Three extraordinary days in Eden.
Through the recent lockdowns, one of the projects I was working on was Anthropy 2022 – which took over the Eden Project site between 2nd and 4th November. Together with David Williams, CEO of Impact International, I had co-chaired the ‘Place Pillar’, one of four.
The other pillars were People, Prosperity and Britain’s place in the world. In the event, it turned out to be an exceptional convening – and, happily, it looks as if it will go into further iterations.
Louise and I were both chairing sessions, but we also took two colleagues: George Hopkins, who has been developing our video content for some time, and Cami Daeninck, a young Canadian who had joined our team a day or two before, after completing her master’s degree at Imperial College London. The idea was to film our panellists, but we soon extended the net.
My main session, on Wednesday afternoon, featured: David Goodhart, five years after the publication of his book The Road to Somewhere; Jane Davidson, former Minister of Education and Environment, Sustainability and Housing in Wales; and David Williams.
Each day we also filmed a short exchange between Louise and I, summarising the events of the day. The four short videos can be found here. We plan to release edited video content in the coming weeks.
Thank you John, David and all your friends, fans and colleagues for accepting the challenge of being a part of something unknown. The images you share bring a smile to my eyes and my only regret was being unable to listen to your sessions, given the challenges of managing and hosting.
When I first envisaged the need for Anthropy, I had no idea that it would eventually lead to our meeting, as a longtime admirer of your pioneering efforts in Sustainability and more.
To have your participation across the final 179 sessions, 400+ speakers and over 16,500 connections facilitated via our App, was truly a privilege.
John O’Brien, @AnthropyFounder