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John Elkington

John Elkington

A world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development.

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Brexit Casts Pall Over Ivory Coast

John Elkington · 26 June 2016 · Leave a Comment

My birthday cake at a Nestlé R&D Centre near Yamoussoukro
My birthday cake at a Nestlé R&D Centre near Yamoussoukro

Just back from first trip to Ivory Coast, courtesy of Nestlé, for their seventh Creating Shared Value Forum, this time in Abidjan. Fascinating opportunity to view shared value and sustainability agendas from an African perspective.

Celebrated my birthday near Yamoussoukro on Friday, but was feeling pretty grim about the prospects of Brexit. Something in my bones. Various people argued that the world’s stock exchanges are the best predictors of outcomes, showing me screens of green histograms based on positive ‘Remain’ outcomes then thought very likely, but I confess I was existentially agitated.

And when we deplaned at Paris this morning, en route to London, the catastrophic news thundered through. One of those moments one will always remmed,her, like hearing of JFK’s assassination.

Have been  stunned for much of the time since I got back, using things like the petition for a second referendum (which passed the 3 million signatures mark today, though there are some questions about whether non-UK citizens have also been signing up) as a way of maintaining some sort of forward momentum.

And have also been working since getting back on the report for the Business & Sustainable Development Commission, with Jacqueline (Lim) and Lorraine (Smith). At least that is going well.

The Brexit result is the result of too many factors for simple discussion here, but the split between old and young has been striking. I sent a note to David Grayson this afternoon, recalling the work we did some years back on ageing, politics and sustainability.

One motivating factor in that project was a concern that the greying of populations would shift the centre of gravity towards conservatism, slowing or stalling progress on sustainable development. And it looks as if we have now arrived in exactly that dystopia.

I talked to my mother, Pat, today. She and Tim, now in their mid-90s, both voted for Brexit. I was trying to understand why. Part of the answer is a lack of faith in experts. But I think that’s camouflage. I did a tweet yesterday about the need, if 90-year-olds are to be allowed to vote in future, for the voting age to be lowered to 16. It got a fair few retweets.

Did Boris Johnson have any idea that this might happen? He looked shell-shocked early on, with some media reports suggesting he is frightened of young people’s reactions, as well he should be. Glib politicking has led to a result which is deadly dangerous for younger people, whatever Johnson may say about a glorious future. (Not just in the loss of opportunities, but the likelihood that a weakened UK and EU will be easier to manipulate by malign forces in the wider world.) For Boris, I suspect, the PM’s job would be a toxic chalice for years to come.

In any event, on the upside, here are some images from a fascinating trip to the Ivory Coast – though it is already beginning to feel a lifetime away:

Roof of the conference centre, somewhat geodesic
Roof of the conference centre, somewhat geodesic
View from my bedroom window, with monument topped by sculpture of elephant tusks
View from my bedroom window, with monument topped by sculpture of tusks
Kraisid Tontisirin with Nestlé CEO Paul Bulcke
Kraisid Tontisirin (sadly, his last Council session) with Nestlé CEO Paul Bulcke
Ajay Vashee of the World Farmers' Federation with Nestlé Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe
Ajay Vashee of the World Farmers’ Federation with Nestlé Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe
Prabhu Pingali (who heads the Tata-Cornell Agriculture & Nutrition Initiative) and Venkatesh Mannar of the Micronutrient Initiative at a Nestlé science centre outside Abidjan
Prabhu Pingali (who heads the Tata-Cornell Agriculture & Nutrition Initiative) and Venkatesh Mannar of the Micronutrient Initiative at a Nestlé science centre outside Abidjan
Diagram in the lab, showing structure of aflatoxins
Diagram in the lab, showing structure of aflatoxins
Moving: Peter hugs lab staff
Moving moment: Peter hugs lab staff; Ruth Oniang’o on right
Sack of cocoa beans at a cooperative outside Yamoussoukro
Sack of cocoa beans at a cooperative outside Yamoussoukro
One of the two buses arrives at the cocoa plantation
One of the two buses arrives at a cocoa plantation
Leaf showing very West African colours
Leaf showing what struck me as very West African colours
Ants - two of them got up my trouser leg as I took the photo and bit me painfully on the ankle and shoulder
Ants say Happy Birthday: two of them got up my trouser leg (I hadn’t put on boots) as I took the photo and bit me painfully on the ankle and shoulder
Watched, apparently
Watched, apparently
Cocoa pod - pulp is delicious
Cocoa pod – pulp is delicious
Cocoa pod
Cocoa pod in situ
And another
And another
Chair
Chair in a leafscape
Cocoa farmer talks about his work, "c'est dur"
Cocoa farmer talks about his work, “C’est dur”
Another pair of pods
Another pair of pods, along with cocoa flowers
Ant hill - in the 1960s, I loved the work of Eugene Marais, particularly his book 'The Soul of the White Ant,' about termites
Ant hill – in the 1960s, I loved the work of Eugène Marais, particularly his book ‘The Soul of the White Ant,’ about termites
Flying ants dying on a tent roof above our heads
Flying ants dying on a tent roof above our heads
Mother and chick
Mother and chick on look-out for ants
Village chief with Janet Voûte-Allen
Village chief with Janet Voûte-Allen
Building towards a group photo in front of basilica
Building towards a group photo in front of basilica
The basilica
Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, apparently now the largest ‘church’ in the world
On the way back to the airport
Rob Cameron of SustainAbility, on the way back to the airport
Waiting to fly - cloudscape captures my mood
Waiting to fly – cloudscape captures my mood
Yamoussoukro airport
Yamoussoukro airport
The basilica seen through cloud on flight back to Abidjan
The basilica seen through cloud on flight back to Abidjan
Elephants on side or airport coach. When we had been talking about the EU referendum earlier in the day, I had deflected the discussion by asking Ruth Khasaya Oniang'o to talk about the plight of elephants in Africa. That didn't happen, but people thereafter kept pointing out elephants, whether on the walls of an airport terminal or, here, on the flanks of a coach. Another sad story.
Elephants on side of airport coach waiting to take us to the terminal in Abidjan. When we had been talking about the EU referendum earlier in the day, I had playfully deflected the discussion by asking Ruth Khasaya Oniang’o to talk about the plight of elephants in Africa. That didn’t happen, but people thereafter kept pointing out elephants, whether on the walls of an airport terminal or, here, on the flanks of a coach. Another grim story.

 

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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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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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