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Zappeion Chairs Wayne Visser discusses BP disaster Angel in the bushes … … as Wayne interviews me Front cover picture (detail) of EuroCharity Yearbook 2007, post-fires

Just back from Athens, where was a speaker at the CSR 2.0: CEO & CSR Money Conference held in the Zappeion building. Arrived late yesterday at the Royal Olympic Hotel and was very struck by the view of a Roman temple from my bedroom window. Had meant to have breakfast on the roof terrace, overlooking the Acropolis, but had to get my suit pressed this morning – and decided I couldn’t trudge around the hotel in a dressing gown.

Last night, had a nice drink by the hotel pool with Peter Michel Heilmann (President) and Michael Spanos (Managing Partner) of EuroCharity, to discuss the conference, their work and possible joint projects. They gave me copies of the EuroCharity Yearbooks for 2007 and 2008, the first of which features a beautiful – but dreadful – image on its cover, of a statue that survived the devastating fires that swept across Greece in 2006. Arson was at the root of many of the fires, spurred by a desire to develop – though anyone who looks at the Greek landscape today and knows what it was like in classical times must wonder what these particular Greeks imagine anyone will come to see in the future. Logging, goats and fires have put paid to much of what made the country liveable in the pre-oil (and air-conditioning) era.

Interesting conference, focusing on transparency, accountability, reporting and the impact of social media. Though slightly weird to see other people using images I developed at SustainAbility and/or Volans in their presentations, with no referencing or credit. Met a number of people I want to follow up with – and, despite the landscape trends, was reminded of just how much I like this part of the world.

It is now exactly 40 years since I was last in Athens, when Elaine, four friends and I took my family’s Land-Rover around the mainland and islands for a couple of months. Then the Colonels were in everyone’s minds, today it’s the financial collapse. In my speech, I spotlighted the role that corruption has played in this latest tragedy – and suggested that the addresses of the developers who exploit future fires should be published on the Internet.

Finished Ben Macintyre’s wonderfully engaging book Operation Mincemeat on the flight from Amsterdam to Athens, and got a hundred pages into Robert McCrum’s Globish (the story of how English became the world’s language) on the flight back today. Always slightly suspicious, though, when I read a book on a subject which at least one author has written brilliantly on before – in this case Bill Bryson, in his stunning Mother Tongue – and there is no mention of that earlier work. May be nothing in it.

Kasteel Marquette 1 Kasteel Marquette 2 Jeroo at Kasteel Marquette Princess Maxima kicks off Partial view of mobile home park from conference room window Child finance visuals Sunset Unusual windbreak, made of 45s, LPs and CDs Trainers in Haarlem Audrey (Tan) and Min Xuan (Lee) Yellow car 1 (Tintin and Captain Haddock) Yellow car 2 Statue of L.J. Coster, inventor of movable type Roofline The most basic form of art known to humanity Self-portrait

Arrived at Schiphol on Sunday afternoon – and took the train across to Zandvoort. Drizzling when I arrived – and that later turned to rain, which persisted for much of the time I was there. Was taking part in the first international meeting of what is billed as the ‘ChildFinance‘ movement, though there are still some different views on what the name should be. That first evening centred around a dinner at the Kasteel Marquette, which was romantically surrounded in low mist, with a heron soaring past my head as we came out later into a surprisingly light evening.

Zandvoort made my heart sink a little as I walked through it to the hotel. Afterwards, Pamela Hartigan would send me an email suggesting the town should be levelled, though that’s exactly what the German did in WWII to the original fishing village. They burrowed into the surrounding dunes (much of which is now a national park) to create a network of bunkers and launch platforms for their V1 rockets, something I noted in my introductory speech, expressing the hope that we would launch something a little more constructive. I helped launch a report Volans helped Aflatoun put together for the event, The Word on the Street: Views on Finance for Children and Youth. 

Spent a fair amount of second day in my room, doing a range of work for Volans. But in the sessions that I did take part in there were many pointers for a new project we are starting on behaviour change. Some wonderful dinners during the event, with some fascinating people, including a very nice walk around Haarlem in light rain with Audrey Tan of Project Moolah, based in Singapore. She and her colleague Min took me through what they are doing on the last morning – very exciting.

Proud to be part of all this, not least because if we can encourage children and young people generally to be more financially literate, the chances are that we will also be teaching them to trade off today’s immediate interests for tomorrow’s priorities, which could help build a larger constituency for sustainability.

Lowest moment was in Haarlem, when I was encouraged not to waste a bottle of mineral water left over after a dinner at a very nice Greek restaurant. So put it in my bag, where somehow it cracked, and flooded everything – including my much-loved Leica D-Lux 3. It died. Despite my best efforts later on with a hairdryer, it showed only fitful signs of life. But, having taken out the (sodden) battery and memory stick and left them to air, a couple of days we finally achieved a resurrection moment, with pretty much full function restored by the time I arrived in Athens,

Thais and I Char’s bump Group 1: Char, Sam, Alex, Amy, Thais, me, Rafael, Tim, Amanda, Erica Group 2: Rafael, Char, Sam, Amy, Sam, Thais, Erica, Tim, Amanda, Alex, me Amanda, Sam, Erica, Char Tim, Amanda, Thais A bit of a blur Sam, Rafael, Amy Sam nurses Alex’s cycling accident wounds Amanda says goodbye – for the moment Farewell Tim and I   Lovely evening, extending into dinner for some, at 2 Bloomsbury Place – celebrating the work of our interns, represented today by Amanda (Feldman, LSE), Erica (Barbosa, LSE), Rafael (Morais Chiaravalloti, Escola Superior de Conservacao Ambiental e Sustenabilidade, ESCAS) and Tim (Barrow-Williams, Imperial College). Rafael’s last working day, so spotlight on him. The sound-track was the playlist I put together for my sixtieth birthday party last June, so at least I was happy. What a privilege it is to work with such motivated, talented and generously spirited young people.    Group 3: Alex, Tim, Sam, Amy, Rafael, Amanda Char and Alex Accidental still-life, with salt

John Manoochehri reminded me today of the piece I wrote in Time magazine about John Browne in his heyday at BP.  Mea culpa.

Richmond Park 1 Richmond Park 2 Rafael and Elaine

We went for a two-hour walk in Richmond Park this afternoon with Rafael (Morais Chiavalloti), who sadly is coming to the end of his internship with Volans – and returns to Brazil next weekend. These days the parakeets seem to outnumber the deer at times, adding a suitably tropical note to our trek, but overwhelming native birds.