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John Elkington

John Elkington

A world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development.

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Would you like jawbones with your sage tea?

John Elkington · 28 September 2014 · Leave a Comment

Flag often drapes itself around my neck at stern
Flag often drapes itself around my neck at stern
Zodiac zooms back from mooring
Zodiac zooms back from mooring
And nudges gulet around
And nudges gulet around
Sunworld 8 from above
Sunworld 8 from above
Lost in blaze of light on threshold of cistern
Lost in blaze of light on threshold of cistern
Inside the cistern, looking  up at the heavens
Inside the cistern, looking up at the heavens
The outside view
The outside view
Fenced-in satellite dish
Fenced-in satellite dish
Cockerel, doing what they do
Cockerel, doing what they do
Bells
Bells
Sage tea
Sage tea
I may have been a teapot
I may have been a teapot
Paws
Paws
Jaws
Jaws
Ofük pushes off, 1
Ufük pushes off, 1
And camps it up
And camps it up, a little

Morning  sail to Agalimani, one of my favourite places on the journey. En route, the Turkish flag at the stern gently embraces my neck as I ponder the passing wavescape and as the wind changes back and forth.

(But makes me think of the garrotting once practised in the palaces and prisons of  Turkish palaces and prisons alike, with silken cords sometimes used for those of royal blood.)

We walk up through pine forest, with me herding and supporting one or two older members of the group, encouraging them to persevere – because of what waits at the end. The ruins of the ancient settlement of Lydae.

I love cisterns and, though not wildly sophisticated, the one shown here is one of my favourites of all time.

The sage tea, too, was delicious – and the puppy, like pretty much like most animals we had come across, made a bee-line for Mary.

Though we bought some honey from the couple who run the end-of-the-world homestead that was our ultimate destination, I didn’t see the beehives this time, nor the baited dishes full of dead hornets – a predator on honeybees.

An odd combination of the primeval and the bang up-to-date, with modernity signalled by things including a rusty satellite dish corralled within a wooden fence and a photovoltaic array tucked away behind the farmhouse.

The bright side of our new century
The bright side of our new century

 

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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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