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John Elkington

John Elkington

A world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development.

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Anthropy 2022

John Elkington · 4 November 2022 · 1 Comment

Three extraordinary days in Eden.

Our train to St Austell was lashed by rain, which I found enthralling
Orchard thieves in the bar of the Cornwall Hotel & Spa
Walking down into Eden, starting with the hole I came to see in 1977
Cami and George, our film crew, engage a roul-roul crested partridge
Back-up
Sponsorship
Green Swans in Eden
Anthropy branding
A statement of the spirit of the event
Night settles
Tim Smit’s dinner, where I sat next to people like Emma Bridgewater, Dave Harland and Mariella Frostrup
The morning after
Flagging, in a very different sense
Paul Rose and David Williams in a somewhat blue shot of a thrilling session in the Citrus Zone
Pauline Silverman (who has led SEPA’s Project Leven), Anu(radha) Chugh (CEO, Pukka Herbs), Nick Keppel-Palmer (Co-founder, Good Growth Company) and Louise in one of our sessions
Greenhouses, old and new
Life forms
Another day winds down …
Inside stories
Later that same evening, at our dinner for our panellists and others, Paul Rose and Louise
Day 3 – and it’s time to sum up: John O’Brien and Tim Smit on stage
Louise has found her bag
A final interview in the can
Time to pile into the Georgemobile for the trip back to St Austell station

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.

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  1. John O'Brien says

    5 November 2022 at 9:06 pm

    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

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

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