John Elkington

Muses?

By Eurostar yesterday for an EcoVadis Advisory Board meeting, held in la Maison de l’Amerique Latine.  Put up at the Hotel Bellechasse, which was intriguing — and took a brief walk around the Musee d’Orsay, just behind, before turning in.  Not sure whether the six female figures were Muses or not, but that was the best I could arrive at — though I seem to recall that the Muses numbered anywhere between three and nine, depending who you happened to talk to.

Very interesting EcoVadis session.  Had forgotten I had to do a small keynote over lunch for some 35-40 people drawn from their client universe, but managed to develop my thoughts during the morning.  Then spent an hour or two on a sofa catching up with Jacqueline Aloisi de Larderel, also a member of the EcoVadis Advisory Board and a long-standing  ally when she ran  UNEP’s DTIE  — and now as a colleague at GRI.  

Then, late afternoon, Jacqueline took me by bus to Gare de Lyon for a meeting with Sylvie Lemmet, who now runs the UNEP Division of Trade, Industry and Economics.  A very animated meeting over green tea at Le Train Bleu, with some potentially quite interesting ideas surfacing, after which I took a cab back to Gare du Nord for the Eurostar home.  Trains slow at the moment, because of the repairs after the tunnel fire a while back.  Ordered a cheese baguette for the ride home, only to find that the charming woman had stuffed it full of sliced ham, too.  It ended up in the bin, a crime of several sorts, I’m sure.

Le Train Bleu – without flash

I was picked up from Lisbon airport last night by Cristina Santiago and Liliane Padua, who some years  back formed iZi Palestras, the “first international speakers bureau in Portugal”, and was taken across to the Pestana Palace, a hotel which is also a national monument.  On my way to breakfast this morning, I met Sean Ansett, who I used to know when he was with Gap, and together we peered into the chapel that forms part of the complex.  Something of a Hugh Buchanan (a favourite painter) moment, with shaft of sunlight illuminating furniture.

Then across to the conference centre for an introduction to the event by the Secretary of State for Employment – and my speech, followed by a discussion session.  Then a media interview, followed by lunch with Helena Caiado and others, before Cristina and Liliane took me for a delightful drive and wander around parts of the city.  

Got onto the Airbus 320 late in the day and switched on my BlackBerry to find out what had happened in the Mumbai attacks, to find that an A320 had just crashed in the Mediterranean. Sometimes you can have too much information.

Morning curtain, Pestana Palace Hugh Buchanan moment Golden Gate’s cousin: 25 de Abril Bridge Picturesque, but unpleasant things happened in the Belem Tower, apparently Belem Tower, 2

Age of Discovery: monument to Portugal’s glory days

Discoveries Monument 2 Cristina and Liliane Liliane and Cristina

Alejandro (Litovsky), Geoff (Lye) and I made our way by Eurostar and car across Belgium and Holland – with snow on the ground already – for an ultimately not very successful meeting with DSM, but at least we got to see a solar car along the way.

Nuon 4, 1   Nuon 4, 2, and Geoff

View from my window

Flew via Sao Paulo on Wednesday to Florianopolis, in Santa Catarina State, for the 2008 Eco Power Conference. The other international speakers were Earth Policy Institute President Lester Brown, Fritjof Capra, Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore  and, on cleantech, Ron Pernick.  Asked to do the final keynote, I had come in late and arrived after they had all spoken – but managed to meet up briefly with Lester Brown after his press conference.  Happily, my session seemed to go extremely well.  Inside, huge interest, especially from young people.  Outside, however, the rain scarcely stopped all the time I was there.  

People told me the rain had been crashing down for perhaps two months.  On the last evening, I was filmed for a documentary, ‘Sector 2.5 – The Film’ by some wonderful people – including Maria Fernanda Gayoso.  The rain was still thumping down as I went out to the airport yesterday, Saturday, and the taxi driver kept turning back over his shoulder to express amazement at the sound of the rain drumming on his roof – and the lack of visibility, as he drove along at 85 miles an hour.  I was glad to get out and onto solid ground after aquaplaning much of the way.

Despite the huge umbrellas they gave each of us to walk out the plane, I was splashed up to the waist.  The tarmac was an inch deep in running water – and I steamed gently for much of the trip back to Sao Paulo.  Finished Mrs Lincoln, by Janis Cooke Newman, almost as the plane touched down at Heathrow.  Astounding book, a forensic exploration of grief – and a completely different angle on a president struggling with epochal challenges.  Almost tempted to start it over again.

Meg (right) was my guide to all things Eco Power   Film crew, with Maria Fernanda Gayoso centre row, left   And me The way is illuminated – but either side the rain goes on

An almost blank sheet – and an incentive

Monday and Tuesday of this week were largely spent in a full-team Volans retreat at 2 Bloomsbury Place.  A number of us were either feeling pretty whacked with travel and/or suffering from flu, but with Charmian in the chair we made a great deal of progress.  One development I was particularly pleased with was the unanimous adoption of the Phoenix Economy concept as an organising framework for much of our work, something I have been working on fairly continuously as I have winged around the world in recent weeks.  Ale(jandro) and I also made a good deal of progress on our Pathways to Scale approach and methodology, with some great new thinking on how that can now play out.

Much of the team in main room   Charmian, Ale and Pamela   Macs may be beginning to take over   Pamela and Kevin   Sam’s version of what world looks like to me – with pupils dilated by eye specialist this afternoon   Allen (Tan), Smita and Kevin   Kevin does The Phoenix