John Elkington

Maybe it’s the continuing saga of my eye surgery, with a couple of recent trips to Moorfields, that has me seeing the world in a slightly kaleidoscopic way? But I think it’s more a question of the general acceleration ahead of COP26, opening this week.

While cleaning up my computer desktop ahead of leaving for Glasgow, I came across these images from recent weeks. The Sacha one came through today from Conservation Without Borders, ahead of the ITV documentary this evening on Sacha’s flight, led by Joanna Lumley, filmed before the tragic crash on 18 September.

The next two images link to a presentation I did to senior partners at lawyers Slaughter And May, and then I did another session for lawyers Mission de Reya, this time spotlighting the work of young environmental activists.

The goose reflects the fact that all around the signs of autumn are pressing in. In that spirit, we have had three new windows put into the house, one on each floor, to better insulate, thermally and acoustically.

The last two images are from an evening out we had with the team, at the Conduit Club – the first time we had been there since the move from Mayfair to Covent Garden. A delightful evening.

Among things that have been in my mind recently have been my first air trip, this one to Zürich, to present to bankers Julius Bär, with a frenzy of form-filling before I went; a continuing series of talks (e.g. one for chairs of Deloitte client companies, another involving moderating a panel of CEOs for WBCSD); and thinking about the next book, which suddenly seems to have got itself together after a number of abortive starts.

Delighted to see Green Swans in Deloitte’s new listing of must-read books, alongside some other excellent choices. Details here. I was also asked to nominate a book – and picked Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future. Delighted to see it in the list.

My first TEDx Talk can be found here. There were tech problems that threw me, but the main problem was that the more formulaic my speaking has to be and the more I am coached the edgier I become.

Don’t do this at home. Elaine and I tried eating yew berries – or at least their golden flesh – this afternoon. But we made REALLY sure to spit out the seeds – even one can be fatal, apparently. Delicious, though.

We were visiting a friend from seriously long ago, namely the early 1970s, when we lived together just off Belgrave Square, in Elizabeth Street. Toby Greenbury and his wife Jennifer. Joyous visit and great walk in their wood/arboretum.

Saw lots of birds, but was very taken by what I think was a wood warbler, the first I have knowingly seen.

Almost certainly this will have been the last longish trip for our Volvo V70, which we have had for well over twenty five years.

The new London ULEZ air quality zone means that it would incur tough daily penalties from the end of the month.

But there’s one thing I won’t miss about the car, much as I have loved it. There’s some sort of energy drain somewhere that means the battery runs down fairly quickly. No-one has been able too find out what or where it is, but the RAC has replaced the battery 3-4 times over recent years.

When I gave a TEDx talk in Glasgow last week, I mentioned the car and the fact that the ULEZ development meant that Elaine and I were planning to do without a car for a while, to see how that goes. Having had car for forty five years now, that’s going to be some sort of Rubicon.

I am rather pleased with this text and audio version of my interview with Simon Longstaffe of The Ethics Centre: https://ethics.org.au/john-elkington-on-business-sustainability-and-ethics/. A good capture of how I got there I am – and where I think things may now be headed.