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John Elkington

John Elkington

A world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development.

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Jubilee Marsh, Wallasea

John Elkington · 7 September 2023 · Leave a Comment

We are briefed by Rachel on what lies ahead
Lizzie explains RSPB’s strategy
March around the marsh begins
Lagoon
Beyond the embankments
Finding our way
Let’s give nature a home
Richard and Josh paying attention
Islets, featuring geese
Tom, Josie and Mark survey the scene
Josie directs
The haunt of samphire
Bridged
Only animals, staff and us
Cami trails the flock
Smoke from an oil fire gradually embraces our horizons, both sides
Eyeing the route home
Richard, Louise and Stirling digest lessons
Spotted as we wait to leave by taxi – will all this one day be under water?

Serendipity can work in mysterious ways. Some years ago Elaine showed me a media report on Jubilee Marsh, near Southend-on-Sea, where 3 million tonnes of spoil from the Elizabeth Line tunnelling project had been used to reinforce and extend a saltmarsh. I made a mental note to visit it someday.

Then, today, the Volans team took the train to Rochford, Essex, to visit the self-same marsh. I only realised last night that where we were headed and where I had wanted to head several years ago were one and the same place.

We were hosted and guided around the site by RSPB team members, Lizze and Rachel. The visit followed an event that Volans organised at Somerset House some time ago, where residents were invited to imagine the local ecosystem as some sort of salt marsh. And there were also interesting links to our infrastructure and tunnelling conversations with at least one client.

What a joy it was to breathe the open air, to watch egrets and flights of golden plover, and taste marsh samphire as we progressed around the site. At one point, our guide wondered aloud what the marsh would become when sea level rise inundates much of the region.

An excellent account of the background story by Robin McKee can be found here.

One thing we discussed with our taxi drivers there and back was how the area around Southend-on-Sea became an overspill area for Greater London after WW2. As we arrived in – and drove through – Rochford, you could see the changed development patterns very clearly.

One thing we didn’t discuss though, was the wave of school closures in the wake of growing concern about RAAC, or reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, used in a huge number of buildings at the time. It now turns out that Essex has more such buildings than anywhere else in the country. I wondered whether our alma mater, The University of Essex, was affected by the crumbling concrete syndrome, but apparently not.

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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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