference between sweet cicely (edible) and hemlock (potentially fatal), a test I passed because we have sweet cicely in our garden; a grapefruit tree called – I think – Queenie, with fruit, that grew from a pip; the glazed containers in which early plant-hunters shipped their finds; and a cork tree festooned with corks. 

Lovely dinner with Physic team and their guests, in glorious evening weather, with occasional views of Sir Hans Sloane, the ‘patron saint’ of Physic Ventures, and of a handkerchief tree. Then, early on Friday morning, across to Unilever House with Amy and Charmian (Love), for a morning conference with the Physic team and people from a number of their partner companies. Fascinating fare. A sense of the landscape of opportunity across which Physic invest can be found here. Among the sustainability-related portfolio companies I found particularly interesting were EnergyHub, Gazelle.com and Novomer. Then back to Bloomsbury for a session with Nick Rowcliffe, Editor-in-Chief of ENDS.

Blog

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

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.

Recent Comments

  • Andi Holley on Hooke Farm, Wonderland
  • Dr Jo Elworthy on What’s The Plural Of Tardis?
  • Carl McCullough on Burning Skies, 1968/9

Journal Archive

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.

Contact

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

John Elkington

Copyright © 2023 John Elkington. All rights reserved. Log in