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A world before Electric Ladyland

Steve in hippier days And younger still

A lovely evening with the Warshals and friends, celebrating Steve’s seventieth birthday. He still seems ageless. First came across him and his wife Sandar when he was a Director of Greenpeace UK and was organising conferences, including one built around our Green Consumer agenda, way back in the late 1980s. Great conversation with Peter Melchett about a range of issues, including sustainable food. In terms of the question on the second slide above, the famous musician Steve went to school with back in Seattle was Jimi Hendrix.

A Halloween lunch and walkabout

Jaime Garzón photos in background On the threshold Corner Even the doors have eyebrows Storm clouds The birds and the cage Graffito Juanita’s T-shirt Aerial figure Wings Palm Kimono Halloween llamas Photograph Disappearing tram tracks Where the revolution began Fidel gives the finger Halloween cakes Shot from a speeding car, airport-bound

Worked at a fair pace this morning in the hotel, taking a number of phone calls including one with Amy (Birchall) from London and another with a headhunter from New York. Then by car to El Patio Restaurant for a lunch hosted by María López, and including Margarita Marino de Botero, Felipe Arango, Juanita Rico and Marco Volpe of Coca-Cola Colombia.

Couldn’t resist telling Marco that I hadn’t drunk Coca-Cola since I was in a school bus in Cyprus in the late 1950s when it was driven off the road by a truck and ended up crashing through the wall of a Coca-Cola factory.

The café-restaurant had a number of photographs and press cuttings in memory of the murdered Colombian and humourist journalist Jaime Garzón–a powerful, moving reminder of the 50-year war that the country has endured. Hopefully there will be a definitive peace agreement next year.

Then Juanita and Felipe took me for a walkabout through the streets of the city, which was full of people in Halloween costume. Impressive to see the Plaze de Bolívar, the scene of so much history, including the M-19 siege at the Palace of Justice. Came away feeling I need to read more about Simón Bolívar.

Then back to the Sheraton to pick up my things and on to the airport. As I finished Of Love and Other Demons as we winged back to Frankfurt, I found myself pondering the history of Colombia and its prospects for realising its dream of becoming a developed economy by 2050. Although Colombia is intensely hierarchical, I can just about imagine the dream happening.

And a close encounter with coffee in the Botanical Gardens

Botanical Gardens Palms Irises Getting ready for the event Outside the Gardens Wendy Arenas Wightman being interviewed at Semana Margarita Marino de Botero says she is pre-Internet, but uses iPad

It’s decided: I am falling in love with Colombia. Took a cab this morning to the José Celestino Mutis Botanical Gardens, though taking a cab here can be a matter of some courage. The roads aren’t great and the driving is worse. I have seen two multi-vehicle collisions since arriving. But I arrived in good time and the driver kindly guided me into the Gardens.

I was taken around the Gardens in the early morning sun by Juanita Rico, from Semana magazine, and then María López Casteno came across to meet us. She is the daughter of the owner of the Semana Group and is in charge of sustainability-related activities there, among them Semana Sostenible. Great energy as the participants arrived at the conference centre: I met some wonderful people.

Then, as in anxiety dreams, one of those things happen that you really wish wouldn’t: given a small cup of espresso, I somehow managed to upend it over my tie and shirt. Retreating to the restroom, which had plenty of hot water, paper and dryers, I made the best of things. That said–as I mentioned later in the day–the aroma of good coffee was constantly with me.

The morning session was in effect a Breakthrough Lab, with some 60-70 people, and a ‘fishbowl’ session in the middle. María and Felipe (Arango) led the early part of the event and the discussion was wonderfully engaging. When it ended, a number of us headed off to the Semana offices for a lunch of some 20 people, hosted by María, including Wendy (Arena Wightman) and Felipe (Arango), but with a goodly mix of people I had not yet met.

Among those invited was Margarita Marino de Botero, the Colombian environmentalist who was one of the members of the Brundtland Commission. Very lively conversation around the table, after which some of us talked to Felipe López. He presented me with a signed copy of his autobiography, noting that I seemed to be the man who had persuaded his daughter to “save the world.” Initially, I was not entirely sure that he thought that this was a good thing, but it became clear that he was proud of her and of her mission. María recalled that she had read Cannibals With Forks six years ago and the lights had come on. It’s at moments like these that I struggle to see how the impact of some things we do can be capturing in any normal set of impact metrics.

Coming home

Some of the participants

On 25 April 2010, Volans was visted by Amazonia campaigner Martín von Hildebrand, and then on 21 May this year we were visited by his partner, Wendy Arenas Wightman. Having flown in from Cartagena earlier today, I took a cab across to Usaquen this afternoon for a session with Wendy and board members from Alisos and from the Amazonas 2030 Partnership. It felt like coming home–and we are already thinking through how we can work together in future, alongside some of the other organisations Wendy has helped introduce me to here in Colombia.

Even the Indians find it hot in Cartagena

All along the watchtower Streetscape Graffiti Flowers in Hotel Santa Clara Heat and humidity at work on camera Flowers on roof of hotel Martín Burt of Fundación Paraguaya Carved apple Ruth Oniang’o speaks at the Forum Ruth and Maggie (Margaret Catley-Carlson, Patron of the Global Water Partnership) Apparent ghost ship in harbour, thanks to humidity

Flew in to Bogotá and then Cartagena on Friday, for the meeting of the Nestlé Creating Shared Value Advisory Board on Sunday and then the 2013 Creating Shared Value Forum today. A key part of the Advisory Board meeting involved reviewing finalists for the Nestlé Prize in Creating Shared Value. Great to hear an update from the last winner, Martín Burt of Fundación Paraguaya. The weather was very hot, to the point where even colleagues from India commented on it.

We were staying at the celebrated Hotel Santa Clara, where each of us were given a copy of the novel Of Love and Other Demons by Gabriel García Márquez. Had never read anything by him, but was enthralled by this book. It starts off in the ruined chapel of the nunnery that would later be turned into this 5-star hotel, and the building is a major character throughout the novel. Began reading the book on the flight from Cartagena to Bogotá, then finished it on the flight on to Frankfurt a few days later. Highly recommended.

The Shared Value vs Sustainability saga continued, to a degree, though Michael Porter’s framing of the potential contribution of Shared Value has softened considerably. Since the Advisory Board meeting was off-the-record, there is a limit on what I can sensibly say, but it is clear that the chasm between what win-win solutions can achieve in a dysfunctional economic system and what we will ultimately need to do is becoming a bit clearer to people. The question now is how we bridge that chasm, which is a question I have been working on for much of this year, with a proposal about to go out to companies and foundations.

For me, one of the highlights of this year’s CSV Forum was the presentation by J. Carl Venter of Circle of Blue, where I am also on the Advisory Board. Their impressive Chokepoint series of reports has covered China, India and the USA. Disturbing,  but highly recommended reading.

Carl had visited a nearby slum and spent the day talking to local residents, finding out about how water and sanitation issues affected their lives. His photographs, shown at the Forum, were one of the most moving elements in the process. Apparently, the police escorted him out of the area later in the day, perhaps because they feared for his safety, but also perhaps because they feared that the authorities might be embarassed.

Overall, I was struck by the growing traction that the CSV agenda is now getting, with Colombia’s President Santos and his wife both speaking at the Forum. It was great to have some time to catch up with the extraordinary members of the CSV Advisory Board. And it was fascinating to see at least a little of Cartagena, with its amazing–and often grisly–history.

The ramparts I walked along had not a little to do with the raiding of Sir Francis Drake in 1586, while the slave traffic through the port was prodigious in the day, with only Cartagena and Veracruz authorised to trade slaves at one point. Among other things, these wretched people were used to cut cane, build fortifications, and work in the terrible mines of the West Indies, Venezuela and Peru. Ending the slave industry must have seemed an impossibility at the time, just as getting a grip on climate change often does today, and I met people who said that various forms of quasi-slavery are still endemic in some parts of Latin America. But I take some comfort from the fact that that infernal triangular trade was brought to an end.

At one point, apparently, Cartagena became a ghost city, but it doesn’t feel like that now. I didn’t get to see the Museum of the Inquisition, but it was hard not to recall the centuries of pain inflicted in this city of tourism and pleasure. Although Ann Veneman invited me to join her on a tour of the city, I had sadly brought a mass of work to do, and spent any free time pushing forward with that.

One natural highlight: the sound of the frogs in the hotel courtyard at night, though they had apparently had to be imported from some other part of South America. All in all, though, I think I’m beginning to fall in love with Colombia.