John Elkington

Looking for a media partner

Front window Shots Printing press

Across to The Guardian this afternoon, with Sam. To discuss possible partnership on a number of projects we have in mind. Odd to think that I first started writing for The Guardian in 1979 or 1980, when I did a piece for their ‘Finance’ page, commissioned – if memory serves – by Hamish McRae. Then I did a series of articles for sections like ‘Futures’ and ‘Technology’, followed, later, by columns in sections like ‘Lifestyles’ and ‘From the Top’. Haven’t written for them for a while, but it looks as if I will be starting again with their recently relaunched ‘Sustainable Business’ website, where I have joined the Advisory Panel.

Interesting to see the Scott Room, in memory of CP Scott, a famous editor of the paper in its early days. Weirdly, many years ago, we arrived in Lagrasse in the south of France to stay in part of a home that proved to be owned by Richard Scott, who served as Chairman of the Scott Trust. As he greeted us at the door, something about his accent spurred to me to ask whether he knew David Layton, whose family had been involved in founding The Economist, and with whom Max Nicholson and I had co-founded Environmental Data Services (ENDS) in 1978. Turned out that Richard and David has shared a study when at Eton.

Graffiti 1 Graffiti 2 Nicholson Building lift operator’s back and braces Elaine photographing in Nicholson Building Kaleidoscopic Retro story in Nicholson Building Sign in Nicholson Building corridor Yarra River, shadowed and sunlit Waste trap – Ian Kiernan would approve Fish sculpture The s-word is everywhere

Started day with breakfast at Rosati, an Italian restaurant at 95 Flinders Lane, which was delightful. Then we wandered across to the Nicholson Building, which Elaine had been encouraged to visit for arts and crafts activities. Weird place. Reminded me of the buildings in the novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, which I read almost a decade ago on the recommendation of Tim Delfgaauw.

Fascinating to visit the Immigration Museum. Reminded us of just how lucky we are to be able to fly places, rather than having to crash across oceans in steerage. Then we went back to the IMAX theatre later in the day, where we saw two 3D films, Dolphins & Whales, by Jean-Michel Cousteau and narrated by Daryl Hannah, which struck me as worthy but very dated, the voice-over off-puttingly pious. By contrast, the Hubble telescope film made great use of 3D technology – and the voice-over, by Leonardo DiCaprio, was fresh and modern.

Flight to Hong Kong left at 23.50. Finished William Gibson’s Zero History, which I had been reading alongside a couple of other books, and which got better as it went along – and then slept for around seven hours. Hong Kong was cloudy and rainy, but we saw some spectacular views of Chinese mountains in cloud as we headed homewards. I slept another eight hours, and could easily have slept some more.

Picked up the latest Newsweek as we went through Heathrow, to see how they have presented the green company rankings we worked on earlier this year. Am quite impressed with the results, though aware – as I have been arguing throughout the Australian trip – that we need to be much more careful on how benchmarking, rating and ranking are done. This is the theme of recent work by SustainAbility, spotlighted in their latest report, Rate the Raters.

Rhino with gas mask Black swan in Botanical Gardens Alive with bees, nice to see The bells, the bells Melbourne Moon – Elaine heads north

A day of walking around Melbourne, ending with dinner at Pure South, on the Southbank, surrounded by the most delightfully aromatic box hedge. Good to see the original black swan in its appropriate hemisphere in the Botanical Gardens and also interested to walk among the Federation Bells, where you can compose the music that they play.

Temptress Circe awaits at the top of the Ian Potter Gallery escalator John Davis 1 John Davis 2 Child’s finger pointing at John Davis fish John Davis 4 John Davis 5 Haloes searching for heads John Davis 6 Haloes again No halo due, but missed: I shadow John Lennon at 70

Up early to do the second Qantas Foundation Lecture here at the Stamford Plaza Hotel, this time over a 90-minute breakfast. Then, in the afternoon, across to the Melbourne Business School to lead the second CSI workshop on social innovation.

In between, a phenomenal visit to the Ian Potter Gallery and the National Gallery of Victoria, where – among many other delights – we stumbled across the John Davis exhibition, Presence. Had heard of him ages ago, but had never seen his work in this way. Astounding. One title of a series of artwork he did sticks in my mind: ‘Bent on Mayhem’. Fun to see part of the exhibition with a human wave of children – who loved the diversity of the fishlife on display.

Also very taken with Objects by Mari Funaki, who died earlier this year.

Early aircraft aloft in Melbourne Museum Pygmy Blue Whale skeleton Tilting windmills Colt Navy revolver – slightly extruded by lens Polynesian canoes The Moon and me Airborne skeleton My species and other animals Look at me Carved by someone consigned to mental asylum Who’s lunch? One of my favourite exhibits Take 2 Fish and boat Ghosts Bikes Heavier duty bikers

We were issued with identities when entering the Titanic exhibition at the Melbourne Museum today. I turned out to be Wallace Henry Hartley, the bandmaster who – according to survivor accounts – courageously kept the band playing until the moment the waves swept them away. He had already been across the Atlantic 80 times, apparently.  Makes me wonder whether I’m doing the same, speechifying about the risk of icebergs while the collective vessel speeds ever deeper into the ice-field?

As we went through the mock-up for the first-class cabins, The Beautiful Blue Danube was playing, one of my 16 Desert Island Disks. The exhibition, despite the crowding, is one of the best I have been to. You touch a wall of ice that gives a sense of how cold the waters were that night – and the exhibits that most moved me included a pair of children’s marbles, a pair of pince-nez spectacles and a cracked porthole.

One of the unquestioned rogues of the piece (in terms of cutting corners on lifeboat provision and making good his escape when so many others perished) was Bruce Ismay, buried just across the Common from us, in Putney Vale Cemetery. Many years ago, we met one of his descendants (initials DI) in Pembrokeshire, via my godmother Kay, who worked for her. My main memory of her is that she had just finished hand-grinding a telescope lens – a fact that stuck in my mind given that the lookouts on the ship didn’t have binoculars: those had been left behind, it seems, in the rush to put out to sea on that ill-fated voyage.

Melbourne Museum itself is brilliantly laid out and designed, the exhibits a constant source of wonder and new information. Later, we went to see James Cameron’s 3D film, of his Titanic expedition, Ghosts of the Abyss, which was extraordinary, with robot arms extending to inches in front of our nose, even while the full display was seven stories high. Really brought home the horrors of the disaster.