John Elkington

I can think of few people who have caused me more grief in life than Craig Ray, of Origin Creative. He was webmaster of this website for some years, then headed off to New Zealand (which is fine) and either had an emotional or professional breakdown (I’m being charitable here). In either case, if you are thinking of working with him, don’t come to me for a recommendation.

One result of his effectively dumping this site late in 2013 is that all the photographs since the beginning have been degraded in quality. That’s the downside. The upside is that from this point forward not only do we have a revamped website, with huge thanks to Geoff Kendall, Sam Lakha  and Chris Wash for making that happen, but also the images from now on should look as we intend them to look.

Elaine, Hania, Jake (Lushington) and I flew to Toronto a few days back for Gaia’s wedding to Paul Eros. Some felt that her having one god’s name was enough, but two seems the perfect balance. In the interest of brevity and catching up with this blog stream, I will simply run a number of photographs of  the festivities, to give a sense of what made it one of the absolute highlights of my life to date. But one of the unforgettable moments was seeing beaver dams for the first time, another catching up with Doug and Margot Miller (he of GlobeScan). The ultimate joy, though, was seeing Gaia and Paul so happy in each other’s company.

A vase in a Tweed storefront, speaking of God, seen here backwards

Tweed, according to urban myth, is where Elvis retied, when he didn’t die

They deliver everywhere, anyhow

Tweed flooding 1

Tweed flood 2 

Margot (Miller) arrives

Paul and Gaia ahead of the wedding

The wedding over, the bride and groom prepare to depart

Hania back at the (B&B) ranch

Elaine and Doug (Miller) up at Bon Echo lake

Lakeside trees

Doug, Jake and Hania, lakeside

Lake ice

Spring is coming 

Elaine and I went along early this morning to hear James (Jim) Lovelock launch the new exhibition at the Science Museum on the science of Gaia. Great to see John Gilbert and many other good friends in the field, and wonderful that Jim name-checked both John and I in his remarks. Got so caught up in conversations that I didn’t see as much of the exhibition as I had wanted, so high priority to go back.

 Lovelock welcomes world to Gaia exhibition

Great day, talking and walking around Barnes, with Peter Byck. If you haven’t seen his short film Soil Carbon Cowboys, it’s highly recommended. I love the way he engages right-wing people in their own terms, but on our issues. Earlier this week, Volans partnered with Soil Capital, A Very Good Company, Savory Institute and Net Impact London, as part of our Breakthrough Capitalism program, to bring to London a unique event exploring how business leaders and farmers can lead a paradigm shift towards more sustainable agriculture. Peter was one of the speakers.

Peter Byck at the Barnes Wetland Centre, seeming to have a crush on otters

The inadequacy of current agroindustrial systems to address food security issues has become increasingly clear. Regenerative agriculture has emerged in this context to regroup a number of farming practices that increase the natural fertility of the land instead of depleting it. This type of agriculture relies more on the knowledge and experience of land managers than conventional agriculture, which depends more on petrochemical inputs. A number of individuals stand out as experts in their own fields, with solid track records in realising value for their farm and communities through regenerative agriculture.

I chaired a panel session including the following speakers:

• Daniela Howell, Savory Institute (USA)
• Dr Dwayne Beck, Dakota Lakes Research Farm (USA)
• Stephen Briggs, Abacus Organic (UK)
• Dr Ademir Calegari, Paraná Agronomic Institute (Brazil)
• Perrine Hervé-Gruyer, Bec-Hellouin Permacultural farm (France)

The evening, hosted by Deloitte, was great fun, and I met a host of people from very different necks of the woods. This is a subject I haven’t been involved in for around three decades, but it’s one I see as critically important, and would love to do more on.

I spoke at a PE International conference on the theme of ‘From Sustainability Compliance to Breakthrough’ in Stuttgart today, in an extraordinary structure that used to be used for displaying horses. The presentation was filmed and can be viewed here.

Interviewed on stage by PE’s Chief Sustainability Strategist, Jim Fava

A coelacanth attends the reception in the evening