Extinction Rebellion (XR) have been making considerable ripples today, among other things having shut down Waterloo Bridge – just outside our Somerset House offices. I went down to talk to some of the protestors this morning, after a fantastic meeting with the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency – and was blown away by their mild manners and gentility. Loved seeing children doing chalk pictures on what would normally be a very busy London thoroughfare.
No great surprise to hear that some folk, accidentally or not, have smashed a door at Shell’s HQ building on the South Bank – doors I often went through in the 1990s. Not ideal. But the truth is that the oil industry has strung out this game for too long – in a strategic process that Alex Steffen calls “predatory delay”.
Very impressed by the cover story in this weekend’s Financial Times Magazine, titled ‘Survival Tactics’. It’s behind a pay wall, but if you haven’t yet read the piece, I strongly recommend it. As the Wikipedia entry for XR notes, we must all now move well beyond our comfort zones.
I liked – and was very impressed – by XR co-founder Gail Bradbrook when she came into Volans a few weeks ago. Our missions are closely aligned – and we are looking into how we might help them build bridges, rather than blocking them, to the business world.
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