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Intrigued to see two stories in yesterday’s Guardian giving the latest news on the efforts of some parts of the Rockefeller family to get ExxonMobil, the company John D Rockefeller co-founded way back in 1870 (as Standard Oil), to accept the reality of climate change. The first story is here, the second here.

Put me in mind of the time, many years ago, when I flew in to Stavanger in Norway to speak to 300 oil people (mainly men). Part-way through my speech, just where I was talking about Exxon’s funding of climate deniers, Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson strode into the back of the room with aides. He roared across the heads of the delegates words to the effect that, “That’s a godamm lie!”

We had a short altercation over the 300 heads, with my reading – despite the fact that he was apparently once an Eagle Scout – being that some people imagine that shouting their own lie makes it more credible.

Great to see the Rockefeller Brothers Fund joining the fossil fuels divestment movement, with 78 foundations now signed up to the Divest-Invest campaign, according to the The Guardian, and a target of 200 by the time the COP21 conference opens its doors in Paris this December.

The first photo shows Tessa Tennant speaking on Monday this week to guests at a BMW event, spotlighting their electric cars. A particular highlight on the i3, which Tessa and her husband Bill drive. Astrid and I went along a year after I want to the first of these events – and were pleased to encounter a mix of the usual suspects and several people I hadn’t seen for ages, including Tracy Worcester, now Director of Farms Not Factories.

The cleantech theme is becoming hot again – and continued to play out in the days following. Notably on Friday, when I spoke at the Clean & Cool Showcase event atop Millbank Tower. Odd walk down memory lane as I made my way from Westminster Tube to the tower: walked past ICI’s old HQ. There was a time when I was in and out of that building like a pendulum in a grandfather clock. Including for a memorable interview with John Harvey-Jones when he was Chairman. Also recalled the time when three different parts of ICI were threatening to sue us after the publication of The Green Consumer Guide, despite the fact that we were working for them at the time.

The week began with such things as Board meeting with the Biomimicry Institute, which I did via Skype. The week was delightfully fully of conversations, with people like André Schneider about his forthcoming World Green Economy Summit in Dubai, where I will keynote; Jim Banister about our evolving work on what we call the ‘Screen Consumer;’ and Rafia Qureshi, Jules Peck, and Peggy Liu and Caroline Seow.

I also had a session with Susana Frazao Pinheiro about my annual lecture at UCL, which happened on Thursday – and was great fun. The cleantech theme surfaced a number of times, particularly around the Tesla and Elon Musk stories.

Then, yesterday, we sped westwards to Little Rissington to see the Elkingtons of Hill House, an exercise that remind me of just how much of a fossil-fuelled installed base we currently have on our roads – and of the level of effort that it will take to move from concept cars and ‘Early Adopter’ usage through to the ‘Early’ and ‘Late Majorities’ moving to sustainable mobility options.

Probably the most telling evidence I have seen of the horrors on the loose in Syria, the most extraordinary country I have ever visited (and the region where a big slice of my genes originated, according to 23andMe), were shown in the New York Times International Weekly today. Two images map the amount of light visible at night over the country in March 2012 and December 2014. A grim overview of a gathering Dark Age.

Went across to Harley Street this morning to have my hearing re-tested by Capital Audiology, recommended by David Grayson. Very impressive consultation, one part of which involved establishing the approximate frequency and volume of the whistling in my ears – and then playing that sound back into one ear. After three minutes, the tinnitus vanished in that ear, for about 10-15 minutes. But looks as if I’m headed for hearing aids.

Then across to HMV in Oxford Street en route back to Volans, to look for some new music. Bought a bunch of things: two CDs by Madeleine Peyroux (Half the Perfect World and Bare Bones); Bob Dylan’s latest, Shadows in the Night; Brian Wilson’s Jukebox, which compiles the music that inspired one of my favourite musicians; Solo by the Mavericks; The Essential Paul Simon (many of the tracks I have on LPs or even CDs, but a nice compilation); and Carl Perkins & Friends, with the likes of Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Dave Edmunds) – which is the audio track of a concert we watched way back in 1996.

Am also listening a fair amount to Psychedelic Cambodia, a CD that rescues music that pre-dated (and whose sources were largely wiped out by) the Khmer Rouge. Given to me by Gaia and Hania: profoundly moving. Weirdly, one of the tracks is a Cambodiazation of a track I first heard in extraordinary circumstances in 1970 in Greece, Venus by Shocking Blue. We arrived in a garage in the Landrover, got out and were stretching, when a huge truck pulled in  behind us, the driver opened his door above us, and the first chords rang out.

Maybe that’s where the tinnitus comes from? Certainly bands like Fairport Convention were pretty loud in the day. But today brought home how much I love music, not just the Desert Island 16 I highlight elsewhere on this website.

Out at Kuala Lumpur International Airport after a high-energy flying visit, mainly for the Bayer MaterialScience Project SunRise launch and meetings (see previous entry), but also with a wonderful session at the KL Impact Hub, co-hosted by Christopher Erichsen and Shariha Khalid of the the Scope Group.

Fascinating to see how the Hub movement has spread – I was one of 12 inaugural members/Fellows back in the day when it was just opening the King’s Cross Hub in London, under the guiding hand of Jonathan Robinson.

Loved the enthusiasm, energy and humour of the participants in the Impact Hub session – and some great questions in the discussion period. another reminder of just how lucky I have been to be able to surf these consecutive waves of social and environmental activism and entrepreneurship. Intrigued to see the MIT Technology Review running its latest survey of 10 breakthrough technologies – bought it to read on the plane. Selection ranges from Google’sProject Loon and supercharged photosynthesis through to megascale desalination.